We explain what Maximilian’s empire was and who was Maximilian de Habsburg. In addition, its characteristics and how its fall was.
What was Maximilian’s empire?
Maximilian’s empire, better known as the second empire in Mexico, was a monarchical government regime established in Mexico between 1864 and 1867 as a product of the second French intervention in Mexico.
At the head of this empire was Fernando Maximiliano de Habsburgwho before being proclaimed emperor of Mexico had been Archduke of Austria. He ruled with the alliance of conservative sectors of Mexican politics and the Catholic Church, although he took liberal measures that erased him with them.
The Maximilian Empire It depended on the French troops to defend against the insurrection of the Republicans Headed by Benito Juárez, who was still recognized by the liberals as president of the Republic and had the support of the United States.
Republicans implemented offensive and guerrillas tactics until they managed to expel the French and defeat the defenders of the empire. On June 19, 1867, the Maximilian Emperor and the conservative military Miguel Miramón and Tomás Mejía were executed. After the fall of the second empire of Mexico, the Republic was restored and Benito Juárez recovered the government over the entire Mexican territory.
Maximilian Empire History
The second French intervention in Mexico
The second empire of Mexico received this name to differentiate it from the first Mexican imperial experience, which took place between 1822 and 1823. The establishment of the second empire was the result of the second French intervention in Mexicothat is, the invasion of the Mexican territory by French troops, allies with conservative politicians and military, which extended between 1862 and 1867.
The French Empire of Napoleon III decided to invade Mexico after the Government of Benito Juárez, president of the Mexican Republic, suspended the payment of the external debt. Although Juarez resolved to resume the payment of the debt, the French government continued with the invasion plan with the intention to establish in Mexico a monarchy subordinated to France.
The French counted With the support of the monarchical Mexicans of the Conservative Partyopponents of the Liberal Government of Juarez. After being defeated in the Battle of Puebla in 1862, the French army reaped triumphs that allowed him to occupy Mexico City and depose Juárez in 1863 (although the liberals continued to recognize Juarez as president).
The enthronement of Maximiliano I
On the recommendation of Napoleon III, a group of Mexican conservatives traveled to Trieste (Italy) and offered the Archduke of Austria, Maximiliano de Habsburg, the crown of a pro-frances empire in Mexico. The intention was that this emperor stopped the growing influence of the United States and will restore the traditional privileges of the clergy and the great landowners of Mexico.
While they continued the French occupation and conflicts between Republican and monarchical conservative liberals, Maximiliano accepted the proposal and was proclaimed emperor of Mexico With the name of Maximiliano I. He arrived in Veracruz on May 28, 1864 and settled with his wife Carlota in Chapultepec Castle in Mexico City.
The loss of European support
The international situation became critical for the Empire of Maximiliano, which depended on the military support of the French Empire of Napoleon III.
In 1865, The culmination of the secession war in the United Statesin which the states of the Union triumphed, provided to the Juarez troops a foreign support to strengthen its position in the struggle for the restoration of the Republic.
In 1866, Prussia militated the Austrian Empire and began the Germany unification process that predicted a change in the relationship of forces in Europe.
Due to this situation and the provision of the US government to intervene against any European occupation in American territory (which was known as Monroe doctrine), Napoleon III decided to retreat his troops from Mexico and concentrate his efforts on the European continent. He gradually withdrew his support for the Maximilian Empire and the French troops definitively abandoned Mexico between the end of 1866 and early 1867. Maximilian was militarily weakened.
The fall of the Maximilian Empire
When French troops retired from Mexico, Liberal forces loyal to Benito Juárez won ground and the Empire of Maximiliano reduced its territorial control to the cities of Mexico, Puebla and Querétaro.
Between March and May 1867, the Republican troops, commanded by General Mariano Escobedo, besieged the city of Querétaro, in which Maximiliano had taken refuge and was defended by Mexicans faithful to the empire. On May 15 the Republicans took Querétaro and Maximiliano was taken prisoner.
At the same time, Mexico City was besieged by the troops under Porfirio Díaz, who had already occupied Puebla. This fact prevented Querétaro from receiving reinforcements. On June 15, 1867, Mexico City was taken by Republicansand on July 15, Benito Juárez entered her as president of the restored Republic. These facts marked the end of the second empire of Mexico.
Maximilian’s shooting
Maximiliano and his generals, Miguel Miramón and Tomás Mejía, were made prisoners in Querétaro When republican troops managed to take the city. They were submitted to a trial held at the Iturbide Theater, protected by a law of January 25, 1862 that condemned the conspiracies against the Nation with the death penalty.
The execution It took place on June 19, 1867. Maximiliano and General Miramón and Mejía were shot by a platoon of seven soldiers on the Cerro de las Campanas, which for a time was also known as Cerro de Las Tres Cruces.
It is said that Maximiliano’s last words were: “I will die for a fair cause, that of the independence and freedom of Mexico. That my blood seals the misfortunes of my new homeland. Long live Mexico!”
