Maximilian of Mexico

Maximilian of Mexico
Emperor of Mexico
Official portrait as emperor painted by Albert Gräfle in 1864, oil on canvas, National Museum of History.
Emperor of Mexico
Reign	April 10, 1864–May 19, 1867
Coronation	April 10, 1864 (Proclamation) Miramare Castle
Predecessor	Regency of the Second Empire
Successor	Monarchy abolished
Viceroy of Lombardy–Venetia
Reign	September 2, 1857–April 10, 1859
Predecessor	Joseph Radetzky
Successor	Ferencz Gyulai
Born	Ferdinand Maximilian Joseph Maria of Habsburg-Lorraine July 6, 1832 Schönbrunn Palace, Vienna, Austrian Empire
Died	June 19, 1867 (aged 34) Cerro de las Campanas, Querétaro, Mexico
Burial	Imperial Crypt of Vienna
Spouse	Princess Charlotte of Belgium ​ ​ (m. 1857)​
House	House of Habsburg-Lorraine
Father	Archduke Franz Karl of Austria
Mother	Princess Sophie of Bavaria
Religion	Catholicism
Signature

Ferdinand Maximilian Joseph Maria of Habsburg-Lorraine (in German, Ferdinand Maximilian Joseph María von Habsburg-Lothringen) (Vienna, Austria, July 6, 1832 – Querétaro, Mexico, June 19, 1867) was an Austrian nobleman and politician. He held the noble titles of Archduke of Austria and royal prince of Hungary and Bohemia under the title of Ferdinand Maximilian of Austria; however, he renounced them in order to become Emperor of Mexico under the title of Maximilian I. His reign is known as the Second Mexican Empire; he contested the holding of the Mexican executive power with Benito Juárez. In addition, within Mexican historiography, he is known simply as Maximilian of Habsburg.

The younger brother of the Emperor of Austria Franz Joseph I, he married Princess Charlotte of Belgium in 1857. In 1857, Maximilian was appointed Viceroy of the Kingdom of Lombardy–Venetia, which Austria had acquired at the Congress of Vienna and which had rebelled against the power of the House of Habsburg. His policies, too liberal in the eyes of the Austrian authorities, his leniency toward the Italian rebels, and his lavishness forced him to resign on April 10, 1859.

During the Second French Intervention, which began in the years 1861–1862, France, allied with Spain and the United Kingdom, invaded the Mexican Republic. The Spanish and the British withdrew in April 1862, while the French army remained there, seeking to conquer the country. Eager to legitimize this domination, Napoleon III supported a group of monarchists from the conservative party who were hostile to the republic, and who established the Second Regency of Mexico. On October 3, 1863, a delegation of Mexican conservatives offered Maximilian of Austria the imperial crown of Mexico. Maximilian made his acceptance of the throne conditional on the holding of a popular referendum, accompanied by solid financial and military guarantees. After several months of procrastination, Maximilian finally accepted and became Emperor of Mexico on April 10, 1864.

The Second Mexican Empire managed to win the recognition of several European powers, among them France, the United Kingdom, Spain, Belgium, Austria and Prussia. However, under the Monroe Doctrine, the United States continued to support the republican insurgents of Benito Juárez, whom Emperor Maximilian failed to defeat in the long term. With the end of the American Civil War in 1865, the more sustained support of the United States for the republican forces further weakened the situation of Maximilian I, which worsened further when the French army began to withdraw from Mexico in 1866. His wife, Empress Carlota, returned to Europe to try to obtain, on her husband's behalf, definitive support from Napoleon III, in vain. Defeated at Querétaro, Maximilian was captured, tried and executed on June 19, 1867 by the insurgents, who restored the Mexican Republic.

Biography

Early years

Portrait of the young Archduke Maximilian by Joseph Karl Stieler (1838).

Maximilian was born at Schönbrunn Palace, near Vienna in Austria, on July 6, 1832. The second son of Archduke Franz Karl of Austria and Archduchess consort Sophie of Bavaria, he was the grandson of the reigning Emperor Francis I of Austria at the time of his birth. His first name (Ferdinand Maximilian Joseph) pays tribute to his godfather and paternal uncle, who in 1835 became Emperor Ferdinand I of Austria, and to his maternal grandfather, King Maximilian I of Bavaria. The younger brother of the future Emperor Franz Joseph I, he had two younger brothers, Karl Ludwig (1833–1896) and Ludwig Viktor (1842–1919), as well as a sister, Maria Anna (1835–1840).

A recurring rumor holds that Maximilian was the son of the Duke of Reichstadt (Napoleon II), who was raised at the Austrian court among the Habsburgs. Archduchess Sophie had become very close to the Duke of Reichstadt after the birth of Franz Joseph in August 1830. When the Duke of Reichstadt died on July 22, 1832, Sophie was so upset that she was unable to breastfeed Maximilian, who was only two weeks old. As tradition dictated, Maximilian was first raised by a governess, Baroness Louise Sturmfeder von Oppenweiler, before being educated from the age of seven by tutors, at whose head was placed Count Heinrich de Bombelles, a diplomat of French origin in the service of Austria. Maximilian suffered from poor health and constantly caught colds in the poorly heated rooms of the Hofburg. He particularly enjoyed the Emperor's private garden, where an aviary attracted him greatly. He had a personal space made up of a grove of palm trees and tropical plants where a pair of parrots nested; from it grew his taste for garden landscaping, which he would develop in his later residences.

Of her sons, his mother said he was the most affectionate. While his brother Franz Joseph was precociously thrifty, Maximilian revealed a more dreamy and extravagant nature. Nevertheless, the four brothers were brought up in the same Spartan manner and had to bow from an early age to the rigors of court etiquette in Vienna. The boys Maximilian and Franz Joseph were very close friends. They shared a dense school timetable: up to 55 hours of study per week when he was 17. In addition to German, English and French, the archdukes learned the languages used in the vast Habsburg empire: Italian, Hungarian, Polish, Romanian and some rudiments of Czech. Maximilian also studied piano, modeling, philosophy, history, canon law and horsemanship. When Maximilian turned 13, he and his brother toured the Italian provinces belonging to Austria in the company of Marshal Radetzky. Since 1835, their uncle Ferdinand had reigned in Austria. The two adolescents took pleasure in mocking this sovereign, who was considered intellectually deficient.

In the shadow of Franz Joseph

Archduke Maximilian by Carl Haase in 1853.

In February 1848, the revolution of the Italians quickly spread throughout the empire. The dismissal of Klemens von Metternich marked the end of an era. Emperor Ferdinand I was recognized as incapable of governing. His brother and legitimate successor, Archduke Franz Karl, encouraged by his wife Archduchess Sophie, renounced his rights to the throne in favor of his eldest son Franz Joseph, who began his reign on December 2, 1848.

From the outset, Franz Joseph took up power seriously and effectively. The Hungarians held out until the summer of 1849, when Franz Joseph placed Maximilian in command of military operations. While remaining impassive, Maximilian reported that "bullets whistle over their heads and the rebels fire at them from burning houses." After the victory over the Hungarians, a relentless repression was carried out against the opponents, some of whom were hanged and shot in the presence of the archdukes. Unlike his brother, Maximilian was shaken by the brutality of the executions. Maximilian admired the naturalness with which his brother received the homage of ministers and generals. He too now had to request an audience before seeing his brother.

Assessments of his personality differ: O. Defrance presents him as less talented and of a more complex character than his elder brother, while L. Sondhaus indicates, on the contrary, that he had often outshone his brother since childhood and that the latter seemed duller and less talented by comparison. Maximilian at 18 is described as attractive, dreamy, romantic and a dilettante. Emotional and nervous, he was of a rather weak character while displaying bursts of energy. Often indecisive, he passed easily from anger to stubbornness and depression. Morally less stable than Franz Joseph, he surrounded himself with libertine friends. He was, however, fully aware of his rank and of the sense of grandeur of his house. Although he would have liked to help his brother, the latter met him with a flat refusal.

In 1850, Maximilian fell in love with Countess Paula von Linden, the daughter of the ambassador of Württemberg in Vienna. His feelings were reciprocated, but because of the Countess's lower rank, Franz Joseph put an end to this idyll by sending Maximilian to Trieste to familiarize him with the Austrian navy, in which he was destined to make a career.

Maria Amelia of Brazil by Friedrich Dürck (circa 1849).

Maximilian embarked on the corvette Vulcain for a brief cruise to Greece. In October 1850 he was appointed naval Lieutenant before making, in the summer of 1851, a voyage aboard the Novara. This first long voyage delighted him: "I am going to fulfill my dearest dream: a voyage by sea. With some knowledge, I left the dear Austrian land. This moment is a source of great emotion for me." This voyage took him in particular to Lisbon. There he met the 19-year-old Princess Maria Amelia of Braganza, the only daughter of the late Emperor of Brazil Pedro I. Described as beautiful, pious and witty, she had received a refined education. She played the piano and was good at drawing and painting. The two were in love. Franz Joseph and his mother authorized their marriage. In February 1852, Maria Amelia contracted scarlet fever. As the months passed, her health worsened before the outbreak of tuberculosis. Her doctors advised her to leave Lisbon for Madeira, where she arrived in August 1852. By the end of November, all hope of recovering her health was lost. The young woman died on February 4, 1853, and Maximilian's grief was immense.

Maximilian perfected himself in the art of commanding crews and received solid technical naval training. On September 10, 1854, he was appointed Commander-in-Chief of the Austrian Navy and promoted to Rear Admiral, which helped him find his path: a taste for travel, going to destinations such as Beirut, Palestine or Egypt. In the autumn of 1855, while sailing through rough seas in the waters of the Adriatic, he found shelter in the Gulf of Trieste. He immediately thought of building a residence there one day. Construction work on Miramare Castle began in March 1856. After the Crimean War, the Treaty of Paris signed on March 30, 1856, gave Maximilian the opportunity to visit France with Napoleon III and Empress Eugénie, two figures who would soon influence his destiny.

Marriage to Charlotte of Belgium

Princess Charlotte and her fiancé Archduke Maximilian by Louis-Joseph Ghémar (1857).

In May 1856, Franz Joseph asked Maximilian, on his return from Paris and before going back to Vienna, to stop in Brussels to visit the King of the Belgians Leopold I. On May 30, 1856, Maximilian arrived in Belgium, where he was received by Philippe, Count of Flanders, the younger son of King Leopold. Accompanied by the princes of Belgium, Maximilian visited the cities of Tournai, Kortrijk, Bruges, Ghent, Antwerp and Charleroi. In Brussels, Maximilian met the King's 16-year-old daughter, Princess Charlotte, who immediately fell under his charm.

Charlotte's father, having noticed his daughter's feelings for him, suggested that Maximilian ask for her hand. Maximilian therefore agreed to propose. He received a cordial welcome at the Belgian court, but could not help judging the sobriety of the castle of Laeken—where he observed that the staircases were of wood and not of marble—so far removed from the luxury of the imperial residences of Vienna. To his future son-in-law, King Leopold wrote: "In May you won [...] all my confidence and my benevolence. I also noticed that my little girl shared these dispositions; however, it was my duty to proceed with caution."

In reality, Maximilian accepted the marriage with the Belgian Princess, but he showed no enthusiasm and was not in love. An opportunist, he bitterly negotiated his bride's dowry. Spurned by Charlotte, Prince George of Saxony warned King Leopold against "the calculating character of the archduke of Vienna." As for the Duke of Brabant, the future Leopold II, he wrote to Queen Victoria: "Max is a boy full of wit, knowledge, talent and kindness. […] The archduke is very poor; above all he seeks to enrich himself, to earn money to complete the various constructions he has undertaken."

While the bitter financial transactions between Vienna and Brussels with a view to the marriage continued, King Leopold requested that an act of separation of property be drawn up to protect his daughter's interests. Little concerned with the settlement of these purely material considerations, Charlotte declared: "if, as is being discussed, the Archduke were invested with the Viceroyalty of Italy, that would be charming; that is all I want." The engagement was concluded on December 23, 1856. A few weeks later, on February 28, 1857, Maximilian was officially appointed Viceroy of the Kingdom of Lombardy-Venetia, which Austria had acquired at the Congress of Vienna and which had rebelled against the power of the house of Habsburg. On July 27, 1857, Maximilian married Princess Charlotte of Belgium at the royal palace of Brussels; she was the only daughter of Leopold I, King of the Belgians, and the late Queen Louise of Orléans. Charlotte was also a cousin of Queen Victoria, whose husband, the Prince consort Albert, made the journey to attend the wedding in Brussels. This alliance increased the prestige of the recent Belgian dynasty, which allied itself once again with the age-old House of Habsburg.

Viceroy of Lombardy-Venetia

Main article: Kingdom of Lombardy–Venetia

A liberal archduke

The Royal Palace of Milan in the early 21st century.

Maximilian and Charlotte made their joyous entry into Milan on September 6, 1857, where they would officially reside and which was the seat of the government of Lombardy-Venetia. They stayed intermittently at the royal palace and sometimes at the Villa of Monza. As governor, Maximilian lived like a sovereign, surrounded by an imposing court made up of chamberlains and stewards. As Commander-in-Chief of the Austrian navy, Maximilian developed the imperial fleet and encouraged the expedition of the frigate Novara, which carried out the first maritime world tour commanded by the Austrian Empire, a scientific expedition lasting more than two years (1857–1859) in which Viennese scholars took part. During his government in Lombardy, Maximilian continued the construction of Miramare Castle. Construction of the castle was completed at the end of 1860 according to Maximilian's plans and in particular thanks to Charlotte's dowry. Her brother, the future Leopold II, did not fail to note in his diary: "The construction of this palace in these times is an endless folly."

Politically, Archduke Maximilian was greatly influenced by the progressive ideas in vogue at the time. His appointment to the viceroyalty, replacing the old Marshal Joseph Radetzky, responded to the growing discontent of the Italian population through the arrival of a younger and more liberal figure. The choice of an Archduke, brother of the Emperor of Austria, tended to foster a certain personal loyalty to the House of Habsburg. Despite the efforts made, Maximilian and Charlotte did not, however, achieve the hoped-for success in Milan. Charlotte tried to win over her new subjects by speaking Italian, and did everything possible to please "her" people: she visited charitable institutions, inaugurated schools and even dressed as a Lombard peasant woman to win the good graces of the Italians. At Easter 1858, dressed in ceremonial clothes, she and Maximilian traveled along the Grand Canal of Venice, intoxicated by their importance. Nevertheless, anti-Austrian feeling grew among the Italian population despite all the attempts to win over the citizens.

Maximilian's work in the provinces he governed was fruitful and swift: revision of the land registry, a more equitable distribution of taxes, the establishment of cantonal doctors, the deepening of the channels of Venice, the enlargement of the port of Como, the draining of marshes to curb malaria and fertilize the soil, the irrigation of the plains of Friuli, and the sanitation of the lagoons. There was also a series of urban improvements: the Riva was extended to the royal gardens of Venice, while in Milan the promenades gained importance, the Piazza del Duomo was widened, a new square was laid out between La Scala and the Palazzo Marino, and the Ambrosiana library was restored. The Foreign Secretary of Great Britain wrote in January 1859: "The administration of the Lombardo-Venetian provinces was directed by Archduke Maximilian with great talent and a spirit imbued with liberalism and the most honorable conciliation."

Disgrace and dismissal

Geographic map showing Lombardy-Venetia in the context of Italian unification (1905).

Franz Joseph I, photograph by Joseph Albert (1865).

Maximilian was officially the viceroy of Lombardy-Venetia, but his authority was limited by the power exercised by the soldiers of the Austrian Empire, who were opposed to any kind of liberal reform. Maximilian went to Vienna in April 1858 to ask his brother to concentrate administrative and military powers in him personally while pursuing a policy of concessions. Franz Joseph I rejected his request and pushed him to pursue a more repressive policy. Maximilian was reduced to playing the role of a sort of prefect of police, while tensions with Piedmont increased. On January 3, 1859, Maximilian, for security reasons and for fear that she would be attacked in public, sent Charlotte back to Miramare and sent his most precious belongings out of the territories he governed. Alone in the palace of Milan, he shared his grievances with his mother: "So here I am, banished and alone like a hermit [...]. I am the prophet who is ridiculed, who must prove, piece by piece, what he predicted word for word to deaf ears." In February 1859, numerous arrests were made in Milan and Venice. Most of the prisoners belonged to the well-to-do classes of the population and were sent to Mantua and to the fortresses of the monarchy. The city of Brescia was occupied by the military, while many battalions camped at Piacenza and along the banks of the Po. Archduke Maximilian tried to moderate the harsh measures of General Ferencz Gyulai. Maximilian had just obtained permission from his brother the Emperor to reopen the private law schools in Pavia, as well as the University of Padua. In March 1859, incidents broke out between the police and the Milanese, as they did in Verona. In Pavia, in one of the states governed by Maximilian, Austria set up a veritable military siege apparatus. The situation in Italy became critical: order could no longer be maintained there except by foreign troops.

Maximilian's work of conciliation collapsed, and his projects to try to improve the well-being of his citizens, subjected to foreign occupation, came to nothing. His efforts to regenerate Lombardy-Venetia clashed with the opposition of Austria, which fought any element that disturbed its unitary program. On April 10, 1859, Maximilian, whom the government in Vienna considered too liberal in the reforms he wished to undertake, too lenient with the Italian rebels and too extravagant, was forced by his brother to resign from his office as Viceroy of Lombardy-Venetia.

Maximilian's resignation was received with satisfaction by a major actor in Italian unity, Camillo Cavour, who declared: "in Lombardy, our most terrible enemy [...] was the Archduke Maximilian, young, active, enterprising, who devoted himself completely to the difficult task of winning over the Milanese and who was going to succeed. His perseverance, his way of acting, his just and liberal spirit had already deprived us of many followers; never had the Lombard provinces been so prosperous and so well administered. Thank God, the good government of Vienna intervened and, as usual, seized on the spot the opportunity to commit a folly, a discourteous act, the most fatal for Austria, the most advantageous for Piedmont [...]. Lombardy could no longer escape us."

Gilded exile

Archduke Maximilian in the late 1850s.

Miramare Castle in the early 21st century.

Shortly after Maximilian's dismissal, Austria lost control of most of its Italian possessions. Maximilian's magnanimous policy was beginning to bear fruit, but on April 26, 1859, he was unable to prevent Austria from declaring war on the King of Sardinia, Victor Emmanuel II. The latter, supported by the France of Napoleon III, emerged victorious and, after the armistice of Villafranca confirmed by the Treaty of Zürich in November 1859, annexed Lombardy (except the fortresses of Mantua and Peschiera) to the Kingdom of Sardinia. The wealthy City of Milan thus left the Austrian fold, to the great anger of the Viennese, who vilified Emperor Franz Joseph I, urging him to abdicate in favor of the popular Maximilian. As for Venice, during their meeting at Villafranca in July 1859, Napoleon III proposed to Franz Joseph I the creation of an independent Venetian kingdom at whose head Maximilian and Charlotte would be placed. Franz Joseph I categorically rejected this possibility.

At 27, the Archduke, now without official activity and without real prospects, left Milan to retire to the Dalmatian coast, where Charlotte had just acquired the Island of Lokrum and its ruined convent. He quickly transformed the former Benedictine abbey into a second home before being able to move into his castle at Miramare at Christmas 1860, where the work was almost finished. While the workers were still working on the castle, the archducal couple first occupied the apartments on the ground floor before being able to occupy the rest of the castle.

Meanwhile, Maximilian and Charlotte embarked on a voyage aboard the yacht Fantasia, which took them to Madeira in December 1859, to the place where Princess Maria Amelia of Brazil, Maximilian's fiancée, had died six years earlier. There, Maximilian fell prey to melancholy laments. He wrote: "I look sadly at the valley of Machico and the lovely Santa Cruz where, seven years ago, we had lived such sweet moments ... Seven years full of joys, fruitful in trials and bitter disappointments. True to my word, I return to seek on the waves of the ocean a rest that tottering Europe can no longer give to my restless soul. But a deep melancholy seizes me when I compare the two times. Seven years ago I awoke to life and walked with a lively step toward the future; today I already feel fatigue; my shoulders are no longer free and light, they have to bear the weight of a bitter past... It is here that the only daughter of the Emperor of Brazil died: an accomplished creature, she left this imperfect world, like a pure angel of light, to return to heaven, her true homeland. From the hospital, founded by an unfortunate mother in memory of her daughter, I went not far to the house where the angel, weeping bitterly, left the earth, and I remained a long time wrapped in thoughts of sadness and mourning."

Visit of Maximilian and Charlotte to Tetouan – engraving by Gustave Janet, March 1860.

Suffering, Charlotte stayed alone in Funchal for three months, while Maximilian continued on his own pilgrimage in the footsteps of his late fiancée to Brazil, where he visited three states: first Bahia, then Rio de Janeiro and finally Espírito Santo. This voyage included a stay at the court of Emperor Pedro II, and also had scientific and ethnographic aspects. Maximilian embarked on an adventure in the jungle and visited several plantations. He enlisted the help of his personal physician, August von Jilek, an amateur oceanographer who specialized in the study of infectious diseases such as malaria. Maximilian was not content merely to admire lyrically the beauty of these regions; he gathered much information on subjects such as botany, ecosystems and agricultural methods. He judged the use of slaves in the latifundium system to be cruel and stained with sin. As for the priests, he considered them immodest and too powerful in the empire.

Returning from his voyage through Brazil, Maximilian went back by way of Funchal, where he and Charlotte prepared to return to Europe, though not before calling at Tetouan, where they landed on March 18, 1860. Now back in Europe, while his wife was depressed on Lokrum, Maximilian slipped away to Vienna, where he was unfaithful to her, but Viennese life quickly wearied him. During this gilded but forced exile, Charlotte painted her family an idyllic portrait of their retreat, but passed over the increasingly marked estrangement of the spouses and their married life, which had been reduced to nothing. The researcher Mary Margaret McAllen analyzes the many rumors claiming that Maximilian was impotent, sterile or homosexual.

Emperor of Mexico

Main articles: Second Mexican Empire and Second French intervention in Mexico

Formation of the Second Mexican Empire

Napoleon III by Franz Xaver Winterhalter (1855).

Entry of the French expeditionary force into Mexico in June 1863 by Jean-Adolphe Beaucé (1868).

In France, the imperialist ambitions of Napoleon III led him to intervene in Mexican politics. Taking advantage of the War of Secession that paralyzed the United States, and on the pretext of obtaining repayment of the debts of the government of Benito Juárez, France ratified the Convention of London on October 31, 1861. This treaty, which contravened the Monroe Doctrine (which condemns any European intervention in the affairs of the "Americas"), constituted the prelude to the Intervention in Mexico, where France fought alongside the Spanish and the English. After the departure of its allies in April 1862, France decided to remain and nurtured the ambitious plan of occupying the country so that it would become an industrialized nation that would compete with the United States.

After the capture of Puebla in May 1863, which opened the way to Mexico, French troops under the command of Generals Frédéric Forey and François Achille Bazaine entered Mexico in June and occupied the city. Napoleon III's objective was for Mexico to be a French protectorate. Although Mexico would theoretically become independent and would soon be given a sovereign bearing the title of emperor, everything concerning foreign policy, the army and defense was to be administered by the French. In addition, France would become the country's main trading partner: it would be favored for investments, purchases of raw materials and other imported products. France intensified the sending of settlers (in particular the "Barcelonnettes", natives of the town of Barcelonnette and the valley of the Ubaye, in the Alpes-de-Haute-Provence) to strengthen its presence on Mexican soil.

In Mexico, the Reform War of 1858 to 1861 had left ruin at every level. Throughout the governments of Juan Álvarez, Ignacio Comonfort and Benito Juárez, the Reform Laws had been issued. Through them, the special privileges (fueros) of the Church and the Army were abolished, freedom of the press was decreed, the property of the Church and of civil corporations was disentailed, parish fees were prohibited, freedom of worship was decreed, the Civil Registry was created, and the Church was stripped of its monopoly control over marriages and deaths. These laws created a polarization in Mexican society, which gave rise to a bloody war that would last three years, in which Mexican conservatives and the religious would fight to maintain their privileges against a state army. The great landowners formed their own armies and, taking advantage of the War of Secession, cornered the forces of President Juárez and asked Europe for help.

On French soil, Napoleon III planned to offer the Mexican imperial crown to Maximilian, whom he knew personally and whose qualities he appreciated. This esteem was mutual; Maximilian did not hesitate to write during their first meeting: "Although the emperor does not have the genius of his famous uncle, he nevertheless has, fortunately for France, a very great personality. He dominates his century and will leave his mark on it," before declaring: "it is not admiration I have for him, but adoration." In July 1862, Napoleon III directly named Archduke Maximilian as France's candidate. Maximilian, for his part, had visited Brazil, the only monarchy on the American continent, which had fascinated him during his voyage in 1860.

After the republican defeat in Mexico, it was agreed that the traditional system of government would be restored in the Mexican Empire, and the Conservative Party was therefore entrusted with a search to find a European Prince who met certain aptitudes to govern a territory as complex as Mexico; it was required that he be Catholic and that he respect the traditions of the nation, something the republican governments had failed to do. For several months, the Congress of the Nation discussed possible candidates, among whom were the Infante Enrique de Borbón, Duke of Seville, among others. Finally, Napoleon III decided to propose himself a candidate who met the requirements of the Mexican Congress; since he was perhaps the only one who in fact knew these European princes personally, his candidate enjoyed greater credibility than those of the rest. After long discussions, the candidacy proposed by the French emperor was approved, and a commission of notable personalities was created to go and meet with this candidate and ask him to accept the throne of the empire; evidently, that candidate was Archduke Maximilian of Austria, retired at his Miramare Castle on the coast of the Adriatic Sea.

On July 10, 1863, the Junta of Conservatives issued the following resolution:

1. The Mexican nation adopts as its form of government a moderate, hereditary monarchy, with a Catholic prince.
2. The sovereign shall take the title of Emperor of Mexico.
3. The imperial crown of Mexico is offered to H. I. and R. H., Prince Maximilian, Archduke of Austria, for himself and his descendants.
4. In the event that, owing to circumstances impossible to foresee, Archduke Maximilian should not come to take possession of the throne offered to him, the Mexican nation entrusts itself to the benevolence of H. M. Napoleon III, Emperor of the French, so that he may indicate another Catholic prince.

The conservative delegation was carefully chosen; all were to be worthy of representing Mexico and its history, care also being taken that they be people who would represent the country adequately and with dignity before the Archduke. For his part, Maximilian already knew what was about to happen and had had time to consider it seriously. On October 3, 1863, the Mexican delegation arrived at Miramare Castle, headed by the diplomat José María Gutiérrez de Estrada, followed by Juan Nepomuceno Almonte, son of the pro-independence liberator José María Morelos y Pavón, José Pablo Martínez del Río, Antonio Escandón, Tomás Murphy, Adrián Woll, Ignacio Aguilar y Marocho, Joaquín Velázquez de León, Francisco Javier Miranda, José Manuel Hidalgo y Esnaurrízar, and Ángel Iglesias as secretary.

The Mexican commission inviting Maximilian of Habsburg to occupy the throne of Mexico at Miramare on April 10, 1864, by Cesare Dell'Acqua (1867).

On October 3, 1863, José María Gutiérrez Estrada, a conservative Mexican politician, at the head of an official deputation from Mexico, went to Miramare to offer the Mexican imperial crown to Maximilian. He claimed to be the spokesman of the Assembly of Notables that had met in Mexico City on July 3. Maximilian officially replied: "It is flattering for our house that the eyes of your compatriots turned toward the family of Charles V as soon as the word monarchy was pronounced. [...] However, I recognize, in perfect agreement with H.M. the Emperor of France, whose glorious initiative made possible the regeneration of your beautiful homeland, that the monarchy could be established there on a legitimate and perfectly solid basis only if the whole nation, expressing its will, comes to ratify the wish of the capital. It is therefore on the result of the votes of the country as a whole that I must make depend, in the first place, the acceptance of the throne that is offered to me." Maximilian therefore put things off before accepting the proposal. Advised by his father-in-law, the King of the Belgians Leopold I, Maximilian demanded that a popular referendum be held, accompanied by guarantees of financial and military support from France.

