When we looked at the wider historical context of the battle at Puebla, we found no real explanation for why the event inspired such a popular holiday. Let's look at details about Mexico's foreign conflicts with the United States, France, Spain, and England in the early and middle 1800s, along with Mexico's own internal problems. See if you can put the pieces together to discover why the events of Cinco de Mayo, 1862, might be significant for both Mexico and the United States.
After losing the war against the United States, Mexico was broke and facing collapse. It had surrendered half of its land to the U.S., which caused widespread depression. Even worse, Mexico fell into a fierce civil war, making its government more fragile and dangerously close to going into bankruptcy. To pay for the civil war and avoid falling apart, the Mexican government borrowed billions of dollars from European nations like Spain, England, and France. However, the President of Mexico, Benito Juarez, had no hope of paying back the loans. He told his European creditors that Mexico was defaulting on the money it owed.
Not surprisingly, Spain, England, and France were not willing to accept Juarez’s decision to default on his loans. Napoleon III, the leader of France, was especially interested in collecting, because he wanted to overthrow Juarez and turn Mexico into a French colony. There were promising natural resources such as gold in Mexico, and France also wanted to keep a close eye on the emerging power of the United States. Juarez’s refusal to pay his debts was the perfect excuse to invade. While all of this was going on, the United States was in the middle of its own civil war. The U.S. knew that letting the French take over Mexico was a threat to its own existence, but it could do little to stop the French Empire's attack on its southern neighbor.
Question
Was war with France inevitable?
Chances are good that the French would have invaded Mexico no matter what. England and Spain worked out a deal to settle their debt with Mexico and went home, but France saw that Mexico was weak and wanted to set up an empire there.
Question
Why might the U.S. want to celebrate Cinco de Mayo in 1862?
Although the U.S. had just fought a brutal war with the Mexicans, it wanted to remain friendly with this important neighbor. Also, many Americans viewed the French as a bigger threat to their own peace than Mexico, and would have been happy to see them lose a battle.
