Under President Díaz, a military hero against the French Intervention in Mexico, the senior officers of the Federal Army had served in long-ago conflicts; at the time of the outbreak of the Mexican Revolution, most were old men, incapable of leading troops on the battlefield.

Madero placed General Victoriano Huerta as interim commander of the military during the Ten Tragic Days of February 1913 to defend his government.

General Porfirio Díaz rose through the ranks without formal military training, and was a hero of the Battle of Puebla on 5 May 1862.

[6] Military training prepared cadets for war with foreign invaders, when the reality was the army dealt with internal order,[7] along with the rural police force.

A rich hacienda owner from Coahuila, Francisco I. Madero, published a book entitled The Presidential Succession of 1910, excoriating militarism in Mexico and calling for democracy.

Only when it became more than clear that Díaz would remain in power by any means did Madero call for an armed rebellion against him in the 1910 Plan of San Luis Potosí.

But more a more serious rebellion in Chihuahua led by Pascual Orozco and Pancho Villa demonstrated the weakness of the Federal forces, surprising the rebels.

[9] "Considering the small number of battles actually fought, [the rebel] triumph was more directly attributable to the weakness of the federales than to the strength of the Ejército Libertador.

[citation needed] In April 1914 Huerta claimed his army had reached the size of 250,000 men, with 31 regiments of Rurales and 31,000 Militia.

[citation needed] Specific numbers aside, the rapid expansion of the army had led to a deterioration in the quality of the average recruit, or more accurately, conscript.

Huerta made an attempt to increase the size of the army by ordering a mass conscription (leva), of men on the streets by his press-gangs.

Also guilty of this corruption were Huerta's two sons, Victoriano Jr. and Jorge, both of whom had been placed in important positions overseeing the procurement of arms, supplies, uniforms and ammunition.

To bolster the resolve of the population he militarized society in the Prussian style, including military-style uniforms for all government employees and schoolboys and military drills on Sundays.

Huerta and his general also sent 31 cadets to Europe to study military aviation in order to increase Mexico's air power.