November 14, 2011 • 23 mins
For a time, Mexico was ruled by a Habsburg prince: Ferdinand Maximilian. While Maximilian was unwelcome, he upheld liberal reforms and modernized the government. As his support dwindled, Mexico's rightful president worked to take back the country.
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Speaker 1 (00:00):
Welcome to Stuff you Missed in History Class from how
Stuff Works dot com. Hello, and welcome to the podcast.
I'm Sarah Down and we talk about royalty a lot
on the podcast. It's really one of my favorite subjects
(00:21):
to cover, and consequently, because we talked about it so often,
some subgenres have developed. One of them royal impostors. You know,
we've talked about guys like Lambert Simnels and Falsdamitri. Yeah.
Now they're self proclaimed monarchs like Emperor Norton and the
King of Beaver Island James Strang. Yeah. Or just sad
royal childhoods like Queen Victoria, Queen Elizabeth. There seemed to
(00:43):
be a lot of those, and almost every other Royalty
episode is a sad royal childhood. But one of my
favorite of these royal subgenres, though, is the puppet ruler.
You know, somebody who is important or maybe really charismatic,
or just well connected, maybe just well born and kind
of weak and easy to control, who is ultimately propped
(01:05):
up by a more powerful outside force who's really controlling things.
And we're going to talk about a famous puppet ruler today,
Ferdinand Maximilian, Archduke of Austria by birth, Emperor of Mexico
by invitation, and he'll really surprise you. He's naive but goodhearted.
He truly believes that people of Mexico want him, an
(01:28):
Austrian prince to rule them, though he's deliberately misled in
that respect, and will look at that a little bit
more later. He takes this opportunity to rule with fatal dedication. Yeah,
I think he really will surprise you guys as a
as a not so good example of a puppet ruler
when it all comes down to it. But we're also
going to talk about the antithesis of royalty today. Mexico's
(01:49):
national hero, Benito Juarez, who was a self made man
who rose to the presidency, you know, got his own education,
and successfully defended his country from an allied European invasion.
You know, pretty serious stuff. But that these two men,
a halfsburg prince and the orphaned son of Zappatec Indians
(02:11):
should ever be in conflict together in Mexico is just
pretty bizarre when you think about it. But that they
had remarkably similar plans for what they wanted to do
with Mexico, plans for the people of Mexico is just
downright strange. So we're gonna talk about both of them.
We're going to talk about many, many countries and many
(02:32):
rulers in this episode. It really has something for everyone.
It does. So at first, we're going to start out
with Maximilian Ferdinand. Maximilian Joseph was born in Vienna July six,
thirty two, and his full title was Prince Imperial and
Archduke of Austria, Prince Royal of Hungary and Bohemia. That
sounds pretty fancy, like a lot of power, but those
(02:54):
were really just his younger son titles. Maximilian's older brother,
you see, was the future Emperor Franz Joseph of Austria Hungary.
So the younger Maximilian, who was intelligent, needed some sort
of occupation in life, and so those were the titles
that he got. At twenty two he became Rear Admiral
of the Austrian Navy and worked to modernize it, and
at twenty five he took up the position of Governor
(03:16):
General of the Lombardo Venetian Kingdom, which was under Austrian
control at the time, and he also got married. He
married the beautiful and charming seventeen year old Princess Charlotte
of Belgium, who was the daughter of King Leopold. The
first we mentioned him in our Victorian Albert episode. He's
kind of young Victoria's male mentor her uncle Um. But
(03:37):
Maximilian might have been really too bent on modernization. When
it came to his job in Italy, his brother considered
his policies they're just too liberal, and ended up removing
him from power. So when Maximilian lost the job, he
decided to take a little time off go on a trip,
and he journeyed all the way to Brazil, which really
(04:00):
kicked off a New World fascination, kind of an obsession
even with Maximilian, so speaking of the New World. At
the same time Maximilian was governing in Italy and traveling
to Brazil, Mexico was in the middle of a civil war.
La Reforma a liberal movement with the goal of curbing
the power of the aristocracy and the Church. The movement's
(04:22):
eventual leader was a man named Benito Juarez, a z
Appatec Indian who had been born in eighteen oh six.
