Plutarco Elías Calles in the context of "Adolfo de la Huerta"

Guadalajara (/ˌɡwɑːdələˈhɑːrə/ GWAH-də-lə-HAR-ə, Spanish: [ɡwaðalaˈxaɾa] ) is the capital and the most populous city in the western Mexican state of Jalisco, as well as the most densely populated municipality in Jalisco. According to the 2020 census, the city has a population of 1,385,629 people, making it the 8th most populous city in Mexico, while the Guadalajara metropolitan area has a population of 5,268,642, making it the third-largest metropolitan area in the country and the twenty-second largest metropolitan area in the Americas. Guadalajara has the second-highest population density in Mexico with over 10,361 people per km, surpassed only by Mexico City. Within Mexico, Guadalajara is a center of business, arts and culture, technology and tourism; as well as the economic center of the Bajío region. It usually ranks among the 100 most productive and globally competitive cities in the world. It is home to numerous landmarks, including the Guadalajara Cathedral, Degollado Theatre, the Templo Expiatorio, the UNESCO World Heritage site Hospicio Cabañas, and the San Juan de Dios Market—the largest indoor market in Latin America.

A settlement was established in the region of Guadalajara in early 1532 by Cristóbal de Oñate, a Basque conquistador in the expedition of Nuño Beltrán de Guzmán. The settlement was renamed and moved several times before assuming the name Guadalajara after the birthplace of Guzmán and ending up at its current location in the Atemajac Valley in 1542. On November 8, 1539, the Holy Roman Emperor Charles V had granted a coat of arms and the title of city to the new town and established it as the capital of the Kingdom of Nueva Galicia, part of the Viceroyalty of New Spain. After 1572, the Royal Audiencia of Guadalajara, previously subordinate to Mexico City, became the only authority in New Spain with autonomy over Nueva Galicia, owing to rapidly growing wealth in the kingdom following the discovery of silver. By the 18th century, Guadalajara had taken its place as Mexico's second largest city, following mass colonial migrations in the 1720s and 1760s. During the Mexican War of Independence, independence leader Miguel Hidalgo y Costilla established Mexico's first revolutionary government in Guadalajara in 1810. The city flourished during the Porfiriato (1876–1911), with the advent of the Industrial Revolution, but its growth was hampered significantly during the Mexican Revolution (1910–1920). In 1929, the Cristero War ended within the confines of the city, when President Plutarco Elías Calles proclaimed the Grito de Guadalajara. The city saw continuous growth throughout the rest of the 20th century, attaining a metro population of 1 million in the 1960s and surpassing 3 million in the 1990s.

The Constitutionalists (Spanish: Constitucionalistas) were a faction in the Mexican Revolution (1910–1920). They were formed in 1914 as a response to the assassination of Francisco Madero and Victoriano Huerta's coup d'etat. Also known as Carrancistas, taking that name from their leader, Venustiano Carranza the governor of Coahuila. The Constitutionalists played the leading role in defeating the Mexican Federal Army on the battlefield. Carranza, a centrist liberal attracted Mexicans across various political ideologies to the Constitutionalist cause. Constitutionalists consisted of mainly middle-class urbanites, liberals, and intellectuals who desired a democratic constitution under the guidelines "Mexico for Mexicans" and Mexican nationalism. Their support for democracy in Mexico caught the attention of the United States, who aided their cause. In 1914, the United States occupied Mexico's largest port in Veracruz in an attempt to starve Huerta's government of customs revenue. They crafted and enforced the Mexican Constitution of 1917 which remains in force today. Following the defeat of General Huerta, the Constitutionalists outmaneuvered their former revolutionary allies Emiliano Zapata and Pancho Villa becoming the victorious faction of the Mexican Revolution. However the Constitutionalists were divided amongst themselves and Carranza was assassinated in 1920. He was succeeded by General Álvaro Obregón who began enforcing the 1917 constitution and calming revolutionary tensions. His assassination and the subsequent power vacuum this created spurred his successor, Plutarco Elías Calles to create the National Revolutionary Party (PNR) which would hold uninterrupted political power in Mexico until 2000.

The Institutional Revolutionary Party (Spanish: Partido Revolucionario Institucional, pronounced [paɾˈtiðo reβolusjoˈnaɾjo jnstitusjoˈnal], PRI) is a political party in Mexico that was founded in 1929 as the National Revolutionary Party (Spanish: Partido Nacional Revolucionario, PNR), then as the Party of the Mexican Revolution (Spanish: Partido de la Revolución Mexicana, PRM) and finally as the PRI beginning in 1946. The party held uninterrupted power in the country for 71 years, from 1929 to 2000.

