How Mexico's Victory Over The French On Cinco de Mayo Aided The Union In The Civil War

By
Nate Perez
Published May 5, 2023 3:38 PM



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.

"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?

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