Maximilian's bullet-riddled shirt
Cinco de Mayo is a celebration of the defeat of French troops by Mexican troops in 1862.
Why is this a memorable day?
- Napoleon III decides to call in the debt that Mexico owes France by taking over Mexico! (Wow, USA better watch out for China!)
- 6500 French troops march toward Mexico City to capture the capital in 1862.
- President Lincoln is sympathetic, but isn’t able to send support because of a little skirmish going on North of the border.
- No problemo. 4500 much-less-equipped Mexican troops rout the French.
- This is good for the America because it stops France from continuing to supply the Confederate troops in the Civil War.
- Eventually, things go sour when Napoleon sends 30,000 troops and France takes over Mexico, anyway from 1864-1867, A relative of Napoleon III, .Archduke Maximilian of Austria, is made ruler of Mexico.
- Things go well again when the United States is able to help out with political and military support, and the French are booted out. Maximilian is executed by Mexican firing squad.
- Corona is first brewed in 1925. This is part of the rapid expansion in beer production in Mexico during the American prohibition period (1920-1933). Corona is the best selling imported beer in the world.
- The beer facts have nothing to do with Cinco de Mayo, but it seemed appropriate.
- Menudo, a popular hangover remedy, is a soup whose main ingredient is sheep intestines. This has nothing to do with Cinco de Mayo either. It might have meaning for some people tomorrow morning, however.
