OROZCO by SK GUNS and Pascual Orozco himself.

Wow, that's a wild commemorative.

Pascual Orozco was a Mexican Revolutionary who originally supported Madero before falling out with him.  He was of immediate Basque descent, something we tend not to think about in regard to Mexico, which is in fact more ethnically diverse than we commonly imagine.  He was an early recruit to Madero's 1910 revolution, and was a natural military leader, and could be rather morbid.  After his January 2, 1911, victory at Cañón del Mal Paso he ordered the dead Federal soldiers stripped and sent the uniforms to Presidente Díaz with a note that read, "Ahí te van las hojas, mándame más tamales" ("Here are the wrappers, send me more tamales.").

On May 10, 1911 Orozco and Pancho Villa seized Ciudad Juárez, against Madero's orders, a victory which caused Díaz to briefly resign the presidency.  Madero would naively choose to negotiate with the regime, which resulted in The Treaty of Ciudad Juárez allowing for the resignations of Díaz and his vice president, allowing them to go into exile, establishing an Interim Presidency under Francisco León de la Barra, and keeping the Federal Army intact.

Like Zapata, he went into rebellion against the Madero government, which he felt had betrayed the revolution.  He openly declared revolt on March 3, 1912, financing it with his own money and confiscated livestock sold in Texas.  His forces were known as the Orozquistas and the Colorados (the Reds). They defeated Federal troops in Chihuahua under José González Salas. Madero in turn sent Victoriano Huerta against him, who in turn were more successful.  A wounded Orozco fled to the US. After Madero was assassinated and Huerta installed, Orozco promised to support him if reforms were made, and he was installed as the Supreme Commander of the Mexican Federal forces.  As such he defeated the Constitutionalist at Ciudad Camargo, Mapula, Santa Rosalía, Zacatecas, and Torreón, causing his former revolutionary confederates to regard him, not without justification, as a traitor.

He refused to recognize the government of Carvajal after Huerta's fall and was driven into exile again.  He traveled in the US in opposition to Carranza along with Huerta.  In 1915, he was arrested in the US, but escaped.  An unclear incident at the Dick Love ranch in Texas led to claims that he and other like-minded combatants had stolen horses from the ranch, which in turn resulted in a small party of the 13th Cavalry, Texas Rangers, and local deputies pursing the supposed horse thieve with Orozco being killed once the party was holed up.  What exactly occured is not clear.

His body interred in the Masonic Holding Vault at the Concordia Cemetery in El Paso by his wife, dressed in the uniform of a Mexican general, at a service attended by a very larger gathering of admirers.  In 1925 his remains were retuned to Chihuahua.

Why the commemorative?  I have no idea.  He is not an obscure figure in the Mexican Revolution, but not a well known one like Villa or Zapata.  I can't see where he's associated with the M1911 either, a weapon that was brand new at the time the Revolution broken out.  The .38 Super, which is apparently popular in Mexico, wasn't intruduced by Colt until 1929.

Thursday, Feburary 7, 1924. De la Huerta retreats and the M1911A1 is born.

Adolfo de la Huerta and his staff withdrew by boat to Mérida, Yucatán, after federal troops recaptured Veracruz.

Crowd going to the National Cathedral, under construction, where President Wilson had been laid to rest.

Italy recognized the Soviet Union.

Around this time, Colt began to ship what is called the "Colt Transition Model 1911", which were actually the first of the M1911A1s.

The Colt M1911 is a John Browning designed semi-automatic pistol that can legitimately be regarded s the greatest handgun ever made, although there are, or perhaps more accurately were, a few other contenders.  Other than the mostly John Browning Designed Hi Power, none of the other contenders remain in service somewhere however and the M1911 has by far the longest period of service.

Adopted by the U.S. on March 29, 1911, in 1923 the handgun received some minor modifications, the most significant of which is a curved spring housing which changed the profile of the grip.  The trigger was also shortened.  In 1924 the modified design started to ship, this month, from Colt.  The M1911A1 designation came in 1926.  

