 |
| Battle of Puebla |
The
United States celebrates Cinco de Mayo more than the Mexicans. The origins of
the event, however, marked a victory of rag-tag Mexican army against a more
powerful, well trained and well-armed French army on May 5, 1862. It became
known as celebration for the victory of the oppressed against the oppressors.
However, as time went by, the celebration died down in Mexico, nevertheless,
its memory remained in many Mexicans, especially those who immigrated to the
United States where it turned to a celebration one own culture.
Cinco
de Mayo’s beginnings originated in a time of great confusion in Mexican
history. In the late 1850’s and to the 1860’s Mexico suffered years of civil
war, known as War of Reform, between rivaling political factions – the Liberals
against the Conservatives. Eventually, in 1861, the Liberal defeated the
Conservatives in the battlefield and marched triumphantly to the capital city
of Mexico City. The Liberal President Benito Juarez then assumed the leadership
of the country. However, the victory came with a high cost. Years of internal
strife brought the economy on its knees. Most of the infrastructure, roads and
bridges, and mills for processing agricultural goods laid in ruins. More than
that, peace and order throughout the country remained absent as banditry became
rampant across the roads of Mexico. The economy suffered terribly because of
the War of Reform.
President
Juarez faced a tough challenge in front of him. Because of the terrible
condition that the Mexico stood, Juarez had to default on its foreign loans.
The foreign debt of Mexico stood at millions of dollars owed to the countries
of France, Spain, and Britain. During the war, both the conservatives and the
liberal borrowed heavily from the Europeans to fund their respective war
efforts. After the Liberals won, the Europeans wanted payment for the
outstanding debt of the Liberals and the Conservatives. With an economy in
ruins and the government coffers empty, Juarez announced a two year moratorium
on foreign debt payments in 1861. However, the Congress had a more radical
approach – completely not paying the debts.
When
the countries of France, Spain, and Britain heard the news about Mexico
defaulting on their debt obligations, they became even furious. For years, they
had protested to Mexico against the death and injury of many foreigners in
Mexico. In addition, many properties of foreigners had been taken or damaged by
Mexican rampaging during the War of Reform and during the high rate of banditry
across the country. For the Europeans, the moratorium of debts was the last
straw.
In
1862, the three countries decided to take military actions against Mexico to
extract payment. Around 9,000 troops from Spain, France, and Britain occupied
the customs house in Veracruz on January of 1862. They hoped to collect payment
for the debt by cutting of Mexico’s vital revenue from duties collected in the
customs house on its most vibrant and well-known port of Veracruz.
However,
France had another agenda in Mexico, a malignant plot to take over Mexico using
debt collection as an excuse. After the War of Reform, some Mexican
Conservatives escaped to France and sought the help of Emperor Napoleon III.
The Conservatives proposed to the Emperor the idea of setting up a monarchy in
Mexico and they granted Napoleon III the privilege to choose who will be that
Emperor. The Conservatives clearly knocked on to the Emperor’s taste for
conquest. Napoleon III wanted to overshadow his relative, the great French
general Napoleon Bonaparte. He aimed to create a French Empire across the world
that will surpass that of Napoleon Bonaparte. He had already succeeded in
establishing colonies in Africa, poised to take over the whole of Indochina,
and now he wanted to set up another colony in Mexico in order to build an
Empire where the sun never sets. In addition to outdoing his ancestor, he had
other reasons for occupying Mexico. For instance, he saw the Mexican people incapable
of managing their own country and thus, he must take in order to teach them. A reason
well-known as mission civilisatice, the French version of America’s manifest
destiny. He also saw himself as the agent of the Catholic Church, asking favor
from the Pope himself, to grant him blessing to impose once again the power of
the Church in Mexico, which saw conflict with the ruling Liberals. Other reasons included economic benefits, such
as expanding market for French made goods and new sources for raw materials
needed by French industries.
More
importantly, Napoleon III saw a window where France could re-established
absolute monarchies in Republican Americas. The United States that announced
the Monroe Doctrine in the 1820’s pledged that will not allow European incursion
or expansion in the Americas. However, in the 1860’s the United States had
suffered a Civil War that turned its military to concentrate in home than in
abroad. Napoleon wanted to exploit the situation to establish his imperial
agenda.
In
the early 1862, European forces blockaded the port of Veracruz. However, when
the Spaniards and the British discovered that France wanted more than just debt
payment, they decided to pull out their troops in protest. They did not wanted
to become a part or embroiled in France’s imperial ambitions.
