Background to Accession , the Mexican Delegation appoints Ferdinand Maximilian of Habsburg as Emperor of Mexico by
Cesare Dell'Acqua (1864) After gaining independence in 1821, Mexico had soon divided itself into
liberal and
conservative parties, the latter of which had a
monarchist faction. The failed monarchy of
Agustín I that saw him forced to abdicate, swearing to remain in exile, met its final demise when he returned to Mexico and was shot in 1824. Nonetheless, Conservatives continued to see monarchy as a viable option. Monarchist plans had most clearly been laid out in an 1840 essay by the statesman
José María Gutiérrez de Estrada, which argued that after two decades of chaos, the republic had failed, and that a European prince ought to be invited to establish a Mexican throne. Such ideas received official interest during the presidency of
Mariano Paredes and during the last presidency of
Santa Anna, but by the late 1850s the liberals had appeared to have achieved a decisive victory through the promulgation of the
Constitution of 1857, which constrained the powers of the
Mexican Catholic Church and the
Mexican Army, two traditional bastions of conservativism. Conservatives declared the Constitution null and void and formed a rival conservative government. The
three-year civil war (1858–61) between liberals and conservatives was won by liberals on the battlefield. Conservatives regrouped after the defeat and sought external allies for their monarchist cause. Mexican diplomat
José Hidalgo had been officially tasked by the Santa Anna administration to sound European courts for interest in establishing a Mexican monarchy, but after the fall of Santa Anna in 1853 with the successful liberal
Revolution of Ayutla, Hidalgo had lost his official accreditation and continued his efforts independently. Hidalgo's childhood friend, the Spanish noblewoman
Eugénie de Montijo, was now wife of
Emperor Napoleon III of the French, and it was through her that Hidalgo managed to gain the attention of the French ruler. The name of Maximilian came up swiftly in discussions among the Mexican monarchists on potential candidates for a Mexican throne. It was perceived as impolitic to propose a noble from one of the nations involved in the expedition and Maximilian already had a reputation as a capable administrator from his time spent as Viceroy of Lombardy-Venetia. In 1859, Maximilian was first approached by Mexican monarchists—members of the
Mexican nobility, led by José Pablo
Martínez del Río—with a proposal to make him the emperor of Mexico. The Habsburg family had ruled the
Viceroyalty of New Spain from its establishment until the
Spanish throne was inherited by the Bourbons. As a member of the House of Habsburg, Maximilian was considered to have more potential legitimacy than other royal figures. He was unlikely to ever rule in Europe because of his elder brother's position as
emperor of
Austria and disapproval of his younger brother's liberalism. In that year, Maximilian declined the offer, but several attempts were made by the Mexican royalists. Later it was decided to again to make the offer to Maximilian, and that
José María Gutiérrez de Estrada, because of his pivotal role in the history of Mexican monarchism, was to be given the role of again inviting Maximilian to assume a Mexican throne. In early 1861, the United States was embroiled in its Civil War between the southern states that had seceded and formed the
Confederate States of America and the northern states that fought their efforts to secede. In these circumstances, the U.S. government could not enforce the
Monroe Doctrine, which asserted U.S. pre-eminence in the hemisphere and excluded foreign intervention. In July 1861, Mexican President
Benito Juárez had suspended the payment of foreign debts that had been incurred by the defeated conservative government, providing a pretext for foreign intervention. Juárez's government could ill-afford and had no desire to pay off the debts contracted by those that had challenged its legitimacy to rule. The suspension gave Napoleon III an opportunity to establish a French client state which could also serve as a buffer to the expansion of the United States. France gained the aid of
Britain and
Spain, which also had loaned money to the defeated conservatives, under the pretext of arranging an expedition simply to renegotiate Mexico's debt agreements. Plans for such an expedition were formalized at the
Convention of London on 31 October 1861. Gutiérrez de Estrada received Maximilian's answer at the beginning of October. The Archduke would accept the throne on two conditions: first, the Mexican people themselves should spontaneously ask for him; and second, that he should also be assured of the support of France and Great Britain. Maximilian's older brother, Emperor Franz Joseph of Austria, now sent
Count von Rechberg, the Austrian minister of foreign affairs, to brief Maximilian on what lay in store in the event that France did militarily intervene in Mexico, and a Mexican plebiscite approved of Maximilian.