In March 1864, Maximilian and Charlotte traveled to Paris, where Emperor Napoleon III and Empress Eugénie gave them a warm welcome to encourage them to accept the throne of Mexico. The Emperor undertook to maintain 20,000 French soldiers in Mexico until 1867. Maximilian contracted with Napoleon III an obligation of 500 million Mexican pesos, equivalent at that time to two and a half billion gold francs, intended to subsidize his projects when he reigned in Mexico. As for King Leopold, he promised to send a Belgian expeditionary force to Mexico to support them.

In March 1864, Maximilian went to Vienna to visit his brother, Emperor Franz Joseph I, who asked him to sign a family pact obliging him to renounce, for himself and his descendants, his rights to the Austrian crown, to any possible inheritance, and to his movable and immovable property in Austria; otherwise he would not be able to reign in Mexico. Maximilian tried to add a secret clause that would allow him, should he fail in Mexico, to recover his family rights if he returned to Austria. Franz Joseph I rejected the addition of this clause, but he promised subsidies and volunteer soldiers (6,000 men and 300 sailors), as well as an annual pension. The parents of the two tried in vain to influence Franz Joseph I's decision. Nevertheless, accompanied by his brothers Karl Ludwig and Ludwig Viktor, as well as by five other archdukes and dignitaries of the Austrian Empire, Franz Joseph I arrived at Miramare, because Maximilian had finally resolved to accept the harsh conditions imposed by his brother. Discouraged by these drastic requirements, Maximilian considered not going to Mexico. After a long and very violent discussion between the two brothers, Franz Joseph I and Maximilian signed the family pact desired by the Emperor on April 9, 1864. Nevertheless, when they parted on the station platform, they embraced with great emotion. The next day, at Miramare, Maximilian declared to the Mexican delegates that he accepted the imperial crown of Mexico.

The frigate SMS Novara by Josef Püttner (Venice, after 1862).

The road to Mexico

On April 10, 1864, in the throne room of Miramare, Maximilian officially became Emperor of Mexico. He asserted that the wishes of the Mexican people allowed him to consider himself the legitimate elected representative of the people. In reality, Maximilian was deceived by some Mexican conservatives, among them General Juan Nepomuceno Almonte, who assured him of a hypothetical massive popular support. In order to have a supposed document ratifying support for the Emperor, the Mexican deputation produced one, adding in the margin the population figure of the locality in which each of the delegates resided, as if all the inhabitants had gone to the polls.

That same April 10, an official dinner was planned at Miramare in the great hall of Les Mouettes. On the verge of a nervous breakdown, Maximilian withdrew to his apartments, where he was examined by Doctor Jilek. The doctor found him prostrate and so overwhelmed that he suggested he rest in the Gartenhaus pavilion to calm himself. Charlotte therefore presided over the banquet alone. Departure for Mexico was set for April 14, 1864. Aboard the Austrian frigate SMS Novara, escorted by the French frigate Thémis, Maximilian found himself more serene. He and Charlotte stopped in Rome to receive the blessing of Pope Pius IX. On April 19, 1864, during the papal audience, everyone avoided directly mentioning the despoiling of the clergy's property by the Mexican republicans, but the Pope could not help emphasizing that Maximilian would have to respect the rights of his peoples and those of the Church.

During the long crossing, Maximilian and Charlotte rarely discussed the diplomatic and political difficulties they would soon face, but they devised in great detail the etiquette of their future court. They began writing a 600-page manuscript on the ceremonial, studied in its most minute aspects. The Novara stopped at Madeira and Jamaica. The travelers endured strong storms before a last stop at Martinique.

Settling in Mexico

Painting of Maximilian made by Santiago Rebull Gordillo at Miramare Castle.

Maximilian arrived in Mexico on May 28, 1864, through the port of Veracruz. With yellow fever in Veracruz, the new imperial couple crossed the city without stopping there. This epidemic and the early hour of their landing earned them a poor welcome from the population of Veracruz. Charlotte was particularly affected. The crossing of the hot lands, poor weather conditions and a vehicle accident helped cast an unfavorable shadow over their first steps in Mexico. In Córdoba, however, Maximilian and Charlotte were acclaimed by the natives, who saw them as liberators. Ovations followed one after another on the road to Mexico. On arrival in other cities, the receptions were very jubilant and full of great rejoicing, which was expressed especially in Puebla and in Mexico City. The journey to Mexico City offered him a different panorama: a country wounded by war and deeply divided in its convictions. In a short time, Maximilian fell in love with the beautiful landscapes of his new country and with its people. Meanwhile, French troops continued fighting on Mexican territory. Maximilian began building museums and tried to preserve Mexican culture, which remains one of his great contributions as Emperor. Empress Charlotte began organizing parties for Mexican charity in order to raise funds for the poorhouses. On June 12, 1864, the imperial couple made their official entry into their capital. They stopped at the Basilica of Our Lady of Guadalupe, where a large part of Mexico City society awaited them. The deputations from the provinces of the interior also bore witness to their enthusiasm.

Chapultepec Castle in the early 21st century.

The present-day Paseo de la Reforma, formerly the "Paseo de la Emperatriz", seen from Chapultepec Castle.

The National Palace of Mexico did not correspond to Maximilian and Charlotte's idea of an imperial residence. Overrun by bedbugs, the building was a kind of austere and dilapidated barracks requiring major work. A week after their arrival, Maximilian and Charlotte preferred to settle in Chapultepec Castle, on a hill in Mexico City. This castle, which Maximilian renamed "Miravalle", is located on a site formerly occupied by the Aztecs. Shortly after his arrival, Maximilian asked for an avenue to be laid out from Chapultepec Castle to the center of the capital. The avenue, originally named in honor of Charlotte, Paseo de la Emperatriz, later became the Paseo de la Reforma. The imperial couple also enjoyed the Palace of Cortés in Cuernavaca in summer. Maximilian also undertook costly improvements to his various properties, while the situation of the Treasury was catastrophic.

Benito Juárez by Pelegrín Clavé.

At the end of July 1864, six weeks after his triumphant entry into Mexico City, Maximilian complained of the ineffectiveness of the French squadron, which did not leave Veracruz, leaving the ports of Manzanillo, Mazatlán and Guaymas in the hands of dissidents, who collected the customs revenue there at the expense of the empire. Juárez's troops were retreating everywhere, but the war was turning into skirmishes led by guerrillas. For Bazaine, a marshal since September 5, and his troops, this form of combat was particularly disconcerting.

From August 10 to October 30, 1864, Maximilian traveled on horseback through the interior of the lands of his empire, escorted by two cavalry platoons. He visited the State of Querétaro, then the cities of Celaya, Irapuato, Dolores Hidalgo and León de los Aldamas in Guanajuato, Morelia in Michoacán de Ocampo, and finally Toluca in the State of Mexico, where Charlotte joined him to make in his company a three-day excursion before returning to Mexico. In Toluca, in the presence of Bazaine, they could watch Juárez's bands galloping across the countryside less than two kilometers away.

When the year 1864 came to an end, the French army had succeeded in having the imperial authority recognized over most of the territory of Mexico. However, the existence of the empire remained fragile. French military successes were the only foundations on which the imperial edifice rested. New challenges had to be faced: the pacification of Michoacán, the occupation of the ports on the Pacific Ocean, the expulsion of Juárez from Chihuahua and the subjugation of the province of Oaxaca.

Maximilian's policy

Main article: House of Habsburg-Lorraine

Plaster bust of Maximilian of Habsburg and Empress Charlotte at the Museo Soumaya in Mexico City.

Imperial crown of Mexico

A gold coin worth 20 pesos of the time, with Maximilian of Habsburg on the obverse and the coat of arms of the Second Mexican Empire on the reverse.

To the dismay of his conservative allies who had brought him to power, Maximilian upheld several liberal political ideas proposed by the republican administration of Benito Juárez, such as agrarian reforms, freedom of religion and the extension of the right to vote beyond the landed classes. Even before accepting the Mexican crown, Maximilian had offered an amnesty to Juárez and his men if they swore loyalty to the crown, even offering him the post of prime minister. Juárez, however, categorically refused to meet Maximilian. Maximilian, whose liberal temperament had already been expressed in Lombardy, strove to defend French interests, oscillating between liberals and conservatives, but without managing to exercise real control over Mexico. The measures taken by his government applied only to parts of the territory controlled by French garrisons. Maximilian alienated the conservatives and the clergy by approving the secularization of ecclesiastical property for the benefit of the national domain, but won moderate liberals over to his cause. When he was absent from Mexico City, sometimes for several months, Maximilian left Charlotte to govern: she presided over the Council of Ministers and, in her husband's name, gave a public audience on Sundays.

Imperial Monogram of Maximilian I.

