Miguel Martinez was just like any normal peasant living through the Porfiriato, a period of time before the Mexican Revolution when Porfirio Diaz remained president for 35 years, where peasants worked in poverty and were oppressed by the rich. When the Mexican Revolution started, he was 25-years-old, working as a miner, just like his father. Miguel’s parents died because of illness when Miguel was 15, at that time, their family did not have the money to get cured. After the death of his parents, Miguel lived on his own, since he had no siblings. He began to hope that Diaz could be replaced and Mexico could change for peasants to have a better life. Miguel discovered that he had a gift in fighting, he was strong and skilled, so he joined Madero’s revolutionary army. After Madero failed, he became a Carranza supporter, and soon got noticed for his outstanding performance in the army. The Mexico Revolution affected his life significantly. Miguel was killed by Obregon because he refused to turn to Obregon’s side after Carranza’s death.
The Mexican Revolution was an important period of time for Mexico’s development as a country. After Porfirio Diaz got into power in 1876 he brought peace to Mexico, but the life conditions for rural poor were horrible. Diaz thought Mexico would be quickly developed if they worked with the U.S. and other foreign countries, but to some people, they think Mexico was becoming more like a colony to the U.S.. Diaz pushed modernization by building railways, but it did not benefit the poor. Most of the wealth that Mexico earned from the modernization went to the rich, Diaz, and Cientificos, who were Diaz’s technocratic advisors. At that time, Mexicans were marginalized based on the social levels and also race. Workers had to work in haciendas, which were large states in the hands of the rich. They way people had to work were similar to feudal systems, where owners of lands had absolute power. After the Mexican revolution, life quality improved a lot. After Obregon, his successor implemented educational initiative, which give poor in the rural areas ability to receive education. Ejido was given to the peasants, where workers working in lands got their own land, and no longer need to work under the rich. Secretariat of public education influenced the arts and literature in Mexico. Even thought the Mexican Revolution was bloody and caused death, it was an important step in Mexican history.