161 years ago, on May 5, 1862, after three consecutive assaults by French troops on the city of Puebla, the seat of the Republican forces of Benito Juárez, the Mexican army, commanded by General Ignacio Zaragoza, totally defeated the invaders. When the news broke, it caused a shock in Europe and the entire world because it was not the first time they had faced each other.
As soon as national independence was won, in addition to internal struggles to establish a government, difficulties had arisen with various foreign powers. The first conflict with France, known as the War of the Cakes -which had nothing sweet and creamy about it- had been in 1838. By 1861 a new confrontation took place as the recently established liberal government of Benito Juárez, triumphant in the war of Reform, found a country torn apart and with serious financial problems. All this led him to suspend the payments of the debt that he had acquired with England, France and Spain and that by 1862 had grown substantially. The debt with England was more than 64,000 pesos, the Spanish almost 10,000, and the French 190,000, to which must be added nearly 4 million in various debts contracted by Mexico with foreigners during the Three Years War. . (And then, as you can very well notice, dear reader, ambition is also the main reason for wars).
It is said that on the eve of the battle, General Charles Ferdinand Latrille, Count of Lorencez, commander-in-chief of the French troops, assured that he would easily defeat the national army and dominate the country. Convinced, brimming with self-confidence, he wrote to the French Minister of War, a report that ended with the following sentence: “We have over the Mexicans such superiority of race, organization, discipline, morality and elevation of feelings, that I beg you to tell the emperor that from this moment and at the head of six thousand soldiers, I am the master of Mexico.”
At dawn on May 5, Zaragoza, knowing that his army was at a disadvantage, both in discipline and in number and weapons, took advantage of the courage of his men and told them his first famous phrase: “Our enemies are the first citizens of the world, but you are the first children of Mexico and they want to take away your homeland.” He arranged for General Miguel Negrete to lead the defense on the left; General Felipe Berriozábal on the right and ordered Porfirio Díaz to stay with him. The combat began between eleven in the morning and twelve o’clock —almost breaking the dawn” would ironize Jorge Ibargüengoitia— and already at about four in the afternoon, after a copious downpour, the French were already defeated and were withdrawing. , ashamed.
At the end of the battle, Ignacio Zaragoza’s report to President Juárez said the following: “The French army has fought very gallantly and its general-in-chief has behaved clumsily in the attack. The national arms have been covered in glory; I can proudly affirm that the Mexican army did not turn its back on the enemy for a single moment during the long struggle it sustained.”
Miguel Galindo y Galindo tells in his book “The great national decade 1857-1867” the prompt celebration of the people of Puebla (before six in the afternoon) before such a great victory: “the loud peals in the main temples, the cheers that ran through the streets thundering the space with the explosions of the purest enthusiasm, and the joyous martial touches of the music (sic) and the reveille, announced the jubilant city. People of all classes and conditions took to the streets to participate in the public rejoicing and filled the Plaza de Armas with their presence, overflowing with enthusiasm and jubilation, where the victors received congratulations, applause and congratulations: troop groups, coming from the theater of combat, Several Zouaves and several Vincennes hunters were taken prisoner in the midst of the crowd, which, drunk with joy, crowded to see them pass by, breaking out in frantic cheers for the homeland, Zaragoza, the Army of the East, Juárez, and the heroic Puebla. ”.
It is known that, the next day, Zaragoza directed in person —live and direct— an enthusiastic proclamation that he shouted like this: “Comrades in arms, You come to complement the glories acquired on May 5th over the French hosts that, intimidated and dejected, you have in front fortifying themselves. Very soon, my friends, we will give another day of glory to the country; and the weapons of the great Guanajuato, placed in your hands, will shine proudly, fighting for Independence, as they did for Liberty and Reform.”
That day never came. Zaragoza quickly moved to Mexico City and then returned to Puebla, where he died suddenly – 4 months later – of typhoid fever at thirty-three years of age. The news—a couple of days later—said that President Juárez had arranged for the city of Puebla to be renamed Puebla de Zaragoza in his honor.