As early as 1864, in order to populate Mexico and Europeanize it, Maximilian invited Europeans to settle in the "colony of Carlota", where some 600 families of farmers and artisans settled, predominantly Prussians. Another plan, for the creation of a dozen more settlements by former Confederates from the United States, was devised by the oceanographer Matthew Fontaine Maury, himself a former Confederate. However, this ambitious immigration project had little success. In July 1865, only 1,100 settlers, more soldiers than farmers, coming mainly from Louisiana, had settled in Mexico and remained quartered in the State of Veracruz, waiting for the imperial government to direct them to the land they were supposed to cultivate. This plan naturally displeased the government in Washington, which took a dim view of its citizens depopulating the United States to serve a "foreign emperor." Maximilian also tried unsuccessfully to attract the English colony of British Honduras (Belize) to Yucatán before abandoning this project. In fact, although there are vast territories in Mexico, few belong to the public domain. All the land has a master with more or less regular property rights. The great hacendados (landowners) therefore derived little benefit from the establishment of settlers. Consequently, the new agricultural colonies quickly left Mexico in favor of Brazil.

The Mexican Empire used the motto Equidad en la Justicia (Equity in Justice). It had the support of the conservative party, of the Catholic Church in Mexico headed by Archbishop Labastida y Dávalos, and of a large part of the population of Catholic tradition, although it faced fierce opposition from the liberals. During his government, Maximilian I of Mexico tried to develop economically and socially the Mexican territories under his custody, applying the knowledge learned from his studies in Europe and from his family, the Habsburgs, one of the oldest monarchical houses in Europe, of openly Catholic tradition.

Emperor Maximilian also took an interest in peonage and the living conditions of the Indians on the haciendas. While most of the Indians in the villages enjoyed freedom, those on the haciendas were subjected to a master who could punish them with irons, prison or the whip. On April 10, 1865, Maximilian instituted a junta (political assembly) "Protector of the Needy Classes," whose mission was to reform the abuses committed against the seven million Indigenous people present on Mexican soil. On November 1, 1865, the Emperor issued a decree abolishing corporal punishment, reducing the working day and guaranteeing wages. This decree, however, did not have the desired scope, because the hacendados refused to employ the peons, who were often reduced once again to their initial servitude.

Justice and the well-being of all were his most important objectives. One of his first acts as Emperor was to restrict working hours and abolish child labor. He canceled all peasant debts exceeding 10 pesos, restored common property and prohibited all forms of corporal punishment. He also broke the monopoly of the "tiendas de raya" (company stores) and decreed that the labor force could not be bought or sold for the price of his decree. Beginning with its legislative significance, the second empire was the first Mexican government to establish laws, regulations and norms that protected and promoted social rights. Beyond his governmental action, the fascination awakened, above all in the capital, by the monarchical system, by the life inside and outside the castle of both emperors and by the pomp of the court was significant. The closeness to the population that the couple always showed was manifested in their attempt to adopt and spread the identity of the country they governed, with actions such as the practice of charrería, the study of the plant and animal species of the Chapultepec forest and of the interior of the Empire (which even led him to finance the Public Museum of Natural History, Archaeology and History), the translation of the imperial decrees into Nahuatl, the parties at the castle organized by the Empress to raise funds for charity, and the Emperor's visit to Dolores Hidalgo to become, on September 15, 1864, the first ruler to give the cry of independence at the original place where it took place. There are countless books, novels, stories, letters and texts inspired by the two monarchs who risked everything they had and decided to throw themselves into a country they knew little about, in order to govern the Mexican people.

Other significant events of this historical period can also be listed. Maximilian I was the one who hired the engineer M. Lyons for the construction of the railroad from La Soledad to the Cerro del Chiquihuite, which later grew into the line from Veracruz to Paso del Macho, on September 8, 1864. He reorganized the Academy of Arts of San Carlos. The remodeling of the National Palace and Chapultepec Castle would eventually contribute artistic and ornamental treasures that are still on display in both buildings. The construction of the Paseo de la Emperatriz initiated the reorganization and beautification of Mexico City, this being the model that the Porfiriato would carry out. Finally, it was of broad significance that several of the social policies were carried out by Empress Charlotte Amalie, which, in accordance with the provisions of the imperial statute, made her the first woman ruler in the history of Mexico.

Agustín de Iturbide y Green photographed by Julio Valleto (1866).

Childless from his marriage, Maximilian, to Charlotte's great disapproval, decided in September 1865 to adopt the two grandsons of the former Emperor Agustín I of Mexico, Agustín de Iturbide y Green and his cousin Salvador de Iturbide y Marzán, thus founding the house of Habsburg-Iturbide. Agustín was only 2 years old when he was adopted and, according to Maximilian's wishes, was to be separated from his mother. This situation unanimously offended public opinion. As for the United States, the House of Representatives voted a resolution asking the President to submit "to Congress the correspondence relating to the abduction of the son of an American in Mexico City by the usurper of that republic, named emperor, on the pretext of making this child a prince [...] This resolution refers to the son of Mrs. Iturbide."

On a personal level, a hypothesis asserting Maximilian's membership in Freemasonry, while not giving rise to any real controversy, nevertheless leaves room for doubt because it is not cited by any reference author or work. According to Álvarez de Arcila, Maximilian was a Freemason. In Mexico, he is said to have belonged to a lodge that practiced the Ancient and Accepted Scottish Rite. Arcila specifies that on December 27, 1865, the Supreme Council of the Grand Orient of Mexico was formed, which offered Maximilian the title of Sovereign Grand Commander, but that he declined it. On the other hand, the Masonic history of Mexico shows that he received an offer from the newly constituted Grand Orient of Mexico, which created a Supreme Council in 1865, proposing to Maximilian the rank of grand master and grand commander. He refused this offer for political reasons and suggested instead that he be represented by his chamberlain Rudolfo Gunner and his physician Federico Semeler, who joined the orders in June 1866. Maximilian, however, placed himself as protector of Freemasonry.

An impossible pacification

Porfirio Díaz, by José María Obregón (1883).

Liberals and republicans, led by Benito Juárez, openly and regularly opposed Maximilian. The year 1865 began with military operations in the southern provinces of Puebla, which still did not recognize the imperial authority. Porfirio Díaz, one of the best republican generals, had established himself in the City of Oaxaca with a considerable army corps financed with local resources. Díaz was located near the main road to Veracruz, which forced Bazaine to maintain military posts on this important line of communication. The progress of pacification among the populations, generally well disposed toward the empire, was hindered in this strategic territory.

The French expeditionary force therefore carried out military operations against the dissidents holding the State of Oaxaca in order to allow the construction of a road passable for convoys. On February 9, 1865, after intense fighting, Bazaine succeeded in seizing Oaxaca, but the guerrilla leaders took refuge in the mountains, from which it was almost impossible to dislodge them. The incomplete nature of the capture of the Province of Oaxaca would be repeated almost everywhere in Mexico: in the states of Michoacán and Sinaloa and in the Huasteca.

In April 1865, after the end of the American Civil War, President Andrew Johnson, invoking the Monroe Doctrine, recognized Juárez's insurrectionary government as the legitimate government of Mexico. The United States exerted ever-increasing diplomatic pressure to persuade Napoleon III to end French support for Maximilian and, therefore, to withdraw his troops from Mexico. The United States government began supplying Juárez's supporters with arms depots in Texas at El Paso del Norte on the border with Mexico. The prospect of an American invasion to reinstate Juárez in his position of leadership in Mexico led a large number of loyal followers of the empire to abandon Maximilian's cause and leave the capital.

François Achille Bazaine during the Second French Intervention in Mexico by Jean-Adolphe Beaucé (1867).

Faced with a situation as complex as it was inextricable, Maximilian resolved, under pressure from Bazaine and the French army, to carry out a relentless repression against the rebels. He published the "black decree" of October 3, 1865, which, while promising an amnesty to dissidents who surrendered, declared in its first article: "All persons belonging to armed bands or assemblies existing without legal authorization, whether or not they proclaim a political pretext ... shall be tried militarily by court-martial. If they are found guilty, even if only for the mere fact of belonging to an armed band, they shall be sentenced to death and the sentence shall be carried out within twenty-four hours." Under this decree, several hundred opponents were summarily executed.

Maximilian's decree did not, however, temper the actions of the rebels. In October 1865, at Paso del Macho in Veracruz, 350 assailants derailed a train, stripped the travelers and massacred 11 French soldiers after mutilating them. From then on, every train had to be accompanied by a guard of 25 soldiers. Road safety was also always compromised. Thus, from Veracruz to Mexico City, the 500 km of roads were lined with 500 posts of Turcos charged with summarily executing justice against any armed passer-by.

In January 1866, breaking his promises, Napoleon III decided to withdraw French troops gradually from Mexico beginning in the autumn of 1866. The sovereign was pushed by a French public opinion that had become hostile to the Mexican cause. On the other hand, Napoleon III was worried about the development of the Prussian army, which required the reinforcement of the army present on French soil. In addition, he was constrained by the official opposition of the United States, which sent him an ultimatum ordering the withdrawal of French troops from Mexico. In New York, during a ceremony in honor of the late President Lincoln, the diplomat and historian George Bancroft delivered a speech in which he described the Mexican Emperor as an "Austrian adventurer." Maximilian's power and prestige were considerably weakened.

From then on, facing Mexican resistance, Maximilian benefited only from the support of a few Mexican, Belgian and Austrian soldiers around him. In the State of Hidalgo, on September 25, 1866, the Belgian Legion commanded by Lieutenant Colonel Alfred van der Smissen lost its last great battle at the Battle of Ixmiquilpan. At the head of 250 men on foot and two mounted companies of 100 men, van der Smissen attacked the town of Ixmiquilpan, penetrating as far as the main square, but was forced to withdraw and encountered immense difficulties (the uprooted populations broke bridges and raised barricades) in bringing his troops back before reaching Tula, leaving 11 officers and 60 men dead or wounded.