Large quantities of M1911s were made in World War One, and even larger quantities of M1911A1s were made during World War Two. So many were in fact made that no new orders were placed for M1911s through the rest of its primary service life, up to when the M9 Beretta 9mm handgun was ordered to replace it.

MEU(SOC) pistol.

The M9 actually failed to completely replace the M1911A1, although it nearly did so.  Some small quantities of M1911A1s that had been issued to officers remained in ongoing use.  In addition, the pistol never ceased being used by special troops, who favored it over the 9mm M9 due to its larger .45ACP cartridge.  The Marines nearly immediately resisted the change and adopted a reworked and custom-built M1911, with flat spring housing, as the MEU(SOC) pistol for close combat, taking in quantities of M9s at the same time.

Female Marine firing M45A1.

During the war in Afghanistan, the M1911 started to reappear in force, being rebuilt by service armorers and with some small numbers being once again purchased for special forces.  In 2012 the Marine Corps began to acquire modernized M1911s, with the flat spring housing, which were ultimately adopted as the Marine Corps service pistol with the designation M45. Theoretically, these passed out of service in 2022, but it's frankly unlikely that they fully did.  The pistol almost certain remains in use to some degree by the US.

The pistol, given all of this, has an incredibly long service life, likely the longest of any US weapon.  And the M1911 itself has rebounded in popularity and is as popular as a civilian handgun as ever, perhaps more popular than ever.  As a police weapon, it was used by the FBI for decades, and also in various cartridge chamberings by law enforcement agencies.  No handgun rivals it.

Related Threads:

Everything Old is New Again. Yeoman's laws of History and Behavior and the U.S. Military Sidearm.

The Punitive Expedition and technology. A 20th Century Expedition.

Persistent Myths XIV: The Korean War Edition

Churches of the West: Holy Days of Obligation.

Churches of the West: Holy Days of Obligation.: 

Holy Days of Obligation.

At one time, I assumed that the entire globe had the same Catholic Holy Days of Obligation, but this is not true.  No, not at all.

The United States has the following:

• Solemnity of Mary, Mother of God
• Ascension of the Lord
• Assumption of the Virgin Mary
• All Saints' Day
• Immaculate Conception of the Virgin Mary
• Christmas

In contrast, our immediate neighbor to the north, Canada, has the following:

• Solemnity of Mary, Mother of God
• Christmas

What the heck?  This seems rather light.

Mexico has the following:

• Solemnity of Mary, Mother of God
• The Body and Blood of Christ
• Christmas
• Our Lady of Guadalupe

Mexico is, of course, a Catholic country, but it has a history of anti-Catholic revolution, so that may explain it.  We share two of its four, one of which we also share with Canada.

I think frankly Canada should receive a couple of more.  Canada had its only sort of civil anti-Catholic revolution, quietly, which has made Quebec a mess, and perhaps an added Holy Day might be in order.

Having said that, Australia and New Zealand, which like Canada has a strong English history, also has only two.  The United Kingdom, however, has more than that.

Likewise, which devolved a strong Lutheran influence after at first having a very lukewarm one (Scandinavians have forgotten that the Reformation wasn't really that keenly received there at first, and then foisted upon them by a Swedish King who probably didn't believe at all), has only two.

But them, Sweden has the following:

• Solemnity of Mary, Mother of God
• Epiphany
• Feast of the Ascension
• Feast of Saints Peter and Paul
• Assumption of the Blessed Virgin Mary
• All Saints' Day
• Christmas

That's more than the U.S.  And Qatar has the following:

• Solemnity of Mary, Mother of God
• Thomas the Apostle
• Assumption of the Blessed Virgin Mary
• Birth of our Lady
• Christmas

And even Saudi Arabia has the following:

• Solemnity of Mary, Mother of God
• Assumption of the Blessed Virgin Mary
• Christmas

Serbia has only two, but it's mostly Orthodox.  So is Ukraine, but it has the following:

• Epiphany
• Presentation of the Lord
• Annunciation of the Holy Virgin Mary
• Feast of the Ascension
• Transfiguration of the Lord
• Assumption of the Blessed Virgin Mary
• Nativity of the Blessed Virgin Mary
• Exaltation of the Holy Cross
• Presentation of Mary
• Christmas

Ukraine, however, has a strong Eastern Rite Catholic tradition in its west, minority population though it is.  Its Catholic population persevered through Communism, even though its adherents were compelled to attend Orthodox services, which they did, before going to secret Catholic ones later.

