Well, tomorrow is Cinco de Mayo, and I want to clear a common misconception in the U.S. Cinco de Mayo isn't Mexico's Independence, that's September 16. Cinco de Mayo is the commemoration of the Battle of Puebla, where the Mexican army, under the command of Ignacio Zaragoza, against all odds, defeated the French troops, under the command of Charles Ferdinand.
Although it wasn't the determining battle in the Second French Intervention, it was a great show of Mexican force. An army composed of mostly veterans in the Reform War, defeated one of the best armies in its time; even though the French had more men.
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Without that victory the French would have given weapons to the Confederacy in the Civil War, likely changing the outcome. So the South would have won and we'd all be speaking French. So I drink tequila and Mexican beer on Cinco de Mayo to celebrate Mexico's contribution to the civil war.