Maximilian, << `mak` suh MIHL yuhn >> (1832-1867), ruled as emperor of Mexico from 1864 to 1867. His reign was part of French Emperor Napoleon III’s attempt to gain possessions and influence in North America.
The French had landed in Mexico in 1862 to collect debts. They advanced inland and captured Mexico City. Napoleon III wanted to control Mexico, and so he offered the crown to Maximilian, who was then Archduke of Austria. Maximilian accepted on the basis of “proof” given by Napoleon and by Mexican exiles in France that the Mexican people wanted him. He became emperor of Mexico in 1864. Maximilian’s government adopted policies and laws that increased investments, European immigration, and the protection of private property. These measures helped lead to the modernization of Mexico.
Benito Juárez, president of Mexico, resisted the French (see Juárez, Benito Pablo ). In 1865, Maximilian ordered that Juárez’s supporters be shot on sight. His advisers assured him that resistance had ended, and that this order would prevent further trouble.
Maximilian’s empire was doomed when the American Civil War ended in 1865. The United States could now enforce the Monroe Doctrine, which forbade European intervention in the Americas. Napoleon III was forced to withdraw his troops from Mexico in 1866 and 1867, leaving Maximilian without support. Maximilian’s wife, Carlota, went to Europe to seek aid from Napoleon III and from Pope Pius IX, but failed.
Maximilian left Mexico City in 1867 to fight Juárez. He and his soldiers marched to Queretaro, where General Gomez, a trusted aide, betrayed him. He was captured by troops of the Mexican Republic, and was executed by a firing squad on June 19, 1867.
Maximilian was born in Vienna, Austria, on July 6, 1832. His full name was Ferdinand Maximilian Joseph. He was a brother of Austrian Emperor Franz Joseph. He trained with the Austrian navy and served briefly as its commander in chief. He married Carlota, daughter of King Leopold I of Belgium, in 1857.
See also Mexico .
