Batalla De Puebla Aniversary

The Batalla de Puebla (Battle of Puebla) is celebrated as Cinco de Mayo, but few know exactly what it means, or where it came from. In 1861, the French emperor decided to try and collect debts from a previous Mexican government. The Spanish and British also tried to collect debts, but Benito Juarez stood firm when he said that all those debts from the past presidency would not be honored or paid by him. The Spanish and British ended up going back home, accepting the truce. The French stayed and occupied the port of Veracruz, and on the 5th of May, 1862 they attacked the Mexicans. Thinking that the battle would be a swift victory, they didn’t gauge the amount of artillery they had. They soon began to run out until they finally ended up basically un-armed. The Mexicans saw the advantage and launched a counter attack, crippling the army and ultimately defeating the French. The French were not outnumbered by any means, in fact the opposite was true, had it not been for them running out of ammunition, the battle might have ended differently. The Mexican army fought with a mere 5000 ill equipped Indians from a few regions in southern Mexico. After several hours of battle, the French retreated and the Batalla de Puebla went to the Mexicans, thus giving us Cinco de Mayo as we know it. Many people don’t know about the Batalla de Puebla or that Cinco de Mayo is the anniversary of this battle.