Who was Maximiliano de Habsburg?
Fernando Maximiliano de Habsburg was born in Vienna, Austria, on July 6, 1832 and died shot in Querétaro, Mexico, on June 19, 1867. It was Archduke of Austriabrother of Emperor Francisco José de Austria-Hungary, and belonged to the powerful house of Habsburg.
He was a passionate military and traveler, with liberal ideaswhich renounced its Archduke title of Austria and, therefore, to its real rights in Europe to assume the throne of the Emperor of the Second Empire of Mexico with the name of Maximilian I, at 32 years of age.
He was married since 1857 with Carlota de Belgica, with whom he traveled to Mexico in 1864. He ruled on the Mexican Empire with the support of monarchical sectors and French troopsbut applied liberal measures that generated discontent between the clergy and conservative politicians and military. He was taken prisoner by the Republicans in May 1867 and was shot on June 19, 1867.
Maximilian Empire Characteristics
Government system and liberal measures of the Maximilian Empire
The second empire of Mexico was a Moderate, hereditary monarchy and with a Catholic monarch which adopted the title of Emperor of Mexico. The only emperor of the second empire was Maximiliano I. In 1865 he promulgated the provisional statute of the Mexican Empire that brought together the laws and guiding provisions of the Imperial Government.
The Government of the Empire It was composed of nine ministerial departmentsentrusted to the ministers of: Imperial House, State, Foreign Business and Navy, Government, Justice, Public Instruction and Cults, War, Development and Finance.
Maximiliano was an enlightened man and, against the expectations of the conservatives who installed him on the throne, His government showed from the beginning a liberal charactermore similar in some aspects to the ideas of the Juarez party than to the desires to restore privileges of its conservative allies.
The Maximilian Empire He maintained some rights enshrined in the Republic (such as press freedom) and respected the principles of reform laws that separated the Church from the State. He promoted education according to liberal ideas and closed the Royal and Pontifical University of Mexico, which was considered a conservative establishment.
He determined that the nationalized assets by Juárez would not be returned to the clergy during his government, extended the incumbency of civil records (which did not depend on the Church but on the State), codified novel norms such as the recognition of the children outside the marriage, and established labor rights. These measures erased him with the church and the most conservative sectors.
Territorial Division of the Maximilian Empire
In a decree of March 3, 1865, Emperor Maximiliano I projected a territorial reorganization of the country With the following characteristics:
- The national territory would be divided into 50 departments.
- These departments would be subdivided based on natural geographical limits.
- The territory would be organized so that each department had geographical and climatic elements that guaranteed some economic and population equality.
- In each department there would be authorities appointed by the Mexican imperial government and municipalities whose municipalities would be elected by direct suffrage.
Meanwhile, The Republican government was a refugee on the northern border and ordered sporadic military and guerrillas in different parts of the country.
The economy during the Maximilian empire
The economy It was one of the great weaknesses of the second empire of Mexico. The Empire depended military and financially on the French government, about that Maximiliano’s entourage carried French counters to monitor the administration of resources.
This was decisive to the extent that, from 1866, French imperial coffers had to concentrate on Europe Because a conflict was anticipated with Prussia. The growing pressure from the United States in Mexico in favor of Republicans also weakened the finances of the empire, so the loans received by Maximiliano began to scarce.
Carlota, the Empress Consort, unsuccessfully sought financial aid in the French and Austrian nobility, and even in the papacy. Finally, when France withdrew his troops and his support for Mexicothe Empire had serious difficulties to sustain itself on its own and concluded being overthrown.
Who was Empress Carlota?
The Empress Consort de Maximiliano, Carlota de Belgica, was a Belgian princess that became known as Carlota de México. He was born on June 7, 1840 in Belgium, daughter of King Leopold I of Belgium and Luisa María de Orleans. He married Maximiliano in 1857 and accompanied him, as Empress, Mexico in 1864. They lived together in Chapultepec Castle in Mexico City.
When the republican resistance charged vigor thanks to the support of the United States and the progressive withdrawal of troops from the French empire, Carlota He marched to Paris and Vienna to request help from the European nobles to avoid the fall of the Maximilian Empire. He also met with Pope Pius IX in Rome, but all these initiatives were unsuccessful.
During this period, He began to exhibit Paranoia symptoms and pursuit delusions: he cried out that they wanted to poison her and ended up drinking water from the public sources of Rome.
When the second empire of Mexico and Maximiliano fell, it was shot in June 1867, Carlota She was medically assisted and confined in Miramar’s castle in Trieste (Italy)and then in Bauchout Castle in Belgium, where he died on January 19, 1927.
Continue with:
References
- History of Mexico. von Webeser, G. (coord.) (2014). Economic Culture Fund.
- “The French intervention in Mexico and the second Empire of Maximiliano I (1862-1867)” López Domínguez, I. (2020) in Awar Ferro. Archives of the story.
- “Maximilian” in British Encyclopedia.
