Celebrating Cinco de Mayo:
What Is It Anyway?!
What is Cinco de Mayo anyway?! Cinco de Mayo translates as the fifth of May. The holiday Cinco de Mayo commemorates the victory of the Mexican people over the French army at the Battle of Puebla in 1862.
Cinco de Mayo is often confused with Mexico's Independence Day, which is actually September 16; but, the two don’t celebrate the same event.
(see http://www.mexonline.com/cinco.htm for more information)
The battle at Puebla took place in the year 1862. This was a very violent time in Mexico's history. Mexico had gained independence from Spain in 1810, and a number of internal political takeovers and wars, including the Mexican-American War (1846-1848) and the Mexican Civil War of 1858, had wrecked Mexico’s national economy.
Mexico was heavily in debt to several nations, including Spain, England and France. These foreign powers were demanding payment. Although Mexico had created similar debt was to the U.S., it was cleared after the Mexican-American War. France wanted to rebuild its empire, and when Mexico finally stopped making any loan payments, France used the debt issue to establish its own leadership in Mexico by installing Napoleon's relative, Archduke Maximilian of Austria, as ruler of Mexico.
France invaded the Gulf coast of Mexico and began to march toward Mexico City. Although US President Abraham Lincoln was sympathetic to Mexico's predicament, and for which he is honored in Mexico, the U.S. was involved in its own Civil War at the time and wasn’t able to provide any assistance.
As the French army marched toward Mexico City from the coast, it encountered strong resistance at the Mexican forts of Loreto and Guadalupe. Lead by Mexican General Ignacio Zaragoza Seguin, a small, poorly armed militia of about 4,500 were able to stop and defeat a well outfitted French army of 6,500 soldiers, which halted the invasion of the country. The victory was a glorious moment for Mexican patriots.
Unfortunately victory was short lived. Upon earing the bad news, Napoleon found an excuse to send more troops overseas to try and invade Mexico again, against the wishes of the French populace. 30,000 more troops and a full year later, the French were eventually able to depose the Mexican army, take over Mexico City and make Maximilian the ruler of Mexico.
Maximilian's rule of Mexico was very short lived (1864 – 1867), ending as the U.S. began to provide more political and military assistance to Mexico after ending its own Civil War.
