# Presentation: 029187

## History of 5 de Mayo(It is not the Independence of Mexico!)

***Who Celebrates 5 de Mayo***
***Mexico after the Mexican-American War***
***The French invasion***
***Batalla de Puebla (Puebla Battle)***
***The Mexican Empire***
***5 de Mayo celebration***

## Who Celebrates 5 de Mayo

- California
- Texas
- New Mexico
- Arizona
- These states were at one point part of Mexico.
- The territory was lost to US during the Mexican-American War in 1848.
- After the war, the new Mexican-American citizens united to form a coalition society to protect themselves against the atrocities of the newly empowered American Army.

## Who Celebrates 5 de Mayo

- These societies evolved into an elitist society that was economically powerful and that contributed great amounts of money and materials to the Mexican Constitutional Government to fight against the Mexican Imperial Monarchy

## Mexico after the Mexican-American War

**At the end of the War, Santa Anna, the Mexican dictator responsible for the war, was forced to resign.**
**In 1858. Beinto Juárez, a full blooded Zapotec Indian, a lawyer and a priest, was elected as president of Mexico to defend the Constitution established in 1857.**
**After much internal struggle, Juarez was re-elected in 1861.**
**The country was in a financial hole mainly due to the Mexican-American war.**

## The Initiation of the Mexican-French War

**The financial struggle in Mexico made Congress make the decision to suspend the payment of the foreign debt for two years (except to US, who helped Juárez to the presidency)**
**The creditors, France, Spain and England decided intervention was needed to collect the debt.**
**But France, ruled by Napoleon III (Napoleon Bonaparte’s nephew), had it’s own unrevealed greedy agenda of expanding its empire to the Americas.**

## Napoleon III’s Agenda

**Dispose of the Constitutional Government of Mexico**
**Establish a monarchy favorable to France in Mexico, Central and South America**
**Have a monopoly on raw materials from the Americas**
**Have a close check on the growing power of United States after the annexation of the Mexican territory**

## Foreign invasion of Mexico

**On December 8****th****, 1861 European forces landed in Veracruz.**
**After realizing of Napoleon’s greedy plans, Spain and England withdrew their support and went back to Europe on April 11****th****, 1862.**

## The French Invasion

**Under the illusion that Mexican people would welcome them, the French set out to Mexico city with 7,000 men.**
**This illusion was fostered by conservatists and rich “Criollo” landlords who feared the loss of their lands to the Republic.**

## Puebla Battle

- President Juárez ordered General Ignacio Zaragoza to stop the French troops with an army of 2000 men.

## Puebla Battle      May 5, 1862

- The battle took place in the fortified hills of Loreto and Guadalupe in the city of Puebla

## Puebla Battle

- By the end of the day, one fort was in ruins and more than 1000 French soldiers were death.
- The Mexican Army had won a battle...
- But not the war....
- Yet, this date is symbolic of the Mexican’s courage against a formidable army

## Forts of Loreto and Guadalupe

## The Mexican Empire

- In June 1864, Maximilian of Habsburg and his wife Charlotte (Carlota) arrived in Mexico as crowned emperors by Napoleon III
- He organized the administration, liberated the Indians from servitude and developed the natural resources of the country

## Maximilian and the Charro Outfit

## The Mexican Empire

- Juárez went North and requested volunteers and financial support from the Californians and other wealthy Mexican-American societies to overthrow the empire
- On May 15, 1867, Maximilian was captured and tried by court martial
- He was executed in “El Cerro de las Campanas” on June 19 with his officers Miguel Miramón and Tomás Mejía
- Carlota was sent back to Austria where she developed dementia

## 5 de Mayo Celebration

- 5 de Mayo is a Mexican holiday
- However, it is in US where the celebration is more festive consisting of parades, music, folklore, dances and food
- These festivities are to celebrate the solidarity among the Mexican-Americans

## On a different NoteMexico has a pretender to “The Throne”

- After the independence from Spain in 1822, Agustin de Iturbide, one of the heroes fighting for the Independence was crowned emperor of a free Mexico.
- He was a “Criollo” of noble Spanish decent
- His empire was short lived, only 8 months before he abdicated in favor of a Constitutional government led by Santa Anna, the “_traitor”_ that sold the land to US and caused the Mexican-American War.
- When Maximilian became emperor years later, not being able to conceive with his wife, he decided to create a royal house of Habsburg-Iturbide so he adopted two of Iturbide’s grandson's.
- Maximilan von Götzen-Iturbide born in 1944. He inherited his claim following the death of his grandmother Maria Josepha Sophia de Iturbide who was the daughter of Salvador de Iturbide y de Marzán (It was he who was adopted by Emperor Maximilian). Maximilian von Götzen-Iturbide resides in Australia.