HIST362: Modern Revolutions

Maximilian I of Mexico was an Austrian-born Archduke placed on the throne of the Second Mexican Empire by Napoleon III of France, who invaded Mexico in 1861.

Key Takeaways

Key Points

• In 1862, the country was invaded by France to collect debts on which that the Juárez government had defaulted, but the larger purpose was to install a ruler under French control.
• They chose a member of the Habsburg dynasty, Archduke Ferdinand Maximilian of Austria, as Emperor of Mexico, with support from the Catholic Church, conservative elements of the upper class, and some indigenous communities.
• Although the French suffered an initial defeat (the Battle of Puebla on May 5, 1862, now commemorated as the Cinco de Mayo holiday), the French eventually defeated the Mexican army and set Maximilian on the throne.
• Despite the aims of the French and the conservatives in Mexico, Maximilian I was actually quite liberal and supported many of the reforms initiated by president Juárez, including land reforms, religious freedom, and extending the right to vote beyond the landholding class.
• Maximilian, too liberal for the conservatives and an enemy of the liberals because he represented the monarchy, had few friends in Mexico, despite his best efforts at positive reform.
• The United States, who never recognized Maximilian, after the end of the American Civil War pressured Napoleon III to withdraw the French from Mexico, thereby ending the Second Mexican Empire and ousting Maximilian.
• Maximilian chose to remain in Mexico rather than return to Europe and was captured and executed along with two Mexican supporters on June 19, 1867.

Key Terms

• Benito Juárez: A Mexican lawyer and politician of Zapotec origin from Oaxaca who served as the president of Mexico for five terms: 1858–1861 as interim, then 1861–1865, 1865–1867, 1867–1871, and 1871–1872 as constitutional president. He resisted the French occupation of Mexico, overthrew the Second Mexican Empire, restored the Republic, and used liberal measures to modernize the country.
• Maximilian I: The only monarch of the Second Mexican Empire, a younger brother of the Austrian emperor Francis Joseph I. After a distinguished career in the Austrian Navy, he accepted an offer by Napoleon III of France to rule Mexico.
• Napoleon III: The only President (1848–52) of the French Second Republic and the Emperor (1852–70) of the Second French Empire. He was the nephew and heir of Napoleon I and the first president of France to be elected by a direct popular vote. He was blocked by the Constitution and Parliament from running for a second term, so he organized a coup d'état in 1851 and then took the throne as Emperor on December 2, 1852, the 48th anniversary of Napoleon I's coronation. He remains the longest-serving French head of state since the French Revolution.

French Intervention in Mexico

The War of the French Intervention was an invasion of Mexico in late 1861 by the Second French Empire, supported in the beginning by the United Kingdom and Spain. It followed Mexican President Benito Juárez 's suspension of interest payments to foreign countries on July 17, 1861, which angered these creditors of Mexico.

Emperor Napoleon III of France was the instigator, justifying military intervention by claiming a broad foreign policy of commitment to free trade. For him, a friendly government in Mexico would ensure European access to Latin American markets. Napoleon also wanted the silver that could be mined in Mexico to finance his empire. Napoleon built a coalition with Spain and Britain while the U.S. was deeply engaged in its civil war.

The three European powers signed the Treaty of London on October 31, 1861, to unite their efforts to receive payments from Mexico. On December 8, the Spanish fleet and troops arrived at Mexico's main port, Veracruz. When the British and Spanish discovered that France planned to seize all of Mexico, they quickly withdrew from the coalition.

The subsequent French invasion resulted in the Second Mexican Empire. In Mexico, the French-imposed empire was supported by the Roman Catholic clergy, many conservative elements of the upper class, and some indigenous communities. Conservatives and many in the Mexican nobility tried to revive the monarchy by bringing to Mexico an archduke from the Royal House of Austria, Maximilian Ferdinand, or Maximilian I. France had various interests in this Mexican affair, such as seeking reconciliation with Austria, n defeated during the Franco-Austrian War of 1859; counterbalancing the growing American Protestant power by developing a powerful Catholic neighboring empire; and exploiting the rich mines in the northwest of the country.

After heavy guerrilla resistance led by Juárez, which never ceased even after the capital had fallen to the French in 1863, the French eventually withdrew from Mexico and Maximilian I was executed in 1867.

Maximilian I of Mexico

Maximilian I was the only monarch of the Second Mexican Empire, a younger brother of the Austrian emperor Francis Joseph I. After a distinguished career in the Austrian Navy, he accepted an offer by Napoleon III of France to rule Mexico. France invaded Mexico in the winter of 1861, as part of the War of the French Intervention. Seeking to legitimize French rule in the Americas, Napoleon III invited Maximilian to establish a new Mexican monarchy for him. With the support of the French army and a group of conservative Mexican monarchists hostile to the liberal administration of new Mexican President Benito Juárez, Maximilian traveled to Mexico. Once there, he declared himself Emperor of Mexico on April 10, 1864.

Maximilian's consort was Empress Carlota of Mexico, and they chose Chapultepec Castle as their home. The Imperial couple noticed the mistreatment of Mexicans, especially Indians, and wanted to ensure their human rights. One of Maximilian's first acts as Emperor was to restrict working hours and abolish child labor. He cancelled all debts over 10 pesos for peasants, restored communal property, and forbade all forms of corporal punishment. He also broke the monopoly of the Hacienda stores and decreed that henceforth peons could no longer be bought and sold for the price of their debt. By contrast, Napoleon III wanted to exploit the mines in the northwest of the country and grow cotton.

Maximilian was a liberal, a fact that Mexican conservatives seemingly did not know when he was chosen to head the government. He favored the establishment of a limited monarchy that would share power with a democratically elected congress. Maximilian upheld several liberal policies proposed by the Juárez administration, such as land reforms, religious freedom, and extending the right to vote beyond the landholding class. At first, Maximilian offered Juárez an amnesty if he would swear allegiance to the crown, even offering the post of Prime Minister, which Juárez refused. All these policies were too liberal for conservatives, while liberals refused to accept any monarch, considering the republican government of Benito Juárez legitimate. This left Maximilian with few enthusiastic allies within Mexico. Meanwhile, Juárez remained head of the republican government. He continued to be recognized by the United States, which was engaged in its Civil War (1861–65) and at that juncture was in no position to aid Juárez directly against the French intervention until 1865.

France never made a profit in Mexico and its Mexican expedition grew increasingly unpopular. Finally in the spring of 1865, after the US Civil War was over, the U.S. demanded the withdrawal of French troops from Mexico. Napoleon III quietly complied. In mid-1867, despite repeated Imperial losses in battle to the Republican Army and ever-decreasing support from Napoleon III, Maximilian chose to remain in Mexico rather than return to Europe. He was captured and executed along with two Mexican supporters on June 19, 1867, immortalized in a famous painting by Eduard Manet. Juárez remained in office until his death in 1872.

Maximilian has been praised by some historians for his liberal reforms, his genuine desire to help the people of Mexico, his refusal to desert his loyal followers, and his personal bravery during the siege of Querétaro. However, other researchers consider him short-sighted in political and military affairs and unwilling to restore democracy in Mexico even during the imminent collapse of the Second Mexican Empire.

Édouard Manet's Execution of Emperor Maximilian (1868–1869): One of five versions of Manet's representation of the execution of the Austrian-born Emperor of Mexico, which took place on June 19, 1867. Manet borrowed heavily, thematically and technically, from Goya's The Third of May 1808.