Sunday, December 20, 2009

Facial Hair of the Weekend

Fransico "Pancho" Villa (1878-1923), general/caudillo in the Mexican Revolution. Villa was a part of Carranza's constitutional forces against Victoriano Huerta. Villa and Carranza had a falling-out over orders Carranza gave that prevented Villa from arriving in Mexico City before Carranza. In 1916, Villa raided Columbus, NM, leading to General John Pershing's useless "expedition" into Mexico to capture Mexico (which in turn elevated Villa's status as a popular hero). Villa finished out the revolution fairly quietly (for him), with minor mobilizations limited to Chihuahua. Upon the Revolution's so-called "end" in 1920, he lived on a ranch in Chihuahua, where he was assassinated while in his car in 1923 (and for those who aren't faint of heart, you can see video footage of the site, automobile, and Villa's bullet-riddled body here).