Cinco de Mayo marks the victory of the Mexican Army over the French at the Battle of Puebla on May 5, 1862. On that day, during the French occupation of Mexico, General Zaragoza’s troops, outnumbered 2 to 1 by the better-equipped French army, were victorious over the greatest military power in the world at that time. Mexicans who had previously shown little interest in their country’s future felt pride, nationalism, and determination to defend Mexico’s sovereignty. (Independence Day is 9/16.)

The origins of the dispute that led to the Battle of Puebla include a decision made in 1861, by Mexican President Benito Juarez, to suspend payment of all foreign debts. France, ruled at the time by Napoleon III, invaded Mexico in response. Napoleon III and his wife resided in the Tuileries Palace. Versailles, at this time, was a history museum. The palace was destroyed during the Paris Commune of 1871, but today the Tuileries Gardens are a favorite tourist attraction.

The Mexican victory in Puebla boosted the army’s morale and national pride. Despite that, the French still captured Mexico City and installed Emperor Maximillian I as the ruler. Maximilian I and his wife, Empress Carlota, lived in Mexico City’s Chapultepec Castle. Today the palace serves at the National Museum of History.

In 1866, with political and military assistance from the U.S., the Mexican army expelled the French. The captured ruler Maximilian I was executed here, at the Cerro de las Campanas in Querétaro, Mexico, on June 19, 1867.

In June 1867, Benito Juarez reassumed the presidency of Mexico and declared that May 5, the anniversary of the Battle of Puebla, would be a national holiday, now celebrated worldwide as Cinco de Mayo. This portrait of Juarez is part of the Smithsonian’s National Anthropological Archives within the Natural History Museum. It is one of many photographs found in one of the most historically significant scrapbooks at the Archives, which was kept by American illustrator James E. Taylor (1839–1901).

The first Cinco de Mayo celebrations didn’t include margaritas, because they weren’t invented until the 1940s, yet by the 1970s the margarita surpassed the martini as the most popular American cocktail. This first frozen margarita machine was invented by Mariano Martinez in 1971. When blenders couldn’t keep up with high demand for margs, he was inspired by the 7-Eleven Slurpee machine. This 1st machine retired when the restaurant moved 34 years later, and is now in the Smithsonian’s collections.