FELIPE ÁNGELES: BIOGRAPHY AND HONORS - HISTORY - 2025

Felipe Ángeles (1868-1919) was a military man and hero who participated in the Mexican Revolution from 1910 to 1920. He stood out for being a good student, teacher and an excellent military man. He supported the government of Francisco I. Madero, developing together with the president a brilliant military campaign against the rebellion of Emiliano Zapata. After the death of Madero, he embraced the constitutional and revolutionary cause.

In addition, he maintained strong convictions of social justice identifying with the party led by Francisco Villa, with whom he sympathized. Pancho Villa as a guerrilla and Ángeles as a professional soldier combined perfectly. This allowed them to achieve great victories in various battles.

By Luisalvaz, from Wikimedia Commons

Biography

Early years and military career

Felipe Ángeles was born in Zacualtipán, Hidalgo, on June 13, 1868; It was registered under the name of Felipe de Jesús Ángeles Ramírez. His mother was Juana Ramírez and his father was Colonel Felipe Ángeles, who participated in both the US invasion of 1847 and the French invasion of 1862.

He studied in Huelutla, Molango and Pachuca. Since he was little he was characterized by being a dreamer, lonely with attitude and patriotism. He began his studies at the Literary Institute of Pachuca.

At the age of 14, he obtained a scholarship from Porfirio Díaz in gratitude for the services his father provided to the country. This is how he entered the Military Academy of Mexico City in 1883.

Later, he obtained the rank of lieutenant of engineers; then he was promoted to captain of artillery. His position led him to study in the United States. In France, he supervised the armament acquired by the Mexican government, obtaining a promotion to the rank of major.

At the time that Ángeles was teaching at the Military Academy, she met Clara Kraus; an American woman of German descent, whom he married in November 1896.

Service with Madero

When the Mexican Revolution broke out, Ángeles was in France at the end of 1910. He asked to return to Mexico to participate in the war, however, his request was rejected.

For the year 1911, the constitutional president Francisco Madero assigned him the position of director in the Military College of Chapultepec. From there he was appointed brigadier general. While he was a director, he not only made contact with the president, but he gained a reputation as an honorable man.

The president sent General Ángeles to take charge of the seventh military zone and fight the insurgency of Emiliano Zapata, since the Madero government was being heavily attacked.

Ángeles changed harsh military tactics and offered amnesty to the revolutionaries who agreed to lay down their arms. However, she unleashed an aerial bombardment against the insurgency of those who did not surrender. She managed to reduce the level of violence, but the rebellion did not stop.

Tragic ten

In February 1913, a coup known as the “Tragic Ten” ended Madero's presidency. A conservative military faction attacked the National Palace. However, the attack was repulsed and the conspirators barricaded themselves inside the armory.

Madero traveled to Morelos to meet with Felipe Ángeles, for which he left General Victoriano Huerta in charge to lead the loyal troops.

Madero returned with Ángeles to Mexico City, with the intention of leaving the loyalist forces in charge of the military. However, the Army objected. His argument was that Angeles was not technically a general and Congress had not confirmed his appointment.

After several days of confrontation, General Victoriano Huerta reached an agreement with the rebels, helped by the United States ambassador, Henry Lane Wilson. With the support of the rebels, Huerta betrayed Madero and imprisoned him along with President Pino Suárez and Felipe Ángeles.

Huerta subjected Ángeles to attend a trial, accusing him of having killed a child. However, Ángeles defended himself and Huerta sent him into exile in France. Felipe Ángeles was the only head of the Federal Army who remained loyal to Madero during the Victoriano Huerta coup.

Back to mexico

During Felipe Ángeles' stay in France, he made several contacts with leaders who opposed the usurping government of Victoriano Huerta. Finally, he returned to Mexico to join Venustiano Carranza's anti-gardening forces in Sonora.

Immediately, Carranza appointed Ángeles as Secretary of War of the Revolutionary Government. However, the Sonora faction did not fully agree; Ángeles had contributed to the Porfirio Díaz regime.

The Sonorans frowned upon Angeles' intentions. Carranza, trying to calm the waters among the Sonorans, lowered Angeles's position as undersecretary of war.

While in that position, Ángeles formulated a rebel strategy with a three-pronged attack south of Mexico City. General Álvaro Obregón advanced south on the western railroad, Pancho Villa toward the central one, and Pablo González advanced southward on the eastern railroad.

