Second Battle of Torreon

The Second Battle of Torreon was a vicious military engagement of the Mexican Revolution. It was fought between Pancho Villa's Northern Division and the Victoriano Huerta's federal army, under Jose Velasco, from March 25 to April 2, 1914, in Torreon, Coahuila, northern Mexico. The strongly protected citadel of Terreon had already fallen into the revolutionaries' hands in 1913. However, it had recently been retaken by the dictator's federal army.

Pancho Villa was the commander of the Northern Division. The second in command was General Felipe Angeles, a highly qualified and skillful artillery officer, who had fought under Francisco Madero when the Revolution broke out in 1910. Fire support provided by the French-made 75-mm M1897 guns was key for Pancho Villa to be able to take Torreon by assault in cavalry charges. Right before every attack launched by Villa, the citadel was heavily pounded by direct gun fire, which opened wide breaches in the defensive redoubts and walls.

Right before the Second Battle of Torreon began, Felipe Angeles deployed most of his guns on a low hill, which was west of the city. Preceded by a series of skirmishes, the first assault on Torreon started on March 25, with a fierce attack on La Pila forts, which were heavily defended by the federal forces. After two days and a series of courageous assaults launched by Villa, the revolutionaries were able to take La Pila.

On March 28, Pancho Villa would unleash other ferocious attacks against enemy positions in other parts of the city. Finally, on April 2, after intense fighting all throughout the city, Torreon was completely taken by the revolutionaries, with the capture of La Polvadera, Eladio Contreras and Calabazas forts.

Below, Pancho Villa on horseback as the Northern Division close in on Torreon before the final attack.

French-made 75-mm guns of the Villas's artillery unit, under Felipe Angeles. At the time it was one of the most advanced gun as it was used in World War I. First produced in 1897, it was the first artillery piece in the world fitted with hydraulic recoil system.

Mexican Revolution

The Mexican Revolution was a civil war which took place in Mexico between 1910 and 1920. It was the most violent and viciously-fought armed conflict in the history of Latin America. Not only did it put an end to the dictatorship of Porfirio Diaz and Huerta but also to a feudal-type economy, where extremely wealthy land owners exploited and overworked peasants, who lived miserably in the shackles of serfdom.

Causes

Basically, there were two causes of the Mexican Revolution; one political, and the other social. 1) political: the autocracy of President Porfirio Diaz and the electoral frauds he arranged to perpetuate himself in power as he had been in office for more than 30 years, since 1876; 2) social: the adverse economic predicament of the Mexican peasants who were forced to work for a very low pay on the “haciendas” (rich man’s ranch).

Summary

The Mexican Revolution began in November 1910, when presidential candidate Francisco Madero rose up against the long rule of Porfirio Díaz, demanding honest and transparent elections. Madero was supported by other revolutionaries, such as Pancho Villa and Emiliano Zapata, who demanded agrarian reforms to relieve the dire straits in which the landless Mexican peasants were bogged down in.

Having been defeated at the battle of Ciudad Juarez in May 1911, Porfirio Díaz abdicated and went into exile after signing the Treaty of Ciudad Juarez. The liberal government established under Francisco Madero tried to implement a series of political and social reforms, an important component of which was the breaking up of large estates and the parceling out of sections to the landless peasants. However, in 1913, Madero was assassinated in a counter-revolution on behalf of the landholders, led by General Victoriano Huerta, who set up a reactionary regime with himself as provisional president. Although American Ambassador to Mexico, Henry Lane Wilson, who had been appointed as such in 1909 during the Taft Administration, had backed Huerta’s coup de’etat against Madero, Woodrow Wilson Administration refused to recognize the new regime, stating that Victoriano Huerta did not represent the will of the Mexican people.

As a result of Madero assassination, his friend Venustiano Carranza revolted against the Huerta’s regime. Three revolutionary armies fought against Huerta’s army: the Constitutionalist Army of Carranza, under the command of Alvaro Obregon, the Division of the North, led by Pancho Villa, and the Liberating Army of the South, commanded by Emiliano Zapata. After the vicious Battle of Zacatecas (June 23, 1914), in which Pancho Villa defeated the government forces, General Victoriano Huerta was forced to resign and go into exile as the Constitutionalist Venustiano Carranza took office and a new constitution was passed. In 1917, Carranza was elected president by the Mexican people. Nevertheless, the Mexican Revolution continued as Pancho Villa and Emiliano Zapata rebelled against Carranza government. After four years of fierce battles, the Northern Division of Villa and the Southern Army of Zapata were defeated by the Federal Army, under General Obregon. In 1919, Emiliano Zapata was killed in an ambush, and Pancho Villa was assassinated in 1923.

Below, Pancho Villa and his Division of the North troops right before the 2nd Battle of Torreon in March 1914

A French-made 75mm gun M1897 used by Carranza’s Army

Real footage of the Mexican Revolution vicious fighting (video).

