The Underdogs Essay

There is one element constant in every revolution. That constant is a reason. Without a reason, a revolution would be unnecessary and there would be a high possibility of failure. Many other elements of a revolution also hint to whether it will be successful or a failure, such as education and the organization of the army, as well as there tactical planning strategies. In The Underdogs, it is quite obvious that Demetrio Macias's army did not have a real reason for fighting in the revolution, which caused a major problem. Demetrio Macias's revolution ended in failure due to his armies lack of reason for participation, lack of education, and significant alcohol consumption.

In 1910, the Mexican Revolution began in retaliation of the Mexican President Porfirio Diaz's dictatorship. Diaz was the dictator of Mexico and failed to support the lower classes of Mexico during his rule. During his years of ruling Mexico, a barrier between the poor class and rich class was obvious. Several families in Mexico, who were a minority of the fifteen million people living in Mexico, owned a monopoly over the economy and were in control of the countries wealth. The majority of the others in Mexico were farmers who were extremely poor and had next to no political voice in Mexico. The revolution broke out when Francisco Madero led a series of strikes throughout the country. Shortly thereafter, Madero gained supporters, which consisted of Pancho Villa in the North, and the peasant Emiliano Zapata in the South. Peasant women also joined in the revolution against the government. DÐ"­az, unable to control the spread of the rebellion, resigned in May, 1911 and signed of the Treaty of Ciudad JuÐ"ÐŽrez. Madero was then elected president and began plans for his desired land reforms. Emiliano Zapata would not wait for Madero to decide on the land reforms and in that same year Zapata denounced Madero as president and took over the position for himself. But Zapata would not last long and was assassinated later that year. Around this time, the country broke into many different divisions, which caused the destruction and burning of many homes across Mexico. Ultimately, Venustiano Carranza rose to the presidency and organized an important convention that would lead to the Constitution of 1917. He also made land reform an important issue in the constitution.

Even though there was a clear and evident reason for the Mexican Revolution, Demetrio's army did not particularly know why they were fighting. Since the men did not know why they were fighting, they strongly lacked any care for what happened. Most of the men were concerned primarily of their own well-being and looked out only for themselves. Several of the men seemed to view the revolution almost as an outlet or an escape from their typical peasant daily life. Many of them joined merely because they have nothing better to do. Others looked to the revolution as a way to avoid criminal charges they previously committed in home towns.

To be successful in life, mostly everyone would agree that education is a huge basis of how successful you can be. Education is important because education can lead to successful organization in any environment, which is essential in businesses today, not to mention during a revolution in order to overthrow a government. In The Underdog, it is clear that