The PNR was founded in 1929 by Plutarco Elías Calles, Mexico's paramount leader at the time and self-proclaimed Jefe Máximo (Supreme Chief) of the Mexican Revolution. The party was created with the intent of providing a political space in which all the surviving leaders and combatants of the Mexican Revolution could participate to solve the severe political crisis caused by the assassination of president-elect Álvaro Obregón in 1928. Although Calles himself fell into political disgrace and was exiled in 1936, the party continued ruling Mexico until 2000, changing names twice until it became the PRI.

The Cristero War (Spanish: La guerra cristera), also known as the Cristero Rebellion or La Cristiada [la kɾisˈtjaða], was a widespread struggle in central and western Mexico from 3 August 1926 to 21 June 1929 in response to the implementation of secularist and anticlerical articles of the 1917 Constitution. The rebellion was instigated as a response to an executive decree by Mexican President Plutarco Elías Calles to strictly enforce Article 130 of the Constitution, an implementing act known as the Calles Law. Calles sought to limit the power of the Catholic Church in Mexico and its affiliated organizations and to suppress popular religiosity.

The rural uprising in north-central Mexico was tacitly supported by the Church hierarchy and was aided by urban Catholic supporters. The Mexican Army received support from the United States. American Ambassador Dwight Morrow brokered negotiations between the Calles government and the Church. The government made some concessions, the Church withdrew its support for the Cristero fighters, and the conflict ended in 1929. The rebellion has been variously interpreted as a major event in the struggle between church and state that dates back to the 19th century with the War of Reform, and as the last major peasant uprising in Mexico after the end of the military phase of the Mexican Revolution in 1920.

Álvaro Obregón Salido (Spanish pronunciation: [ˈalβaɾo oβɾeˈɣon]; 19 February 1880 – 17 July 1928) was a Mexican general, inventor and politician who served as the 46th President of Mexico from 1920 to 1924. Obregón was re-elected to the presidency in 1928 but was assassinated before he could take office.

Born in Navojoa, Sonora, Obregón joined the Revolution after the February 1913 coup d'état that brought General Victoriano Huerta to the presidency. Obregón supported Sonora's decision to follow Governor Venustiano Carranza as leader of the northern revolutionary coalition, the Constitutionalist Army, against the Huerta regime. Obregón quickly became the Constitutionalist Army's most prominent general, along with Pancho Villa. Carranza appointed Obregón commander of the revolutionary forces in northwestern Mexico. The Constitutionalists defeated Huerta in July 1914, and the Federal Army dissolved in August. In 1915, the revolution entered a new phase of civil war between the Conventionists led by Emiliano Zapata and Villa versus Obregón and Carranza. Obregón was made leader of the Constitutionalist army and defeated Villa, but lost his right arm. In 1917, the Constitution of Mexico went into effect and the Conventionists forces were quickly getting defeated by Obregón and the Constitutionalist Army. Carranza stepped down from the presidency and designated Ignacio Bonillas to succeed him. Obregón and other Sonoran generals Plutarco Elías Calles and Adolfo de la Huerta ousted Bonillas and Carranza under the Plan of Agua Prieta. Obregón was elected to the presidency in 1920 with overwhelming popular support.

Lázaro Cárdenas del Río (Spanish pronunciation: [ˈlasaɾo ˈkaɾðenas] ; 21 May 1895 – 19 October 1970) was a Mexican army officer and politician who served as president of Mexico from 1934 to 1940. Previously, he served as a general in the Constitutional Army during the Mexican Revolution and as Governor of Michoacán and President of the Institutional Revolutionary Party. He later served as the Secretary of National Defence. During his presidency, which is considered the end of the Maximato, he implemented massive land reform programs, led the expropriation of the country's oil industry, and implemented many key social reforms.

Born in Jiquilpan, Michoacán, to a working-class family, Cárdenas joined the Mexican Revolution and became a general in the Constitutionalist Army. Although he was not from the state of Sonora, whose revolutionary generals dominated Mexican politics in the 1920s, Cárdenas was hand-picked by Plutarco Elías Calles, Sonoran general and former president of Mexico, as a presidential candidate and won in the 1934 general election.

Adolfo López Mateos (Spanish pronunciation: [aˈðolfo ˈlopes maˈteos] ; 26 May 1909 – 22 September 1969) was a Mexican politician and lawyer who served as President of Mexico from 1958 to 1964. Previously, he served as Secretary of Labor and Social Welfare from 1952 to 1957 and a Senator from the State of Mexico from 1946 to 1952.

Beginning his political career as a campaign aide of José Vasconcelos during his run for president, López Mateos encountered repression from Plutarco Elías Calles, who attempted to maintain hegemony within the National Revolutionary Party (PNR). He briefly abandoned politics and worked as a professor at the Autonomous University of Mexico State, becoming a member of the PNR (renamed Party of the Mexican Revolution) in 1941. López Mateos served as senator for the State of Mexico from 1946 to 1952 and Secretary of Labor during the administration of Adolfo Ruiz Cortines from 1952 to 1957. He secured the party's presidential nomination and won in the 1958 general election.