Battle of Ciudad Juarez

The Battle of Ciudad Juarez was one of the first military engagements of the Mexican Revolution. It was fought between the revolutionary forces, under Pascual Orozco, and the federal army, on May 10, 1911, near and in the city of Juarez, right on the border with the United States of America.

The Battle of Ciudad Juarez was part of the armed rebellion against the Mexican dictator Porfirio Diaz. He had sent the federal troops to the north of the country to quell the revolutionary uprising and attack the rebels, who were headed by Francisco Madero, Pascual Orozco, Pancho Villa, and Emiliano Zapata.

Pascual Orozco was a good commander as he had previously defeated General Juan Navarro and his forces in El Mal Paso Canyon, on January 2, 1911. This time, his army was much stronger as it had been beefed up with Pancho Villa’s men. The fighting at Ciudad Juarez was vicious as they attacked it from the west and south side. About 70% of the revolutionaries used Winchester repeating rifles (M1873 and M1886), while the rest of the rebel troops employed either Remington or Springfield bolt-action rifles. This victory at Ciudad Juarez was so important that the dictator Porfirio Diaz was forced to step down from power and to flee into exile.

Below, two revolutionaries aiming their Winchester rifles at the federal forces on the outskirt of Ciudad Juarez.

Orozco’s rebels looking for enemy soldiers right after the battle.

Battle of Zacatecas

The Battle of Zacatecas was fought between the Northern Division, led by Felipe Angeles (Pancho Villa’s General), and the federal army, commanded by Luis Medina Barron (president Victoriano Huerta’s General), on June 23, 1914, in Zacatecas, during the second phase of the Mexican Revolution. The Northern Division thoroughly defeated the federal army of Huerta, who was forced to resign and escape to Europe as a result.

Francisco Madero had started the Mexican Revolution by rising up against dictator Porfirio Diaz, who had been defeated and forced to go into exile. Then, Madero was elected president of Mexico. However, he was ousted from Office during a revolt organized by men who used to work for the old regime; one of them was Victoriano Huerta (Diaz’s former army commander). Having defeated and executed Francisco Madero, Victoriano Huerta had himself proclaimed president of Mexico. As a result, Pancho Villa, Emiliano Zapata, and Venustiano Carranza rose up against the new dictator, who sent the federal army to the north to crush the rebel forces.

About 11,000 federal troops had been stationed by Huerta in and around the city of Zacatecas to stop the advance of Pancho Villa’s Northern Division. Huerta’s men were commanded by General Medina Barron, who deployed some units on two of the hills that surrounded the city, while Pancho Villa put his troops under the command of General Felipe Angeles, who was a very good tactician. The Battle of Zacatecas began at about 10 AM in the morning of June 23, 1914, with artillery barrage on the federal army positions on the hills overlooking the town. Having taken the hill summits, Pancho Villa’s men attacked the city, which was captured after ferocious fighting.

Below, French-made 75-mm guns employed to provide fire support to the infantry of the Northern Division, under Pancho Villa and and General Felipe Angeles.

Below, an old daguerrotype photo taken at the end of the fall of Zacatecas. You can see Pancho Villa on his horse.

Franco-Prussian War

The Franco-Prussian War was an armed confrontation between Prussia and France in the second half of the 19th century. It took place from August 2, 1870, to May 1871, in France. Backed by the German Confederation, Prussia obtained the victory, which paved the way for the unification of the German states and Prussia into one nation. This is how the German Empire arose again as the Second Reich, which would become an European super power ruled by William I, Hohenzollern.

The Franco-Prussian War was the last military conflict in Europe in which cavalry was still an effective fighting force, and the first one that saw the introduction of modern breech-loading guns and the use of trains to transport troops by the Prussian Army.

Cause of the war

The reason for France to declare the war on Prussia was the possible ascension of a candidate from Prussian Hohenzollern House to the Spanish throne. This was opposed by the French on the grounds that it would mean the rise of Prussia’s hegemony over Europe as it would be geopolitically pressured on a direct neighboring border; the Spanish border. Thus, the French government had sent an ultimatum to the King of Prussia, William I, to withdraw the candidacy. To avoid an eminent military conflict, the Prussian king accepted the French demand and withdrew it. However, in order to humiliate Prussia, the French Emperor, Napoleon III (Louis Napoleon), demanded William I to renounce any possible further Hohenzollern candidature to the Spanish throne. The Prussian king refused as his Prime Minister Otto von Bismarck handed over the French second ultimatum to the press. As a result, the French declared war on Prussia.

