What's Behind Cinco de Mayo?

Dave Roos, in the NYT (5-4-05):

TOMORROW is Cinco de Mayo, and while the rest of the country is overdosing on Corona and quesadillas, may we suggest cabernet and crepes? France, it turns out, has more to do with Mexican food than you might think.

In November 1838, 26 French warships opened fire on the Mexican port city of Veracruz, sparking the Pastry War. Apparently, a patisserie was among many French businesses looted in the anarchy of post-Independence Mexico. France demanded 600,000 pesos in damages. When Mexico refused, out came the cannonballs.

French troops returned to Mexico in 1861 under Emperor Napoleon III. On May 5, 1862, 6,500 French infantrymen suffered a surprise defeat by 2,000 Mexican troops and Indians at the Battle of Puebla. The 5th of May, or cinco de mayo, became a symbol of Mexican nationalism. Napoleon returned a year later with 30,000 troops, crushed all resistance and installed an Austrian archduke and his wife as Emperor Maximilian and Empress Carlota of Mexico.