He didn't seem like a likely candidate for the eventual
president of Mexico. He was orphaned at the age of three,
and he didn't even speak Spanish until he left his
hometown and studied in Wahaca. He was smart, though, and
while at first his intelligence made him a likely candidate
(04:43):
for the priesthood, he was soon studying law. His first
public office was on the municipal council, and he became
a member of both the state and national legislatures, judge,
and eventually governor of Wahaca, making him a notable public
figure in the state. But he got into trouble by
being so notable because when the Conservative Party of Mexico
returned to power in the elections of eighteen fifty three,
(05:05):
Whereas was exiled into the United States and he lived
in New Orleans in really almost semi poverty. I've seen
it described for two years before his party took back
control and he was appointed Minister of Justice and Public
Instruction for the new administration. And the new reform government
(05:25):
started to make some really, really big changes in Mexico,
and these changes were of course supported by Wuarez as
a as a minister, and just to give you a
sense of what was going on, um the government abolished
the special courts, the clergy and the military, it broke
up landed estates in this attempt to sort of create
(05:46):
a middle class from scratch in Mexico, and it forced
the church to sell its property, though don't think of
it quite like Henry the eight style, because they didn't
actually start confiscating property. And then it also increased the
educational opportunities available to the poor, something that Whereas especially
was really interested in and you can understand why from
(06:08):
his own background. And most importantly, the government created a
new constitution in eighteen fifty seven, so basically they were
in the process of transforming Mexico into a modern nation state.
But in eighteen fifty eight the Conservatives revolted and Whuarez
was forced to withdraw from Vera Cruz, where he created
(06:30):
his own government in exile, and that began a three
year long War of the Reform, which started before Whuarez
could finally return to power in eighteen sixty one, where
he was voted president. He inherits a lot of problems,
though after three years of war, Mexico is deep in debt.
So on July seventeenth, eighteen sixty one, President HuaaS supports
(06:53):
a movement passed by the Mexican Congress and suspends payment
of all foreign debts for two years. So this is
not okay with the European countries who are owed money
from Mexico. But what are they going to do about it? Well,
some Mexican conservatives were living in exile abroad, and one
of them, Jose Manuel Hidalgo E as now Rezar, suggests
(07:17):
to Empress Eugenie, the Spanish wife of the French Emperor
Napoleon the Third, that perhaps Juarez could be driven from
power by a new European backed monarchy. Sounds like a
bold plan, doesn't it It is. It's one also that
would be a win win for Mexican conservatives and France,
since for one thing, Juarez would be gone, also France
(07:39):
would get her money back, and both would get control
of the new monarch. Yeah, so they both have something
they can get out of it. And as a further
incentive though, for Napoleon the Third, installing his own ruler,
his own puppet ruler in Mexico would potentially prevent the
country from falling under US control, which was something that
(08:00):
was very uncomfortable with. So on October thirty one, eighteen
sixty one, France, Britain and Spain, three of the big
countries that had money due to them agreed to stage
a joint attack on Mexico to recoup their debts. There's
another player, though, that is really kind of more notable
for being out of the game than in it. And
(08:21):
I just think this is so interesting. But since the
eighteen twenties, the US had tried to prevent European influence
in the Americas with the Monroe Doctrine um just for
folks who don't know, basically a policy that viewed any
European efforts to colonize the Americas as a sign of
aggression to the United States itself. So normally Napoleon the
(08:42):
Third wouldn't have wanted to test the Monroe Doctrine, and,
by extension, test the United States. But since the American
Civil War had really just started, Napoleon figured correctly that
the US had bigger problems to deal with than a
French invasion of Mexico. Still, Napoleon the Third knew better
(09:02):
than to attempt to install someone related to him. Instead,
he offers the crown to the available eligible Habsburg Prince Maximilian.
So it gives Maximilian something to think about here, something
to consider then on January eighth, eighteen sixty two, more
than ten thousand Allied troops arrived in Vera Cruz. Though
the British and Spanish soon pull out of the scheme. Yeah,
(09:24):
you can't imagine that they would be very keen on
the idea of a French controlled ruler being installed in Mexico. Yeah,
and Nouirez isn't happy about it either. He makes his
opposition to this European scheme quite clear. He declares that
any foreigner who makes an armed invasion without the declaration
of war will be put to death, as will any
Mexican who assists a foreign invasion. That's an important law
(09:48):
or proclamation to remember actually for this episode, so just
keep it in the vaca. Keep it in mind. There
are some really difficult early battles for the French, though,
with this invasion. On May five, eight sixty two, the
French are trounced at Puebla, which is a victory still
marked today by Sinca to Mayo. Next time you go
out for Senco to Mayo, you can tell all your
(10:08):
friends that you know it is not Mexican Independence Day.
You know the story behind it. Yeah, that's what people
mean when they're like, that's not what Senco to Mayo
is about. It's not inepen Now you know what you're
drinking Margarita's for victory at Puebla. So reports of that defeat, though,
get back to Paris and really kick off mass disapproval
of Napoleon the Thirds Project, I mean that they were
(10:30):
going to war over these debts and trying to install
a king. Another big defeat happens April thirty, eighteen sixty three,
at the Battle of Cameron, where only three of Captain
Jean Danjeu's legionnaires survive and Njeue's own wooden hand. This
is just like a weird, kind of freaky side note.
