Cinco De Mayo

Most, if not all of my Non US readers will probably never have heard of this. Last Friday we went with some friends to a Mexican restaurant to drink Margarita and eat good Mexican food. Nothing new there, I can hear my friends mutter.


Cinco De Mayo is a huge day in the history of Mexico. It is not Mexican Independence day, which is 16th September, but it celebrates the date when the Mexican Army beat the French, who were trying to expand their empire to include Mexico. The victory was at the Battle Of Puebla, 1862. To understand what events lead up to this you have to go further back in history.

Mexico gained independence from Spain in 1862. Between then and 1858, the Mexican economy took several hits, through various events, political takeovers and wars (including the US Civil War), culminating in the Mexican Civil War. Mexico was heavily in debt to several nations, with Britain, Spain and France being the main loansharks.

France worked with Britain and Spain to head over to Mexico to try to strongarm them into repaying their debts, but France had a deeper agenda. Both Britain and Spain soon returned home, having made deals with the country and also having realised Frances intentions. Starting at Veracruz, Napoleon marched on towards Mexico City, but was beaten back having met strong resistance from Mexican Militia, lead by General Zaragoza. This is the basis of the Cinco De Mayo celebration. Interestingly, this website here, details how they believe that Cinco De Mayo played a pivotal in the US Civil War too.

However Napoleon was not going to be satisfied at that and sent back 30,000 more troops (against the will of the French people and a year later), eventually winning through and installing their leader in Mexico City. This was short lived however and Mexico with assistance from the US, won their country back from the French in 1867.

There are, of course, many websites that detail at a much greater level, including this one that I used for most of my research. Just Google Cinco De Mayo and read away.

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