Puebla Tehuacán

Battle of Puebla (5 of May)

Background of the Battle of Puebla



Mexico had achieved its independence in 1821. It struggled to maintain the integrity of its territory in the 1836 "War of Texas", in the war of 1848 "War of American Intervention" and the civil war of 1858 "War of Reform".

The country was agitated and the economy was literally undone, there was little of the glory of days gone by and some people even dreamed of returning to the state of things before the Independence of Mexico. The debts were accumulated and the main creditors, Spain, England and France, wanted to collect their money. The president Benito Juárez was aware that the priority was to rebuild the country rather than pay foreign governments so he called for a term of 2 years moratorium to prevent the weak national economy from collapsing. England and Spain accepted, but not France which demanded full payment of the debt immediately.

The non-payment was merely an excuse used by Napoleon III, nephew of Napoleon Bonaparte, to intervene in Mexico. Immediately England and Spain withdrew their support, which did not prevent Napoleon III from executing his plans to crown Ferdinand Maximilian of Hapsburg as Emperor of Mexico. Mexico was called the Second Empire, so France sent its troops to conquer the country.

The French arrived in Veracruz, the better known port on the Gulf of Mexico; they took the town and began the march toward the capital, Mexico City. President Abraham Lincoln was sympathetic with Mexico, but the United States had its own problems with the civil war (the American Civil War) so they were unable to provide direct assistance to Mexico. Most likely any assistance from them would have been rejected or attacked anyway, considering that Mexico had just lost more than half of its territory to the United States.

The French found a lot more resistance then expected, for in practice the French were only owners of the land trodden. The greatest resistance ever in Mexico was organized and the Mexicans defeated the French at Puebla in 1864, a large step at that time as it was necessary to go through Puebla before getting to Mexico City from Veracruz.