Mexican Revolution: Encyclopedia II - Mexican Revolution - United States involvement

Mexican Revolution - United States involvement

The U.S. ambassador to Mexico, Henry Lane Wilson, was involved in plotting the February 1913 coup d'état that overthrew Francisco I. Madero and installed Victoriano Huerta.

On April 9, 1914, officials in the port of Tampico, Tamaulipas, arrested a group of U.S. sailors — including, crucially, at least one taken from on board his ship, and thus from U.S. territory. Mexico's failure to apologize in the terms demanded led to the U.S. navy's bombardment of the port of Veracruz and the occupation of that city for seven months; see Tampico Affair.

In 1916, Pancho Villa crossed the U.S. border and attacked the town of Columbus, New Mexico; this was the sole invasion by a foreign armed corps of the continental U.S. in the 20th century. This raid led the U.S. to send a force under General John Pershing into Mexico, which spent 11 months unsuccessfully chasing him in the punitive Pancho Villa Expedition (March 1916 – February 1917).

The Zimmermann Telegram affair of January 1917, while it did not lead to direct U.S. intervention, also took place against the backdrop of the Constitutional Convention and exacerbated tensions between the USA and Mexico.

Adapted from the Wikipedia article "United States involvement", under the G.N U Free Docmentation License. Please also see http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki