The real history of Cinco de Mayo happenned 1861, and 40 years since Mexico gained its independence from Spain.
These 40 years have been tumultuous, to say the least, but nothing would come close to threaten their independence than the imperial ambitions of a new Napoleon.
This is the story of how a young and unstable Republic fought off an empire. This is the story of the second French Intervention in Mexico.
In the 1840s, to the detriment of Mexico and Native Americans, the US had a destiny to manifest. This led to the Mexican-American war which was a major defeat for Mexico and resulted in the loss of California during the Mexican Cession of 1848.
Ironically, less than a year later, gold would be discovered, thus was starting the Californian Gold Rush.
As a result, dictator Santana was exiled from the country and tensions rose further and further between the Liberals, led by Benito Juárez, and the Conservatives leading to yet another Civil War a decade later.
On the 17th of July1861, after the capture of Mexico City by the Liberals, Juárez suspended any loan repayment to European powers for two years. He had good reasons to as the Mexican economy was devastated and its coffers emptied. But these loans amounted to 70M pesos for Britain, 9M for Spain and 3M for France.
Understandably, the Europeans weren’t thrilled to hear that. On October 31st 1861, France, Britain and Spain signed the convention of London which established a joint effort to extract repayment from Mexico and explicitly stated that no nation would seek out territorial gains nor interfere in Mexican politics.
This was an affair of money. Or it should have been. You see while the 19th century was troubled for Mexico, France was no better off with yet another Revolution in 1848 which led to the overthrowing of the king and the election of Napoleon, Napoleon III, the nephew of the first. And much like his uncle, Napoleon had delusions of grandeur but unlike his uncle, he didn’t really have the genius to back those views. Three years after his election, he suspended the elected assembly to establish the second empire.
And when most European monarchs felt that the Americas was now “has been” and the new hot thing was Africa, Napoleon III eyed the unstable but mineral-rich country of Mexico.
Through the installation of a puppet government, he hoped to open the country to European trade and secure French access to Mexican silver as well as curb US expansionism.
The convention of London as well as the start of the American Civil War, which meant that the US would be unable to impose its Monroe Doctrine, felt like the perfect time to do just that.
In December, the fleets of the tripartite alliance arrived at the port of Veracruz. The Spanish forces, under orders of general Juan Prim had captured the fortress of San Juan de Ullúa. After that,Veracruz quickly fell and then Cordoba and Orizaba.
In February 1862,General prim signed the convention of La Soledad which stated that the alliance recognized the Republican government of Mexico and would not interfere with it. During that time, however, France kept sending more and more expeditionary forces to Mexico to the point that he became quite suspicious.
This resulted in the collapse of the tripartite alliance and the withdrawal of Spanish and British forces in late April.
Meanwhile, 6,500 men, under the orders of De Lorencez, marched towards Mexico City while the Mexicans, under the orders of general Ignacio Zaragoza, struggled to assembled an appropriate defense.
And so it was with a smaller, inexperienced and ill-equipped army that Zaragoza marched his troops against an army that hadn’t been defeated since Waterloo, nearly half a century ago.The first encounter between the French and Mexican troops occurred on April 28th and was a resounding defeat for the Mexican army.
As a result, Zaragoza was forced to retreat with his 4,000 men to the heavily fortified city of Puebla. On the night of May 3rd, Zaragoza arrived at Puebla leaving him barely any time to fortify the city as the French troops arrived just two days later at 9AM.
At 11:45, the French artillery started shelling the Guadelupe fort with little effect as the old stone held firm. Against all advice, De Lorecenz ordered his men to assault the fort.
They went once and were pushed back.They went a second time and were pushed back again. Finally, De Lorencez sent his full reserve for the third assault.However, by that time, the artillery had used all its ammunition and so the assault was carried out unsupported.
Predictably, the result was no different than the two other attempts and as a final blow, the retreating French troops were charged by Zaragoza’s cavalry.
Soon after, a torrential rain started which made the ground too muddy for any hope of another attack.
Demoralized, the French camped another few days before they finally withdrew to Orizaba. That night the bells of Puebla rang and the Mexican troops celebrated by singing La Marseillaise, which have been banned by Napoleon III.
In a telegram to President Juárez, Zaragoza praised troops and hoped that this victory would bring the conflict to an end.He finished by saying, “I wish that our dear homeland, now so despondent, is one day happy and respected by all nations.”And while the battle was a resounding victory for Mexico, it wouldn’t be enough.
The country was already on his knees before France declare war and there was only so much one could do against a superpower. But that’s a story for another day.
Eventually, the Republicans would regain control of Mexico but Zaragoza won’t live to see that day as he died of typhus only one month after his heroic victory at Puebla.
In his memory, the town of Puebla was renamed, Puebla de Zaragoza. And when Juárez regained control of the country, he decided to commemorate the Battle of Puebla by declaring the 5th of May a national holiday, hence where Cinco de Mayo comes from.
So no, unlike what an upsetting amount of Americans believe, Cinco de Mayo does not celebrate Mexican Independence.Mexico’s independence is celebrated on the 16th of September, the day El Grito de Dolores started their independence war.
Furthermore, Cinco de Mayo isn’t really that much of a big deal in Mexico and is celebrated at best with military parades and battle reenactments, and not with endless sangrias and Chili’s.
But then one should expect much from a country who think this is Mexican food.