Venezuela, in contrast, has a Catholic heritage, but like Canada, has only two Holy Days of Obligation.

The total possible Holy Days of Obligation are, currently:

Placed in the order of the liturgical calendar, the ten days (apart from Sundays) that this canon mentions are:

• 8 December: Solemnity of the Immaculate Conception of the Blessed Virgin Mary
• 25 December: Solemnity of the Nativity of the Lord (Christmas)
• 1 January: Solemnity of Mary, the Holy Mother of God
• 6 January: Solemnity of the Epiphany of the Lord
• 19 March: Solemnity of Saint Joseph, Spouse of the Blessed Virgin Mary
• Thursday of the sixth week of Eastertide: Solemnity of the Ascension of the Lord
• Thursday after Trinity Sunday: Solemnity of the Most Holy Body and Blood of Christ (Feast of Corpus Christi)
• 29 June: Solemnity of Saints Peter and Paul, Apostles
• 15 August: Solemnity of the Assumption of the Blessed Virgin Mary
• 1 November: Solemnity of All Saints

That's ten.

Prior to 1911, the total possible was thirty-six.   Then, as now, Bishops could reduce the number.  Today, only Vatican City and the Swiss Diocese of Lugano observe all ten, although some Dioceses have added Holy Days not on it, such as Ireland, which as St. Patrick's Day, and Germany and Hungary which have Saint Stephen's Day on 26 December, Easter Monday, and Pentecost Monday.

Now the country has fewer than two.

And two seems too few to me.

The Eastern Rite of the Catholic Church, I'd note, has the following:

• The Solemnity of the Nativity of the Lord (Christmas)
• The Epiphany
• The Ascension
• The Holy Apostles Peter and Paul
• The Dormition of Holy Mary, the Mother of God

Note, however, the situation in Ukraine.  The Orthodox have a duty of worship on the following days, although what that means is not clear to me:

• The Nativity of Our Lord, December 25
• The Circumcision of Christ, January 1
• Ascension Day, 40 Days after Pascha (Easter)
• The Assumption of the Blessed Virgin Mary, August 15
• All Saints Day, November 1
• The Conception of the Blessed Virgin Mary, December 8

In noting all of this, I feel a little bad and whiny about Holy Days, as I've often felt it a burden to get to Mass on them.  But, in my defense, I've often not grasped why no noon Mass was offered for them in my Tri Parish locality.  All in all, looking at it, I think we should add a couple to that six, and that the other country of which I am a citizen, ought to double the number of theirs.

Yes, it's a bit of a burden, and yes you stand out. But perhaps that's part of it.

Poster Saturday: Kansas.

 

September 2, 1920. Changing views.

Most of the time when I put a newspaper up here, it's to mark some big or at least interesting century old event.  Every now and then, however it's to comment on something and how it was perceived, which by extension comments on how we perceive things now.

I see around here fairly frequently stickers that say "Welcome to Wyoming--Consider everyone armed".  It's an amusing joke based on the fact that firearms are really common here.  That's been the case as long as I can personally recall, but it also refers to the fact that over the past two decades there's been a real boom in the concealed carry movement.  I've taken a look at that and its history in this old post here:

Packing Heat

Now, by mentioning this here, I don't mean to suggest that I'm opposed to these state laws allowing for concealed carry.  I'm not. But I do want to point out how carrying hasn't always been perceived the way it is now.

