What is the history of Cinco de Mayo?

The 5th of May is not Mexican Independence Day, but it should be! And Cinco de Mayo is not an American holiday, but it should be. Mexico declared its independence from mother Spain on midnight, the 15th of September, 1810.

And it took 11 years before the first Spanish soldiers were told and forced to leave Mexico. So, why Cinco de Mayo? And why should Americans savor this day as well?

Because 4,000 Mexican soldiers smashed the French and traitor Mexican army of 8,000 at Puebla, Mexico, 100 miles east of Mexico City on the morning of May 5, 1862. The French had landed in Mexico (along with Spanish and English troops) five months earlier on the pretext of collecting Mexican debts from the newly elected government of democratic President (and Indian) Benito Juarez. The English and Spanish quickly made deals and left.

The French, however, had different ideas. Under Emperor Napoleon III, who detested the United States, the French came to stay. They brought a Hapsburg prince with them to rule the new Mexican empire.Carolota.

Napoleon's French Army had not been defeated in 50 years, and it invaded Mexico with the finest modern equipment and with a newly reconstituted Foreign Legion. The French were not afraid of anyone, especially since the United States was embroiled in its own Civil War. The French Army left the port of Vera Cruz to attack Mexico City to the west, as the French assumed that the Mexicans would give up should their capital fall to the enemy -- as European countries traditionally did.

Under the command of Texas-born General Zaragosa, (and the cavalry under the command of Colonel Porfirio Diaz, later to be Mexico's president and dictator), the Mexicans awaited. Brightly dressed French Dragoons led the enemy columns. The Mexican Army was less stylish.

General Zaragosa ordered Colonel Diaz to take his cavalry, the best in the world, out to the French flanks. In response, the French did a most stupid thing; they sent their cavalry off to chase Diaz and his men, who proceeded to butcher them. The remaining French infantrymen charged the Mexican defenders through sloppy mud from a thunderstorm and through hundreds of head of stampeding cattle stirred up by Indians armed only with machetes.

When the battle was over, many French were killed or wounded and their cavalry was being chased by Diaz' superb horsemen miles away. The Mexicans had won a great victory that kept Napoleon III from supplying the confederate rebels for another year, allowing the United States to build the greatest army the world had ever seen. This grand army smashed the Confederates at Gettysburg just 14 months after the battle of Puebla, essentially ending the Civil War.

Union forces were then rushed to the Texas/Mexican border under General Phil Sheridan, who made sure that the Mexicans got all the weapons and ammunition they needed to expel the French. American soldiers were discharged with their uniforms and rifles if they promised to join the Mexican Army to fight the French. The American Legion of Honor marched in the Victory Parade in Mexico, City.It might be a historical stretch to credit the survival of the United States to those brave 4,000 Mexicans who faced an army twice as large in 1862.

But who knows? In gratitude, thousands of Mexicans crossed the border after Pearl Harbor to join the U.S.Armed Forces.As recently as the Persian Gulf War, Mexicans flooded American consulates with phone calls, trying to join up and fight another war for America. Mexicans, you see, never forget who their friends are, and neither do Americans. That's why Cinco de Mayo is such a party -- A party that celebrates freedom and liberty.

There are two ideals which Mexicans and Americans have fought shoulder to shoulder to protect, ever since the 5th of May, 1862. VIVA! El CINCO DE MAYO!

By Eduardo Rojas Vega Having inherited troubled finances, a bankrupt treasury and army after the War of the Reform, Mexican President Benito Juarez declared a two year moratorium on the payment of Mexico's foreign debt. The outcry in Europe was anguished. On Oct 31, 1861, the representatives of Queen Isabella II of Spain, Queen Victoria of Great Britain, and Emperor Napoleon III of France, signed the Convention of London by which the three nations agreed on a joint occupation of the port of Veracruz to collect their claims.

