War of the cakes: why the armed conflict between Mexico and France took this name

Throughout Mexico's history, chapters have been written that have not benefited the country much. This is the case with the foreign invasions that have taken place. The first invasion that happened in Mexico was by the Spaniards, when Hernán Cortes arrived with some soldiers from Cuba and invaded and conquered Mexico.

Later, after Mexico gained independence from Spain in 1821, it underwent several other interventions, one of the most tragic being that of the United States in 1848, when after losing the war, the country had to give up more than half of its territory.

However, other nations have also come to the country to invade it. This is the case of France, which twice attacked Mexico and, on the second, it led to the Second Empire, under Maximilian of Habsburg and his wife Charlotte, in 1864.

However, the first French intervention in the country occurred many years earlier, and began on a day like today, on April 16, but in 1838, and it was due to a conflict known as the War of the Pastels. The story goes that in 1832, a French pastry chef, who had a business in the town of Tacubaya, in what is now part of Mexico City, asked his government for help because Mexican soldiers left his establishment without paying for the biscuits they had ordered, in addition to causing an uproar and destruction in the store.

This pastry chef was named Remontel, however, he was not the only one who had reason to complain. Other merchants had also protested with the French ambassador, Baron Deffaudis, over the alleged destruction and disturbance of the officers of then-President Antonio López de Santa Anna. Although it is hard to believe that a simple debt of cupcakes sparked a war that would culminate in an invasion.

In fact, the problem was a consequence of the complicated relations that the governments of both countries had been maintaining chronically throughout that decade, because of France's commercial ambitions.

A year before the conflict broke out, on March 28, 1837, France had blocked the ports of Buenos Aires and Monte Video with the aim, as Aimé Roger, the French vice-consul, informed his country's prime minister, of “inflicting exemplary punishment on the invincible Buenos Aires, which will be a healthy lesson for all. the other American States. It is up to France to make itself known if it wants to be respected.”

Thus, the real reason for the armed conflict came from years ago and stemmed from the refusal of Guadalupe Victoria, who was the first president of the republican government of Mexico between 1824 and 1829, to grant privileges to French trade routes, a refusal that also extended to all countries that had refused to recognize Mexico's independence. In addition, it did not help much that a French citizen was shot in the port of Tampico, in Tamaulipas, in 1832, accused of piracy.

By 1838, the French government had been unable to reach a trade agreement, with the newly formed Mexican government. The representative of France, Antoine Louis Deffaudis, did not agree with two articles that had been signed between Mexico and Spain, which prohibited attacking a territory claimed by a friendly country and granting it certain special privileges.

Deffaudis, angry, withdrew from the negotiations and returned to France, to return a few months later with ten warships with the clear intention of “bringing the Mexican government to its senses”. After anchoring off the island of Sacrificios in Veracruz, Deffaudis threatened to invade Mexican territory if Mexico did not meet the conditions of the ultimatum launched by the French, which expired on April 15, 1838.

Following the refusal of the Mexican government to pay the compensation requested by the French, it was ordered that a maritime blockade be established in the ports of Veracruz and Tampico, which lasted eight months. On November 13, 1838, after failing to break the Mexicans, more than 20 ships arrived on the coast of Mexico, including one commanded by the Prince of Joinville, son of King Louis Philip I.

Upon his arrival, Baudin said he brought orders from France to demand that Mexico pay 600,000 pesos before November 27. When the requirements were not fulfilled, the French attacked the fortress of San Juan de Ulúa, in Veracruz.

In this context, then-President Anastasio Bustamante placed Antonio López de Santa Anna in command of Mexican troops, who could not avoid a harsh defeat in that battle. In the end, Mexico was forced to pay the debt and Santa Anna lost her leg to a severe wound.

On March 9, 1839, an agreement was finally reached ending hostilities, with the help of Great Britain, which was seriously affected by the conflict its trade routes.

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