"What If Pancho Villa Had Died While Attacking New Mexico?" Topic

WHAT IF Pancho Villa had personally led the 1916 raid on New Mexico, and had gotten himself killed …

A) What effect, if any, would his death in 1916 have had on his Villistas? Would they have disbanded, joined other Revolutionaries, or would one of his lieutenants have picked up his mantle?

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B) With Villa dead, would the US have still sent out a Punitive Expedition against the rest of the Villistas?

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C) With the premature death of Pancho Villa would the other Revolutionaries have lost the momentum needed (c1910-1920) to remove and replace the existing Mexican government?

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Dan
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If he had died I suspect there would be much less motive for a punitive expedition and the Mexican Revolution would have ended pretty much the same as it actually did, just sooner

A little side question …

Is it just me or does 1916 Columbus NM look an awful lot like the dusty border town in the Bruce Willis film Last Man Standing (1996)? :)

Of course, the Federales in the film were just Revolutionaries after their government takeover, but in "uniform" now:

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Dan

"Pancho met his match you know, on the desert down in (New) Mexico…"

I really wonder what songs they would be writing about Villa today – if any -, if he had died then, before all his many other exploits. :)

Dan

Good maps and pics ! But in reality if he died in that Raid into the US. I don't think it would have really affected anything in the long & short run generally.

And if Bruce Willis was there with a .45 … "Game over Man !"

"School's Out!"

Don't think it would have mattered much. By the time of the Columbus Raid Villa had suffered heavy defeats and his forces were only a small fraction of what they had once been. He was pretty much a non-factor.

i'll good discussion. I don't think it would've made a difference either. Someone else would've stepped up to that leadership role.

I have always thought the Columbus raid would be a nice word game, but it took place at night.

I always thought he made a very poor decision attacking not only a town near a US ARMY Outpost. But trying to attack Cp Furlough at all. If he thought he was going to get any weapons from there. The firepower the troops wielded stationed at the camp, including MGs, would have and did end of all that very poor tactical decision. link

On March 9, 1916 Camp Furlong was the headquarters of the 13th U.S. Cavalry under command of Colonel H. J. Slocum.[4] The 13th Cavalry was stretched along the border on outpost duty from Noria to Hermanas on the El Paso and Southwestern Railroad. At least three troops were present during the raid on Columbus by Pancho Villa's irregulars. The hero of the day was Lt. Lucas of the machine gun troop, who while barefoot, set up machine guns in the main area of the town and directed heavy fire against the raiders. His actions inflicted numerous casualties on Villa's Forces and caused them to retreat back into Mexico.