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Farmer, general and president, Álvaro Obregón Salido was a key figure in the Mexican Revolution along with Pancho Villa, Emiliano Zapata and Venustiano Carranza.
Álvaro Obregón Salido was born in Huatabampo, Sonora, Mexico. His father, Francisco Obregón, had lost much of the family wealth when he supported Emperor Maximilian during the French intervention in Mexico in the 1860s. Francisco died when Álvaro was a child, so Álvaro was raised by his mother, Cenobia. Stepped out. The family had very little money but Cenobia’s children had their full support and most of Álvaro’s brothers became teachers.
Álvaro was a dedicated worker and had a reputation for unusual intelligence. Although he had to drop out of school, he was skilled in various trades including photography and carpentry. In his youth he used his savings to buy a bankrupt chickpea farm, which he painstakingly turned into a profitable business. Eventually Álvaro invented his own chickpea harvester, which he made and sold to other farmers.
Álvaro Obregón and the Mexican Revolution
Unlike almost all the other important figures of the Mexican Revolution, Álvaro Obregón did not oppose the dictator Porfirio Díaz from the beginning. Obregón watched the development of the early stages of the Revolution from Sonora. After joining the struggle, he was often accused of being a late-comer opportunist.
By the time Álvaro Obregón joined the Revolution, Porfirio Díaz had already been overthrown, and the main leader of the insurrection, Francisco Madero, was president. At the same time several conflicts began between the revolutionary leaders. The confrontations between the different factions would last more than ten years, configuring temporary alliances that became capitulations.
The beginnings of the military career of Álvaro Obregón Salido
Álvaro Obregón joined the revolution in 1912, two years after it began, fighting in northern Mexico in the ranks of President Francisco I. Madero, who was fighting against his former revolutionary ally, Pascual Orozco. Álvaro Obregón recruited a force of about 300 soldiers and placed himself under the command of General Agustín Sangines. Impressed by the intelligent young Sonoran, General Sangines quickly promoted him to colonel.
Obregón defeated a contingent of Orozco’s forces commanded by General José Inés Salazar at the Battle of San Joaquín. Soon after, Pascual Orozco fled to the United States. After Orozco’s defeat, Obregón returned to his farm to grow chickpeas.
When Madero was deposed and executed by Victoriano Huerta in February 1913, Obregón took up arms again, this time against the new dictator and his federal forces. There he placed himself under the orders of the government of the state of Sonora.
Álvaro Obregón proved to be a very skilled general and his army captured several towns in Sonora controlled by federal forces. His ranks swelled with new recruits and deserting federal soldiers, and by the summer of 1913 Obregón was the most important military figure in Sonora.
His alliance with Venustiano Carranza
When the battered army of revolutionary leader Venustiano Carranza was stranded in Sonora, Obregón welcomed them. For this, Carranza elevated Obregón as supreme military commander of all the revolutionary forces in northwestern Mexico in September 1913.
Obregón did not know what to make of Carranza, a long-bearded patriarch who had boldly proclaimed himself the first leader of the Mexican Revolution. Álvaro Obregón saw, however, that Venustiano Carranza was clever and had connections, so he decided to ally with him. It was a smart and convenient decision for both of them. The alliance between Carranza and Obregón defeated first Victoriano Huerta, then Pancho Villa and Emiliano Zapata before falling apart in 1920.
On June 23, 1914, Pancho Villa’s army annihilated the federal army of Victoriano Huerta in the battle of Zacatecas. Of some 12,000 federal soldiers who fought in Zacatecas that morning, only about 300 were left to stagger in neighboring Aguascalientes in the days that followed. Seeking to defeat Villa, his rival in the revolution, in Mexico City, Álvaro Obregón defeated federal troops at the Battle of Orendain and captured Guadalajara on July 8, 1914. Surrounded, Huerta resigned on July 15 and Obregón defeated Villa at the gates of Mexico City, which he conquered for the side of Venustiano Carranza on August 11, 1914.
The politician and strategist
Álvaro Obregón was a skilled negotiator and diplomat. He stood out for recruiting rebellious Yaqui Indians, assuring them that he would work to return their lands, so they became valuable troops for his army. He demonstrated his military prowess countless times, devastating Huerta’s forces wherever he found them.
During the interlude in fighting in the winter of 1913-1914, Obregón modernized his army, incorporating military techniques from contemporary conflicts such as the Boer Wars in South Africa in the late 19th century. He pioneered the use of trenches, barbed wire, and foxholes (fighting positions dug into the ground). In mid-1914, Obregón purchased planes from the United States and used them to attack federal forces and their gunboats or cannon-armed ships. This was one of the first times that aircraft were used for war purposes; due to the technology of the time, they were effective but impractical.
