A Historical Oddity: The Material Significance of the Cinco de Mayo

The initially Mexican-American holiday of the Cinco de Mayo has to be one of the most historically misunderstood holidays in the United States. I have frequently heard everything from it was the battle that kicked the French out of Mexico to it must be Mexican Independence Day to that was the time Mexico defeated the United States.

The actual Battle of Puebla, which took place on 5 May 1862, was at best what Churchill would have called “the end of the beginning.”

Following decades of civil wars, an exhausted and bankrupt Mexico seemed like a rich prize ripe for the plucking to Emperor Napoleon III of the French Empire. On the pretext of collecting overdue loans the French, along with the Spanish and British, sent naval squadrons to Veracruz in late 1861 to demand repayment.

The only reason any of those governments thought they could get away with it at the time was because the American Civil War had started months earlier and was looking like it was going to go on for a good, long time. They Union couldn’t interfere, and the Confederacy was hoping the British and French would intervene on their side, so they certainly were not going to help Mexico.

When it became clear the French intended to conquer Mexico, the British and Spanish decided to split. French troops defeated Mexican forces loyal to recently elected and popular President Benito Juarez, who also happened to be the first indigenous person to hold that title, in several small battles. Mexican conservatives hated the idea of majority rule in Mexico in the first place, and the thought of being ruled by an indio even more, so they sided with the French against their own people.

IOW, they were well-heeled compradors.

From late 1861 until May of 1862, the French mostly had things their own way. On 5 May, they tried to capture the town of Puebla, and were bloodily and skillfully repulsed by Mexican forces, partly under the command of Porfirio Diaz, the future president and dictator who was later overthrown by Pancho Villa and Emiliano Zapata.

The victory was significant because it delayed the eventual French and conservative Mexican, or Imperialist, capture of both Puebla and Mexico City for a year, and forced Napoleon III to send more troops with instructions to gain the support of the Mexican upper classes who lived off of exploiting everyone else as much as possible.

French and Imperialist troops won most of the battles, but by no means all, for three years after Puebla, and the tide didn’t turn until the American Civil War ended and the Union started funneling weapons to the Republicans. First Lincoln and then Andrew Johnson(in one of his rare good moves) let the French know that if they didn’t withdraw from Mexico, they would be facing veteran troops led by the likes of Sherman and Sheridan.

Napoleon III saw the writing on the wall and withdrew all French troops in 1866, and the Republicans defeated the Imperialists in the resulting civil war the following year.

In Mexico today, the Cinco de Mayo is more a holiday to celebrate the determination of the Mexican people to be free of foreign rule, of the resilience of Mexican culture, and just an excuse to enjoy that culture and have a good time. That’s how it was in the San Antonio of my youth. Everybody knew the BIG Mexican holiday was Diez y Seis, 16 September, which is the real Mexican Independence Day. We didn’t have parades for Cinco de Mayo, but on Diez y Seis we sure did.

I have absolutely no problem with Americans celebrating Cinco de Mayo however they would like, but it would be nice if we celebrated the Big One, too. The Mexican struggle for independence from Spain is certainly one both worth learning about and respecting, and most Americans don’t have a clue what el grito was, which is a damned shame.

So Happy Cinco de Mayo! But throw a little love Diez y Seis’ way.