In 2020 we can take it for granted that the press is universally liberal, and indeed "progressive", unless we specifically know otherwise about a particular outlet.  In 1920, however, its a little more difficult to tell.  Papers were Democratic or Republican and generally weren't shy about noting it, but they were also pretty slavish followers of social trends, unless they were absolutely bucking them.   All of which makes the headline about Gerald Stack engaging in an act of "Slander" against Wyoming men interesting.

Under the same circumstances today, there aren't very many Wyoming men who would regard his comment as slanderous. Some would find it childish and inaccurate, and some on the political fringes would hold it up as a positive or negative example. But quite a few people would take some secret pride in the thought that everyone in the state was packing.

In 1920, however, Wyoming was seeking to overcome its frontier image even while preserving it. The Cheyenne newspaper knew that his comment wasn't true and pointed it out. Beyond that, they pointed it out as being slanderous. An insult, as it was, to the men of Wyoming.

Apparently it wasn't an insult to women, presumably because women weren't thought to be packing.

In actuality, quite a few people at the time, including quite a few people were packing and the ownership of pocket pistols was common.  Chicago, for its part, didn't have a gun control law addressing handguns until 1981, much later than most people would suppose, and it hasn't been a huge success by any measure.  Having said that, Illinois restricted the carrying of concealed handguns in 1949, following World War Two, at which time, contrary to our general myth, there was widespread national support for banning handguns.  New York City, in contrast, passed a firearms licensing act for concealable handguns in 1911, making the carrying of them without a license a felony.

Again, this isn't an argument for anything.  It's just an interesting look at how we often inaccurately imagine what the past was like.

On something completely different, Boy Scouts from Mansfield Ohio returned home after an epic multistate bicycle trip.

Cowgirls at the Pendleton Round Up, 1911

The Mexican Revolution. . . where we're at in terms of century delayed time.

Yesterday we ran this item:

Lex Anteinternet: Venustiano Carranza assassinated . . .: .

Venustiano Carranza assassinated . . .

on this day in 1920, by officers who had betrayed him, pretending to offer him a safe lodging for the night in the town of Tlaxcalantongo.  Sometime during the night, their forces surrounded the house and then opened fire into ito.  Oddly, the assassins then telegramed Obregon to inform him that "we are at your service" but also asked for permission to bring Carranza's body to Mexico City for burial.  Obregon replied with the comment "It is very strange that a group of officers who vouched their loyalty and honor should have permitted him to be assassinated instead of complying with your duty."

And it goes on from there.

So, where are we at on this story that we've been following for years and for which there are now 306 entries on this blog.

The story starts with the revolution against Porifirio Diaz in 1911

Well, not really.  Diaz, who had been a lieutenant of Mexican revolutionary and then president Benito Juarez, served as President of Mexico three times with his last period of dictatorial service running form 1884 until May 21, 1911.  An odd statement to an American reporter about being willing to hold elections in 1908 lead to one and ultimately he proved unwilling not to run, as he'd promised, with his running meaning an assured reelection..  That lead to the rebellion in 1910 we now call The Mexican Revolution, lead at first by the improbable Francisco Modero.

Diaz at age 77.

On this date in 1920, Diaz had been dead five years.  He'd died of natural causes at age 85 in France.

In 1911 he took to his exile and was succeeded by Francisco León de la Barra y Quijano, whom Mexican conservatives called the "white president" due to his purity.  He only served until November.

León.

During his short administration León had to attempt to deal with the growing revolution against him and the growing right wing extremism in his army.  He wouldn't succeeded, but he did succeed in outliving the revolution  He was still living in 1920 and had a career as a diplomat ahead of him.  He ultimately retired to Spain, but even there was used unofficially in this capacity as a go between between France and Spain.  He died in 1939 of natural causes.

Modero.

León's successor was Modero who was a weak president from November 1911 until he was killed in a military coup on February 19, 1913.  His death threw the country back into civil war.

The fallen Huerta.

His successor was the successful head of the coup, Victoriano Huerta.  Huerta was able to topple Modero, but he couldn't quell the revolution, and he went into exile in July 1914.  Going first to Europe and then the United States, he died an alcoholic in 1916.

