José Venustiano Carranza de la Garza was a Mexican land owner and politician who served as President of Mexico from 1917 until his assassination in 1920, during the Mexican Revolution. He was previously Mexico's de facto head of state as Primer Jefe of the Constitutionalist faction from 1914 to 1917, and previously served as a senator and governor for Coahuila. He played the leading role in drafting the Constitution of 1917 and maintained Mexican neutrality in World War I.
Portrait of Carranza by Harris & Ewing, c. 1915
Carranza's childhood home in Cuatro Ciénegas, Coahuila
A young Carranza, c.1870s
Venustiano Carranza (left) with his daughters, c.1890s
The Mexican Revolution was an extended sequence of armed regional conflicts in Mexico from 20 November 1910 to 1 December 1920. It has been called "the defining event of modern Mexican history" and resulted in the destruction of the Federal Army, its replacement by a revolutionary army, and the transformation of Mexican culture and government. The northern Constitutionalist faction prevailed on the battlefield and drafted the present-day Constitution of Mexico, which aimed to create a strong central government. Revolutionary generals held power from 1920 to 1940. The revolutionary conflict was primarily a civil war, but foreign powers, having important economic and strategic interests in Mexico, figured in the outcome of Mexico's power struggles; the U.S. involvement was particularly high. The conflict led to the deaths of around one million people, mostly noncombatants.
From left to right and top to bottom: Huertista troops insurging against President Francisco Madero, Ten Tragic Days, 1913 Questionable photograph, may come from a 1930s film or be a period production Defense of the government by supporters of Madero, Ten Tragic Days, 1913, Mexico City El Niño artillero (Antonio Gómez Delgado), 10 years old, enlisted on July 2, 1910 in Acatzingán, Michoacán, part of the federal troops commanded by Victoriano Huerta
General Porfirio Díaz, President of Mexico
A banner (1903) at the office of opposition magazine El hijo del Ahuizote reads: "The Constitution has died..." (La Constitución ha muerto...)
Ricardo Flores Magón (left) and Enrique Flores Magón (right), leaders of the Mexican Liberal Party in jail in the Los Angeles (CA) County Jail, 1917