With our free press under threat and federal funding for public media gone, your support matters more than ever. Help keep the LAist newsroom strong, become a monthly member or increase your support today.
How Mexico's Victory Over The French On Cinco de Mayo Aided The Union In The Civil War
A Cinco de Mayo celebration at El Pueblo de Los Angeles Historical Monument in 2017. It's one of the few cultural institutions with a proposed increase in its budget.
(
Frederic J. Brown
/
AFP via Getty Images
)
Cinco de Mayo. It's not Mexican Independence Day, and it's not a widespread holiday in Mexico either. It marks the day the Mexican army defeated the French in the Battle of Puebla in 1862.
The backstory
After the Mexican–American War, Mexico was in debt to the many countries who had contributed to their unsuccessful effort, France included.
Marissa López, a UCLA professor of Chicano and Central American studies, said France was looking for any reason to invade Mexico. The French hoped, she said, to establish a military base in the Western Hemisphere during the U.S. Civil War to back the South.
Sponsored message
"Supporting the South would mean potentially breaking up this increasingly powerful country," López said.
Miraculously, the unheralded Mexican Army defeated the French army. But if things had gone differently?
"The French could very well have set up a base of operations in Mexico and been able to aid the South, and the U.S. Civil War could have ended very differently," Lopez said.
So why isn't the holiday celebrated in Mexico?
López said the Victory in Puebla was a hollow one. The French came back a few years later and briefly established an empire. So no, Mexico does not celebrate Cinco De Mayo.
So why do Americans celebrate? Lopez says it's advantageous to drink and forget the actual history. "Because forgetting that history means forgetting our deep indebtedness to Mexico."
Sponsored message
But if you want to enjoy a drink or two, keep in mind you're toasting to Mexico's brief victory over the French empire in 1862.
Trending on LAist
-
A two-week ban put Brook Haley's job in jeopardy. -
A suspect wounded by police is in custody, according to authorities. Police found another person dead from apparent gunshot wounds at the scene. -
Patricia Krenwinkel has been recommended for parole for a second time since 1971 murder conviction. Under the sway of Charles Manson, his followers committed a series of gruesome murders in 1969. The cult leader's Helter Skelter plan terrorized the city and still fascinates more than 50 years later. -
The city will make presentations at several upcoming gatherings after LAist revealed $700,000 in contracts had been signed outside public view. -
The county planned to send concrete from the Eaton Fire burn area to the Antelope Valley for later use reinforcing roads. The plan was abandoned after community outrage. -
The medical examiner has not yet determined a cause of death. Lucrecia Macias Barajas' family said the encampment where her daughter found her mother's body had been a known problem for many years.
Best of LAist
