Villa becomes a civil governor for the first time.

December 8, 1913: The Battle of Chihuahua (the capital of the state of Chihuahua). The city of Chihuahua falls to Villa and his Northern Division.

July 1914: After repeated defeats, and given that the United States Navy had seized the seaport of Veracruz to keep Huerta from receiving German arms, Huerta goes into exile. At this point, Carranza takes over as commander in chief of the revolutionary forces.

November 1914: The group of revolutionary leaders who have just defeated Huerta—most prominently Villa, Zapata, Obregón, and Carranza—hold a meeting, known as the Convención de Aguascalientes (Aguascalientes Convention), to see if they can settle their differences. However, a rift develops between Villa and Zapata on one side and Carranza and Obregón (i.e., the Constitutionalists) on the other. This leads to intense fighting (often referred to as a civil war) between the various factions.

April 1915: Villa is defeated in the Battle of Celaya by Obregón. Carranza and the Constitutionalists will continue winning most battles and come to control the majority of the country.

May 1915-May 1920: Carranza serves as president, during which time he calls for a constitutional convention. Carranza is the first president under the Mexican Constitution of 1917. Carranza continues successfully fighting off the forces of Villa and Zapata.

May 21, 1920: Carranza is assassinated.

1920-1924: Obregón serves as president.

July 1920: Villa comes to terms with Obregón and retires.

July 20, 1923: Villa is assassinated, shot to death as he was driving his own car in Parral, Chihuahua. The conspirators included Obregón and other of his enemies who feared his return to politics.

Chronology of Mariano Azuela’s Life and Work

January 1, 1873: Born in Lagos de Moreno, in the state of Jalisco.

1892-1899: Studies medicine at the University of Guadalajara. Also publishes his first literary short texts during this time.

1907: Publishes first novel, María Luisa.

1908-1912: Publishes four more novels.

1911: After Madero’s overthrow of Díaz, briefly holds a political position in Lagos. Is an enthusiastic supporter of Madero’s early revolutionary goals and presidency.

1913: After Madero is assassinated, joins the resistance against Huerta’s forces.

October 1914: Joins the army of Julián Medina, one of Villa’s generals, as his medical officer. Travels with Medina’s band during their battles; begins writing what would become the text for The Underdogs.

April-October 1915: When Villa is defeated by Obregón (in the Battle of Celaya), Medina withdraws to Lagos; Azuela tends to the wounded. Still pursued by Carranza’s forces, Azuela flees with a group to Tepatlitán and then Cuquío. Attacked in the canyons of Juchipila, the group Azuela is in withdraws to Aguascalientes and then Chihuahua. The advance of Carranza’s troops forces Azuela to flee to Ciudad Juárez and then to take refuge across the border, in El Paso, Texas.

October-November 1915: Finishes composing The Underdogs and publishes it in serialized installments in the newspaper El Paso del Norte.

December 1915: The Underdogs is published in the United States by the very small Paso del Norte press. The novel goes almost entirely unnoticed.

1916: Returns to Guadalajara. Moves with his family to Mexico City. Resumes medical practice and begins a prolific writing career.

1920: After introducing numerous changes and rewrites, Azuela publishes another small edition of The Underdogs, this time in Mexico City. Once again, it goes mostly unnoticed by readers and critics.

1924-25: With the fighting of the revolution ended, The Underdogs finally starts receiving critical and public recognition and acclaim, and is touted—in Mexico and abroad—from this point on as a masterpiece and as one of the most important novels of the Mexican Revolution.

1917-49: Publishes eleven more novels and receives numerous accolades, becoming one of Mexico’s best-known and most important novelists of the twentieth century.

March 1, 1952: Dies of heart failure.

1955-58: Three more of his novels are published posthumously.

PART 1

I

“I’m telling you that’s no animal. Listen to how Palomo1is barking . . . That must be a man.”

The woman stared out into the darkness of the Sierra.

“Who cares, even if they are Federales?”2replied a man, sitting on his haunches in a corner and eating, a small pan in his right hand and three tortillas in the other.

But the woman did not answer him. Her senses were concentrated outside their little house.

The sound of hoofs against stony ground was heard nearby, and Palomo started barking with more anger.

“Either way, it’d be good for you to hide, Demetrio.”

Indifferent, the man finished eating. Then he grabbed a pitcher, raised it with two hands, and guzzled down the water. Finally he stood up.

“Your rifle is under the bedding,” the woman said in a very soft voice.

The small room was lit by a tallow candle. A yoke, a plow, a goad, and other tilling gear were resting in a corner. Ropes holding up an old adobe molding, serving as a bed, hung from the ceiling. A child lay on faded, torn blankets, sleeping.

Demetrio grabbed his cartridge belt, strapped it around his waist, and picked up his rifle. Tall, robust, with a bright, beardless red face, he wore a coarse cotton shirt and trousers, a wide-brimmed straw sombrero, and leather sandals.

He stepped out slowly, deliberately, disappearing into the impenetrable darkness of the night.

Palomo, enraged, had jumped over the fence of the corral.