Francisco Madero's challenge to Porfirio Díaz's thirty-year dictatorship sparked decade-long revolution involving peasant armies under Zapata and Villa demanding land redistribution, workers' rights, and democratic governance. The revolution produced 1917 Constitution with progressive provisions on land reform, labor rights, and resource nationalism, though implementation remained incomplete and violence caused over one million deaths.

Mexican Revolution inspired rich literary tradition including Mariano Azuela's The Underdogs depicting peasant soldiers' experiences and Octavio Paz's later reflections on Mexican identity. Revolutionary corridos (ballads) preserved popular perspectives in musical poetry, while muralists and writers created cultural nationalism celebrating indigenous and mestizo heritage, fundamentally reshaping Mexican literature's relationship to history, revolution, and social justice.