Mexican Troops Defeat the French at Puebla

On 5 May 1862, Republican Mexican forces confronted invading French soldiers near Puebla de los Angeles in an engagement that shaped national memory. The conflict stemmed from a foreign debt crisis. In July 1861, Mexican President Benito Juarez suspended loan interest payments to European creditors for two years. France, the United Kingdom, and Spain responded by sending a tripartite expedition to Veracruz in late 1861 and early 1862, officially seeking compensation. While British and Spanish representatives reached settlements and withdrew, Emperor Napoleon III exploited the situation to overthrow the republic and establish an empire.

French forces marched inland under the command of General Charles de Lorencez, bolstered by conservative Mexican collaborators such as General Juan Almonte and Antonio Taboada. Believing Mexican resistance would crumble swiftly, Lorencez directed his troops toward Puebla on their way to the capital. Defending the city was General Ignacio Zaragoza, who gathered republican forces and organized the fortification of two key hilltop bastions overlooking the approaches, the forts of Loreto and Guadalupe under the direct command of General Miguel Negrete.