His successor, Francisco Sebastián Carvajal y Gual, served for only a month before also going into exile, a victim of Huerta's failed effort to reclaim Diaz's position in Mexico.  His story was happier, however, as he met his wife in exile in the United States and he ultimately returned to Mexico in 1922 to resume his legal practice, which he occupied until his death by natural causes in 1932.

And then came Carranza.

So, so far we've seen the assassination of two of the real revolutionary presidents of Mexico, the odd but admirable Modero and the determined and not so admirable Carranza.  And we've seen the exile of three of the right wing pretenders, two of whom had died by natural causes.

Not dying by natural causes up to this point were thousands of Mexican soldiers who had fought on both sides of the Mexican Revolution, and in some cases literally on both sides.  Included in that number was Emiliano Zapata, the greatest of the Mexican revolutionaries, who was its best post Modero hope.

And the revolution was getting increasingly extreme. Having gone from a hope for democracy with Modero it was coming to increasingly reflect the extreme left wing politics of revolutions of its age, something that would have ill consequences for Mexico in coming years.

Indeed, a real oddity of Mexico's post Maximillian politics in general, up to this point, is how radical it was even when seemingly combined with conservative elements.  If Diaz sometimes dressed like Napoleon, his politics, he in some ways was like him.  He was a political liberal but one who did not trust the democratic process.  Ultimately he governed as a moderate liberal with a focus on stability.  Even today he is credited with having laid the foundations for modern Mexico.  His real fault was in not trusting democracy and running for reelection in 1910, when he promised not to.

Had Diaz held to his initial promise, Modero would have been elected in 1910.   Whether Diaz stepping away from politics voluntarily would have necessarily resulted in a Mexican army that would have accepted the election is another question, and one we will never know the answer to.  Had that occured, Mexico would have stepped into being a true democracy in 1910, something that would take another century to occur.  Diaz's failure to trust his own people lead to a revolution in which propelled radicals to the top.  One of those radicals was Carranza, who ended up sharing that lack of trust with Diaz.  He sought to dictate the results of the upcoming 1920 Mexican election, which in turn lead to his bloody end in May, 1920.  That put Obregon in the position of being the assured ultimate next president of the country, with extreme radicals rising up right behind him.

Tuesday, August 25, 1914. German murders in Belgium.

The German Army sacked Leuven, Belgium.  248 civilians were killed and the entire population of the city of 10,000 expelled.  156 civilians were killed in Aarschot, 211 in Andenne, 383 in Tamines, and 674 in Dinant.

300,000 Medieval texts were lost at the Catholic University of Leuven in a fire set by the Germans.

German barbarities did not start in 1939, they started in 1914.

German actions against Belgium's civilian population would not be forgotten during the war, and would be used against it.

The Austro Hungarian Army prevailed at  Kraśnik,

Pyotr Nesterov rammed his Morane-Saulnier Type G into an Austrian Albatros BII, killing all involved, but making him the first aviator to down another aircraft in combat.

British and French forces took Togoland.

Japan declared war against Austro Hungaria.

Emiliano Zapata agreed to accept the Constitutionalist government on the condition that it accept the Plan of Ayala, which had been drafted in 1911, and which had objected to Modero.  The Plan stated:

Liberating Plan of the sons of the State of Morelos, affiliated with the Insurgent Army that defends the fulfillment of the Plan of San Luis, with the reforms which it has believed proper to add in benefit of the Mexican Fatherland.

We who undersign, constituted in a revolutionary junta to sustain and carry out the promises which the revolution of November 20, 1910, just past, made to the country, declare solemnly before the face of the civilized world which judges us and before the nation to which we belong and which we call [sic, love], propositions which we have formulated to end the tyranny which oppresses us and redeem the fatherland from the dictatorships which are imposed on us, which [propositions] are determined in the following plan:

