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The timing is certainly interesting. News of the Zimmerman Telegram became public knowledge on March 1, 1917, and this combined with the German military’s continued submarine warfare led to the declaration
of war by the United States Congress on April 6, 1917, just twelve days before this revolver shipped. Had it been ordered before the declaration of war? Was Villa’s successful evasion of U.S. troops directly related? Was the German government involved? Perhaps Joseph B. Ravel had ordered the revolver for Villa as a peace offering. Without more information on the revolver’s order details emerging, we can only theorize. Regardless, the timing was almost certainly no coincidence.
Though he remained free, Villa’s remaining military career was not successful. He was defeated when he attacked Juarez in 1919 (a city he had captured back in 1911 and 1913), and his dwindling forces were then stopped again at the Siege of Durango. He was officially pardoned after Carranza fell from power following the chaos during the election in 1920 and agreed to retire and settle on his ranch near Parral in Chihuahua. In 1923, Villa was assassinated while driving in Parral. One of his bodyguards, his chauffeur, and his personal secretary were also killed. Another bodyguard was wounded but escaped. Jesus Salas Barrazza claimed responsibility and said he planned the assassination for profit, but that was all part of a larger plot within the government against Villa, and Barrazza only served three months of a 20 year sentence and went on to become a general. It is generally believed that President Alvaro Obregon and others within the government had been involved in Villa’s death.
While Villa’s remains rest in the Monument to the Revolution, his memory is kept alive throughout much of the American Southwest and Mexico. By the time of his assassination a century ago, Francisco Villa, once an obscure orphan named Doroteo Arango, had become one of the most powerful and famous men in all of Mexico. He became legendary due to his many daring victories as a revolutionary general in the early years of the Mexican Revolution and to his continued fight on behalf of the Mexican people.
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