Compléter Verbs in pastVersion en ligne Fill in the blanks with the proper verb in past. par Oscar Cuevas 1 was was refused fought broke continued deposed The Mexican Revolution out in 1910 when the decades - old rule of President Porfirio Díaz was challenged by Francisco I . Madero , a reformist writer and politician . When Díaz to allow clean elections , Madero's calls for revolution were answered by Emiliano Zapata in the south , and Pascual Orozco and Pancho Villa in the north . Díaz was in 1911 , but the revolution just beginning . By the time it over , millions had died as rival politicians and warlords each other over the cities and regions of Mexico . By 1920 , the chickpea farmer and revolutionary general Alvaro Obregón had risen to the presidency , primarily by outliving his main rivals . Most historians believe this event marks the end of the revolution , although the violence well into the 1920s .