
With the United States too consumed by the Civil War to enforce the Monroe Doctrine, troops from those three European powers began arriving in Veracruz in late 1861.

As a result, newly elected President Juárez suspended payment of all foreign debt for two years, a move that prompted an immediate backlash from Spain, France and Great Britain. The sale of expropriated church property brought very little relief. European troops invaded because Mexico was broke.Īfter the War of Reform, Mexico had virtually no money in its treasury and owed tens of millions of dollars to foreign debtors. The country remained starkly divided, however, with conservatives plotting their revenge.Ģ. They emerged victorious in January 1861 when they retook Mexico City.
EPIC BOOKS CINCO DE MAYO SERIES
The conservatives, who had the support of the pope, won a series of initial skirmishes, but the liberals controlled the ports and were therefore better able to equip their troops. During the armed conflict, Mexico had two governments: a conservative one in Mexico City led by General Félix Zuloaga and a liberal one in Veracruz led by Benito Juárez, president of the supreme court. The so-called War of the Reform broke out in 1858 soon after liberals drafted a new constitution aimed at reducing the power and influence of the Catholic Church.

Mexico had just gotten over a civil war in 1862. Read on to learn more about Cinco de Mayo and how the holiday has become a worldwide phenomenon. It does not, as many people assume, commemorate Mexican independence, which was declared more than 50 years before the Battle of Puebla. Cinco de Mayo, or the fifth of May, is a holiday that celebrates Mexico's victory over France at the Battle of Puebla in 1862.