French invasion, Mexican conservatives, and Maximilian's agreement In the interim, the agreement among France, the United Kingdom, and Spain broke down as it became increasingly clear that France intended to overthrow Juárez's liberal government of Mexico. France began military operations in April 1862. They were eventually joined by conservative Mexican generals who were not reconciled to their loss to the liberals in the War of Reform. After
Charles de Lorencez's expeditionary force was repulsed at the
Battle of Puebla on
5 May 1862,
Napoleon III sent reinforcements, ultimately numbering about 38,900, and placed them under the command of General
Élie Forey. Even so, it took the French a year to take
Puebla, and then the capital in June 1863. The French now sought to establish a friendly Mexican provisional government. Forey appointed a committee of thirty-five Mexicans, the
Junta Superior who then elected three Mexican citizens to serve as the government's executive. In turn this triumvirate then selected 215 Mexicans to form together with the
Junta Superior, an Assembly of Notables. The Assembly met in July 1863 and resolved to invite Maximilian to be Emperor of Mexico. The executive triumvirate was formally changed into the Regency of the Mexican Empire. An official delegation left Mexico, arriving in Europe in October. Upon meeting the delegation, Maximilian set forth the condition that he would only accept the throne if a national plebiscite approved of it. By February 1864 French forces controlled territory comprising the majority of Mexico's population. The
Mexican plebiscite duly held in occupied territory "was a farce", but Maximilian accepted the proclamation that a majority of Mexicans voted in favor of him as emperor. The crown of Mexico came at a high cost to Maximilian. Although he had extracted promises from Napoleon III to militarily support the regime, he was to be entirely dependent on him. Emperor Franz Joseph isolated his younger brother Maximilian by forcing him to renounce any rights to the Austrian throne or as an archduke of Austria. On 9 April 1864 Maximilian reluctantly agreed to the "Family Pact". Maximilian formally accepted the crown of Mexico at Miramar on 10 April 1864.
Arrival in Mexico In April 1864, Maximilian stepped down from his duties as Chief of Naval Section of the Austrian Navy. He traveled from Trieste aboard SMS
Novara, escorted by the frigates (Austrian) and
Thémis (French), and the Imperial yacht
Fantasie led the warship procession from his residence,
Miramare Castle, out to sea. They received a blessing from
Pope Pius IX, and
Queen Victoria ordered the Gibraltar garrison to fire a salute for Maximilian's passing ship. The widespread doubts amongst informed persons concerning the wisdom of Maximilian's venture were reflected by the French colonel
François Claude du Barail, who while returning from arduous service in Mexico sighted the
Novara during its Atlantic crossing. Wrote du Barail: "If you succeed in bringing order out of this chaos, fortune into this misery, union into these hearts you will be the greatest sovereign of modern times. Go poor fool! You may regret your beautiful castle of Miramar!" The new emperor of Mexico landed at
Veracruz on 29 May 1864, and received a sparse reception from the townspeople due to a
yellow fever outbreak. The Imperial couple's arrival at the capital was more celebrated, with fireworks and hundreds of triumphant arches. Maximilian and Carlota were crowned at the
Mexico City Metropolitan Cathedral. He had the backing of Mexican conservatives, nobility, clergy, some Native American populations, and numerous European monarchs, but from the very outset he found himself involved in serious difficulties, since the Liberal forces led by President Benito Juárez refused to recognize his rule. There was continuous fighting between the French expeditionary forces (who were supplemented by Maximilian's locally recruited Imperial Mexican troops) on one side and the Mexican Republicans on the other. After a brief stay at the
National Palace, the emperor and empress decided to set up their residence at
Chapultepec Castle, located on the top of a hill formerly on the outskirts of Mexico City that had been a retreat of
Aztec emperors and Spanish viceroys. Maximilian ordered a wide avenue cut through the city from
Chapultepec to the city center and named it the Paseo de la Emperatriz, the project would survive him and the Empire and is today one of the central avenues of Mexico City, the
Paseo de la Reforma. Maximilian also acquired a country retreat at
Cuernavaca, a villa known as the .
