Mexican Empire Imperio Mexicano (Spanish) | |||||||||
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1863–1867 | |||||||||
Motto: Equidad en la Justicia "Equity in Justice"[citation needed] | |||||||||
Status | Independent monarchy,[1][2][3] client state of France | ||||||||
Capital | Mexico City | ||||||||
Common languages | Spanish | ||||||||
Government | Federal parliamentary constitutional monarchy | ||||||||
Emperor | |||||||||
• 1864–1867 | Maximilian I | ||||||||
Regency | |||||||||
• 1863–1864 | Juan Almonte, José Salas, Pelagio de Labastida | ||||||||
Prime Minister[4] | |||||||||
• 1864–1866 | José María Lacunza | ||||||||
• 1866–1867 | Teodosio Lares | ||||||||
• 1867 | Santiago Vidaurri | ||||||||
Historical era | New Imperialism | ||||||||
8 December 1861 | |||||||||
• Maximilian I accepts Mexican crown | 10 April 1863 | ||||||||
• Emperor Maximilian I executed | 19 June 1867 | ||||||||
Currency | Peso | ||||||||
ISO 3166 code | MX | ||||||||
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Today part of | Mexico |
The Second Mexican Empire (Spanish: Segundo Imperio mexicano; French: Second Empire mexicain), officially the Mexican Empire (Spanish: Imperio Mexicano), was a constitutional monarchy established in Mexico by Mexican monarchists in conjunction with the Second French Empire. The period is sometimes referred to as the Second French intervention in Mexico. French Emperor Napoleon III, with the support of the Mexican conservatives, clergy, and nobility, established a monarchist ally in the Americas intended as a restraint upon the growing power of the United States.[5] It has been viewed as both an independent Mexican monarchy[1][2][6] and as a client state of France.[7][8] Invited to become emperor of Mexico by Mexican monarchists who had lost a bloody civil war against Mexican liberals was Austrian Archduke Maximilian, of the House of Habsburg-Lorraine, who had ancestral links to rulers of colonial Mexico. His ascension to the throne was then ratified through a fraudulent referendum. Maximilian's wife and empress consort of Mexico was the Belgian princess Charlotte of the House of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha, known in Mexico as "Carlota".
The invading French army was able to gain control of the central portion of the nation but supporters of the Mexican Republic continued to wage war against the Empire with its army as well as guerrilla bands. Although President Benito Juárez was forced to abandon the capital of Mexico City, he never left the national territory, despite having to relocate his northern base several times as Imperial forces sought to expand their territorial control. Maximilian's regime garnered recognition from all of the European powers, including Great Britain and Austria, as well as Brazil and China, but it was not formally recognized by the United States. At the time of the invasion, the U.S. was embroiled in its civil war (1861–65) against secessionist Confederate States of America. The U.S., during the Civil War, did not protest against the empire, but afterward recognized the Republican government as legitimate and exerted diplomatic pressure on France to withdraw. The U.S. did not officially send material aid.[9] With Northern U.S. states' victory over the secessionist Southern states in 1865, the political calculus for Napoleon III changed, since his support for the Mexican monarchy was predicated on a weakened U.S. and continued existence of the Confederate States. In 1866, Napoleon III began withdrawing French troops, which had propped up Maximilian's regime, and refused more funding for the Mexican monarchy. Maximilian's liberal ideals had alienated him from his conservative supporters. He gained limited support from moderate liberals, affirming much of the legislation on the liberal Reform, and attempted to implement other reforms, which did not come to fruition during his short reign. Although the military situation quickly became hopeless for the Mexican empire, Emperor Maximilian refused to abdicate and leave with the departing French troops. Republican forces captured the Emperor and his two leading Mexican generals in Querétaro. The Empire came to an end on 19 June 1867, when Maximilian was executed by firing squad, along with his generals Mejía and Miramón, after being tried by the republican army. The Mexican Republic was restored, having never been fully eliminated by the French and the forces of the Mexican monarchists.
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