Cinco de Mayo

Happy Cinco de Mayo to my neighbors of Spanish descent in Mexico and abroad.  For those of us who may emit an aura of ignorance about or indifference toward the holiday, simply allow me to expound on the history of the holiday.  First, Cinco de Mayo simply means the Fifth of May.  Many confuse the holiday with Mexican Independence Day, but actually it was on this day in 1862 a numerically inferior Mexican army repulsed the vastly superior French army in the city of Puebla.  Mexico had defaulted on its debts to France, Great Britain, and Spain.  Financial arrangements had been made with Great Britain and Spain, but not with France.  So France invaded.  Over the course of roughly three to four years, France fought to set up a colony or puppet-nation in Mexico.  In fact, Napoleon III, nephew to Napoleon, installed Maximilian on the throne of Mexico in 1864.  Very shortly afterward, Mexico strategically and with finality placed the finishing touches on French influence in their land.  The French were expelled, and Maximilian was executed.  Granted, much of Mexican history is a roller-coaster ride of political uprisings and ideological upheaval, but in this case they decisively showed their muscle in maintaining their autonomy.  However, had the nation of Mexico gone the way of the French, the outcome of the Civil War in the United States, a short swim across the border of the Rio Grande River, could have turned out much differently.  The Confederacy was already seeking recognition from France and Great Britain to legitimize their new nation.  Oh my how a turn of events could have caused vastly different outcomes.  At any rate, Happy Cinco de Mayo.