France Attacked Mexico Over a Pastry. Then It Came Back.

In 1838 France sent warships to Mexico because of a pastry shop: a French pastry cook claimed 60,000 pesos in damages for a shop worth less than 1,000, and France's bill came to 600,000. Mexico paid. In 1862 France came back, and lost on the fifth of May. How Mexico got there, era by era: 1325: the Mexica found Tenochtitlan where the legend's eagle sat on a cactus eating a snake. The eagle, the cactus and the snake are on Mexico's flag today. 1519: Spain lands at Veracruz. 1520: La Noche Triste — the Mexica drive the Spanish out of Tenochtitlan, and much of the gold they carried is lost. 1521: Spain returns and Tenochtitlan falls. 1521–1810: New Spain. Its silver sails to Spain for three centuries. 1810: the bell of Dolores rings. 1821: independence. 1836: Texas breaks away. 1838–1839: the Pastry War. France shells Veracruz; Mexico agrees to pay 600,000 pesos. 1846–1848: the war with the USA. Mexico loses its north. 5 May 1862: the Battle of Puebla, Cinco de Mayo. Mexico beats France. 1970, 1986, 2026: the Estadio Azteca hosts three World Cup opening matches, the first stadium to do so. The Aztecs had no flag; their ball carries the city's founding glyph from a 1540s Aztec manuscript. The croissant stands in for the pastries of 1838. Borders before 1821 are approximate. Which country's history should we tell next? 👇 3D models (CC BY 4.0, https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/): "Cannon" by Lyskilde (sketchfab.com/3d-models/cannon-84d7315b51c9473cb3cfd1501a5e5e03); "Tower and Castle Walls" by LucasPresoto (sketchfab.com/3d-models/tower-and-castle-walls-fca85f8450604e6f98952a2739f92672), recoloured. Ships by Kenney (CC0). Credits: satellite imagery NASA Blue Marble Next Generation (public domain); relief AWS Terrain Tiles (public domain); US and Mexican borders 1824–1853 from the Atlas of Historical County Boundaries (Newberry Library); earlier borders aourednik/historical-basemaps (GPL-3.0); Natural Earth; historical flags from Wikimedia Commons (public domain).