Battle of Puebla The Battle of Puebla took place on 5 May 1862 near the city of Puebla during the French intervention in Mexico . The battle ended in a victory for the Mexican Army over the occupying French forces . The French eventually overran the Mexicans in subsequent battles , but the Mexican victory at Puebla against a much better equipped and larger French army provided a significant morale boost to the Mexican army and also helped slow the French army ' s advance towards Mexico City . The Mexican victory is celebrated yearly on the fifth of May . Its celebration is regional in Mexico , primarily in the state of Puebla , where the holiday is celebrated as " El Día de la Batalla de Puebla " ( English : The Day of the Battle of Puebla ) . There is some limited recognition of the holiday in other parts of the country . This holiday remains very popular in the United States where it is celebrated annually as Cinco de Mayo . Background . The 1858 – 60 Mexican civil war known as The Reform War had caused distress throughout Mexico ' s economy . Upon taking office as the elected president in 1861 , Benito Juárez , was forced to suspend payments of interest on foreign debts for a period of two years . At the end of October 1861 diplomats from Spain , France , and Britain met in London to form the Tripartite Alliance , the main purpose of which was to launch an allied invasion of Mexico , take control of Veracruz , its major port , and force the Mexican government to negotiate terms for the repayment of its debts and for reparations for alleged harm to foreign citizens in Mexico . In December 1861 Spanish forces landed in Veracruz ; the British and French followed in early January . The allied troops occupied the port city of Veracruz and then advanced to Orizaba . The Tripartite Alliance fell apart by early April 1862 when it became clear that the French wanted to impose harsh demands on the Juarez government and provoke war . The British and Spanish troops withdrew from Mexico in April 1862 leaving the French to march on Mexico City . Napoleon III wanted to seize the opportunity presented by the American Civil War to set up a puppet Mexican regime . Event . The French expeditionary force at the time was led by General Charles de Lorencez . The battle came about by a misunderstanding of the French forces ’ agreement to withdraw to the coast . When the Mexican people saw these French soldiers on the march , they took it that hostilities had recommenced and felt threatened . To add to the mounting concerns , it was discovered that political negotiations for the withdrawal had broken down . A vehement complaint was lodged by the Mexicans to General Lorencez who took the effrontery as a plan to assail his forces . Lorencez decided to hold up his withdrawal to the coast by occupying Orizaba instead , which prevented the Mexicans from being able to defend the passes between Orizaba and the landing port of Veracruz . The 33 - year - old Mexican Commander General , Ignacio Zaragoza Seguín , fell back to Acultzingo Pass where he and his army were badly beaten in a skirmish with Lorencez ' s forces on 28 April . Zaragoza retreated to Puebla which was heavily fortified – it had been held by the Mexican government since the Reform War . To its north stood the forts Loreto and Guadalupe on opposite hilltops . Zaragoza had a trench dug to join the forts via the saddle . Lorencez was led to believe that the people of Puebla were friendly to the French , and that the Mexican Republican garrison which kept the people in line would be overrun by the population once he made a show of force . This would prove to be a serious miscalculation on Lorencez ' s part . On 5 May 1862 , against all advice , Lorencez decided to attack Puebla from the north . However , he started his attack a little too late in the day , using his artillery just before noon and by noon advancing his infantry . By the third attack the French required the full engagement of all their reserves . The French artillery had run out of ammunition , so the third infantry attack went unsupported . The Mexican forces and the Republican garrison both put up a stout defense and even took to the field to defend the positions between the hilltop forts . As the French retreated from their final assault , Zaragoza had his cavalry attack them from the right and left while troops concealed along the road pivoted out to flank them badly . By 3 p . m . the daily rains had started , making a slippery quagmire of the battlefield . Lorencez withdrew to distant positions , counting 462 of his men killed against only 83 of the Mexicans . He waited a couple of days for Zaragoza to attack again , but Zaragoza held his ground . Lorencez then completely withdrew to Orizaba . Aftermath . The Battle of Puebla was an inspirational event for wartime Mexico , and it provided a stunning revelation to the rest of the world which had largely expected a rapid victory for French arms . Slowed by their loss at Puebla , the French forces retreated and regrouped , and the invasion continued after Napoleon III determinedly sent additional troops to Mexico . The French were eventually victorious , winning the Second Battle of Puebla on 17 May 1863 and pushing on to Mexico City . When the capital fell , Juárez ' s government was forced into exile in the remote north . With the backing of France , the Habsburg Archduke Maximilian became Emperor of Mexico in the short - lived Second Mexican Empire . " Some have argued that the true French occupation was a response to growing U . S . power and to the Monroe Doctrine ( America for the Americans ) . Napoleon III believed that if the United States was allowed to prosper indiscriminately , it would eventually become a power in and of itself . " Celebration . On 9 May 1862 , President Juárez declared that the anniversary of the Battle of Puebla would be a national holiday , regarded as " Battle of Puebla Day " or " Battle of Cinco de Mayo " . Although today it is recognised in some countries as a day of Mexican heritage celebration , it is not a federal holiday in Mexico . A common misconception in the United States is that Cinco de Mayo is Mexico ' s Independence Day , the most important national patriotic holiday in Mexico . Mexico celebrates Independence Day on the 16th of September , commemorating the beginning of the war of Independence ( September 16 , 1810 , " Grito de Dolores " ) . Mexico also observes the culmination of the war of Independence , which lasted 11 years , on the 27th of September . Since the 1930s , a re - enactment of the Battle of Puebla has been held each year at Peñón de los Baños , a rocky outcrop close to Mexico City International Airport .