This situation caused that the president of that time, Benito Juárez, decided to suspend the payment of the external debt.
So France, Spain and England They sent their troops to the coast of Veracruz to demand that the Government of Mexico pay them what it owed them.
The Treaties of Solitude
After negotiation, Mexico signed with Spain and England the treaties of solitude, in which Mexico promised to pay in fertilizers the money owed to each country.
England and France left, but France breached the treaties and stayed in Mexico.
At that time, France was governed by Napoleon III, who came from a conquerors dynasty, so he ordered that French troops invaded Mexico.
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What happened in the Battle of Puebla on May 5?
Before the glorious May 5, in April 1862, the French troops marched to Mexico City.
The French army were made up of 6 thousand men and was commanded by Charles Ferdinandalso known as the Count of Lorencez.
The Mexican troops were constituted around 5,000 men, almost all newly recruited soldiers, and commanded by the famous General Ignacio Zaragoza.
Both armies faced Acutzingo (Limits of Veracruz and Puebla). In this battle, the French army defeated the Mexican army.
But here the conflict did not end.
On May 5, 1861 at nine in the morning the Battle of Puebla began With the sound of a Mexican cannon.
The Mexican troops not only had to fight with the French army, but also against those of Leonardo Márquez, a Mexican military also known as El Tigre de Tacubaya, who was in favor of the French invasion.
Then, Zaragoza had to divide his army into two. Miguel Negrete and Porfirio Díaz helped Zaragoza in the mission of containing the two armies.