Rule , 1865 Although Maximilian had been brought to power with the support of Mexican conservatives expecting he would reverse the reforms of Mexican liberals, codified in the
Constitution of 1857, Maximilian and Napoleon III did not want hardline Mexicans to control the regime. Napoleon III had a confidential policy known to his military commander
François Achille Bazaine to marginalize the conservatives and create a moderate monarchy with wide support. Maximilian was in agreement and sought to establish a regime that included liberals. In the summer of 1864 Maximilian declared a political amnesty for all liberals wishing to join the Empire. His conciliatory efforts eventually won over some moderate liberals such as
José Fernando Ramírez,
José María Lacunza,
Manuel Orozco y Berra, and northern strongman
Santiago Vidaurri, a former ally of Juárez. Maximilian's lack of understanding of the political situation on the ground in Mexico is seen in his offer to Juárez of amnesty and the post of prime minister. Juárez refused and continued to assert his role as the legitimate head of the Mexican state, despite being forced to decamp from the capital to Mexico's north. He never left Mexico's national territory, continuing to be recognized by the U.S. government. Juárez had appointed
Matías Romero as minister plenipotentiary to the U.S. government, an effective advocate for the Mexican republic even as the U.S. was embroiled in its civil war. A major aspect of liberalism in Mexico was the curtailment of the power and privileges of the ideologically conservative Catholic Church, including the forced sale of Church-owned property and freedom of religion, removing Catholicism as the sole religion of the nation. The papal nuncio,
Pier Francesco Meglia, arrived in Mexico in December 1864, and informed Maximilian that the liberal laws were to be reversed, Church property was to be returned and religious toleration rescinded and Catholicism as the sole religion reinstated. Maximilian refused, decreeing freedom of worship and confirmed the sale of Church property, as well as other liberal reforms. The pope's representative wrote to Maximilian, saying that the Church had supported the establishment of the empire, but now threatened that it would no longer do so if the regime were "ungodly." Maximilian had other priorities as well, including reorganizing his ministries and reforming the Imperial Mexican Army. Having the Imperial Mexican Army under his control would have given him as monarch an armed force and allow him to draw on its traditional base of support, but Bazaine impeded that in order to consolidate French control. During his short reign, Maximilian issued eight volumes of laws covering all aspects of government, including forest management, railroads, roads, canals, postal services, telegraphs, mining, and immigration, most of which were never implemented. The emperor issued laws guaranteeing Mexicans' equality before the law and freedom of speech, and laws meant to defend the rights of laborers, especially that of the Natives. Maximilian attempted to implement a law guaranteeing the natives a living wage and outlawing corporal punishment for them, along with limiting their inheritance of debts. The measures faced backlash from the cabinet, but were ultimately issued during one of Carlota's regencies. Labor laws in
Yucatán actually became harsher on workers after the fall of the Empire. A national system of free schools was also planned based on the German gymnasia, and the emperor founded an academy of sciences and literature. Laws were published in Spanish and in
Nahuatl, the Aztec language, which had the largest number of indigenous speakers. Maximilian appointed the Indigenous scholar
Faustino Galicia as an advisor to his government. Galicia would also be named president of the Council for the Protection of the Impoverished. The regime established an immigration agency to promote immigration from the United States, including former Confederates, such as those who immigrated to
Brazil; as well as from Europe and Asia. Colonists were to be granted citizenship at once, and gained exemption from taxes for the first year, and an exemption from military services for five years. Two of the most prominent migrant communities built during this era were the
New Virginia Colony and the "Carlota Colony." Many of Maximilian's reforms were simply revivals of previous Mexican legislation. Franciso Arrangoiz who had been Maximilian's minister to Britain, Holland, and Belgium, later accused Maximilian of passing such reforms to gain favorable public opinion in Europe, and to give the impression that he had a 'creative genius' and was 'lifting Mexico out of barbarism.' In August 1864 Maximilian took a state trip through the nation while Empress Carlota reigned as regent, going to
Querétaro,
Guanajuato, and
Michoacan, giving public audiences and visiting officials. He celebrated Mexican independence by commemorating the
Cry of Dolores, in the actual town where it took place. In November, and December 1865, Carlota took a similar trip to Yucatán.
Court life delegation at
Chapultepec Castle Maximilian lived for the most part at Chapultepec Castle, making occasional retreats to his villa at Cuernavaca, where he had also taken a mistress named Concepción Sedano. He enjoyed the Mexican countryside and would often go horse-riding, walking, and swimming. On Sundays at Chapultepec Palace, Maximilian and Carlota frequently held audiences with people from all social and economic segments, including Mexico's
Indigenous peoples. The royal couple also hosted multiple balls for Mexican high society.