Charlotte's return to Europe

Charlotte of Belgium

In the spring of 1866, Empress Charlotte took the initiative of attempting directly a final approach to Napoleon III so that he might reconsider his decision to abandon the Mexican cause. Encouraged by this plan, Charlotte left Mexico on July 9, 1866, to go to Europe. In Paris, her petitions to Napoleon III failed. She suffered a profound emotional collapse. Her family could not support her in the Mexican cause: her brother Leopold II, once a fervent supporter of his sister's ambitions, could no longer ignore the hostility of the Belgians toward a country that often brought them bad news; as for her brother-in-law, Emperor Franz Joseph I of Austria, defeated by Prussia at Sadowa, he had lost his influence over the German states. Isolated, Charlotte could count on the support of no Monarch in Europe and sent Maximilian a telegram saying: "Everything is useless!"

As a last resort, Charlotte went to Italy to seek the protection of Pope Pius IX. It was there that the first symptoms of the mental disorders that would torment her until her death openly appeared. She was first taken back to the Gartenhaus pavilion at Miramare, where she was confined for nine months. Her family sent Maximilian a telegram on October 12, 1866, informing him that the Empress was suffering from meningitis; but when he learned that it was the famous Viennese alienist Josef Gottfried von Riedel who was treating his wife, Maximilian, stunned, understood the true nature of Charlotte's illness.

In July 1867, alerted to his sister's fate, the King of the Belgians sent to Miramare his wife, Queen Marie Henriette, born an Archduchess of Austria, who managed to bring the Empress back to Belgium after two weeks of delicate negotiations with the Austrian authorities. Charlotte, from whom her husband's death was concealed for six months, was now in the care of her brother, King Leopold II of Belgium, who lodged her in the vast pavilion in the park of Tervuren until the fire there in 1879. Charlotte then resided at the Château de Bouchout, in Flemish Brabant, acquired by King Leopold II of Belgium, where she remained until her death on January 19, 1927.

The corvette Dandolo (1872).

The temptation to abdicate

Charlotte's journey to Europe was thus a complete failure. Maximilian thought of giving everything up. He was torn between the divergent advice of his confidants: the Austrian Stephan Herzfeld, a faithful friend he had met during his military service on the Novara, predicted the imminent end of the empire and advised Maximilian to return to Europe as soon as possible, while Father Augustin Fischer, a man with an adventurous past, begged Maximilian to remain in Mexico. At first, Herzfeld succeeded in making him entertain the idea of abdication. On October 18, 1866, the Austrian corvette Dandolo was ordered to be ready to embark the Emperor and a suite of 15 to 20 people to take them back to Europe. Valuables from the imperial residences and secret documents were loaded. Maximilian confided his resolution to abdicate to Bazaine. The decision was made public and the conservatives were enraged. Ill and demoralized, Maximilian left for Orizaba, where the climate was milder and where he was closer to the Dandolo, anchored at Veracruz. On the way, Maximilian and his entourage made many stops. On the way, Fischer tirelessly tried to dissuade Maximilian from leaving, invoking lost honor, flight, and a future life with Charlotte, now in a state of insanity. Maximilian was once again in the grip of indecision and asked the conservative government, presuming a positive answer, whether he should remain in Mexico. He therefore remained and continued the struggle against Juárez. Maximilian had to finance military expenditure and levied new taxes. At the beginning of 1867, Maximilian—who in his letters to his family minimized the difficulties inherent in his real situation—received a letter from his mother applauding his decision to remain in Mexico while escaping the dishonor of an imposed abdication: "Now that so much love, self-sacrifice and, no doubt, also fear of future anarchy keep you there, I welcome your decision and hope that the rich countries will support you in the fulfillment of your task." Archduke Karl Ludwig of Austria sent a similar message to his brother: "You have done well to let yourself be persuaded to remain in Mexico, despite the enormous sorrows that overwhelm you. Hold on and persevere in your position as long as possible."

Entrenchment in Santiago de Querétaro

French military support, agreed upon by means of the Treaty of Miramar, ceased to exist, and Napoleon III gave the order to return the troops to France, given that the protests of the French people were growing ever greater, and intellectuals were asking, "What are we doing in Mexico?"; the war was already consuming the economic resources of the French Empire and it was dragging on. Mexico had not been Algeria, nor French Indochina (today the Socialist Republic of Vietnam); since it had become a war of attrition, both economically and in human resources, and in the face of these pressures, Napoleon III began the withdrawal of the troops in 1867, leaving Maximilian alone and without protection.

Convent of la Cruz in Santiago de Querétaro.

General Miguel Miramón by Jesús Corral (1859).

General Tomás Mejía (circa 1860).

In Mexico, the liberals formed a homogeneous army, leaving the imperial troops alone in the capital of Mexico, as well as in Veracruz, Puebla and Querétaro. On February 13, 1867, Maximilian left Mexico City, accompanied by Doctor Samuel Basch, his personal physician, José Luis Blasio, his secretary, and two European servants (his Italian valet Antonio Grill and his Hungarian cook Joseph Tüdös). Surrounded by soldiers whom he wanted to be almost exclusively Mexican in order to maintain his popularity by avoiding local sensitivities (2,000 lancers of the Empress, the Rodríguez regiment, and Austrian hussars who absolutely wanted to join the small column), Maximilian headed for Santiago de Querétaro, a city favorable to the empire, where he arrived on February 19, 1867.

Despite the tactical advice he was given, Maximilian decided to remain in this city, whose configuration was, however, ill-suited to withstanding a siege, because it was difficult for reinforcements to reach it. The city is surrounded by hills to the point that it can be compared to a kind of basin. From the heights, every house can be fired upon. The only option was to have enough troops to protect Querétaro. When he arrived in the city, Maximilian was acclaimed with warm ovations. There he was joined by a brigade of several thousand men under the orders of General Ramón Méndez, to which was added the reinforcement of the border guards of General Julián Quiroga, for a total of some 9,000 men supporting the empire.

The Emperor assumed supreme command of his men, headed by Generals Leonardo Márquez Araujo (general staff), Miguel Miramón (infantry), Tomás Mejía (cavalry) and Ramón Méndez (reserve), who were charged with the defense of the city. The soldiers received training in tactical maneuvers on the Llano de las Carretas.

On March 5, 1867, the forces commanded by the liberal General Mariano Escobedo besieged the city. On March 7, Maximilian established his headquarters on the Cerro de las Campanas. He would sleep there beneath the tent, on the ground. He held a Council of Ministers on March 8. Lack of money prevented any significant action, so to build fortifications he required the help of the inhabitants. On March 12, 1867, Bazaine, whose relations with Maximilian had become damaging, left Mexico for good. On March 13, 1867, Maximilian left the Cerro de las Campanas to settle with his staff in the Convent of La Cruz, where he lived austerely. Maximilian attended the maneuvers and maintained his usual rhythm of life. He rose at five in the afternoon and had the morning mail read to him before walking through the city with a cigar in his mouth. When he went out on horseback, he was dressed in the Mexican national costume (jacket and large hat) or a blue uniform. He lunched at the Convent of la Cruz before going to the Municipal Palace, where he presided over the Council of War. In the evening, he received the officers at his table.

On March 17, 1867, Maximilian decided to counterattack the rebels, but the operation failed following a disagreement between Generals Miramón and Márquez. On the night of March 22 to 23, Márquez, to whom Maximilian gave full powers, left Querétaro with 1,200 horsemen and set out for Mexico, where he was to recruit reinforcements. On April 22, 1867, a republican envoy proposed that the Emperor leave with the honors of war, but he refused. Five days later, the contingent gathered under the orders of General Miguel Miramón achieved military success. On April 27, on the Cerro del Cimatario, Miramón decided to launch an attack in order to raise the morale of the troops, who were suffering from boredom and were tempted to desert. The imperialists wanted to eliminate the hacienda of Callejas, located near the cemetery, from where the batteries were pounding the city; they overthrew the enemy and carried off twenty cannons, a herd of oxen, and a chest of pesos. The next day, Miramón reinforced his corps of lancers with some elements of Mejía's cavalry to occupy the cemetery, but this time the imperialists ran into a battery of ten cannons installed during the night, which decimated them. The Juaristas seized Las Callejas. The imperialists' retreat took on the appearance of a real rout. The Juaristas almost entered the city. On May 13, 1867, Maximilian held his last Council of War, where he declared: "5,000 soldiers hold this place today, after a siege of seventy days, a siege carried out by 40,000 men who have at their disposal all the resources of the country. During this long period […] fifty-four days were wasted waiting for General Márquez, who was to return from Mexico within twenty days." The attack that was to allow the escape was scheduled for May 15 at three in the morning. However, on the night of May 14 to 15, 1867, Colonel Miguel López, Commander of the Empress's regiment, allegedly handed over to the enemy a gate of the city that gave access to the Convent of la Cruz, where Maximilian was staying.

Capture

Entry of the militias of the 6th Battalion of the National Guard of Tetela de Ocampo into the Plaza of Querétaro on May 15, 1867.

On May 15, 1867, Santiago de Querétaro was taken. Warned of the enemy's presence, Emperor Maximilian refused to hide. He voluntarily and ostensibly left the convent of La Cruz where he was staying, because he preferred to be apprehended outside. He was accompanied by his aide-de-camp, Prince Felix of Salm-Salm. Recognizing them, the Juarista Colonel José Rincón Gallardo, aide-de-camp to General Escobedo, nevertheless let them pass, asserting that Maximilian and his entourage were townsmen. Maximilian walked toward the Cerro de las Campanas with Generals Miguel Miramón and Tomás Mejía. The latter, wounded in the face and in a finger of his left hand, suggested to Maximilian that he flee through the mountains, a solution that was still possible; but after the Emperor's refusal, Mejía voluntarily remained at his side. When he reached the Cerro de las Campanas, Maximilian was arrested.

