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Oct 23, 2009 · 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. The day ...
Cinco de Mayo. Cinco de Mayo (pronounced [ˈsiŋko ðe ˈmaʝo] in Mexico, Spanish for "Fifth of May") is an annual celebration held on May 5 to celebrate Mexico 's victory over the Second French Empire at the Battle of Puebla in 1862, [1][2] led by General Ignacio Zaragoza. Zaragoza died months after the battle from an illness, however, and a ...
May 4, 2021 · Civil War Connections. The first American Cinco de Mayo celebrations date back to the 1860s, when Mexicans living in California commemorated the victory over France in Puebla. At that time, the ...
May 4, 2021 · The date is still widely misunderstood as Mexico’s independence day, but Cinco de Mayo is actually a celebration of the surprising Mexican army’s victory over France at the 1862 Battle of Puebla.
- Jesse Greenspan
- Mexico had just gotten over a civil war in 1862. The so-called War of the Reform broke out in 1858 soon after liberals drafted a new constitution aimed at reducing the power and influence of the Catholic Church.
- European troops invaded because Mexico was broke. After the War of Reform, Mexico had virtually no money in its treasury and owed tens of millions of dollars to foreign debtors.
- France was considered extremely potent militarily when it attacked Mexico. In 1862, the French had one of the best armies in the world. Arriving at Puebla on May 4, they were coming off a series of victories in Southeast Asia and Northern Africa and were loaded with firepower, including long-range rifles that put the Mexicans’ creaky muskets to shame.
- After losing the Battle of Puebla, France went on to win the war. Mexico’s victory at Puebla slowed, but did not stop, France’s assault. In the wake of the battle, an infuriated Emperor Napoleon III ordered that almost 30,000 more troops be sent to Mexico.
May 5, 2022 · Cinco de Mayo commemorates Mexico’s unexpected victory over France in the Battle of Puebla on May 5, 1862. The conflict between the two countries had begun in 1861, after Benito Juárez, then ...
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Oct 26, 2024 · The day is celebrated in the state of Puebla with parades, speeches, and reenactments of the 1862 battle, though it is not much noticed in most of the rest of the country. In the mid-20th-century United States, the celebration of Cinco de Mayo became among Mexican immigrants a way of encouraging pride in their Mexican heritage.
