What were the causes and effects of the Mexican Revolution?

Download Primary Source Set: The Mexican Revolution

This set provides sources from multiple perspectives on the Mexican Revolution, the defining event of modern Mexican history. The economic policies of Porfirio Díaz, unequal distribution of land, deeply entrenched economic inequality, and undemocratic institutions were the major causes of the revolution. Its primary effects were mass participation of people in competing groups; resistance from peasants, workers, Indians, and mestizos; brutal civil war for ten years;and some reform and stability at the end with the Constitution of 1917. The set’s focus is on two specific aspects of the revolution: the struggle over land reform, and the identities, ideas, and perspectives of major participants.