Summary

The Franco-Prussian War was a six-month military campaign, in which the Prussian-German forces defeated the French in a series of battles fought across northern France. To carry it out successfully, the Prussians made use of the train, for the first time in history, to massively transport their infantry, cavalry, and artillery, which was superior to the French, for they were modern breech-loaders howitzers and not the old French muzzle-loaders. Thus, in a matter of days, the Prussians mobilized the 1st, 2nd, and 3rd Army under the command of Helmuth von Moltke, to the French border.

Although the Franco-Prussian War began when the French II Corps, deployed on the border, had taken Saarbrücken on August 2, the most important military engagement of the conflict was the Battle of Sedan. This military engagement took place on September 1, 1870; during this military engagement, Napoleon III was captured and forced to abdicate. When the French government collapsed, a revolt broke out in Paris at the beginning of 1871 and the French Third Republic was declared.

However, the war raged on. While Paris was being besieged by the Prussian Army, the German states proclaimed their union under the King of Prussia as William I. This monarch was declared Emperor of the German Empire in the Hall of Mirrors, Versailles, on January 18, 1871. Paris finally fell on January 28, 1871. Not only did the German states and Prussia became united, but they also recovered the Alsace and the Lorraine, two German regions which had been taken away from Germany by the French at the end of the Thirty Years War. Thus, the Franco-Prussian War led to the unification of the fragmented German states and feuds into one powerful empire.

Below, daguerrotype photo of Prussian troops in formation in Paris after the French surrender.

Prussian troops carrying a gun in northern France.

Siege of Paris 1870

The Siege of Paris (1870) was the encirclement of the French Army trapped in the city of Paris by the Prussians. It took place at the end of the Franco-Prussian War, entailing a long static battle and blockade to force a surrender of the French forces. The Prussian Army, under the command of General Leonhard Graf von Blumenthal, besieged the retreating 190,000 French Army regulars and 150,000 militia, commanded by Louis Jules Trochu, in the capital of France, from September 19, 1870, to January 28, 1871.

Summary

Chasing the French that had been falling back after the last couple of severe defeats, the Prussian and German forces soon surrounded Paris, which was defended by a system of fortresses. The Prussian Army made use of the new breech-loading heavy guns, which were set up in batteries all around the French capital. After more than four months of fierce fighting and heavy bombing, the French commander surrendered to the Prussians on January 28, 1871. The Siege of Paris included three battles: the Battle of Le Bourget, the Battle of Villiers, and the Battle of Buzenval, fought on the outskirts of Paris, and the shelling of parts of the city. During the encirclement of the city, the Parisians suffered extreme food shortages and, hence, starvation.

French forces could not do much to oppose the formidable Prussian military machine, for the French Army, under Louis Napoleon III, had already been defeated and decimated at the Battle of Sedan on September 1, 1870; 18 days before the siege began. Ten days before the French surrendered the city of Paris to the beleaguering army, the Prussian Emperor, William I, Hohenzollern, was proclaimed German Emperor in Versailles, France, attaining the German unification under one crown. Thus, the Franco-Prussian War was definitely brought to an end by the Treaty of Frankfurt, signed on May 10, 187. Having emerged victorious, the Prussian Empire, now Germany, was able to recover Alsace and Loraine, which the French had taken away during the Thirty Years War in the 17th century.

Map of Paris being besieged by the Prussian/German forces

Photograph of Paris after having been bombarded by Prussian artillery

Battle of Sedan

The Battle of Sedan was a military engagement fought between the Prussian Army, under the command of Helmuth von Moltke, and the French Army, led by Patrice de Mac-Mahon and Napoleon III, on September 1, 1870, at Sedan, France, during the Franco-Prussian War.

Summary

Having lost to the Prussians at the Battle of Beaumont on August 30, 1870, the French forces had been on the run for 24 hours; however, von Moltke managed to encircle the French Army at the town of Sedan, with him launching a frontal assault at the enemy, while other Prussian/German forces attacked from the north and west, using heavy artillery barrage, which punched big holes in the French lines. Despite the French cavalry counterattack, which was conducted in three waves under General Margueritte, the Prussian units charging from the East tore up the French infantry lines as Margueritte’s attack ground to a halt, with him himself getting killed in action.

Weapons

At the 1870 Battle of Sedan, the French troops were armed with the Chassepot rifle, a breech-loading, bolt-action rifle, which gave the French more fire power. Nevertheless, the Prussians were equipped with steel breech-loading cannons designed by Alfred Krupps, which had a range of up to 7,600 yards (7,000 m) and could devastate French formations as they formed up far from the battlefield. At the end of the battle, Napoleon III surrendered his sword to Otto von Bismarck, the German Chancellor who accompanied Helmut von Moltke.

Opposing forces

Prussian Army: 190,000 men (infantry, cavalry, and artillery).

French Army: 145,000 troops.

The map below shows the French troops surrounded on all sides by the Prussian Army during the Battle of Sedan.