--- title: Cinco de Mayo and Mexican History: The Story Behind the Holiday description: The annual celebration traces its origins back to a time when France tried to invade Mexico canonical: https://time.com/3840847/cinco-de-mayo-2/ author: Lily Rothman article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2015-05-05T10:00:36.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-05-11T05:04:17.546Z article:section: History og:title: Cinco de Mayo and Mexican History: The Story Behind the Holiday og:description: The annual celebration traces its origins back to when France invaded Mexico og:url: https://time.com/3840847/cinco-de-mayo-2/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blta57063892b85fc89/6987ed93cd68487f7809dc6d/mexico.jpeg?branch=production&width=2400&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 1200 og:image:height: 675 og:image:alt: Cinco de Mayo festivities in Ciudad Jaurez og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: Cinco de Mayo and Mexican History: The Story Behind the Holiday twitter:description: The annual celebration traces its origins back to when France invaded Mexico twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blta57063892b85fc89/6987ed93cd68487f7809dc6d/mexico.jpeg?branch=production&width=2400&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  # This is What Happened on the First Cinco de Mayo  by [Lily Rothman](https://time.com/author/lily-rothman/)  ## Lily Rothman Rothman is managing editor at TIME. May 5, 2015 10:00 AM UTC  Cinco de Mayo festivities take place in Ciudad Jaurez, Mexico May 5, 1999. Cinco de Mayo festivities take place in Ciudad Jaurez, Mexico May 5, 1999.Joe Raedle—Getty Images  by [Lily Rothman](https://time.com/author/lily-rothman/)  ## Lily Rothman Rothman is managing editor at TIME. May 5, 2015 10:00 AM UTC These days, the Mexican holiday of [Cinco de Mayo ](http://newsfeed.time.com/2011/05/05/more-than-margaritas-a-history-of-cinco-de-mayo/)is considered a fun celebration — but the event that led to it was anything but. The short version of the story is pretty straightforward, as TIME explained in 1941: --- > “” --- Basically, the day is sacrosanct because it’s when Mexican forces pulled off a David-over-Goliath victory. (Coxey’s Army was a rag-tag group of unemployed Americans that marched on Washington, D.C. in 1894 in hopes of encouraging the government to better provide for the jobless.) So the date of the celebration makes sense. But why was France trying to invade Mexico in the first place? The answer to that question involves generations’ worth of complicated international relations. For decades, the U.S. had had a policy ([the Monroe Doctrine](http://www.ourdocuments.gov/doc.php?flash=true&doc=23)) of keeping European colonial interests out of the Western hemisphere. But in the early 1860s, the U.S. was busy with the Civil War and Mexico was particularly vulnerable following the Mexican-American War in the 1840s and their own civil war, the [War of the Reform](https://books.google.com/books?id=qTDfAQAAQBAJ&pg=PA389&dq=reform+war+mexico+1857&hl=en&sa=X&ei=lkBCVZGQDYanNuiugMAK&ved=0CC0Q6AEwAw#v=onepage&q=reform%20war%20mexico%201857&f=false), which began in 1859\. In addition, Mexico owed national debts to several European countries, including countries that were debating intervention in the Civil War. In France, Emperor Napoleon III (nephew of _the_ Napoleon) wanted to expand his empire and settled on Mexico, which was already in debt to France. As explained by the Congressional Quarterly [Guide to U.S. Foreign Policy](https://books.google.com/books?id=Udd1AwAAQBAJ&pg=RA1-PA35&dq=treaty+of+london+1861&hl=en&sa=X&ei=fD5CVfSgI4aegwS8lICIAg&ved=0CDsQ6AEwBQ#v=onepage&q&f=false), Napoleon III had grand plans to dominate trade across the Atlantic and in Europe. He planned to conquer Mexico and put his Austrian allies in charge, and make an alliance with the Confederate States of America. That Mexico was refusing to pay its debt to France gave Napoleon III justification for an attack. Shortly after the invasion began, the French forces got to Puebla, only to be stopped by their Mexican opponents on May 5. The Mexican triumph was relatively short-lived. Less than a year later, the French returned to Puebla and were victorious. But the unexpected triumph on May 5, 1862, remains a point of immense national pride — as proved by this 153rd celebration of Cinco de Mayo. **_Read more about Mexico from 1941, here in the TIME Vault:_** [New Army](http://time.com/vault/issue/1941-05-19/page/34/) ### Celebrate Cinco de Mayo With Vivid Images of Mexico in the 1960s  Caption from LIFE. Fiesta in Guanajuato. John Dominis—The LIFE Picture Collection/Getty Images  Caption from LIFE. Park dancers in Mexico City. John Dominis—The LIFE Picture Collection/Getty Images  Caption from LIFE. Plaza singers in Vera Cruz. John Dominis—The LIFE Picture Collection/Getty Images  Caption from LIFE. Indian of Morelia. John Dominis—The LIFE Picture Collection/Getty Images  Performers in Mexico. John Dominis—The LIFE Picture Collection/Getty Images  Caption from LIFE. A wonders watcher. John Dominis—The LIFE Picture Collection/Getty Images  A mariachi band, Mexico. John Dominis—The LIFE Picture Collection/Getty Images  Caption from LIFE. Incense bearer in Chiapas. John Dominis—The LIFE Picture Collection/Getty Images  A young girl in Mexico. John Dominis—The LIFE Picture Collection/Getty Images  Caption from LIFE. Market, Mexico City. John Dominis—The LIFE Picture Collection/Getty Images  Caption from LIFE. Market children, San Miguel de Allende. John Dominis—The LIFE Picture Collection/Getty Images  Caption from LIFE. Lily seller, San Critóbal de las Casas. John Dominis—The LIFE Picture Collection/Getty Images  Caption from LIFE. Fruit stand, Mexico City. John Dominis—The LIFE Picture Collection/Getty Images  Caption from LIFE. Hammock seller, Oaxaca. John Dominis—The LIFE Picture Collection/Getty Images  Man with balloons, Mexico. John Dominis—The LIFE Picture Collection/Getty Images  Caption from LIFE. Pinwheel display, Mexico City. John Dominis—The LIFE Picture Collection/Getty Images  Caption from LIFE. Hatful of onions, Vera Cruz. John Dominis—The LIFE Picture Collection/Getty Images  Caption from LIFE. Cambio de mayordomo. John Dominis—The LIFE Picture Collection/Getty Images  Caption from LIFE. Unloading fowl, Oaxaca. John Dominis—The LIFE Picture Collection/Getty Images  Woman shelling corn in wicker hampers at a local market, Mexico. John Dominis—The LIFE Picture Collection/Getty Images  Caption from LIFE. Lunch on the Paseo de la Reforma. John Dominis—The LIFE Picture Collection/Getty Images  Caption from LIFE. Couple in Chapultepec Park, Mexico City. 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