1. Taking into consideration that the Mexican people led by Don Francisco I. Madero went to shed their blood to reconquer liberties and recover their rights which had been trampled on, and for a man to take possession of power, violating the sacred principles which he took an oath to defend under the slogan “Effective Suffrage and No Reelection,” outraging thus the faith, the cause, the justice, and the liberties of the people: taking into consideration that that man to whom we refer is Don Francisco I. Madero, the same who initiated the above-cited revolution, who imposed his will and influence as a governing norm on the Provisional Government of the ex-President of the Republic Attorney Francisco L. de Barra [sic], causing with this deed repeated shedding of blood and multiple misfortunes for the fatherland in a manner deceitful and ridiculous, having no intentions other than satisfying his personal ambitions, his boundless instincts as a tyrant, and his profound disrespect for the fulfillment of the preexisting laws emanating from the immortal code of ’57 [Constitution of 1857], written with the revolutionary blood of Ayutla;

Taking into account that the so-called Chief of the Liberating Revolution of Mexico, Don Francisco I. Madero, through lack of integrity and the highest weakness, did not carry to a happy end the revolution which gloriously he initiated with the help of God and the people, since he left standing most of the governing powers and corrupted elements of oppression of the dictatorial government of Porfirio Díaz, which are not nor can in any way be the representation of National Sovereignty, and which, for being most bitter adversaries of ours and of the principles which even now we defend, are provoking the discomfort of the country and opening new wounds in the bosom of the fatherland, to give it its own blood to drink; taking also into account that the aforementioned Sr. Francisco I. Madero, present President of the Republic, tries to avoid the fulfillment of the promises which he made to the Nation in the Plan of San Luis Potosí, being [sic, restricting] the above-cited promises to the agreements of Ciudad Juárez, by means of false promises and numerous intrigues against the Nation nullifying, pursuing, jailing, or killing revolutionary elements who helped him to occupy the high post of President of the Republic;

Taking into consideration that the so-often-repeated Francisco I. Madero has tried with the brute force of bayonets to shut up and to drown in blood the pueblos who ask, solicit, or demand from him the fulfillment of the promises of the revolution, calling them bandits and rebels, condemning them to a war of extermination without conceding or granting a single one of the guarantees which reason, justice, and the law prescribe; taking equally into consideration that the President of the Republic Francisco I. Madero has made of Effective Suffrage a bloody trick on the people, already against the will of the same people imposing Attorney José M. Pino Suáez in the Vice-Presidency of the Republic, or [imposing as] Governors of the States [men] designated by him, like the so-called General Ambrosio Figueroa, scourge and tyrant of the people of Morelos, or entering into chains and follow the pattern of a new dictatorship more shameful and more terrible than that of Porfirio Díaz, for it has been clear and patent that he has outraged the sovereignty of the States, trampling on the laws without any respect  for lives or interests, as has happened in the State of Morelos, and others, leading them to the most horrendous anarchy which contemporary history registers.

For these considerations we declare the aforementioned Francisco I. Madero inept at realizing the promises of the revolution of which he was the author, because he has betrayed the principles with which he tricked the will of the people and was able to get into power: incapable of governing, because he has no respect for the law and justice of the pueblos, and a traitor to the fatherland, because he is humiliating in blood and fire, Mexicans who want liberties, so as to please the científicos, landlords, and bosses who enslave us, and from today on we begin to continue the revolution begun by him, until we achieve the overthrow of the dictatorial powers which exist.

2. Recognition is withdrawn from S. Francisco I. Madero as Chief of the Revolution and as President of the Republic, for the reasons which before were expressed, it being attempted to overthrow this official.

3. Recognized as Chief of the Liberating Revolution is the illustrious General Pascual Orozco, the second of the Leader Don Francisco I. Madero, and in case he does not accept this delicate post, recognition as Chief of the Revolution will go to General Don Emiliano Zapata.

4. The Revolutionary Junta of the State of Morelos manifests to the Nation under formal oath: that it makes its own the plan of San Luis Potosí, with the additions which are expressed below in benefit of the oppressed pueblos, and it will make itself the defender of the principles it defends until victory or death.