When
the two other European countries withdrew, France then began the invasion of
Mexico. With 6,500 French troops under General Charles Latrille de Lorencez,
they began their march towards the Mexican capital city of Mexico City and set
up the monarchy of Maximilian and his wife Charlotte (Napoleon’s choice as
Emperor of Mexico). They expected the invasion to be short. Conservatives who
spoke to Napoleon fed him information that once French forces landed the
Mexican people will rise up against President Juarez’s government. Also, they
knew that the Mexican army lack proper weapons, weak in numbers, and short in
discipline and skills. En route to Mexico City, in May, the French army
occupied the town known as the Puebla de Los Angeles.
The
Mexicans prepared for the defense of their country. The government began a
rapid conscription of men to the army in order to defend their homeland. President
Benito Juarez appointed General Ignacio Zaragoza to lead the attack against the
French. Zaragoza relied on his fellow commander, Porfirio Diaz, to rally their
2,000 man rag-tag army for battle against one of the most powerful military
force in the world.
On
May 5, 1862, the Mexican forces prepared themselves to fight the well-armed and
well-trained French forces occupying Puebla de Los Angeles. General Zaragoza
prayed for the rain to pour heavily in order to make the road muddy and
difficult to march with for the French. Then, on that day, French forces,
confident over an easy victory began their march towards Mexico City. However,
their overconfidence became their undoing. Marching in single file, they opened
themselves for ambush by Mexican forces. The Mexicans on the other hand
exploited this weakness. Zaragoza and Diaz ordered an attack on the flanks of
the thin formation of French forces. Upon doing so, they surprised the French
when they launched their attack. The French, shocked by the sudden attack, fell
in disarray, causing panic and confusion in the process. After a day of fighting,
the French had enough and withdrew from Puebla de Los Angles, suffering around
500 dead. The Mexicans on the other suffered around less than a hundred dead. The
Mexican army, however, failed to destroy the French forces because the mud in
the field caused by heavy rains that Zaragoza wished materialized.
Although
the Battle in Puebla proved to be a short lived victory. In the following year,
France returned with a more formidable force to avenge the defeat in Puebla.
Napoleon dispatched his veteran soldiers from Algeria to invade Mexico and
place Maximillian as Emperor. Eventually, they succeeded and France occupied
Mexico until late 1860’s.
Mexico
celebrated the victory in Puebla de Los Angeles. They celebrated it as victory
over a more powerful European power. The Mexican people then felt a
nationalistic fervor and hope that they can defeat a formidable enemy. The day
Cinco de Mayo, became a widely celebrated day in Mexico for over a century.
However, later on, it died down.
Celebration
of Cinco de Mayo only saw revival in the 1960’s and not in Mexico, but in the
United States. During that period, Mexican immigrants in the United States
began to fight for their identity and rights. They resented the American views
that Mexicans should assimilate to their culture and abandon their home culture.
In the 1960’s up to the 1970’s, Mexican-Americans began the Chicanismo
movement. It became a well-known movement in the states that once owned by Mexico
– Texas, California, New Mexico, Arizona, Colorado, etc. May 5, 1967, college
students from California State University celebrated the Cinco de Mayo. They
celebrated invoking the underlining meaning of the celebration as a victory of
the oppressed against the oppressors. The students celebrated in order to
celebrate Mexican culture and tradition. Mexican music, dance, and culture
filled the Cinco de Mayo celebration. In the following years, Cinco de Mayo
grew in the size of its celebration and by the 21st century, it became one of
the largest celebration in the United States. It became more known as an American holiday
than a Mexican holiday, where it is only celebrated in the state of Puebla.
See
also:
Bibliography:
Burton,
Kirkwood. The History of Mexico. Santa Barbara, California: ABC-CLIO, LC, 2010.
Lynn V.
Foster. A Brief History of Mexico. New York, New York: Facts On File, 2010.
Marisela
Chavez. "Chicano Movement" on The Oxford Encyclopedia of American
Social History. New York, New York: Oxford University Press, 2011.
Peter
Garcia. "Cinco de Mayo" on Encyclopedia of Latino Popular Culture v.
1, A-L. Westport, Connecticut: Greenwood Press, 2004.
William
Beezley. Mexico in World History. New York, New York: Oxford University Press,
2011.
No comments:
Post a Comment
Note: Only a member of this blog may post a comment.