Tomorrow is Cinco de Mayo and no it's not Mexico's Independence Day. Basically France had a rough go of "empiring" in the Americas. First, Napoleon Bonaparte got booted out of Haiti by enslaved blacks in 1804 then his namesake nephew got spanked by indigenous Zapotecs in Mexico.
In short: "Napoleon" turns out not to be an auspicious name for purveyors of global empire. A history of Cinco de Mayo (which happened to have taken place simultaneously to our Civil War) and the battle of Puebla de Los Angeles ... #History history.com/topics/holiday…
And while we're in the history wormhole and since at least for now the State Department web archive is still functioning, here's an interesting read about the Lincoln administration diplomatic effort to deny the Confederacy any diplomatic recognition. history.state.gov/milestones/186…