5. The Revolutionary Junta of the State of Morelos will admit no transactions or compromises until it achieves the overthrow of the dictatorial elements of Porfirio Díaz and Francisco I. Madero, for the nation is tired of false men and traitors who make promises like liberators and who on arriving in power forget them and constitute themselves tyrants.

6. As an additional part of the plan, we invoke, we give notice: that [regarding] the fields, timber, and water which the landlords, científicos, or bosses have usurped, the pueblos or citizens who have the titles corresponding to those properties will immediately enter into possession of that real estate of which they have been despoiled by the bad faith of our oppressors, maintain at any cost with arms in hand the mentioned possession; and the usurpers who consider themselves with a right to them [those properties] will deduce it before the special tribunals which will be established on the triumph of the revolution.

7. In virtue of the fact that the immense majority of Mexican pueblos and citizens are owners of no more than the land they walk on, suffering the horrors of poverty without being able to improve their social condition in any way or to dedicate themselves to Industry or Agriculture, because lands, timber, and water are monopolized in a few hands, for this cause there will be expropriated the third part of those monopolies from the powerful proprietors of them, with prior indemnization, in order that the pueblos and citizens of Mexico may obtain ejidos, colonies, and foundations for pueblos, or fields for sowing or laboring, and the Mexicans’ lack of prosperity and well-being may improve in all and for all.

8. The landlords, científicos, or bosses who oppose the present plan directly or indirectly, their goods will be nationalized and the two-third parts which [otherwise would] belong to them will go for indemnizations of war, pensions for widows and orphans of the victims who succumb in the struggle for the present plan.

9. In order to execute the procedures regarding the properties aforementioned, the laws of disamortization and nationalization will be applied as they fit, for serving us as norm and example can be those laws put in force by the immortal Juárez on ecclesiastical properties, which punished the despots and conservatives who in every time have tried to impose on us the ignominious yoke of oppression and backwardness.

10. The insurgent military chiefs of the Republic who rose up with arms in hand at the voice of Don Francisco I. Madero to defend the plan of San Luis Potosí, and who oppose with armed force the present plan, will be judged traitors to the cause which they defended and to the fatherland, since at present many of them, to humor the tyrants, for a fistful of coins, or for bribes or connivance, are shedding the blood of their brothers who claim the fulfillment of the promises which Don Francisco I. Madero made to the nation.

11. The expenses of war will be taken in conformity with Article 11 of the Plan of San Luis Potosí, and all procedures employed in the revolution we undertake will be in conformity with the same instructions, which the said plan determines.

12. Once triumphant the revolution which we carry into the path of reality, a Junta of the principal revolutionary chiefs from the different States will name or designate an interim President of the Republic, who will convoke elections for the organization of the federal powers.

13. The principal revolutionary chiefs of each State will designate in Junta the Governor of the State to which they belong, and this appointed official will convoke elections for the due organization of the public powers, the object being to avoid compulsory appointments which work the misfortune of the pueblos, like the so-well-known appointment of Ambrosio Figueroa in the State of Morelos and others who drive us to the precipice of bloody conflicts sustained by the caprice of the dictator Madero and the circle of científicos and landlords who have influenced him.

14. If President Madero and other dictatorial elements of the present and former regime want to avoid the immense misfortunes which afflict the fatherland, and [if they] possess true sentiments of love for it, let them make immediate renunciation of the posts they occupy and with that they will with something staunch the grave wounds which they have opened in the bosom of the fatherland, since, if they do not do so, on their heads will fall the blood and the anathema of our brothers.

15. Mexicans: consider that the cunning and bad faith of one man is shedding blood in a scandalous manner, because he is incapable of governing; consider that his system of government is choking the fatherland and trampling with the brute force of bayonets on our institutions; and thus, as we raised up our weapons to elevate him to power, we again raise them up against him for defaulting on his promises to the Mexican people and for having betrayed the revolution initiated by him, we are not personalists, we are partisans of principles and not of men!

Mexican People, support this plan with arms in hand and you will make the prosperity and well-being of the fatherland.

