# Canonical recap data for Pancho Villa's Raid on Columbus (1916)
# Source: https://recap.at/1916/villa-raid-columbus
# Format: YAML 1.2 (UTF-8). Generated at request time.
slug: villa-raid-columbus
canonicalUrl: "https://recap.at/1916/villa-raid-columbus"
title: Pancho Villa's Raid on Columbus
subtitle: Mexican revolutionary Pancho Villa's surprise attack on the New Mexico town of Columbus marked the only significant armed invasion of the continental U.S. in the 20th century.
recapType: global_event
eventStatus: concluded
startDate: 1916-01-01
datePrecision: year
year: 1916
decade: 1910
country:
name: United States
slug: united-states
summaryShort: Francisco "Pancho" Villa was a Mexican revolutionary, guerrilla leader, and politician. He was a key figure in the Mexican Revolution, which forced out President and dictator Porfirio Díaz, subsequently ending the Porfiriato, and brought Francisco I. Madero to power in 1911. When Madero was ousted by a coup led by Gene
summaryLong: Francisco "Pancho" Villa was a Mexican revolutionary, guerrilla leader, and politician. He was a key figure in the Mexican Revolution, which forced out President and dictator Porfirio Díaz, subsequently ending the Porfiriato, and brought Francisco I. Madero to power in 1911. When Madero was ousted by a coup led by General Victoriano Huerta in February 1913, Villa joined the anti-Huerta forces in the Constitutionalist Army led by Venustiano Carranza. After the defeat and exile of Huerta in July 1914, Villa broke with Carranza. Villa dominated the meeting of revolutionary generals that excluded Carranza and helped create a coalition government. Emiliano Zapata and Villa became formal allies in this period. Like Zapata, Villa was strongly in favor of land reform, but did not implement it when he had power. Villa served as provisional governor of Chihuahua from 1913 to 1914.
heroImageUrl: "https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/7/7b/General_Francisco_Villa_%28cropped%29.jpg/1280px-General_Francisco_Villa_%28cropped%29.jpg"
heroImageCredit: Wikipedia · "Pancho Villa"
importance: 71
sourceConfidence: 75
keyFacts: []
timeline: []
sources:
- url: "https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pancho_Villa"
  title: Pancho Villa
  provider: Wikipedia
related: []
categories:
- war
metaDescription: Francisco "Pancho" Villa was a Mexican revolutionary, guerrilla leader, and politician. He was a key figure in the Mexican Revolution, which forced out Presiden
wikidataQid: Q192278
archiveSnapshots:
- url: "https://web.archive.org/web/20260702162826/https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pancho_Villa"
  capturedAt: 2026-07-02
  label: Pancho Villa
  originalUrl: "https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pancho_Villa"
