The holiday commemorates the Mexican army's unlikely defeat of French forces at the Battle of Puebla on May 5, 1862, under the leadership of Mexican General Ignacio Zaragoza Seguín. While outnumbered, the Mexicans defeated a much better-equipped French army that had known no defeat for almost 50 years.
And to think, it all started over a Mexican pouring his chili over a French soldiers fries. Viva Mexico!!