In 1914, Ángeles accompanied Carranza to a meeting in Chihuahua to talk with General Pancho Villa. Unhappy with Carranza's treatment, Ángeles asked Villa to convince Carranza to place him in charge of his artillery. Carranza accepted and, consequently, Angeles joined Villa.

Battle of Zacatecas

The Battle of Zacatecas represented one of the most important events for Felipe Ángeles' military career; emerged victorious from the battle positioning himself as an honorary leader.

The Battle of Zacatecas was one of the bloodiest clashes in the campaign to overthrow Victoriano Huerta. Pancho Villa's division defeated the federal troops, causing Huerta to resign from office in 1914.

Huerta's army had grown considerably in size; however, Villa's troops were comparatively well organized and with effective artillery units.

Villa left Angeles the responsibility of planning the attack, as one of the most professional soldiers with extensive knowledge in artillery.

During the process, he decided to take advantage of the largest number of rebel artillery and assault the city in width and length. After Angeles's war strategy, the federals were massacred.

Federal officers were taken as prisoners, later lined up and shot. Approximately 6,000 to 7,000 were discharged from the scene. As for Villa's men, 700 were killed and approximately 1,500 wounded.

Service with Villa

After Huerta's defeat, Ángeles participated in the Aguascalientes Convention on behalf of Pancho Villa, in 1914. The intention of the convention was to put an end to hostilities between the factions. However, what was achieved in the convention was the total rupture between Carranza and Villa.

When the Civil War broke out in early 1915, Angeles stood in support of the Villa faction. In his first independent command, he managed to capture the city of Monterrey in 1915. Despite his efforts, Villa's troops were defeated by General Obregón y Carranza. Ángeles fled into exile again, this time in the city of Texas.

While in Texas, he joined the Mexican Liberal Alliance, which sought to unite exiles of different political ideologies to achieve a common goal: to stop the war and create a coalition government.

In 1918, under Carranza's orders, a civil war was still raging. Angeles' goal was to reach a peace agreement between the factions, so that the Americans would not invade Mexico. He tried to convince Villa to cease hostilities, without success.

Execution

In 1919, Villa was assaulted in Ciudad Juárez, Ángeles was discouraged because there was no solution to the sinister civil war. Sick, weak and disappointed, he left Villa's camp. After some time wandering, without money and support, on November 17 of that same year he was arrested by the Carranza government.

Ángeles was finally tried by the War Council in the city of Chihuahua. He made a heroic defense; ideas that reflected his liberal, humanist and socialist thinking.

During his trial, he delivered a speech in his defense that appealed to the poor decision of putting leaders in power without education and skills.

Ángeles recognized that her intention was never to achieve the post of President of the Republic; he considered that he did not possess the necessary powers to exercise it. Otherwise, he heroically pursued his role as a military man.

On the morning of November 25, 1919, the court martial sentenced him to death and the next day he was shot in front of the Chihuahua state penitentiary.

Felipe Ángeles died obsessed with the terror that the United States would seize more Mexican territories. Yet he admired the United States; in exile he lived, worked and related to the American people.

Honors from Mexico

The Municipality of General Felipe Ángeles, which is one of the many municipalities in Mexico, is located specifically in the city of Puebla. It is named in honor of General Felipe Ángeles.

The General Felipe Ángeles Battery, a unit in charge of training artillery officers at the Heroico Colegio Militar de México, is another of the places named in honor of the general.

Finally, there is Calle General Felipe Ángeles; a street located in Tijuana Baja California in Tijuana, Mexico. This street has several of the establishments that give life to the city.

References

1. General Felipe Ángeles, "The best gunner in Mexico", writers from Archivohistorico2010, (nd). Taken from filehistorico2010.sedena.gob.mx
2. Felipe Ángeles, Wikipedia in English, (nd). Taken from wikipedia.org
3. General Felipe Ángeles with Pancho Villa, Pedro Salmerón Sanginés, (nd). Taken from relatosehistorias.mx
4. Felipe Angeles. Writers of Buscador.com.mx, (nd). Taken from searcher.com.mx
5. Battle of Zacatecas, wikipedia in English, (nd). Taken from wikipedia.org