As a captive, Maximilian was taken back to the convent of la Cruz, to his former room, which had been almost entirely stripped of furniture. Suffering, he lay down on the cot whose mattress had been slashed in the hope of finding money. There he received the care of Doctor Basch. On May 17, 1867, Maximilian was transferred to the convent of las Teresas—from which the nuns had just been expelled—where the cells were clean and where it was easier to guard him.

Maximilian managed to meet General Escobedo, who received him and to whom he offered, in exchange for his freedom and his return to Austria, to hand over the two cities still in the hands of the imperialists: Mexico City and Veracruz. Escobedo rejected this proposal because these two cities were about to fall into the hands of the republicans. Maximilian, deeply discouraged, returned to the convent of las Teresas. The day after this interview, May 24, 1867, Maximilian was taken to the convent of las Capuchinas, which became his last prison.

Trial

The Church of San José de Gracia and the former Convent of las Capuchinas in Santiago de Querétaro (2013).

Teatro de la República (formerly Teatro de Iturbide) in Santiago de Querétaro (2008).

On June 13, 1867, Maximilian and Generals Miramón and Mejía were to appear before a special court-martial held in the city's theater. This court-martial met at 8 in the morning. It was made up of seven officers and was presided over by Lieutenant Colonel Rafael Platón Sánchez, who had once distinguished himself at the Battle of Puebla. Afflicted with dysentery, Maximilian managed not to appear before this war tribunal, but he was represented by two lawyers from Mexico: Mariano Riva Palacio and Rafael Martínez de la Torre. The indictment contained thirteen points. The next day, after the indictment delivered by the prosecutor Manuel Azpíroz, who declared that the facts were obvious, above all because the three accused had been taken with arms in hand, seven votes were cast in favor of the guilt of Maximilian and his two generals: three were in favor of death and three for perpetual banishment. But the President of the jury, Lieutenant Colonel Rafael Platón Sánchez, tipped the balance by also choosing death.

In an attempt to protect his brother, Franz Joseph I fully restored him to his rights as Archduke of the House of Habsburg. This last gesture was in vain, as were the telegrams and letters sent by European sovereigns (Queen Victoria, King Leopold II and Isabella II of Spain) and by personalities such as Victor Hugo or Giuseppe Garibaldi asking Juárez to spare Maximilian's life.

When the verdict became known, the pleas of the defense lawyers, added to those of the members of the diplomatic corps, and in particular of Baron Anton von Magnus, the Prussian minister, and of the grieving ladies of San Luis Potosí, who literally went to throw themselves at Juárez's feet, were powerless to obtain a pardon for the condemned. Inflexible, Juárez answered them: "The law and the sentence are at this moment inexorable, because public security so requires." Present in Mexico, where she had accompanied her husband, the Princess of Salm-Salm tried to bribe part of the garrison of Querétaro to facilitate the escape of Maximilian and the other prisoners. The maneuver was discovered by Escobedo.

The conditions of the last days of Maximilian's captivity were draconian: held in a cell of the convent of las Capuchinas measuring 2.7 meters long by 1.8 meters wide, and suffering from dysentery, he was shown no mercy. A guard of twelve Mexican soldiers occupied the rooms adjoining his cell; they discussed aloud the probable manner in which the Emperor would be executed and made questionable jokes about Empress Charlotte. At first kept incommunicado, Maximilian obtained permission to receive his generals and other visitors, especially his aide-de-camp, the Prince of Salm-Salm, and his physician. He was not even fed by his keepers and received his meals thanks to the goodwill of some families of the city. In a last attempt, he wrote to Juárez once more to ask for the pardon of his two generals Miramón and Mejía, but it was in vain.

Execution

The "Last Moments of Emperor Maximilian" by Jean-Paul Laurens (1882).

On June 19, 1867, together with his two generals, Miramón and Mejía, Maximilian was shot at the very place to which he had gone. On Wednesday the 19th, at three in the morning, Maximilian put on a black suit adorned with the Golden Fleece. Maximilian received his confessor, Father Manuel Soria, who was distraught to the point of feeling ill. The Emperor then gave him vials of smelling salts, and on coming to, Father Soria celebrated a mass for the three condemned men. They were served bread and chicken, which they did not touch, but they drank a little wine. Dawn began to break. At six-thirty, Colonel Miguel Palacios entered the convent, with the men of the firing squad behind him. Maximilian appeared on the threshold of his cell. Three dilapidated hired cabs awaited the condemned men. Maximilian and Soria got into the first. Slowly, the procession made its way through the streets of las Capuchinas and la Laguna. Surrounded by horsemen and soldiers, the carriages proceeded toward the Cerro de las Campanas. Maximilian got out of his cab and said to his Hungarian cook Tüdös, who had been faithful to him: "You always refused to believe this would happen. You see that you were wrong. But dying is not as difficult as you think."

Photograph of the execution of Maximilian (on the right) and of Generals Miramón and Mejía on the Cerro de las Campanas on June 19, 1867.

As he walked toward the place of his execution, Maximilian at that moment harbored some doubts about Charlotte's death. To Father Soria he handed his watch, which contained the Empress's portrait, and said to him: "Send this keepsake to Europe to my very dear wife, if she lives, and tell her that my eyes close with her image, which I will carry into the hereafter." To Tüdös, Maximilian tossed his handkerchief, telling him in Hungarian: "Take this to my mother and tell her that my last thought was for her." The three condemned men stood in front of a small wall of sun-dried bricks. Maximilian was on the right, Miramón in the center and Mejía on the left. The firing squad included 4 men per prisoner, plus 3 reserves, that is, 15 infantry soldiers commanded by a Captain barely out of childhood: Simon Montemayor. Maximilian gave a gold coin to each of the soldiers of the squad, asking them to aim well and not to shoot at his head. Then, in a clear voice, he exclaimed: "I forgive everyone and I ask everyone to forgive me, and may my blood, which is about to be shed, be spilled for the good of this country. I am going to die for a just cause, that of the independence and freedom of Mexico. May my blood seal the misfortunes of my new homeland! Long live Mexico! Long live Independence!" Then Maximilian was heard to murmur: "Man!"

With a familiar gesture, Maximilian parted the two halves of his beard. Montemayor, without uttering a word, gave the signal to fire by lowering his sword. The shots rang out. Maximilian's body slumped while his left arm brushed against a rock. His hand clutched a button of his coat, tearing it off. The young officer indicated with his sword the location of the heart to a non-commissioned officer, Sergeant de la Rosa, who held his weapon (an American percussion rifle) and fired at point-blank range. The Emperor's coat caught fire, while the cook Tüdös rushed to put out the flames. As Maximilian had asked of him, Tüdös removed the cloth covering the Emperor's eyes to take it to Charlotte. An Austrian doctor living in Mexico City had been summoned three days earlier to bring the products needed for embalming. He placed a sheet over Maximilian's body, and then the body was placed in one of the coffins stored near a bed of cacti. Maximilian's coffin was taken back to the city, but soldiers intervened and seized it. Baron von Magnus requested the Emperor's body from Escobedo. The latter refused to hand it over, but authorized Doctor Basch to go to the convent of las Capuchinas, where four doctors were preparing to carry out the embalming. With disdain, Palacios, who had commanded the firing squad, declared: "This is the work of France, gentlemen."

Repatriation of Maximilian's body to Austria

Tomb of Maximilian I in the Imperial Crypt, Vienna.

News of Maximilian's death officially reached the United States, and then Europe on July 1, 1867, through two successive and concurring dispatches. His brother, Emperor Franz Joseph I, claimed Maximilian's body from the Mexican authorities so that it could be buried in Austria. Several of Maximilian's close associates (including Baron Anton von Magnus, the Prussian ambassador, and Doctor Samuel Basch, Maximilian's personal physician and confidant) had asked President Juárez to hand over the body to them. Juárez refused, and the coffin was left at the residence of the prefect of Querétaro. It was the arrival in Mexico of Vice Admiral Wilhelm von Tegetthoff, sent by Franz Joseph I, that encouraged Juárez to reconsider his decision. Sebastián Lerdo de Tejada, then Mexico's Secretary of Foreign Affairs, officially accepted Austria's request on November 4, 1867.

The embalming had been carried out too hastily, so it was necessary to make the corpse presentable. It was therefore transported to the chapel of San Andrés in Mexico City to be immersed in an arsenic bath. It was then dressed in a black coat with shiny highlights. The face, once made up, was adorned with a false beard, because the hairs of his real beard and locks of his hair had been sold for 80 dollars each by the doctors who had carried out the embalming. The latter had also sold the deceased's clothing to the highest bidder among his followers. Finally they closed the eyes, which had been replaced by those of the black virgin of the cathedral of Querétaro. Maximilian's body could now be repatriated aboard the frigate SMS Novara, which left Veracruz on November 26, 1867. On January 16, 1868, on the quay at Trieste, Archdukes Karl Ludwig and Ludwig Viktor received the remains of their brother, whom they escorted to Vienna. Franz Joseph I had demanded that the coffin be sealed in Trieste so that his mother could not even think of wishing to look upon the remains of her son. From a window of her palace, therefore, she watched the arrival of the richly decorated coffin donated by the Mexican Republic. During the funeral ceremony, all the countries allied with Austria were present in Vienna, with the notable exception of the United States. Since January 18, 1868, Maximilian has rested in his family's necropolis, the Capuchin Crypt in Vienna.

