Mexico, 1910–1920

Hybrid Regime · Republic · Central America · Great War Era era

The Mexican Revolution, a decade of civil war and social upheaval that overthrew the Díaz dictatorship and produced a landmark 1917 constitution.

The Mexican Revolution began with the overthrow of Porfirio Díaz’s long dictatorship and became a decade-long, multi-sided civil war among constitutionalists, Villa, Zapata and others over land, labor and political power. Violence and displacement were immense. The 1917 constitution enshrined agrarian reform, labor rights and anticlerical and resource-nationalist provisions that shaped the later state.

Open Mexico 1910–1920 in the interactive 3D atlas →

Dominant patterns

  • Institutional Decay
  • Revolutionary Risk
  • Militarization
  • Economic Crisis
  • External Expansion

Political-science factor profile

Each factor 0–100; higher = stronger authoritarian / crisis pole (except institutional stability, where higher = stronger institutions).

Centralization of Power30
Media Control40
Repression60
Nationalism60
Militarization82
Economic Stress72
External Conflict55
Cult of Personality45
Elite Fragmentation88
Institutions25
Social Polarization78
Corruption & Patrimonialism55
Ideological Mobilization55
External Sovereignty82

Economy & society

GDP per capita$1700 (intl-$)
GDP growth-3%/yr
Population15.0M people
Share of world population0.86%
Urban share30%
Territory~2.0M km²
Capital population~700k

Closest historical twins

The country-eras whose structural profile most resembles Mexico 1910–1920, by similarity score (0–100).

  1. Gran Colombia, 1819–1831 – similarity 84/100 · shared: Institutional Decay, Revolutionary Risk, Militarization, External Expansion
  2. China, 1911–1916 – similarity 83/100 · shared: Institutional Decay, Revolutionary Risk, Militarization, Economic Crisis
  3. Mexico, 1821–1848 – similarity 82/100 · shared: Institutional Decay, Revolutionary Risk, Militarization, External Expansion
  4. Haiti, 1791–1804 – similarity 81/100 · shared: Institutional Decay, Revolutionary Risk, Militarization, Economic Crisis, External Expansion
  5. Poland, 1918–1935 – similarity 77/100 · shared: Institutional Decay, Revolutionary Risk, Militarization, Economic Crisis, External Expansion
  6. Roman Republic, 80–44 BCE – similarity 76/100 · shared: Institutional Decay, Revolutionary Risk, Militarization, External Expansion
  7. Egypt, 2011–2014 – similarity 75/100 · shared: Institutional Decay, Revolutionary Risk, Militarization, Economic Crisis
  8. China, 1937–1945 – similarity 75/100 · shared: Institutional Decay, Revolutionary Risk, Militarization, Economic Crisis, External Expansion

What followed

  • Overthrow of the Porfirian order and land reform.
  • A decade of factional civil war.