Cinco de Mayo (Spanish for “fifth of May”) is a celebration held on May 5. It is celebrated in the United States[1] and in Mexico, primarily in the state of Puebla,[note 1][2][3][4] where the holiday is called El Día de la Batalla de Puebla (English: The Day of the Battle of Puebla).[5][6][7]
It originated with Mexican-American communities in the American West as a way to commemorate the cause of freedom and democracy during the first years of the American Civil War,[8][9] and today the date is observed in the United States as a celebration of Mexican heritage and pride.[10] In the state of Puebla, the date is observed to commemorate the Mexican army‘s unlikely victory over French forces at the Battle of Puebla on May 5, 1862, under the leadership of General Ignacio Zaragoza Seguín.[3][11] Cinco de Mayo is not Mexico’s Independence Day—the most important national patriotic holiday in Mexico—which is celebrated on September 16.
Events leading to the Battle of Puebla
Cinco de Mayo has its roots in the French occupation of Mexico, which took place in the aftermath of the Mexican-American War of 1846-48, the Mexican Civil War of 1858, and the 1860 Reform Wars. These wars left the Mexican Treasury nearly bankrupt. On July 17, 1861, Mexican President Benito Juárez issued a moratorium in which all foreign debt payments would be suspended for two years.[13][14] In response, France, Britain, and Spain sent naval forces to Veracruz to demand reimbursement. Britain and Spain negotiated with Mexico and withdrew, but France, at the time ruled by Napoleon III, decided to use the opportunity to establish a Latin empire in Mexico that would favor French interests, the Second Mexican Empire.
French invasion[edit]
Late in 1861, a well-armed French fleet stormed Veracruz, landing a large French force and driving President Juárez and his government into retreat.[15] Moving on from Veracruz towards Mexico City, the French army encountered heavy resistance from the Mexicans close to Puebla, at the Mexican forts of Loreto and Guadalupe.[16] The 8,000-strong[17] French army[18][note 2] attacked the much smaller[19] and poorly equipped Mexican army of 4,500.[20][note 3] Yet, on May 5, 1862,[21] the Mexicans managed to decisively crush the French army, then considered “the premier army in the world”.[22][23][24]
Mexican victory[edit]
The victory represented a significant morale boost to the Mexican army and the Mexican people at large. In the description of The History Channel, “Although not a major strategic win in the overall war against the French, Zaragoza’s success at Puebla represented a great symbolic victory for the Mexican government and bolstered the resistance movement.”[25] As Time magazine recently noted, “The Puebla victory came to symbolize unity and pride for what seemed like a Mexican David defeating a French Goliath.”[26] It helped establish a much-needed sense of national unity and patriotism.[16]
Events after the battle
The Mexican victory, however, was short-lived. Thirty thousand troops and a full year later, the French were able to defeat the Mexican army, capture Mexico City, and install Emperor Maximilian I as ruler of Mexico.[2] However, the French victory was also short-lived, lasting only three years, from 1864 to 1867.[2] By 1865, “with the American Civil War now over, the U.S. began to provide more political and military assistance to Mexico to expel the French”.[2] Upon the conclusion of the U.S. Civil War, Napoleon III, facing a persistently tenacious Mexican guerilla resistance, the threat of war with Russia, and “the prospect of a serious scrap with the United States”, retreated from Mexico starting in 1866.[27] The Mexicans recaptured Mexico City, and Maximilian I was apprehended and executed, along with his Mexican generals Miramón and Mejía, in the Cerro de las Campanas, Querétaro.[2][14] “On June 5, 1867, Benito Juarez finally entered Mexico City where he installed a legitimate government and reorganized his administration.”[14]
Significance
The Battle of Puebla was important for at least two reasons. First, although considerably outnumbered, the Mexicans defeated a much better-equipped French army. “This battle was significant in that the 4,000 Mexican soldiers were greatly outnumbered by the well-equipped French army of 8,000 that had not been defeated for almost 50 years.” [28][29] [note 4] Second, since the Battle of Puebla, no country in the Americas has subsequently been invaded by any other European military force.
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