On May 5th, 1862 Mexican General Ignacio Zaragoza's force of 4,500 soldiers defeated the French Emperor Napoleon III, army of 6,500 at Puebla, México, 100 miles east of Mexico city.
The Battle at Puebla happened only 14 years after the United States defeated Mexico in the Mexican-American War 1846-48.
Led by Mexico's former Secretary of War, Ignacio Zaragoza, the Mexican army first fought the French invaders at Acultzingo on April 28.
They were forced to withdraw, but quickly regrouped in Puebla, where on May 5th, despite the exhaustion of the troops, the 33-year-old general and his army forced the invaders to retreat. However, the French occupation continued with the installation of austrian Emperor Maximilian I, captured and executed on June 5, 1867 when Benito Juarez finally entered Mexico city and established a legitimate government.
This holiday is celebrated in California (annexed by the United States in 1845, which led to the Mexican-American War) and New Mexico, Arizona and Texas (annexed in 1848 after the victory of the USA in that war), some of the territories and events that led to the Fifth of May.
Then, between 1858-61 the Reform War, a civil war between the Liberals (who believed in the separation of church and state) against the Conservatives (who favored a close relationship between church and state), left the Mexican Treasury nearly bankrupt!
So, on July 17 1861, Mexican President Benito Juárez decided that all debt payments would be suspended for two years.
In response, France, Britain, and Spain sent naval forces to Veracruz to demand payment.
Britain and Spain negotiated with Mexico, but France, ruled by Napoleon III, decided to use the opportunity to establish a latin empire that would favor French interests.
Reenactment of the battle of Puebla, yesterday in Mexico city.
