History: The Mexican Revolution

The Mexican Revolution began on November 20, 1910, in an effort to overthrow an dictatorial president and shortly devolved into a multi-sided civil war.
The conflict, in which at least 1 million people are believed to have died, produced a host of national heroes as well as a new constitution full of economic, social and political reforms. For most of Mexico's developing history, a small minority of the people were in control of most of the country's power and wealth, while the majority of the population worked in poverty. As the gap between the poor and rich grew under the leadership of General Diaz, the political voice of the lower classes was also declining.
By 1910, He was eighty years-old and had ruled Mexico for thirty years Under
his reign, foreign capital flooded into the country and extensive infrastructure modernizations took place. But land and power were concentrated in the hands of the elite, and elections were a charade.
His power had become endangered as Mexico's young elite and middle class youth were less tolerant of Díaz than had been their parents. The great bulk of Mexico's land had been taken over by about a thousand men, their great estates reaching thousands and sometimes millions of acres, while ninety-seven percent of the population in the countryside owned no land. In Mexico's Yucatan peninsula was debt serfdom. Conditions akin to slavery existed on some tropical plantations, and Mexico's middle class was unhappy about the amount of favoritism that their government was giving to foreign businessmen. They were unhappy over inconveniences that they blamed on government neglect of public services. Middle class discontent and the discontent of the poor could not be expressed in elections. Porfirio Díaz, was in reality a dictator. Opposition of Diaz did surface, when Francisco I. Madero, came from a wealthy family of landowners and industrialists educated in Europe and at the University of California, led a series of strikes throughout the country. Diaz was pressured into holding an election in 1910, in which Madero was able to gather a significant number of the votes. Although Diaz was at one time a strong supporter of the one-term limit, he seemed to have changed his mind and had Madero imprisoned, feeling that the people of Mexico just weren't ready for
democracy. Once Madero was released from prison, he continued his battle against Diaz in an attempt to have him overthrown.
During this time, several other Mexican folk heroes began to emerge, including the well known Pancho Villa in the north, and the peasant Emiliano Zapata in the south, who were able to harass the Mexican army and wrest control of their respective regions. Diaz was unable to control the spread of the insurgence and resigned in May, 1911, with the signing of the Treaty of Ciudad Juarez, after which he fled to France. Madero was elected president, but received opposition from Emiliano Zapata who didn't wish to wait for the orderly implementation of Madero's desired land reforms. In November of the same year Zapata denounced Madero as president and took the position for himself. He controlled the state of Morelos, where he chased out the estate owners and divided their lands to the peasants. Later, in 1919, Zapata was assassinated by Jesus Guajardo acting under orders from General Pablo Gonzalez. It was during this time that the country broke into many different factions, and guerilla units roamed across the country destroying and burning down many large haciendas and ranchos. Madero was later taken prisoner and executed and the entire country existed in a state of disorder for several years, while Pancho Villa rampaged through the north, and different factions fought for presidential control. Eventually, Venustiano Carranza rose to the presidency, and organized an
important convention whose outcome was the Constitution of 1917, which is still in effect today. The constitution formalized many of the reforms sought by rebel groups. Urban workers received an eight-hour workday, a minimum wage and the right to strike, while peasants gained mechanisms for land redistribution and limiting the size of estates. Another provision restricted foreign investment. Carranza was followed by others who would fight for political control, and who would eventually continue with the reforms, both in education and land distribution. During this period the PRI political party was established, which was the dominant political power for 71 years until Vicente Fox of the conservative PAN party was elected. Afghanistan is important for the novel, as the entire story has taken place in Afghanistan. It is important to know the setting, as it allows the reader to understand the novel with a high of effectiveness if the events and place are dully noted beforehand. Another big part of the history Afghanistan and the novel is the Taliban. The Taliban still reigns terror on Afghans, similar to the hardships faced by the characters in the novel.