What happened at the Battle of Puebla on 5 May 1862?
Cinco de Mayo: the Battle of Puebla
El Cinco de Mayo: la batalla de Puebla
5 May 1862. In 1861 Mexico, ruined by the War of the Reform, suspended payment of its foreign debts.
Draft: not yet checked against its sources.
Where: Mexico, The whole Spanish-speaking world
What happened
In 1861 Mexico, ruined by the War of the Reform, suspended payment of its foreign debts. Spain, Britain and France sent a joint expedition to Veracruz; the Spanish and British withdrew, but Napoleon III's army marched on the capital, meaning to set up a Mexican empire. On 5 May 1862 the French commander, Lorencez, attacked the forts of Loreto and Guadalupe above Puebla. The young general Ignacio Zaragoza's Army of the East held the hills from morning until nightfall and drove the French back. The victory only delayed the invasion: Puebla and Mexico City fell the next year and Maximilian reigned until 1867. But 5 May became a symbol of Mexican sovereignty, and in the United States, among Mexican Americans, a bigger celebration than in Mexico itself.
Say it
El 5 de mayo de 1862 el ejército mexicano venció a los franceses en Puebla.
On 5 May 1862 the Mexican army beat the French at Puebla.
Why it matters
Cinco de Mayo is the most famous Mexican date in the world, and the most misunderstood: it is not Independence Day. Its popularity in the United States shows how Mexican American identity has its own calendar.
Read about it
Connected
- Spanish in the United States (1513–)
- Benito Juárez and La Reforma (1855–15 July 1867)
- Benito Juárez and La Reforma (1855–15 July 1867)
- The Porfiriato: order, progress and inequality (1876–May 1911)
Sources
- Batalla de Puebla, episodio glorioso de nuestra historia — Secretaría de Educación Pública (gob.mx)
- The Roots of Cinco de Mayo: The Battle of Puebla — Library of Congress (blog)
- Benito Juárez — INEHRM