Welcome to the May edition of The Throwback, your monthly hit of entertaining and informative history tales that will make you say, “Wait! What?” If you are receiving this e-mail, you have signed up on my website or at one of my lectures or author events.
Feliz Cinco de Mayo!
Contrary to what many people think, Cinco de Mayo is not Mexico's Independence Day (that's September 16) or even a public holiday in Mexico. Instead, it marks Mexico's May 5, 1862, victory over France at the Battle of Puebla during the Franco-Mexican War.
Cinco de Mayo is a reminder that France and Mexico had quite the belligerent relationship going in the 19th century. So much so that the two countries went to war over—wait for it—baked goods. (Although they are serious about their croissants in France.)
In the years following Mexico’s 1821 independence from Spain, rioting, looting and street fighting between government forces and rebels plagued the country and damaged property, including the ransacking of a bakery near Mexico City owned by a French-born pastry chef named Remontel. Rebuffed by the Mexican government in his attempt at compensation for the damage caused by looting Mexican officers, Remontel took his case directly to his native country and French King Louis-Philippe.
The pastry chef found a welcome ear in Paris. The French government was already angered over unpaid Mexican debts that had been incurred during the Texas Revolution of 1836, and it demanded compensation of 600,000 pesos, including an astronomical 60,000 pesos for Remontel’s pastry shop, which had been valued at less than 1,000 pesos. When the Mexican Congress rejected the ultimatum, the French navy in the spring of 1838 blockaded key seaports along the Gulf of Mexico from the Yucatan Peninsula to the Rio Grande.
The stalemate dragged on until November 27, 1838, when French warships bombarded the island fortress of San Juan de Ulua that guarded the preeminent port city of Veracruz. Mexico declared war on France, and its president ordered the conscription of all men who could bear arms. Within days, French marines raided the city and captured nearly the entire Mexican navy.
Desperate to repel the invaders, Mexico turned to grizzled warrior Antonio Lopez de Santa Anna, the former president and military general who had only the prior year returned home in disgrace after his humiliating defeat at the 1836 Battle of San Jacinto, which led to the creation of the independent Republic of Texas. Rustled from his forced retirement, the general who had proven so ruthless at the Battle of the Alamo left his Veracruz hacienda and organized a makeshift army that drove the French forces from the city and back to their ships. As Santa Anna galloped after the invaders, however, grapeshot fired from a cannon took out the horse from under him and severely wounded one of his legs. Doctors determined the limb could not be saved and were forced to amputate the leg, which Santa Anna buried at his hacienda.
Less than four months later, the so-called "Pastry War" was over. British diplomats brokered a peace agreement in which Mexico agreed to pay France’s demand of 600,000 pesos, including the cost of Remontel’s pastry shop. French forces withdrew from the country, although they returned to wage war against Mexico in the 1860s.
While Santa Anna lost his leg in the war, the man whose political and military career had appeared to be at an end earned redemption in the eyes of his countrymen. The self-proclaimed “Napoleon of the West” was none too shy to remind Mexicans that he had sacrificed a limb for his country.
And in 1842, after once again assuming the presidency, the dictatorial Santa Anna exhumed his shriveled leg from Veracruz, paraded it to Mexico City in an ornate coach and buried it beneath a cemetery monument in an elaborate state funeral that included cannon salvos, poetry and lofty orations.
Santa Anna’s severed leg did not remain in the ground for long, however. In 1844, public opinion again turned on the president. Rioters tore down statues of Santa Anna and dug up his leg. They tied it to a rope and dragged it through the streets of Mexico City while shouting, “Death to the cripple!” (By the way, Santa Anna's prosthetic leg was captured during the Mexican-American War and now resides in the Illinois State Military Museum.)
Few wars can claim to have been sparked by a dispute over baked goods, but in the annals of culinary-inspired combat, the so-called “Pastry War” between France and Mexico takes the cake, so to speak.
WHAT I’M WATCHING: I'm halfway through the new Netflix series This Is a Robbery about the March 1990 art heist at Boston's Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum. The story of how thieves walked away with 13 masterpieces worth $500 million is hardly a new one to anyone living in the Boston area like myself, but there are never-before-seen crime-scene photographs and interviews with FBI officials, reporters, and museum security guards that are fascinating. The documentary delves into possible suspects ranging from a Boston art thief to organized crime families to the IRA. Unlike many true-crime stories, this one doesn't have a resolution—at least not yet. Thirty-one years later (!) the empty frames still hang on the museum's walls. And you have to wonder if anyone is left alive who knows of their whereabouts. There's still a $10 million reward offered for information on the whereabouts of the stolen goods. For more background on the heist, you can read this piece I wrote about it for the History Channel.
WHAT I’M READING:"Spanning the globe to bring you the constant variety of sport..." What sports fan can forget the iconic intro to ABC's Wide World of Sports? The thrill of victory? The agony of defeat? For a kid growing up in the '70s, Wide World of Sports on Saturday afternoon was ESPN before there was an ESPN. From cliff diving in Acapulco to a Harlem Globetrotters game in West Berlin to bobsledding in Italy, it truly spanned the globe. And it could be as much of a travelogue as it was a sports show. That Harlem Globetrotters game (spoiler alert: the Globetrotters won) featured the team crossing to the other side of the Berlin Wall. If you remember the program, you'll enjoy the trip down memory lane in this piece by Chad Finn of the Boston Globe taking a look back at Wide World of Sports on the 60th anniversary of its debut.
PLEASE SUPPORT INDIE BOOKSTORES! The publishing industry has hardly been immune from the economic impact of the coronavirus. For businesses operating on small margins and struggling to compete with Amazon.com to begin with, the shutdown has inflicted deep blows on independent bookstores. When shopping for your next read, please consider making a purchase from your local independent bookstore or through Bookshop.org, which supports local bookstores. Every little bit helps.
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