Modern nations — leaders and challenges
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Question
What was the Porfiriato?
Answer
Porfirio Díaz's 34-year rule of Mexico, 1876-1911, ended by the Mexican Revolution.
Question
Who were the científicos?
Answer
Díaz's technocratic advisors who followed Positivism, believing in "order and progress" through scientific, expert-led government.
Question
What philosophy did the científicos follow, and what did it claim?
Answer
Positivism — the belief that strict social order and scientific, rational planning would produce national progress.
Question
Who was José Yves Limantour and what did he achieve?
Answer
Díaz's científico finance minister; balanced Mexico's federal budget and attracted foreign investment from 1893.
Question
What did "pan o palo" mean in Díaz's political strategy?
Answer
"Bread or the stick" — reward loyal allies with jobs, land and contracts; punish opponents with prison or exile.
Question
What were jefes políticos?
Answer
Regional political bosses appointed by Díaz to enforce loyalty locally, bypassing elected local government.
Question
How much did Mexico's railway network grow under Díaz?
Answer
From about 640 km in 1876 to roughly 19,000 km by 1910, funded mainly by US and British investment.
Question
What happened to the Yaqui people under Díaz?
Answer
They were dispossessed of land in Sonora and deported to forced labour on Yucatán plantations, justified by científico racial theory.
Question
Compare the Cananea and Río Blanco strikes.
Answer
Cananea (1906, copper mine, Sonora): miners struck over unequal pay with Americans, crushed with US volunteer help. Río Blanco (1907, textile mill, Veracruz): workers struck over conditions, army killed dozens.
Question
Why did labour movements under Díaz so often turn violent?
Answer
Workers had no legal right to unionize or strike, so protest was automatically illegal and met by the rurales or army.
Question
What was the Plan de San Luis Potosí and why does it matter?
Answer
Francisco Madero's 1910 call to arms after Díaz jailed him in a rigged election — it directly triggered the Mexican Revolution.
Question
How did Díaz "mobilize popular support" without genuine democracy?
Answer
Through patronage networks with regional caciques and propaganda events like the 1910 independence centennial, which masked repression as unity.
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Full study notes for Modern nations — leaders and challenges
Topic 11.5 hub
The formation of modern nations in the Americas (1860–1929)
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