Chinese and Mexican Revolutions

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Chinese and Mexican Revolutions

• By Justin Livingston and Brittany House

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Chinese Revolution
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Background

• Growing Population
• 400 million people in 1900 (largest of any nation
  of the time)
• Environmental Disasters
• Yellow River flooded 17 times in 1913-1938

4
Political Causes

• Society was divided into many groups
• Outside world had great impact on Chinese
  Politics
• Shanghai- commercial center
• Ridden with prostitutes, opium addicts,
  gangsters, and rich foreigners
• After war with Japan, Chinese government equipped
  army with modern weapons
• Led to creation of local armies and warlords
• People lived in fear of bandits and tax
  collectors

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Social and Economic Causes

• Population growth and poverty - Long years of
  peace in the early and mid Qing period
  contributed to a quick rise in China's
  population.
• cultivable land was limited in amount and was
  concentrated in powerful landlords
• the people were forbidden by law to move to
  Manchuria and other places outside China
• there was no large industrial development to
  raise the standard of living in society
• Poor Economic Conditions of the Government

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Religious Causes

• Youth attended Christian mission schools

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Major Players

• Empress Dowager Cixi- seized power and encouraged
  a secret society (Boxers) to expel all foreigners
  from China
• Sun Yat-sen- took over when Cixi died
• Led Revolutionary alliance
• Mixture of nationalism, socialism, and
  Confucianism
• Yuan Shikai- local general who refused to defend
  the Qing
• Created Guomindang (National Peoples Party)

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Short Term Results

• Japan seized German enclaves in China. (Paris
  Peace Conference)
• Warlords frightened off trade and investment in
  railroads, industry, and agricultural
  improvement.

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Long Term Results

• Sun returned in the early 1920s and implemented
  Lenins revolutionary tactics.
• Chiang Kaishek led Chinese communist party.
• Aimed to build railroads, develop agriculture and
  industry, and modernize China.
• All money ended up going to the military

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Mexican Revolution
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The Mexican RevolutionBackground

• Mexican Independence- 1821
• 20th century- Mexico divided into rich and poor
  and among persons of Spanish, Indian, and mixed
  ancestry.
• After independence in 1821, wealthy Mexican
  families and American companies used bribery and
  force to acquire millions of acres of good
  agricultural land from villages in southern
  Mexico.
• In 1910 the government seemed in control and no
  one expected a revolution.

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Major Players of the Mexican Revolution

• General Porfirio Diaz (1830-1915)- ruled Mexico
  under the motto Liberty, Order, Progress.
• He discriminated against the nonwhite majority of
  the Mexicans.
• Emiliano Zapata-An Indian farmer who led a revolt
  against the haciendas.
• Francisco Pancho Villa-Organized an army to
  take land from the haciendas to create family
  ranches.
• Lazaro Cardenas-chosen by the Calles to be
  president in 1934.(Mexican Revolutionary Party)

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Political Causes of the Mexican Revolution

• Many political parties tried to lead the Mexican
  Revolution, each representing a different segment
  of Mexican society.
• Middle class was angered by Mexican society and
  foreign intervention.
• Civil War

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Social and Economic Causes of the Mexican
Revolution

• Deep chasm between rich and poor.
• Less than 1 of the percent of the population
  owned 85 of the land.
• Hacienda large estates
• Constitutionalists proposed social programs such
  as State run education, end of debt peonage,
  restrictions on foreign ownership of property,
  law of specifying minimum wages and maximum hours
• Reforms too costly to implement right away.

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Treatment of Women

• Emiliano Zapata allowed women to participate in
  his revolt.

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Short Term Results

• Political system free of dictatorships
• Wealth became more spread out
• Catholic church relinquished control of education
• The nationalization of oil
• More of the population was able to participate in
  politics.

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Long Term Results

• Reforms fell short of original ideas, but laid
  foundation for industrialization of Mexico.
• Long delayed reforms
• Free education
• Higher wages
• More security for workers
• Redistribution of land to peasants

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Similarities

• After the war, both had goals of
  industrialization and modernization.
• Each conformed to outside influences.
• Both nations militaries were broken up according
  to territorial location.

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Differences

• The Mexican Revolution evoked a greater affect on
  the women than the Chinese Revolution did.
• Mexican reforms were more effective than the
  Chinese.
• There was one Chinese Party as opposed to many
  Mexican.

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Works Cited

• Bulliett, Crossley, Headrick, et al. The Earth
  and Its Peoples A Global History. Second
  Edition. Houghton Mifflin Company, 2001.