In Our Time - The Mexican Revolution

Melvyn Bragg and his guests discuss the Mexican Revolution. In 1908 the President of Mexico, Porfirio Diaz, gave an interview to an American journalist. He was 77 and had ruled the country in autocratic fashion for over thirty years. He discussed the country's economic development and spoke of his intention to retire to his country estate after overseeing a transition to multiparty democracy. Things did not turn out quite like that. Two years later Diaz was toppled by a popular uprising. It was the beginning of a tumultuous decade in which different factions fought for supremacy, and power changed hands many times. The conflict completely changed the face of the country, and resulted in the emergence of Mexico's most celebrated folk hero: Emiliano Zapata. With: Alan Knight Professor of the History of Latin America at the University of Oxford Paul Garner Cowdray Professor of Spanish at the University of Leeds Patience Schell Senior Lecturer in Latin American Cultural Studies at the University of Manchester. Producer: Thomas Morris.