The real #CincoDeMayo: For more than 80 years, residents of Mexico City have celebrated the Mexican army’s historic victory over the French on May 5, 1862 with a huge festival. | Reuters

Cinco de Mayo (“Fifth of May”) is a Mexican national holiday that celebrates the country’s victory in the Battle of Puebla over Napoleon III’s forces in 1862. The Mexicans under General Ignacio Zaragoza repulsed the attackers, who lost about 1,000 men and then retreated to the coast. The following March, the French general Élie-Frédéric Forey, with reinforcements from France, laid siege to Puebla. Its approximately 30,000 defenders, commanded by Gonzáles Ortega, after having used up all ammuniti