After Victoriano Huerta left the government and Álvaro Obregón occupied Mexico City on August 11, 1914, it was the task of the victors to try to reunify the country. Obregón visited Pancho Villa twice, in August and September 1914, but Villa kidnapped the Sonorense and held him for a few days, threatening to execute him.
He eventually released him, but the incident convinced Álvaro Obregón that Villa was a loose end and needed to be removed. Álvaro Obregón returned to Mexico City and renewed his alliance with Venustiano Carranza.
The Aguascalientes Convention
In October 1914 the victors of Victoriano Huerta’s revolutionary faction met at the Aguascalientes Convention. 57 generals and 95 officers attended. Pancho Villa, Venustiano Carranza and Emiliano Zapata sent representatives, but Álvaro Obregón went personally.
The convention lasted about a month and was chaotic. Venustiano Carranza’s representatives insisted that he be given absolute power and refused to budge. Those of Emiliano Zapata urged that the convention accept the radical agrarian reform of the Plan de Ayala. Pancho Villa’s delegation was made up of men whose personal objectives were often contradictory, and although they were willing to compromise for peace, they claimed that Villa would never accept Carranza as president.
Álvaro Obregón was the great winner of the convention. Since he was the only one of the four leaders to attend personally, he had the opportunity to meet the officials of his rivals. Many of them were impressed by the modest and intelligent Sonoran, a positive image that they preserved this image even when many fought against him later. Some of the officers joined Obregón immediately.
On the other hand, the big loser of the convention was Venustiano Carranza, since his dismissal as First Chief of the Revolution was finally voted on. The convention elected Eulalio Gutiérrez as president, who ordered Carranza to resign, which Carranza refused, for which Gutiérrez declared him in absentia. Eulalio Gutiérrez assigned Pancho Villa the task of defeating him.
Obregón had come to the convention hoping for a compromise acceptable to all and an end to the bloodshed. He now found himself in the situation of having to choose between Carranza and Villa; he chose Venustiano Carranza, and took many of the convention delegates with him.
Venustiano Carranza sent Álvaro Obregón to face Pancho Villa. Obregón was his best general and the only one capable of defeating the powerful Villa. In addition, Carranza assessed that there was a possibility that Obregón himself would fall in battle, which would eliminate one of his most important rivals.
the battle of celaya
At the beginning of 1915, the forces of Pancho Villa, under the command of different generals, dominated northern Mexico. In April Álvaro Obregón occupied the city of Celaya. He was now in command of the federal forces and, thanks to the support of the United States government, he had better equipment and weapons than Pancho Villa.
Pancho Villa’s army moved to Celaya and on April 6, 1915 the confrontation began. Álvaro Obregón had prepared the defense; he dug trenches, placed machine guns, and positioned artillery to advantage. The main strength of Villa’s army was his cavalry, but his successive attacks were decimated by Obregón’s modern machine guns and artillery, in addition to his soldiers positioned in trenches and barbed wire. After two days of fighting, Villa withdrew to Salamanca to reorganize an attack that took place a week later, with even worse results for his forces. Obregón defeated Pancho Villa overwhelmingly at the Battle of Celaya.
After the victory in Celaya, Obregón’s army pursued Villa’s and overtook him in Trinidad. The Battle of Trinidad lasted 38 days and thousands of soldiers on both sides died. In that battle Obregón received an artillery shell above the elbow that resulted in the amputation of his right arm. Trinidad was another important victory for the forces of Álvaro Obregón.
With his army decimated, Villa withdrew to Sonora, where forces loyal to Venustiano Carranza defeated him again at the Battle of Agua Prieta. By late 1915, Pancho Villa’s once-proud Northern Division was in shambles. The soldiers had scattered, the generals had withdrawn or deserted, and Villa himself had returned to the mountains with only a few hundred men.
After having neutralized the threat of Pancho Villa, Álvaro Obregón assumed the position of minister of war in the cabinet of Venustiano Carranza. Although outwardly loyal to Carranza, Obregón was still highly ambitious. As Minister of War, he tried to modernize the army and helped defeat the same rebellious Yaqui tribes that had supported him during the Revolution.
The fight for the presidency of Mexico
At the beginning of 1917 the new constitution of Mexico was ratified and Venustiano Carranza was elected president. Obregón retreated once more to his farm to grow chickpeas, but he closely followed events in Mexico City. He stayed out of Carranza’s way, knowing that he could be the next president of Mexico.
