Zaragoza, Ignacio

Ignacio Zaragoza was born in the village of La Bahia de Espirito Santo (now Goliad ) in the state of Coahuila and Texas and was the second son in the family of Miguel Zaragoza Valdes and Maria de Jesus Seguin Martinez. When the Texas rebels achieved Texas independence from Mexico, Miguel Zaragoza, being a soldier of the Mexican army, was forced to move with his family to Matamoros , and then in 1844 to Monterrey , where Ignacio entered the seminary, which he left in 1846 making sure that he did not have a priestly vocation. When the US invaded Mexico , Ignacio tried to enlist as a cadet, but was refused.
When the Revolution of Ayutla against the dictatorship of Santa Anna , Zaragoza sided with her, from now on fighting on the side of the liberals. In 1853, he joined the Nuevo Leon State Army with the rank of sergeant, and when his regiment was included in the Mexican Army, he was promoted to captain.

During the War of Reform, between liberals and conservatives, Ignacio Zaragoza was still on the side of the liberals and supported the Constitution of 1857 and President Benito Juarez . He was promoted to general in December 1860. He fought under the command of Jesus González Ortega at the Battle of Kalpulalpan, ending the War of Reform. In 1861, President Benito Juarez appointed Zaragoza Minister of War.

When the tripartite intervention began, Ignacio Zaragoza resigned as Minister of War and said goodbye to his wife, who was dying of pneumonia (he will never see her again), was sent to San Luis Potosi to organize and take charge of the hastily assembled army. The army, partly composed of volunteers, and partly staffed on the basis of military service, suffered from a lack of weapons, clothing, and supplies, so the new commander had to solve not only the training of an inexperienced army, but also the supply issues, which were especially acute after the recent civil war. He met the French army of Count Laurence advancing inland in the battle at the heights of Akulzingo On April 28, 1862, with the aim of delaying the French and inflicting the maximum possible losses on them, nevertheless, he was soon forced to retreat to Puebla - almost the only city suitable for defense on the way to Mexico City.
Zaragoza arrived at Puebla on May 3 and ordered an urgent defense, by building a defensive line based on the forts of Loreto and Guadalupe. Zaragoza had virtually no time to prepare a defense against the best army of that era, with forces both quantitatively and qualitatively inferior to the enemy. In addition, he was faced with the prospect of joining the forces of the Mexican conservatives, who had lost in the recent civil war, with the French army of interventionists. Part of the forces of an already small army dug in Puebla, he sent against the troops of General Marquez. With a victory in the battle of Atlishko On May 4, the possibility of uniting the French and the forces of the conservatives passed. Since Puebla was a city of conservatives and it was heavily influenced by the church, there was a real risk that the townspeople would rebel against the army. For the same reason, the French and the influential conservatives who accompanied them believed that they would easily take Puebla. At dawn before the battle of May 5, General Zaragoza turned to his soldiers:

Our enemies are the best soldiers in the world, but you are the best sons of Mexico and they want to take away your homeland from you

Original text (Spanish)

Nuestros enemigos son los primeros soldados del mundo, pero vosotros sois los primeros hijos de México y os quieren arrebatar vuestra patria

After three hours of battle, the French, having suffered significant losses, were forced to retreat, pursued by the Mexicans. The French army, recognized at that time as the best in the world, having the glory of victories in Algeria , in French Indochina , in the Crimea , manned by experienced soldiers, including the Zouaves , the elite of the French troops, was defeated by a half-dressed, poorly armed and understaffed army under the command of General Zaragoza . When the news of the defeat reached Europe, real hysteria began in French society, the intelligentsia opposed the intervention in Mexico.
The phrase of General Zaragoza, from his report to the Minister of War Miguel Blanco Muskis, went down in history:

The arms of the nation were covered with glory. French troops bravely held in battle, and their commander acted stupidly

Original text (Spanish)

Las armas nacionales se han cubierto de gloria. Las tropas francesas se portaron con valor en el combate y su jefe con torpeza

Shortly after the battle, as a result of the hardships of the campaign, he contracted typhoid fever and died on September 8.

• By the decree of President Juarez, the city of Puebla de Zaragoza was named after him.
• The state of Coahuila (officially: Coahuila de Zaragoza) bears his name.
• In honor of him, the city of Guaymas in the state of Sonora became known as Guaymas de Zaragoza.
• By the decree of President Plutarko Elias Calles, the city ​​of Tijuana at one time bore the name of Zaragoza, but the name did not take root.
• In the movie May Fifth: The Battle (Spanish) (2013) of General Zaragoza was played by Kuno Becker .

• Lecture by Paco Ignacio Taibo "Ignacio Zaragoza"
• Lecture by Paco Ignacio Taibo "The Battle of Puebla"