An Assessment of the U.S. Punitive Expedition of 1916 by Roger Soiset - Divergent Options
Prior to the 9/11 attacks was Pancho Villa’s 1916 attack on Columbus, New Mexico. Large-scale efforts to capture Villa failed. Border violence continued until the success of a more focused U.S. response in 1919. Today the U.S.-Mexico border remains unsecured and discussions continue to determine the best approach.
The attack by Al Qaeda on 9/11/2001 was the second such attack on the continental U.S., the first being in the 20th century. In view of ongoing discussions about U.S. border security, it is useful to look at the U.S. response to terrorist attacks from Mexico a hundred years ago.
Emerging as the hero of the Mexican Revolution was Francisco Madero, elected president in 1911 and soon enjoying cordial relations with U.S. President Woodrow Wilson. The U.S. and Mexico both had presidents who were liberal reformers until Madero was murdered. Madero’s purported murderer was his successor, Victoriana Huerta. Following Madero’s death, rebellions promptly broke out in several areas, led by men like “Pancho” Villa, Emiliano Zapata, and Venustiano Carranza.
The U.S. had already occupied a Mexican seaport, Veracruz, in April 1914 in order to prevent the landing of arms for rebels by a German ship. Believed to be Mausers direct from Hamburg, it turned out the rifles were Remingtons from New York, but that was not discovered until later. The occupation of Veracruz lasted five months and saw lives lost on both sides. Huerta’s departure in 1915, the successful blocking of “German” arms and U.S. recognition of Carranza’s government smoothed the troubled U.S.-Mexico relations for everyone except Pancho Villa. Wilson’s arms embargo applied to all the parties involved in the revolution except for the legitimate government, so this meant Carranza was not affected–but Villa was...