Cinco de Mayo, or the fifth of May, is a holiday that celebrates the date of the Mexican army’s May 5, 1862 victory over France at the Battle of Puebla during the Franco-Mexican War. Also known as Battle of Puebla Day. While it is a relatively minor holiday in Mexico, in the United States, Cinco de Mayo has evolved into a commemoration of Mexican culture and heritage, particularly in areas with large Mexican-American populations.
Cinco de Mayo is not Mexican Independence Day, a popular misconception. Instead, it commemorates a single battle. In 1861, Benito Juárez—a lawyer and member of the Indigenous Zapotec tribe—was elected president of Mexico. At the time, the country was in financial ruin after years of internal strife, and the new president was forced to default on debt payments to European governments.
In response, France, Britain and Spain sent naval forces to Veracruz, Mexico, demanding repayment. Britain and Spain negotiated with Mexico and withdrew their forces. France, however, ruled by Napoleon III, decided to use the opportunity to carve an empire out of Mexican territory. Late in 1861, a well-armed French fleet stormed Veracruz, landing a large force of troops and driving President Juárez and his government into retreat.
Certain that success would come swiftly, 6,000 French troops under General Charles Latrille de Lorencez set out to attack Puebla de Los Angeles, a small town in east-central Mexico. From his new headquarters in the north, Juárez rounded up a ragtag force of 2,000 loyal men—many of them either Indigenous Mexicans or of mixed ancestry—and sent them to Puebla. The vastly outnumbered and poorly supplied Mexicans, led by Texas-born General Ignacio Zaragoza, fortified the town and prepared for the French assault. On May 5, 1862, Lorencez gathered his army—supported by heavy artillery—before the city of Puebla and led an assault. (Continue reading from The History Channel)
Cinco de Mayo on Fifth of May is a commemoration of the victory of an outnumbered army of Mexicans over the French forces at the Battle of Puebla that took place May 5, 1862. The triumph of the Mexicans proved to the world that their will to defend their nation’s sovereignty would prevail against a powerful foreign invader. (3;40 min.)
Ignacio Zaragoza Seguín ; March 24, 1829 – September 8, 1862) was a Mexican general and politician. He led the Mexican army that defeated invading French forces at the Battle of Puebla on May 5, 1862 (mostly celebrated in the United States as Cinco de Mayo ).
Charles Ferdinand Latrille, Comte de Lorencez (23 May 1814 –16 July 1892) was a French Army general under Napoleon III during the 19th century. He was a relative of the Empress Carlota of Mexico, who was the only daughter of King Leopold I, King of the Belgians and wife of Maximilian I of Mexico. He was most notable for losing the Battle of Puebla in the early stages of the Second French intervention in Mexico (ultimately culminating in the Second Mexican Empire) although he would continue to have military command during France's war with Prussia.
Maximilian, in full Ferdinand Maximilian Joseph, (born July 6, 1832, Vienna, Austria—died June 19, 1867, near Querétaro, Mex.), archduke of Austria and the emperor of Mexico, a man whose naive liberalism proved unequal to the international intrigues that had put him on the throne and to the brutal struggles within Mexico that led to his execution.
