The Secret War in Mexico: Europe, the United States and the Mexican Revolution

The Secret War in Mexico: Europe, the United States and the Mexican Revolution by KATZ, Friedrich.. hardcover edition. ISBN: 9780226425887.

In this timely historical study, Katz details the overt and covert activities by which the governments, intelligence agencies, and business interests of other nations sought to influence the course of events of the Mexican Revolution. In unearthing the startling stories of intrigue and derring-do told here, the author has, for the first time, made full use of German, Austrian, French, Cuban, Mexican Spanish, and British sources, as well as recently declassified material from the United States. After 1867, the fight for predominance in Mexico by the European powers took place principally in the economic arena until the Mexican Revolution broke out in 1910. From then until the beginning of World War I, diplomatic activity took center stage. During the war, however, secret diplomacy, espionage, diversion, and sabotage prevailed—activities which constituted a "secret war." Katz particularly emphasizes the role Germany played in this secret war, and skillfully demonstrates how the history of German-Mexican relations requires at each stage a reinterpretation of the behavior of the other great powers. The comprehensive approach to the rivalries and competition of foreign interests in Mexico is thus combined with an analysis of the effects these factors had on the internal politics of the Mexican Revolution. This world contributes not only to the reinterpretation of Mexican history but also to the diplomatic history of the First World War.