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| Latin America |
| Cinco De Mayo Salutes Mexican History |
| 2003-05-05 |
| EFL Cinco de Mayo is a Mexican holiday, but it's increasingly a day for celebrations north of the border. In more ways than you thought. Monday is the anniversary of the battle of Puebla, Mexico, on May 5, 1862, when outnumbered Mexican troops defeated French forces and stopped them from taking Mexico City. Mexico won that battle, but lost the war: The army of Napoleon III marched into Mexico City the next year and sent the elected Mexican president packing. Mexican Independence Day is actually in September and commemmorates Mexico's drive to break away from Spain in 1810. For Mexico, even though the victory was short-lived, the battle of Puebla was an important foundation for national pride. Native troops with outdated weaponry had been able to turn back a European army that had a decades-long undefeated streak and which was arguably the best trained and equipped in the world. Been going downhill ever since. For the world, one could call May 5, 1862, the beginning of the end for Europe's ability to dominate the New World. France piled on the reinforcements and took Mexico City, but that was while the United States was distracted with its own Civil War. When the Civil War ended, the Union sent troops to the U.S.-Mexican border to intimidate France, which withdrew in 1867. European armies never invaded the Americas again. So, pop open a cold one and drink to the defeat of the French at the hands of our Mexican neighbors. SURGEON GENERAL WARNING: Drinking to every French military defeat is hazardous to your health. |
| Posted by:Steve |
| #10 We celebrate"Cinco de Mayo in Globe,Az,too.Mariachi's,Ethnic danceing,street entertainers,food and game stalls.It's a good place to take the family fo a little inexpensive fun.If you want to go to a coolethnic celebration check out one of the Native American Pow-Wows.Indian fry-bread dripping in Mesquite honey. |
| Posted by: raptor 2003-05-06 08:25:07 |
| #9 The French army was hardly the best in the world:they were crushed by the Prussians a few years late. The infamous general who commanded the conquest of Mexico surrendered the fort at Sedan in the Franco-Prussian war sealing their fate. Cinco de Mayo was a small battle in a Civil War with Mexicans fighting on both sides. At the end of the Civil War, Abraham Lincoln sent 60,000 troops under the command of General Philip Sheridan to the Mexican border in Texas and forcing the French out of Mexico. They left poor Emperor Maximillian holding the bag and he was shot. It is a reasonable assertion that America had the two best armies in the world in those years. |
| Posted by: George H. Beckwith 2003-05-05 23:04:44 |
| #8 Borgboy is right. We shouldn't forget how the French tried to take advantage of the Civil War, invading Mexico when we were too distracted to do anything. Fortunately, they ...well...it was only the French. |
| Posted by: Tokyo Taro 2003-05-05 17:35:57 |
| #7 Re: "...the best trained and equipped army in the world." Let's see...May 1862...that would be the Army of the Potomac to fit the above bill...as for the best army in the world circa May 1862...check out the Army of Northern Virginia led by one Robert E. Lee..... ___________General Urko |
| Posted by: borgboy 2003-05-05 16:15:42 |
| #6 Cinco de Mayo is actually celebrated in Colorado Springs by parades, picnics, and lots and lots of fun, especially for the kids. There's drinking, but not quite to the extent it is in Denver. Most people here celebrate because of pride in the Mexican part of their Mexican-American heritage. They also celebrate just as hard on Independence Day. I've been in towns where Cinco de Mayo wasn't celebrated at all, and in other places where it's a lot like Denver. Guess it depends on who's celebrating, and what they're celebrating. |
| Posted by: Old Patriot 2003-05-05 14:34:48 |
| #5 We should celebrate because it marks another defeat of the French army. So have a ceverza and think how embarrassed the French felt when they were defeated at a no-name town in rural Mexico. Tacos for Everyone! |
| Posted by: Cyber Sarge 2003-05-05 14:27:25 |
#4 "Cinco de Mayo has been hijacked as an excuse to get drunk and clog up the streets..."Gee, sounds just like St.Patrick's day ;-) |
| Posted by: Old Grouch 2003-05-05 14:11:06 |
| #3 I've heard the same thing, Anon. Just like we've got so many stupid minor "holidays" now invented by the greeting card industry, Cinco de Mayo has been hijacked by the beer industry. |
| Posted by: Dar 2003-05-05 13:48:51 |
| #2 A talk radio show in Houston had a discussion about Cinco de Mayo, and several callers insisted that the celebration was more of an advertising gimmick to sell beer in the USA than a holiday actually observed in Mexico. |
| Posted by: Anonymous 2003-05-05 13:35:05 |
| #1 I live in Denver. The problem with Cinco de Mayo here is that this (very) minor Mexican commemoration has become a Mexican and Mexican-American pride day. That in and of itself is fine, but the way this is manifested is a three-day orgy of drinking and cruising (especially on a major Denver thoroughfare called Federal Boulevard)that has literally paralyzed that section of the city in years passed rendering it impassable for emergency vehicles. Also, fighting, drunkeness and gang shootings have been seen in the past. Thus, Cinco de Mayo has been hijacked as an excuse to get drunk and clog up the streets. It has become a pretext. |
| Posted by: ColoradoConservative 2003-05-05 13:33:29 |