Deteriorating military situation In April 1865, the
American Civil War ended, and while the American government was reluctant to enter upon a conflict with France to enforce the Monroe Doctrine, official American sympathy remained with president Benito Juárez. The U.S. government refused to recognize the Empire and also ignored Maximilian's correspondence. In December, a private American loan worth $30 million was approved for Juárez, and American volunteers kept joining the Mexican republican troops. An unofficial American raid occurred near
Brownsville, and Juárez's minister to the United States,
Matías Romero, proposed that General
Ulysses S. Grant or General
William Tecumseh Sherman intervene in Mexico to help the liberals. The prospect of an American invasion to reinstate Juárez caused a number of Maximilian's loyal adherents to abandon his cause and leave the capital. The United States refrained from direct military intervention, but continued to put diplomatic pressure on France to leave Mexico. A concentration of French troops in the northern republican strongholds of Mexico only led to a surge of republican guerrilla activity in the south. While French troops controlled major cities, guerrillas continued to be a major military threat in the countryside. In an effort to combat the increasing violence and in a belief that Juárez had left Mexico, Maximilian in October signed a decree authorizing the court martial and execution of anyone found either aiding or participating with the guerrillas. The harsh measure resembled the 1862 measure by Juárez, but it proved to be widely reviled, being branded the Black Decree. It contributed to the growing unpopularity of the Empire. It is calculated that more than 11,000 Juárez supporters were executed as a result of the decree. In January 1866, seeing the war as unwinnable and the cost of keeping troops there a financial drain, Napoleon III declared to the French
Corps législatif that he intended to withdraw the French military from Mexico. Maximilian's request for more aid or at least a delay in troop withdrawals was declined. Carlota arrived in Europe in an attempt to plead for the Empire's cause but was unable to gain more support. After the failure of her mission Carlota became increasingly mentally unstable. She spent the rest of her life in seclusion in Belgium, living until 1927.
Fall of the Empire . In October 1866 Maximilian moved his cabinet to
Orizaba and was widely rumored to be leaving the nation. He contemplated abdication, and on 25 November held a council of his ministers to address the crisis faced by his government. They narrowly voted against abdication and Maximilian headed back towards the capital. He intended to appeal to the nation in order to hold a national assembly which would then decide what form of government the Mexican nation was to take. As the national assembly project fell through, Maximilian decided to focus on military operations, and in February 1867, as the last of the French troops were leaving, the Emperor headed for the city of
Querétaro to join the bulk of his Mexican troops, numbering about 10,000 men. The liberal generals
Mariano Escobedo and
Ramón Corona converged on Querétaro,
besieging it with 40,000 men, and yet the city held out. In the face of an increasing number of Republican troops, however, on 11 May, Maximilian resolved to attempt an escape through the enemy lines and make a break for the coast. This plan was sabotaged by Colonel Miguel López who had come to an agreement with Republican General Escobedo to open the gate to the Republican forces. López appears to have assumed that Maximilian would be allowed to escape. The city fell on 15 May 1867, and Maximilian was captured the next morning after a failed attempt to escape through Republican lines by a loyal
hussar cavalry brigade led by
Felix Salm-Salm. Maximilian was captured along with his generals
Tomás Mejía Camacho and
Miguel Miramón.
Execution Maximilian's trial began on 13 June, Col.
Rafael Platón Sánchez presiding, in the
Teatro Iturbide of Querétaro, and he was charged with conspiring to overthrow the Mexican government and with carrying out the Black Decree. Maximilian's lawyers, which included the conservative statesmen
Mariano Riva Palacio and , attempted to defend the legitimacy of the Empire and Maximilian's benevolent rule. After only one day the court returned a verdict of guilty and sentenced Maximilian to death. A number of the crowned heads of Europe and other prominent figures (including the eminent liberals
Victor Hugo and
Giuseppe Garibaldi) sent telegrams and letters to Mexico requesting that the Emperor's life be spared. Although he respected Maximilian on a personal level, Juárez refused to commute the sentence because he believed it was necessary to send a message that Mexico would not tolerate any more foreign invasions. Felix Salm-Salm and his wife devised a plan to allow Maximilian to escape execution by bribing his jailors. However, Maximilian would not go through with the plan unless Generals Miramón and Mejía could accompany him and because he felt that shaving his beard to avoid recognition would undermine his dignity if he were to be recaptured.The sentence was carried out in the
Cerro de las Campanas at 6:40 a.m. on the morning of 19 June 1867, when Maximilian, along with Generals Miramón and Mejía, was executed by a Republican firing squad. He spoke only in Spanish and gave each of his executioners a gold coin in traditional European aristocratic fashion. His last words were, "I forgive everyone, and I ask everyone to forgive me. May my blood which is about to be spilled end the bloodshed which has been experienced in my new motherland. Long live Mexico! Long live its independence!" A photo of Maximilian's firing squad is owned by the
Metropolitan Museum of Art, Gilman Collection. After Maximilian's execution, his body was embalmed and displayed in Mexico, and not repatriated to Austria until six months after his death. Photos of his corpse were taken. The
Emperor Maximilian Memorial Chapel was constructed on the hill where his execution took place. ==Cultural portrayals==