caption death_date death_place religion birth_place relatives birth_date image article_title name organization
emiliano zapata , undated studio portrait 10 april 1919 chinameca , morelos , mexico roman catholicism anenecuilco , morelos , mexico eufemio zapata -lrb- brother -rrb- 8 august 1879 emiliano zapata.jpg emiliano zapata
 emiliano zapata salazar liberation army of the south
emiliano zapata

emiliano zapata salazar -lrb- ; 8 august 1879 -- 10 april 1919 -rrb- was a leading figure in the mexican revolution , the main leader of the peasant revolution in the state of morelos , and the founder of the agrarian movement called `` zapatismo '' .
zapata was born in the rural village of anenecuilco in morelos .
in morelos peasant communities were under increasing pressure from the small landowning class who monopolized land and water resources for sugar cane production with the support of dictator porfirio díaz .
zapata early on participated in political movements against diaz and the landowning `` hacendados '' , and when the revolution broke out in 1910 he was positioned as a central leader of the peasant revolt in morelos .
cooperating with a number of other peasant leaders he formed the liberation army of the south of which he soon became the undisputed leader .
zapata 's forces contributed to the fall of díaz , defeating the federal army in the battle of cuautla , but when the revolutionary leader francisco i. madero became president he disavowed the role of the zapatistas , denouncing them as simple bandits .
in november 1911 , zapata promulgated the plan de ayala which called for substantial land reforms , redistributing lands to the peasants .
madero sent the federal army to root out the zapatistas in morelos .
madero 's generals employed a scorched earth policy , burning villages and forcibly removing their inhabitants , and drafting many men into the army or sending them to forced labor camps in southern mexico .
this strengthened zapata 's standing among the peasants and zapata was able to drive the forces of madero led by victoriano huerta out of morelos .
in a coup against madero in february 1913 , huerta took power in mexico , but a coalition of constitutionalist forces in northern mexico led by venustiano carranza , Álvaro obregón and francisco villa ousted him in july 1914 with the support of zapata 's troops .
zapata did not recognize the authority that carranza asserted as leader of the revolutionary movement , continuing his adherence to the plan of ayala .
in the aftermath of the revolutionaries ' victory over huerta , they attempted to sort out power relations in the convention of aguascalientes .
zapata and villa broke with carranza ; and mexico descended into civil war among the winners .
dismayed with the alliance with villa , zapata focused his energies on rebuilding society in morelos which he now controlled , instituting the land reforms of the plan de ayala .
as carranza consolidated his power and defeated villa in 1915 , zapata initiated guerrilla warfare against the carrancistas , who in turn invaded morelos , employing once again scorched earth tactics to oust the zapatista rebels .
zapata once again retook morelos in 1917 and held most of the state against carranza 's troops until he was killed in an ambush in april 1919 .
after his death zapatista generals aligned with obregón against carranza and helped drive carranza from power .
in 1920 zapatistas managed to obtain powerful posts in the governance of morelos after carranza 's fall .
they instituted many of the land reforms envisioned by zapata in morelos .
zapata remains an iconic figure in mexico , used both as a nationalist symbol as well as a symbol of the neo-zapatista movement .
