The Last Caudillo

The Last Caudillo presents a brief biography of the life and times of General Alvaro Obregón, along with new insights into the Mexican Revolution and authoritarian rule in Latin America.

• Features a succinct biography of the life and times of a fascinating figure in Mexico's revolutionary past
• Represents the most analytical and up-to-date study of caudillo/military strongman rule
• Sheds new light on the networks and discourse practices that support rulers such as the Castros in Cuba and Hugo Chávez in Venezuela, and the emergence of modern Mexico
• Offers new insights into the role of leadership, the nature of revolution, and the complex forces that helped shape modern Mexico

List of Illustrations ix

Preface x

Acknowledgments xii

Introduction 1

1 The Background of the Last Caudillo 11

From Santa Anna to Díaz 13

The Sonoran Background 22

2 An Improvised Leader, 1880–1913 30

Obregón’s Early Years 31

Obregón and the Beginning of the Mexican Revolution 41

Obregón’s First Campaign 47

3 Chaos and Triumph, 1913–1916 57

Obregón and the War Against Huerta 58

Obregón and the Clash Between Carranza and Villa 66

Obregón in the War Between the Factions 72

4 The Path to Power, 1916–1920 85

Obregón’s Emergence as a Political Leader 86

The Cincinnatus of the West (Part One) 94

The Campaign for the Presidency 97

5 The President, 1920–1924 111

The Construction of Obregón’s Political Machine 112

Rebuilding the Nation 118

The Violent Breakup of the Sonoran Alliance 127

6 The Last Caudillo, 1924–1928 138

A Troubled Agribusiness 140

The Cincinnatus of the West (Part Two) 143

The Second Presidential Campaign 152

The Death of the Caudillo 159

7 The Unquiet Grave 164

After the Caudillo 165

An Arm and a Revolution on a Stage 170

A Revolution and a Leader Lose Respect 173

Notes 178

Bibliography 200

Index 210

“The Last Caudillo is a fine biography of Alvaro Obregon, as well as an excellent overview of the Mexican Revolution. Students will come away with a good understanding of the social forces and political events that shaped Mexico during this critical time in its history. The book is also a great companion to Buchenau’s earlier work, Plutarco Elas Calles and the Mexican Revolution, published in 2006.” (The Latin Americanist, 1 September 2013)

“The Last Caudillo calls in an impressive array of primary sources to render an evenhanded portrait of Obregón as it appropriately casts him as a pivotal figure in the making of modern Mexico. …more specifically, Buchenau taps into the historiography of the Latin American strongman or “caudillo” in considering Obregón the last of that lineage, to come to an end when institutions, political parties, enforceable laws, bureaucracy, “systems” and “networks” overwhelmed—for better or worse—the many vicissitudes of individual power.” (The Americas, 1 October 2012)

"It is Buchenau's combined analysis of caudillismo, the Mexican revolution, and Alvaro Obregon that makes this book an important contribution to the literature on this revolutionary figure and the times that produced him. Summing Up: Highly recommended. Upper-division undergraduates and above." (Choice, 1 November 2011)

Jürgen Buchenau is Professor of History and Latin American Studies at University of North Carolina, Charlotte, where he is Chair of the History Department. He is the author or editor of several books on modern Latin American history, including Plutarco Elías Calles and the Mexican Revolution (2007), Tools of Progress: A German Merchant Family in Mexico City, 1865-Present (2004), and In the Shadow of the Giant: The Making of Mexico’s Central America Policy (1996). In The Last Caudillo: Alvaro Obregón and the Mexican Revolution, Latin American specialist Jürgen Buchenau offers a succinct and revelatory biography of the man whose faction won the Mexican Revolution in 1920.

Buchenau probes deeply into the life and times of General Alvaro Obregón and also sheds new light on the first major social revolution of the twentieth century and on broader issues surrounding the cult of personality and culture of leadership. Drawing on the fascination that caudillo rule has held for observers of Latin America, Buchenau reveals its crucial elements, including a macho cult of leadership; heroism in war; intensely loyal followers; and a clientelist system to reward those followers.

Using the life story of one of the most fascinating figures in Mexican history, The Last Caudillo offers new insights into the role of leadership, the nature of revolution, and the complex forces that helped shape modern Mexico.