Exemplification Essay: El Dia De Puebla

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The Hispanic holiday I chose is Cinco de Mayo. It means May 5th in English. It is celebrated in both Mexico and the United States. It’s primarily called “ El Dia de la Batalla de Puebla” (The Day of the battle of Puebla). It is a holiday that is very special to the Mexican people, although it does get confused as Mexico’s Independence Day, which is actually September 16th. The battle of Puebla took place in 1862; just forty-one years after Mexico became independent. They owed several debts to Spain, England, and France. At the time Mexico was led by Benito Juarez, who was president. He was able to come to an agreement with England and Spain, but the France still wanted the debt they were due. France saw this as an opportunity to expand their empire and wanted to take full control over Mexico. They were led by Napoleon III. In late 1861, France invaded the Gulf Coast of Mexico and Veracruz forcing “President Juarez and his government into retreat” (Wikipedia). President Lincoln and the United States were not able to provide assistance because we were in the Civil War at the time. The French attempted to march to Mexico City, when they ran into an army of 4,500 people led by Mexican General Ignacio Zaragoza Sequin. Outnumbered by …show more content…

Napoleon III sent more troops to try to invade Mexico once again. A year later the French had finally defeated the Mexican army and took over Mexico City. Austrian Archduke Ferdinand Maximilian was named the emperor of Mexico by Napoleon III in 1864. Six years later the United States helped Mexico defeat the French, now that the Civil War was over. The U.S provided political military assistance. Maximilian was captured and killed by the Mexican people. Even though Mexico didn’t actually defeat the French completely on May 5th 1862, Cinco de Mayo is still celebrated because of the bravery and fearless victory of General Zaragoza’s outnumbered

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