Cinco de Mayo

As opposed to what many people think, Cinco de Mayo (literally, 5th of May) does not commemorate the independence of Mexico. It celebrates the Mexican army's unlikely victory over French forces at the Battle of Puebla on May 5, 1862, less than a hundred miles from Mexico City under the leadership of Mexican General Ignacio Zaragoza. The will of the people were strong. The Battle was important because 4,000 Mexican soldiers defeated a much better-equipped French army composed of 8,000 men that had not been defeated for almost 50 years and which at the time was considered to be the best army in the world.