The purpose was to occupy the customhouse and apply all customs receipts to the debt. The Convention text stated that their intention was not to impair the right of the Mexican nation to choose and freely constitute the form of its own government. War of Occupation England and Spain were sincere but France, a month after the Spanish and British withdrawal, brought 4,500 troops and began marching inland on its war of occupation.

Their objective was to occupy Mexico City. Gen Latrille, commanding the French troops, was informed that the French would be welcomed with open arms in Puebla (conservative and proclerical just like today), and that the local clergy would shower them with magnolia blooms and would offer a special Te Deum in their honor. President Juarez assigned the defense of Puebla to Gen.

Ignacio Zaragoza. Encountering unexpected opposition on May 5, 1862, Latrille attacked recklessly and within 2 hours the French had expended half of their ammunition. The decisive action of the day was carried out by young Brigadier Gen.

Porfirio Diaz who later that afternoon repelled a determined assault on Zaragoza's right flank. The invaders, witnesses of more glorious days in Crimea, retreated to lick their wounds in Orizaba. That's how May 5 —Cinco de Mayo— would be added to the national calendar of holidays!

Maximilian Named Emperor The French, after 1 year of preparation, reattacked Puebla and made their way to Mexico City. Maximilian of Habsburg was named Emperor of Mexico attending the invitation of the conservative "Club de Notables" led by Miguel Gutierrez Estrada and Father Francisco Javier Miranda. Although in intention Maximilian was not a monster and acted in ways that the conservatives and clergy criticised (declared free press, proclaimed general amnesty for political prisoners, donned regional costumes, ate local food, and suggested that many priests he met could profit from some basic lessons in Christian charity), he signed the October decree in 1865 by which the death penalty was made mandatory for all captured Juaristas still bearing arms and was to be carried out without appeal within 24 hours of capture.

Maximilian Depossed After Napoleon made the decision to withdraw his troops in early 1867, Maximilian was left in an impossible position. He thought of abdicating his throne but his sense of Hapsburg dignity, and the hope that his wife's pleas to Napoleon, Pope Pius IX, and even Queen Victoria would bring military support again, convinced him not to abdicate. Maximilian took command of the Mexican Imperial Army but quickly found himself surrounded by republican troops.

Although plans had been laid for his escape, he surrendered to General Mariano Escobedo on May 15,1867. Tthe emperor would be tried and the state would request the death penalty. In spite of a rain of pleas for clemency from European Monarchs, New World Presidents and delegations of tearful supplicating women, Juarez remained adamant.

On the morning of June 19, 1867, after having received the last sacrament, Maximilian was led to The Cerro de las Campanas, in Queretaro and executed along with Miramon and Mejia, two conservative Mexican officers.As tragic as this event might appear, fifty thousand Mexicans had lost their lives fighting the French. Many historians say that after the failure of this attempt to tamper with Mexico's sovereignty, Mexican nationalism and self-esteem began to grow perceptibly for the first time in history.

During the early 1860's, the French occupied Mexico in response to the Mexican government's failure to make payments to European creditors. The initial occupation was successful, but the Mexican army led by General Zaragosa defeated a significant French force at the Battle of Puebla (1862) on the 5th of May. The holiday commemorates this victory.In spite of this resounding success against the French, the Mexicans could not prevent the French from taking over the country.

The Emperor Maximilian II ruled over the nation until he was executed by the new Mexican populist, Benito Juarez, a contemporary of Abraham Lincoln. By 1866, the French had left Mexico. Cinco de Mayo is not a federal holiday and is primarily celebrated in the province of Puebla.

It is actually, by many Mexican accounts, more celebrated in the US than Mexico as a "drinking holiday". I will be drinking too! FELIZ CINCO DE MAYO!

I cant really gove you an answer,but what I can give you is a way to a solution, that is you have to find the anglde that you relate to or peaks your interest. A good paper is one that people get drawn into because it reaches them ln some way.As for me WW11 to me, I think of the holocaust and the effect it had on the survivors, their families and those who stood by and did nothing until it was too late.