Happy Cinco de Mayo!

Remembering The Battle of Puebla

By Dan McLaughlin Posted in France | History | Mexico — Comments (8) / Email this page » / Leave a comment »

Today is May 5: Cinco de Mayo, commemorating the Battle of Puebla on May 5, 1862. Cinco de Mayo does not celebrate Mexico's independence from Spain (that date is September 16, which marks the start of Mexico's war for independence beginning in 1810), and in fact it isn't a federal holiday in Mexico; it is, rather, more an excuse for Mexican-Americans to celebrate their heritage, like St. Patrick's Day is for my own family. It's also an occasion for politicians like John McCain to seek support among Mexican-Americans by commemorating the holiday.

If you think about it historically, though, there's actually a good reason why the Battle of Puebla should be a bigger deal in the U.S. than back in Mexico.

Read On...

(For the uninitiated, you can read up here and here for a pretty decent primer on the battle). First of all, of course, it marks a Mexican victory in a war Mexico ultimately lost with France, leading to the installation of a French puppet government; that's understandably not considered a high point in Mexican history. Second, the battle was arguably of more long-term significance to the U.S.; it turned what would have been a rapid French conquest of Mexico into a protracted struggle, thus seriously reducing the odds that the French could use their foothold in the Western Hemisphere to move against the United States, then engaged in its own Civil War, and/or intervene on the Confederate side. Like so many things related to the Civil War, there's no shortage of debate on whether and when it might have been plausible that the European powers would intervene to ensure the permanent breakup of the Union, but a strong French presence in Mexico in the summer of 1862 would have created a radically different dynamic than prevailed by the following year (the French didn't enter Mexico City until June of 1863, just a few weeks before Gettysburg and the fall of Vicksburg).

Of course, for those who prefer the French-bashing angle, there is simply the fact that the losers of the battle were crack French troops routed by outnumbered and untrained Mexican peasants. There's also the fact that the victorious general, Ignacio Zaragoza, was born in Texas, albeit before Texas' independence from Mexico.

Or, you could just have a margarita.

My spanish is not so good but sexo de mayo seems happier n/t by Joliphant

"Those who expect to reap the blessings of freedom must, like men, undergo the fatigue of supporting it."
-Thomas Paine: The American Crisis, No. 4, 1777

Reply To This — User Info — #1

Thanks for the history lesson. by shooflyguy68

And I think I will take your advice on the margarita. However, as your own linked article notes, we can't really rag on the French too much for this defeat. The Mexican army opposing them was actually well equiped, well trained and held the high ground.

Also, while the U.S. couldn't actively intervene on behalf of the Mexicans against the French, President Lincoln did order that some munitions get "lost" in and near Mexican territory.

It's also interesting to note that President Lincoln and his Mexican counterpart President Benito Juarez were great admirers of each other and are now each considered by many the greatest presidents in the history of their respective countries.

Reply To This — User Info — #2

This is the day by The Default Attorney

that mexican americans become bemused at the corona guzzling gringos around them. And the day that immigrants from latin american countries OTHER than Mexico get a little ticked off when someone wishes them a happy cinco de mayo.

Reply To This — User Info — #3

Good for the US in the long-term? by Hermes

I'm not so sure. Had the French backed Habsburg emperor succeeded in establishing a European empire in Mexico, might that not have prevented future trouble? Putting aside, for a moment, French intervention in the US Civil War, consider the later consequences : 1. No Zimmerman telegram issue during World War I because the Mexican government would have been allied with France (this reduces, though does not negate, the possibility of US intervention in World War I and its tragic post-war outcome) 2. A nation-state more along the lines of either France itself or post-colonial French nations(assuming a Mexican demand for independence along the lines of Vietnam, Syria, and Algeria). Either might be preferable to the current situation in Mexico. 3. The US has never engaged in a war with France (I do not count the crisis of 1798-1800); we have been to war with Mexico twice [1835-36 and 1845-48]. We have much more in common with France than Mexico and relations between a French Mexico and the US would most likely be better today. 4. Likely a reduced illegal immigration issue, although that is entirely optimistic guesswork.

This is all idle speculation, though. History happened. But on this lovely day in which a minor regional Mexican holiday has become a major cultural event in the US, I thought that it would be interesting to explore the alternative history.

Reply To This — User Info — #4

Just Like Americans by Bob Frazier

Just like Americans. Celebrating other countries famous battles. We have no greater victory in our history than the Battle of Midway, yet it goes basically ignored by the public. There should be a holiday just for that. Never mind D-Day, Gettysburg, Yorktown etc.

It's sad when you think about it.

Reply To This — User Info — #5

The problem with Gettysburg by Dan McLaughlin

Is that the first week of July is already taken.

D-Day still gets remembered, though less well than it did 20 years ago, when more American adults still remembered it, and most of the battle's survivors were still with us.

"No compromise with the main purpose, no peace till victory, no pact with unrepentant wrong." - Winston Churchill

Reply To This — User Info — #6

Well since we have never gone to war with France by Doc Holliday

we have to celebrate others who whipped them!

ps. just kidding, I actually love France

pps. and yes I know about the undeclared war during the Madison admin, and I know about some flare ups with some ornery French in North Africa.

ppps. ok, I should have just stayed with the one liner :)

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Molon Labe!

Reply To This — User Info — #7

Redstate