The fall of Ciudad Juárez to Madero, combined with Emiliano Zapata's taking of Cuautla in Morelos, convinced Díaz that he could not hope to defeat the rebels.

In the northern state of Chihuahua the call was answered by trader, miner and arms smuggler Pascual Orozco and the "social bandit" Pancho Villa, both of whom began guerrilla operations against Díaz's troops.

[2] Encouraged by Villa's and Orozco's actions, as well as the outbreak of the Zapatista rebellion in Morelos, Madero crossed back into Mexico in February 1911.

After a few minor engagements with units of Diaz's army, Madero, Orozco and Villa decided to attack the federal garrison at Ciudad Juárez.

The government, in fact, had a good chance of squashing the rebels by moving troops down from the state capital of Ciudad Chihuahua and capturing Madero in a pincer movement.

As a further sign of the apparent demoralization of federal rank-and-file soldiers (many of whom had been forcibly conscripted and actually sympathized with the revolutionaries), the troops in Ciudad Chihuahua decided to stay put.

[6] Ciudad Juárez, defended by 700 troops, was surrounded on three sides, with the only possible exit route for the besieged federales being the northern path into El Paso and the US.

[8] Despite the fact that the revolutionaries had cut off the water supplies into town and the garrison was low on ammunition, its commander, Gen. Juan J. Navarro, refused to surrender, convinced that the inexperience of the rebels in laying sieges would allow him to hold out.

[12] The incident that served as an excuse for the offensive occurred when a federal officer insulted a female rebel on a bridge between Ciudad Juárez and El Paso.

The rebel forces captured the outer defenses of the city unopposed, as no federal officer was willing to countermand the orders to hold fire.

However, unknown to the defenders, the insurrectionists had with them significant supplies of dynamite and foreign experts from other guerrilla wars, including Boer Gen. Ben Viljoen and the grandson of the famous Italian revolutionary Giuseppe Garibaldi II (news dispatches from the battle also mention the participation of the future star of many Hollywood Westerns, Tom Mix).

[12] In order to counteract the formidable defenses, the rebels developed an effective strategy that managed to circumvent Navarro's well-placed machine-gun nests and street barricades.

[6][12] Another novel aspect of the offensive used by the attackers, which was extensively commented upon by American journalist Timothy Turner who was observing the battle from El Paso, was the rotation of troops that the rebels employed.

Rather than attacking en masse with the whole army, Villa and Orozco had their soldiers engage the enemy for a few hours, then go back to secure positions to sleep, while other rebels took their place.

Most of the fighting at this point was at close quarters; as a result, the advantage in machine guns and artillery that the federals enjoyed earlier was no longer a factor.

According to Friedrich Katz, Madero, in refusing to let Navarro be killed, was motivated not only by his personal humanism but also by a need to assert his civilian authority over military leaders.

While Katz and other scholars consider this assessment extreme, it is possible that Orozco, who believed he should be the rightful leader of the revolution, was trying to provoke Villa into killing Madero.

After Huerta's fall Orozco went into exile in the US and was eventually killed by Texas Rangers while trying to make his way back into Mexico to start another revolt.