Ideology

Maximilian considered himself ethnically German, at a time when German nationalism aspired to bring all German-speaking lands together into a single nation-state. He was also a devout Catholic who took pride in descending from the Catholic Monarchs.

He valued the Amerindians, and in Mexico he put great effort into improving their living conditions and integrating them into his national project. He was firmly opposed to slavery, which was still practiced in many American territories.

His vision for the Americas was the formation of two great Habsburg empires: that of Mexico in North America and that of Brazil in South America. Through their success, these empires would eventually attract and absorb the small neighboring republics.

Maximilian I in culture

Paintings

Main article: The Execution of Maximilian (Manet)

The Execution of Maximilian, final version by Édouard Manet (1869).

Édouard Manet, scandalized by Maximilian's death, worked for more than a year on several versions of his painting "The Execution of Maximilian," which constitutes a forceful pictorial indictment of the policy led in Mexico by Napoleon III. Three versions were produced between 1867 and 1869. The first can be seen at the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston. The fragments of the second are held in the National Gallery in London. The final sketch is in the Ny Carlsberg Glyptotek in Copenhagen, and the final composition is kept in the Kunsthalle Mannheim.

The final version of "The Execution of Maximilian" is inspired by Goya's "Third of May" but treated in a radically different manner. It satisfied Manet, who would undoubtedly have submitted it to the Salon had he not been told beforehand that his painting would be rejected. Maximilian appears flanked by his two generals and wears a hat that traces a halo around his face. Manet did not dress the soldiers of the firing squad in the Mexican uniform but depicted them in that of the soldiers of the French imperial army. As for the sergeant in the red cap reloading his rifle, he evokes Napoleon III.

Rostral column dedicated to Maximilian in Venice (1876).

Monuments

• 1871: statue of Maximilian I erected in Hietzing, Vienna, by Johann Meixner.
• 1875: statue of Maximilian I in Trieste by Johannes Schilling, inaugurated at its current location in the Piazza Giuseppina. It was removed for political reasons at the end of the First World War, reassembled in the park of Miramare Castle in 1961, and returned to its original location on December 19, 2008.
• 1876: Rostral column by Heinrich von Ferstel, initially erected by the Austrian Navy in Pula before being moved to Venice in 1919.

Memorial Chapel in Santiago de Querétaro

The Memorial Chapel of Emperor Maximilian is located on the Cerro de las Campanas in the city of Querétaro, Mexico. Built in 1901, it stands where Emperor Maximilian I was executed on June 19, 1867, and is dedicated to his memory. It lies within the Cerro de las Campanas National Park, created in 1937.

Operas

• Maximilien, a historical opera in three acts and 9 scenes, with a libretto by R.S. Hoffman based on the play Juárez und Maximilian by Franz Werfel and music by Darius Milhaud. Premiere: 1932.
• Carlota, an opera in one act, with a libretto by Francisco Zendejas and music by Luis Sandi. Premiere: 1948.
• Carlota, an opera with a libretto by an unknown author and music by Robert Avalon. Unpublished.
• La emperatriz de la mentira, an opera with a libretto by Ángel Norzagaray and music by Dmitri Dudin. Premiere: November 26, 2012.

Theater

• Maximilians Glück und Ende (1870), historical drama in 3 acts by Rudolph Bieleck;
• Maximilian (1902), drama in five acts by Edgar Lee Masters;
• Carlota (1904), historical drama by Fielding Burke;
• Maximiliano (1906), historical drama in three acts and a prologue by Secundino Darquea;
• Maximiliano: o El desenlace de un imperio (1906), historical drama in four acts and in prose by Segismundo Cervi y Campasol;
• Juárez und Maximilian (1925), drama by Franz Werfel;
• Corona de sombras (1947), drama by Rodolfo Usigli;
• Adíos, mamá Carlota (1955), dramatic version of a possible historical event in three acts by Dagoberto de Cervantes.

Musicals

• El sueño de una Corona (2005), historical musical by Konrad and Wolfgang Ratz

Poetry

• Antonio Copanizza: Elegio funebre di sua maesta Massimiliano primo imperatore del Messico (1867)

Novels

• El cerro de las campanas (1868) by Juan A. Mateos
• Noticias del Imperio (1987) by Fernando del Paso
• El último príncipe del Imperio Mexicano (2010) by C.M. Mayo
• Imperio (2011) by Héctor Zagal
• Juárez en el Convento de las Capuchinas: La reunión secreta con Maximiliano (2014) by Adam J. Oderoll

Films

• Juarez (1939), directed by William Dieterle. Maximilian is played by Brian Aherne.
• Vera Cruz (1954), Maximilian is played by George Macready.
• Aquellos Años (1972), directed by Felipe Cazals.
• El vuelo del águila (1994), Maximilian is played by Mario Iván Martínez.
• Maximilian von Mexiko (2014), documentary directed by Franz Leopold Schmelzer.

Ancestry

Generation I

• 1. Maximilian I of Mexico

Generation II (parents)

• 2. Archduke Franz Karl of Austria
• 3. Princess Sophie of Bavaria

Generation III (grandparents)

• 4. Francis II, Holy Roman Emperor (Francis I, Emperor of Austria)
• 5. Princess Maria Theresa of the Two Sicilies
• 6. Maximilian I, King of Bavaria
• 7. Princess Caroline of Baden

Generation IV (great-grandparents)

• 8. Leopold II, Holy Roman Emperor
• 9. Infanta Maria Luisa of Spain
• 10. Ferdinand I, King of the Two Sicilies
• 11. Archduchess Maria Carolina of Austria
• 12. Frederick Michael, Count Palatine of Zweibrücken-Birkenfeld
• 13. Countess Palatine Maria Franziska of Sulzbach
• 14. Charles Louis, Hereditary Prince of Baden
• 15. Princess Amalie of Hesse-Darmstadt

Generation V (great-great-grandparents)

• 16. Francis I, Holy Roman Emperor (Francis III Stephen, Duke of Lorraine) (= 22)
• 17. Maria Theresa I, Archduchess of Austria, Queen of Hungary (= 23)
• 18. Charles III, King of Spain (= 20)
• 19. Princess Maria Amalia of Saxony (= 21)
• 20. Charles III, King of Spain (= 18)
• 21. Princess Maria Amalia of Saxony (= 19)
• 22. Francis I, Holy Roman Emperor (Francis III Stephen, Duke of Lorraine) (= 16)
• 23. Maria Theresa I, Archduchess of Austria, Queen of Hungary (= 17)
• 24. Count Palatine Christian III of Zweibrücken-Birkenfeld
• 25. Countess Caroline of Nassau-Saarbrücken
• 26. Joseph Charles, Count Palatine of Sulzbach
• 27. Countess Palatine Elisabeth Auguste Sophie of Neuburg
• 28. Charles Frederick I, Grand Duke of Baden
• 29. Landgravine Caroline Louise of Hesse-Darmstadt
• 30. Louis IX, Landgrave of Hesse-Darmstadt
• 31. Countess Palatine Caroline of Zweibrücken

See also

• House of Iturbide
• History of Mexico
• French Invasion of Mexico
• Emperor of Mexico
• Freemasonry in Mexico
• Second Mexican Empire

Bibliography

• Francisco de Paula de Arrangoiz (1968). México desde 1808 hasta 1867 (in español).
• Pablo Escalante Gonzalbo, Bernardo García Martínez, Luis Jáuregui, Josefina Zoraida Vázquez, Elisa Speckman Guerra, Javier Garciadiego and Luis Aboites Aguilar. (2004). Nueva Historia mínima de México (in español). El Colegio de México. ISBN 968-12-1139-1.{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link)
• Brian Hamnett (2001). Historia de México (in español). Cambridge University Press. ISBN 84-8323-118-2.
• Johann Lubienski (1988). Der maximilianeische Staat. Mexiko 1861-1867 (in Deutsch). Köln-Graz: Bühlau Verlag.
• André Bénit (2020). Légendes, intrigues et médisances autour des « archidupes ». Charlotte de Saxe-Cobourg-Gotha, princesse de Belgique / Maximilien de Habsbourg, archiduc d’Autriche. Récits historique et fictionnel, Brussels, Peter Lang, Éditions scientifiques internationales, 438 pages. ISBN 978-2-8076-1470-3.
• Almeida, Sylvia Lacerda Martins de (1973). Uma filha de D. Pedro I: Dona Maria Amélia (in português).
• Castelot, André (2002). Maximilien et Charlotte : la tragédie de l'ambition (in français).
• Defrance, Olivier (2004). Léopold Ier et le clan Cobourg (in français).
• Defrance, Olivier (2012). Ramener Charlotte. La mission du baron Adrien Goffinet à Vienne et Miramar – juillet 1867 (in français).
• Kerckvoorde, Mia (1981). Charlotte : la passion et la fatalité (in français).
• McAllen, Mary Margaret (2014). Maximilian and Carlota. Europe's Last Empire in Mexico.
• Niox, Gustave Léon (1874). Expédition du Mexique, 1861-1867; récit politique & militaire (in français).

External links

• Original old photographs of the Second Mexican Empire
• Biography of Maximilian of Habsburg
• Death certificate of Emperor Maximilian I of Mexico on Wikisource (in Spanish)