Cinco de Mayo is a holiday that celebrates the Mexican army’s victory during The Battle of Puebla. Which was a battle that took place during the Franco-Mexican war on May 5th,1962.
Evolved into a commemoration of Mexican culture and heritage, particularly in areas with a highly concentrated Mexican-American population, the US spends Cinco imbibing tequila-based drinks, dancing, and Mexican food. The holiday is one of the biggest bar-themed celebrations of the year, and by all means, has essentially become one of the largest American drinking holidays up there with St. Patrick's day.
The popular bit of misconstruction, Cinco De Mayo is NOT Mexican Independence Day. Instead, it’s actually a commemoration of a symbolic single battle. One that really didn’t mean much in the long scheme of things to the Mexican people.
An indigenous member of the Zapotec Tribe, Benito Juarez, the then-president-elect of Mexico–after years of wasted spending and infighting within the country (kind of like America, today)--had decided to default on payments back to the European governments it had owed a debt to. In actuality, this said debt, which was written about in the Convention of London treaty (that went against the US's own Monroe doctrine), was a form of bill collection for a civil war highly motivated by foreign European interests, all of whom, sought both allies and profiteering from the newly independent Mexico.
In response to this bill, France, Britain, and Spain sent forces across the world to Veracruz, Mexico in order to get them to repay. Taking advantage of course, of the fact that the United States was in the midst of its own Civil War and so was unable to intervene. Veracruz itself was a city that was considered a port municipality. And though Britain and Spain inevitably ended up negotiating and retreating away… France on the other hand did not.
Ruled by Napoleon the third, the emperor had seized this opportunity to launch an outright invasion of Mexican territory. Knowing full well the US could not intervene during this stage in their own war.
The Battle of Puebla: The Whole Reason We Celebrate Cinco
In 1861, the French Fleet stormed Veracruz with an army of 6000 soldiers. They drove President Juárez into retreat. United against a foreign enemy, the Mexican forces rallied a ragtag force of 2,000 indigenous fighters of varying descent--basically, recruiting anyone willing to fight. Despite being vastly outnumbered and poorly supplied, the rebels, led by Texan General Ignacio Zaragoza, fortified their town, created chokepoints, and reinforced their holdouts. They prepared for a longstanding assault.
The battle lasted for days. Despite having both the men, artillery, and discipline, the French were unable to take the fortification. When the force inevitably retreated due to running out of ammo, and an unwillingness to take the battle to open field (knowing they'd be outmaneuvered), all-in-all, the French retreated and had lost nearly 500 soldiers. Fewer than the 100 Mexicans who'd died in the clash.
This is the great battle that Cinco De Mayo is supposedly based on. But the efforts, while admirable, still meant very little in the grand scheme. Because the city would fall one year later, followed shortly, by the entire empire, when the French had come back and took the capital. There were no Remember the 300 rallies. This was not the Alamo. Overall, it was a skirmish that came and went...
But as history teaches us, empires aren’t won with battles. They're won with politics.
Napoleon III soon placed the Archduke of Austria, Ferdinand Maximilian as emperor of Mexico in 1864. Seeking to create a Pro-French government, the leader had made the seminal mistake his predecessors had committed in setting up an international leader as king of a foreign land they knew absolutely nothing about.
Refusing to abandon his men or his responsibilities, Ferdinand Maximilian stayed in his dying kingdom despite all warnings from France to retreat, else lose his life. Respectfully, when Juarez retook the empire, he had Maximillian executed for the lives of thousands of dead Mexicans lost in the war.
The former Archduke's dying words were…
“I forgive everyone, and I ask everyone to forgive me. May my blood, which is about to be shed, be for the good of the country. Viva México, viva la independencia!"
The Aftermath
Thanks in part to military support and political pressure from the United States, France finally fully withdrew in 1867. Their invasion failed. In the end, an emperor came, took advantage, lost, and left.
Thousands had died and an empire was destabilized. Yet, we celebrated these events as Americans, over an insignificant battle. And a buttload of Margaritas.
From the 1970s into the 80s, alcoholic beverage manufacturers began a marketing campaign to attract products to Latino customers. This period, saw an influx of Mexican births, as the country’s population exponentially grew. Many immigrants had actually moved back and forth across the border for work around this time. So, in a typical capitalistic society, what better way to make a dollar than… to sell liquor to a nomadic, struggling, southern workforce looking for their place in the world?
The very people whose descendants likely fought in both the Mexican and American civil wars…
In the US, we use the holiday to celebrate Mexican Culture and the victory of the indigenous over an unruly emperor. Why? because it’s a narrative much in tune with the US’s. This is why we celebrate it with mariachis, music, dancing, and mole, despite the odd fact…
That Cinco De Mayo isn’t even considered a Mexican federal holiday. It’s an American holiday ABOUT Mexico, that, outside of the port city of Puebla, not many actually celebrate.
Funny how stories are sold throughout history, isn’t it?
Sources: History, Britannica, Stanford, Pewresearch, and Wikipedia... and all their affiliated .coms or .orgs or .edus.
