I thought this was The Mexican Independence day. I was wrong. That would be Dieciseis de septiembre. Much harder to work into the Corona ads. The Mexicans won independence from Spain just after midnight on the morning of September 16, 1810. The Spanish soldiers were not forced to leave until 1821.
So what is Cinco de Mayo and why should Americans celebrate it aside for the excuse to go drink watered down beer and tequila? Well, actually, do we need any other reason? If people are willing to drink green beer for a foreign holiday in March, why not the same thing in May?
Mexico was bankrupt and trying to recuperate after the Mexican-American war and it’s own civil war and had borrowed heavily from England, Spain and France. The new Mexican President, Benito Juarez, had just instituted a 2 year moratorium on all debt payments to foreign countries promising that payments would resume after 2 years. The 3 countries invaded to excise their payments through whatever means necessary. The English, and Spanish later withdrew when they saw that the French intended to conquer Mexico to expand the French Empire.
May 5th, 1862, 3500 Mexican soldiers defeated an army of 7000 French and rebel Mexican soldiers (the numbers vary from report to report).
“Cinco de Mayo” or more properly called “Batalla de Puebla” happened 100 miles east of Mexico City, in Puebla. As the French marched toward Mexico City, General Zaragosa ordered Colonel Diaz to send his cavalry out to flank the French. In their contempt for the seemingly disorganized Mexican army, the French chased Diaz. Little did they know that Diaz had trained up what was probably the best cavalry in the world at that time. The French cavalry were slaughtered. The remaining French infantry were faced with bad terrain, cattle stampedes and a rallying Mexican army. The French were decimated and forced to retreat.
The losses the French suffered were not enough to deter them from Mexican conquest and in fact, 3 days later Puebla fell. Napoleon sent in 30,000 troops and the Mexican army was defeated a year later. France was victorious and Maximilian was installed as Emperor of Mexico in the name of the French Empire.
Although it was a fleeting victory, The Battle of Puebla served as a symbol that the Mexican people were willing to fight off invading countries and could pool together and defend their country. In 1867, after the US Civil war ended, Union forces marched to the Texas border and assisted the Mexican army in expelling the French army. US soldiers were allowed to keep their uniforms and rifles if they joined up with the Mexican army to fight the French.
Now for the conspiracy and historical stretch…
This may or may not have been significant to the survival of the US. We were in the middle of the Civil War. After the Monroe Doctrine, French Emperor Napoleon III saw the US as a threat of becoming a world power and was supplying the Confederate army with the latest war technology.
The losses the French suffered at Puebla were enough to keep Napoleon from supplying the US Confederate army because he had to rebuild his own army. Just over a year later, the Confederates lost the decisive battle of Gettysburg and the Civil War was all but over.
If Cinco de Mayo hadn’t happened and the French marched in and took over Mexico without this minor setback, is it possible that the history of the US would be different? Would Napoleon have supplied the Confederates enough to change the outcome of the civil war? Maybe, Maybe not. Drink up!
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