Ayala, November 25, 1911

Liberty, Justice and Law

Signed, General in Chief Emiliano Zapata; Generals Eufemio Zapata, Francisco Mendoza, Jesús Morales, Jesús Navarro, Otilio E. Montaño, José Trinidad Ruiz, Próculo Capistrán; Colonels…; Captains… [This] is a true copy taken from the original. Camp in the Mountains of Puebla, December 11, 1911. Signed General in Chief Emiliano Zapata.

The Canadian Arctic Expedition rescue ship Bear was stopped by sea ice 20 miles from Wrangel Island and had to turn around and return to Nome for more coal.

Last edition:

Monday, August 24, 1914. The Great Retreat and Winnie The Pooh.

Labels: 1910s, 1914, Animals, Battle of Lorraine, Bears, British Army, Canadian Army, cavalry, French Army, Great Retreat, World War One

Wedneday, June 17, 1914. Successful Rebels. White Wolves and Pancho's.

The "White Wolf", rebel  Bai Lang, broke through a Chinese Army blockade numbering 5,000 men with his 1,000.

Bai Yung-chang, or Bai Langzai, or Bai Lang, the latter of which was a pseudonym, was a 41-year-old rebel and one time governor of Henan and almost bandit, dissuaded from that fate after killing a man in a fight by his family.  He'd been trained in the military arts in Japan and had served in the Beiyang Army after the outbreak of the Chinese rebellion of 1911.  The tugid politics of revolutionary China drove him into allegiance with the bandit forces of Du Quiin.

The Revolution of 1911 has never really resolved, sharing therefore a bit of the history of the Mexican Revolution, which didn't resolve until 2000 with the election of Vicente Fox.  Fox established that Mexico had evolved from a one party state into a true democracy, one which has a solid middle class, no matter how much Mexicans and Americans refuse to believe it, today.  China, on the other hand, fell into an ineffective chaotic republic that collapsed into civil war, from which the Chinese Communist Party emerged as the one party ruler.  Ultimately, and likely soon, that party will fall and a true Chinese republic will emerge, but it's taking quite some time to occur.  Still, no matter its bluster, the current People's Republic of China, will evolve into something else, just as Revolutionary Mexico did.

Another bandit/rebel was in the news in 1914, José Doroteo Arango Arámbula, but by his pseudonym as well, Pancho Villa.

The Mexican Federal government of Gen. Huerta was collapsing, and as it collapsed the news increasing turned towards the spectacular victories of the rebel Ejército del Norte and its leader, Pancho Villa.  And with that, speculation was rampant that Villa would declare himself held of state.

In fact, Villa, who had been fanatically loyal to Modero, was not yet disloyal to Carranza. . . but that day was coming.

Last prior edition:

Sunday, June 14, 1914. Flag Day

Labels: 1910s, 1914, Austro Hungaria, Flag Day, Holidays, Italy, Red Week, Serbia

Tuesday, April 14, 1914. Opening Day and Threats in Mexico.

 

Imperial Russia annexed the Uryankhay Republic (Outer Mongolia) in a move that helps explain why Russia and China aren't really pals.

The region had been part of China until it broke away during the 1911 Revolution.

Ogden Utah, April 14, 1914.

Last prior edition:

Easter Sunday, April 12, 1914. Rumblings of revolution.

1910s, 1914, Bicycle Racing, Easter, France, Franklin Roosevelt, Joseph M. Carey, Protestant, religion, Russia, Unions, Wyoming

Saturday, July 10, 1909. An agreement on Chinese students.

Two years before the fateful revolution of 1911, the United States and Qing China entered into an agreement which allowed select Chinese students to enroll at American universities. 

Flag of the Qing Dynasty.

The Qing Dynasty had been in existence since 1644.  That would come to an end in 1912.  China has pretty much been in some sort of political mess since then, although it certainly had plenty of problems before that.

A wreck on Long Island, July 10, 1909.

Last edition:

Thursday, July 8, 1909. Night game.

Labels: 1900s, 1909, Agriculture, baseball, children, Maryland, Sports, United Kingdom, Women