The Fifth of May, 1862, Battle of Puebla

[Hawk1981]

By 1861 the Mexican economy had been devastated by more than a decade of war. The country had taken loans from France, Spain and the United Kingdom but was having difficulty paying them back. In the summer of 1861, Mexican President Benito Juarez announced a suspension of payments for two years. In a short lived alliance, France, Spain and the United Kingdom sent a military expedition to Veracruz, Mexico to force the country to honor its debt. Juarez sent an ambassador to negotiate with the European powers and was successful in reaching an agreement with Spain and the United Kingdom that would allow deferred payments and restrict their troops to the vicinity of Veracruz.

The French would not agree to the Mexican proposal and it quickly became evident that France and its leader Napoleon III had a larger agenda to topple the Juarez government and establish French imperial claims on Mexico. French troops began a march toward Mexico City. In a first clash of arms, the French army defeated the Mexican National Guard forces at the Cumbres de Acultzingo prompting the French commander, General Charles Lorencez to report "We are so superior to the Mexicans in organization, race and refinement of manners, that I am pleased to announce to His Imperial Majesty, Napoleon III, that from this moment on, as the leader of my 6,000 brave soldiers, I can consider myself the owner of Mexico."

The next milestone on the road to Mexico City was the city of Puebla. Mexican General Ignacio Zaragoza, commander of the Army of the East, arrived in Puebla with about 4,000 troops on the evening of May 3, 1862. Seriously outgunned and outnumbered, Zaragoza formulated a defense that was centered on stone fortresses on the northern side of the city. His plan was to have a portion of his troops defend a line along the fortresses with the remainder kept in reserve to counterattack any direct assault.

French forces started their attack on the Puebla fortresses on the morning of May 5. General Lorencez deployed his cannons at extreme range concentrating largely ineffective fire on the stone fortifications and breastworks. Three successive attacks by the French were repulsed by Mexican forces, many of whom were armed only with machetes and lances. Lorencez called off his assault and withdrew from the field in the afternoon when the battlefield was soaked by heavy rain. The French had suffered eight hundred casualties with about 476 dead and 335 wounded and captured, compared to Mexican casualties of about 87 killed and 130 wounded.

Mexican troops celebrated their victory by singing La Marseillaise, the song of the French Revolution and banned at the time by Napoleon III. General Zaragoza reported to President Juarez following the battle that "The French troops showed their valor in combat and their leader his arrogance, foolishness, and clumsiness."

In commemoration of the victory of the 5th of May, Cinco de Mayo has become a regional holiday in Mexico and has evolved into a celebration of Mexican Heritage, resilience and character, particularly in the United States.

Though an inspirational victory for Mexico, their loss at the Battle of Puebla was a temporary setback for the French. General Lorencez was dismissed and his replacement successfully captured Puebla and Mexico City in 1863. The French installed their surrogate, Emperor Maximilian to rule the short lived Second Mexican Empire.

 

[Hawk1981]

The Second French Intervention in Mexico also known as the Second Franco-Mexican War, was an invasion of Mexico, launched in late 1861 and lasting until 1867, by the Second French Empire.

To extend the influence of Imperial France, Napoleon III instigated the intervention in Mexico by claiming that the military adventure was a foreign policy commitment to free trade. The establishment of a friendly monarchy in Mexico would ensure European access to Latin American markets; and French access to Mexican silver. To realize his imperial ambitions without interference from other European nations, Napoleon III entered into a coalition with the United Kingdom and Spain, while the United States was occupied with its civil war and unable to enforce the Monroe Doctrine.

When the British and the Spanish discovered that France had unilaterally planned to seize Mexico, they withdrew from the military coalition agreed in London. The subsequent French invasion created the Second Mexican Empire (1861–1867), a client state of the French Empire. Besides the Continental empires involved, the Russian Empire also acknowledged the political legitimacy of Maximilian's Second Mexican Empire.

After much guerrilla warfare that continued after the Capture of Mexico City in 1863 — the French Empire withdrew from Mexico and abandoned the Austrian emperor of Mexico; subsequently, the Mexicans executed Emperor Maximilian I, on June 19, 1867, and restored the Mexican Republic.

Emperor Maximilian I of Mexico

 

[Canon Shooter]

All's I know is that there's gonna' be tacos...

 

[Tom Paine 1949]

Every empire tends to arrogantly overreach, including our own. Every modern empire uses “defending free trade” or ”honoring debts” as excuses for pursuing imperialist policies. But as soon as “free trade” no longer serves imperial interests, or the empire itself becomes indebted and foreigners demand repayment in real money, suddenly ideological positions are reversed. Often, in periods of decline, imperialists become desperate, more dangerous, and engage in absurd adventures.

Was this the situation of France under Napoleon III?

It seems to be the role played by the U.S. today on the world stage. Perhaps the main difference is that U.S. dollar supremacy and U.S. military might still allow the U.S. to run up almost unlimited debts with little effective opposition.

 

[whitehall]

You have to wonder what might have happened if the French actually conquered the Mexican empire back in the mid 1800's. Would Mexican restaurants be selling quiche instead of tacos today? The French finally stabbed the Max'l empire in the back when they abandoned the effort. When Juarez finally viewed the body of Max'l whom he ordered executed by firing squad, his only statement was "I thought he was taller".