The U.S. Civil War might have turned out very differently had
the French won the battle of Cinco de Mayo in Pueblo, Mexico on May 5, 1862. If
the French had been victorious, they would have aided the South in the U.S.
Civil War, and our destiny might have been very different.
In 1861, Mexico was bankrupt, owing staggering sums of money
to Britain, France, Spain, and the United States. Years earlier, the United
States had offered to cover Mexico’s debt in exchange for a mortgage on part of
Mexico’s territory. Having already lost half its territory to the United States
in the war of 1848,
(The map pictured below shows how far north Mexican territory
extended)
What had kept the European powers from
direct intervention in Mexico was the Monroe Document of 1823, which prohibited
Europe from interfering in this hemisphere. After the Civil War broke out, France, Spain, and England
signed the Covenant of London in October, 1861, agreeing to send troops to
Mexico in sufficient numbers to secure payments. In a nod to the Monroe
Document, they claimed that this use of force was not for territorial gain or
to interfere in Mexico. Spain and England sent the first bill-collecting expedition to
Veracruz. Although they encountered no resistance, and an agreement was
reached, they did not collect their money.
Meanwhile, France landed a sizable force, and the European
intervention became exclusively French. On May 5, the French army attacked
Puebla. Although the Mexican army, under the leadership of General Ignacio
Zaragoza de Seguin (who was born in Texas) was not as well equipped as the far
superior French army (which was the most powerful army in the world at that
time), they emerged victorious.
The victory gave Mexico a huge dose of patriotism and
inspiration, and it gave Mexico a soul of its own and national identity. As a
result, Cinco de Mayo is considered almost as important as Mexican Independence
Day, which if September 16. Mexican Independence came about, incidentally,
became a reality largely due to the efforts of a Catholic priest named Father Miguel
Hidalgo Y Costilla. His story is posted below:
While the battle of Cinco de Mayo was being waged, Robert E.
Lee was winning battles for the South. If France had defeated the Mexican army,
they likely would have joined forces with the Confederacy, and would have
convinced England to help free the Southern ports (which had once been part of
France) from the Union blockade.
France and England also wanted to halt U.S. expansion into
Latin America, and Napolean III also dreamed of establishing stronger ties
between France and Mexico. As a result, Napolean III sent Maximillan (the unemployed
Archduke of Austria and his wife Carlota
to set up a monarchy in Mexico. Understandably, Mexico was not pleased, and
resisted the new monarchy. For its part, the United States refused to recognize
the monarchy, and continued to recognize the Benito Juarez government (located
in El Paso del Norte) as the only legitimate one. At times, the Juaraz
government had to go into temporary exile in Franklin, Texas, which is now
called El Paso.
Maximillan and Cordota set up their court, wrote a book on
court etiquette, and reintroduced royal grandeur, first imported to Mexico City
by Spain. After the Civil War ended, armed resistance against the French
occupation grew, and some members of the victorious Union army wanted to go to
war against France in Mexico. General Ulysses S. Grant (who had already been to
Mexico during the invasion of 1847) declared it was necessary to aid the
Republic of Mexico. For Mexico, the possibility of U.S. involvement was even
more frightening than the French presence. At the urging of the United States,
the French departed, in part because they also had problems of their own in
Europe. In effect, the United States inadvertently repaid Mexico for its help
in keeping France becoming allies of the Confederacy.
Although his wife Carlota returned to France, Maximillan
refused to abdicate his throne, declaring that he was 100% Mexican, heart and
soul. His declaration, however, turned out to be unwise, since he was executed
on June 19, 1867. After his death, his wife became despondent, and eventually
went insane. She died in Belgium in 1927.
Despite the fact the France no longer has a presence in
Mexico, French influence is everywhere “south of the border”. Mexican law is
based on the Napoleonic code, and France had a heavy influence on Mexican
architecture. Popular dances, such as “La Varso-viana” are of French origin, as
are Mexico’s bread and pastries. In Cuernavaca, the police are still called gendarmes,
and the Mexican City passageway called El Paso de la Reforma was modeled after
the Champs Elysees.
Paseo
Champs
If France had prevailed at the battle of Puebla, both Mexico
and the United States would be much different today.
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