What Cinco de Mayo Really Is

Have you ever thought to yourself… why do we celebrate Cinco de Mayo? What's this all about? Hi! I'm Maria Munoz and today we'll be talking about the real story behind this popular holiday of Cinco de Mayo. Many people believe that Cinco de Mayo is a celebration of Mexico's independence against Spain. But its not actually what you think. To start off, Cinco de Mayo is not Mexico's Independence Day. That celebration is on September 16. In order to find out what Cinco de Mayo actually is, we have to go back to the year of 1861.

In this time Mexico was going through a tough time economically, therefore suspending interest payments on foreign loans. Mexico's biggest creditors were France, the United Kingdom, and Spain, who decided to do something to force repayment. So these three great countries decided to send warships to blockade Mexico. They had the greatest militaries of the time with the French, the greatest amongst them.

The only problem with this plan was the French, who were led by Napoleon Bonaparte the 3rd.

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Napoleon the 3rd was the Nephew of the famous Napoleon Bonaparte who had his sights set on world domination! As it turns out Napoleon the 3td was a chip off the old block. So when these three great fleets arrived to blockade Mexico, Napoleon landed a substantial expeditionary force and began chasing the Mexican army away from the coast and taking control of Mexican territory. Spain and the UK wanted none of it so they quickly left.

Now the United States wasn't happy about this either but they had problems of their own. The civil war had just broken out and President Lincoln was concerned that if he helped Mexico the French would decide to help the south, so Mexico got no help from us. Instead, They faced a French army alone and the French army was the best army in the world. In 1862 the French army began chasing the Mexican army towards Mexico city with the idea of taking control of the country. However, the road to the Mexican capital went through the city of Puebla, which was guarded by two large Mexican forts.

The French talked themselves into believing that because of Mexico's hard economic times the people of Mexico would welcome them and would not support the small gear of Mexican soldiers manning these forts. So they attacked! The battle raged on but the French had badly miscalculated. Like most countries being occupied by a foreign power, it doesn't matter what is happening at home. The Mexicans all fought together to repel the French. Despite the french's vast military superiority, the Mexicans defeated them in Puebla. The French turned in retreat, chased by an emboldened Mexican army. The unexpected victory became a rallying cry for all of Mexico and was quickly declared a national holiday. However, the story doesn't end there. In the next town, additional French forces routed the Mexican army and they marched on Mexico City and took control of the capital. In 1864 they brought in Maximillian, an archduke of Austria, that was a favorite of Napoleon, and installed him as emperor of Mexico. Maximillian was a progressive who immediately tried to bring Mexico into modern.