With Obregon’s return to farm work, his business boomed. He diversified by expanding his business to mining and importing and exporting. He employed more than 1,500 workers and was well-liked and respected in and around Sonora.
In June 1919, Álvaro Obregón announced that he would run for president in the 1920 elections. Venustiano Carranza, who disliked Obregón personally, much less trusted him, immediately began working against him. Carranza stated that he thought Mexico should have a civilian, not a military, president. In fact, he had already chosen his own successor, Ignacio Bonillas.
Venustiano Carranza had made a big mistake in reneging on his informal dealings with Obregón, who had upheld his end by staying out of Carranza’s way between 1917 and 1919. Álvaro Obregón’s candidacy immediately gained the support of important sectors of society. The military supported Obregón, as did the middle class, who felt represented by his record as a farmer and merchant. The poor also supported him, betrayed by Carranza. In addition, he was popular with intellectuals like José Vasconcelos, who saw him as the only man with the influence and charisma to bring peace to Mexico.
Venustiano Carranza then makes a second mistake: he decided to fight the rising tide in favor of Obregón and stripped him of his military rank. Most people in Mexico saw this act as petty, thankless, and purely political.
The situation became increasingly tense, reminding some observers of Mexico before the 1910 Revolution: an old and callous politician refusing to allow a fair election, challenged by a younger man with new ideas. Carranza knew that he could not defeat Álvaro Obregón in an electoral process, so he ordered the army to attack him. Obregón quickly assembled his own army in Sonora, even as several of the country’s generals deserted his cause.
Venustiano Carranza, desperate to travel to Veracruz to rally support for his cause, left Mexico City on a train loaded with gold, advisers, and sycophants. Forces loyal to Obregón attacked the train, forcing the group to flee overland.
In May 1920, Venustiano Carranza and a handful of survivors of the so-called Golden Train accepted refuge from local leader Rodolfo Herrera in the city of Tlaxcalantongo. Herrera betrayed Carranza: while they were sleeping in a tent, he assassinated the president and his closest advisers. Herrera, who now supported Obregón, was tried but acquitted.
Following the assassination of Venustiano Carranza, Adolfo de la Huerta became provisional president of Mexico and negotiated a peace agreement with Pancho Villa, who had re-emerged after his military defeat. The formalization of the agreement decreed the end of the Mexican Revolution. Álvaro Obregón was elected president of Mexico in September 1920.
The presidency of Álvaro Obregón Salido
At first, Álvaro Obregón proved to be an ideal president. He continued to make peace agreements with those who had fought against him during the Revolution and instituted land and educational reforms. He also strengthened political ties with the United States and went to great lengths to restore Mexico’s shattered economy, including rebuilding the oil industry.
Álvaro Obregón still feared Pancho Villa, despite the fact that he was confined in the north. Villa was the only man who could still summon an army large enough to defeat the federal forces. Obregón ordered Villa’s assassination in 1923.
The peace of the first part of Álvaro Obregón’s presidency was broken in 1923, when Adolfo de la Huerta decided to run for president in 1924. Álvaro Obregón supported Plutarco Elías Calles for the position. The two factions clashed militarily, and Obregón and Calles annihilated de la Huerta.
Many officials and political leaders were executed, including several former friends and allies of Obregón. De la Huerta was forced into exile. With the opposition crushed, Calles easily won the presidency; Álvaro Obregón retired once more to his farm.
his return to power
In 1927 Álvaro Obregón decided to run for president of Mexico again. Congress cleared the way for him to do so legally and he began to campaign. Although the military still supported him, he had lost the support of the common people and the intellectuals, who saw him as a ruthless monster. The Catholic Church also opposed his nomination, since Álvaro Obregón was violently anti-clerical.
His two opponents were General Arnulfo Gómez and an old personal friend and comrade-in-arms, Francisco Serrano. When they conspired to arrest him, he ordered his capture and sent them both to the firing squad. And so it was that the nation’s leaders were completely intimidated by Obregón; many thought he had gone mad.
In July 1928, Álvaro Obregón was declared president of Mexico for a period of four years. But his second presidency was to be very short. On July 17, 1928, a Catholic fanatic named José de León Toral assassinated Obregón outside of Mexico City.
Sources
Jurgen Buchenau. The Last Caudillo: Alvaro Obregón and the Mexican Revolution. Wiley-Blackwell, 2011.
Frank McLynn. Villa and Zapata: A History of the Mexican Revolution . Carroll and Graf, 2000.
