This paper provides an analysis of the Mexican Revolution in its understudied military dimension , offering a comparison with the war in Europe . It proposes that both wars were "total" , so it is wrong to see the Revolution as a "party of bullets " little deadlier . Addresses five issues : 1 ) the concept of ' total war ' (which includes massive recruitment and industrial warfare ) ; 2) an analysis of the Revolution in these terms (recruitment, low , demographic and economic cost); 3) the transition from ‘asymmetric’ war to conventional war, c.1914 ; 4) the nature of the war (in terms of tactics , moral and arms ) ; and 5) the consequences : militarization, the legacy of violence and the role of veterans in politics.