Den Jeu's own wooden hand is recovered from the scene
(10:53):
of the battle and turned into the symbol of the
foreign legion. Because the French soldiers had fought so bravely
even though they were really overwhelmed, it sounds like maybe
things aren't going to work out for the French. But
by May thirty one, eighteen sixty three, they do get
the upper hand and Juarez and his army have to
flee to the city of Saint Luis Potosi, which is
(11:17):
in the north of Mexico and basically just continue a
series of retreats all the way to El Paso del Norte,
which is later renamed Theo dad Aias. He and his followers,
called Republicans or Huaristas, continued to fight, but then back
at the capital, a new conservative government is established and
a formal invite goes out to Maximilian. He accepts under
(11:40):
two conditions. One is that the French will protect him,
and the other is that he has the approval of
the majority of the Mexican people. So poor Maximilian, he's
misled in both of these respects. Really, only a small
percentage of the Royalists want the Austrian prince to rule,
and Napoleon is already beginning to regret his decision. Just
(12:01):
a few months after offering the crown, but before Maximilian
actually moved, Napoleon writes to a friend quote, I realized
that I have gotten myself into a tight corner. But
the affair has to be liquidated. So yeah, that's disconcerting
for sure, But still Maximilian is really upbeat about his
new role. He in Charlotte, who changes her name to Carlotta,
(12:24):
arrived in Mexico May eighteen sixty four, and he's there
fully believing that he does have the support of the
Mexican people, not just this little group of royalists. But
both of them take their new job pretty seriously to
Carlotta learned Spanish and began studying Mexican history and art
and culture, and is reported to have developed a pretty
(12:46):
deep love and respect for it too, while Maximilian, surprise surprise,
started by upholding most of warez Is reform, so he
again doesn't seem like he's acting like a puppet ruler
at all. He sees himself as a protector of Mexico's
indigenous people. And unfortunately for Maximilian that line of thinking,
(13:08):
his real sense of responsibility towards Mexico and his desire
to do the right thing for his people didn't help
him out much at all. He made no friends with
his policies. Yeah, the Conservatives were disappointed that they had
basically imported foreign Warez, and the Church was angry that
he refused to restore their lands and instead upheld wharez
(13:28):
As reforms. And though Maximilian's policies were markedly similar to
those of war As, the liberals hated him for having
toppled their legitimate government Landy's just random Austrian dude, right.
So to add to this, Maximilian basically had to personally
finance his own government. France took all the customs revenue
(13:49):
to pay back that pre war debt, so everything came
from Maximilian's own inheritance, which really makes it seem that
France wasn't going into this in good faith. I mean,
I of Napoleon had Napoleon the Third had multiple motives,
But if his primary motive was to get the money
back at the expense of the government he had set up,
(14:09):
you have to wonder what his intentions really were all along.
And meanwhile, it's not like the fightings over either. Maximilian
has to get further help from his brother in Austria
and his father in law in Belgium, and the US,
even though the Civil War is ongoing, is still a factor.
Lincoln did openly complain about the violation of the Monroe
Doctrine because there was too much fear on his part
(14:31):
of creating an alliance between the French and the Confederates.
And meanwhile, Maximilian refused the services of Confederate troops who
had moved into Mexico for fear he'd anger Lincoln to
the point of war. Lincoln's support, however, was already with Juarez.
The two wrote to each other, and the US provided
him with some assistance even during the Civil War. After
(14:53):
the war ended, more than fifty thousand U. S. Soldiers
approached the border and transferred arms and weapons to the Wuarristas.
By June eighteen sixty five, even the idealistic Maximilian could
see the writing on the wall. He could see what
was about to happen here, he wrote, quote, it must
be said openly that our military situation is very bad.
(15:14):
The American Civil War has ended, and the threat of
war with the United States looms. So Napoleon the Third
sees the writing on the wall too, though. On January
eighteen sixty six, he informs Maximilian that he's going to
withdraw French troops from Mexico, and he doesn't even wait
for a reply before he publicly announces that intention. So
(15:36):
when Carlotta figures out what's going on and realizes that
Frances pulling out, she heads off to Europe to try
to rally support around her husband. She begs Napoleon the
Third to reconsider. She asks Pope Pious the Ninth to help,
and when it becomes clear that no one can really
do anything for Maximilian, she has a mental breakdown and
(15:58):
she suffers from the effects of that for the rest
of her life. So Maximilian, meanwhile, he still believes that
he has the support of the Mexicans and he won't
abdicate since he feels like he'll be abandoning them if
he does so. So his backers make him Supreme Commander
of the Imperial Army, and on February five, eighteen sixty seven,
he leaves Mexico City for Kirataro, where he's met by
(16:21):
his general's Miramon and Mahia. They await waras is advancing
army there. Carataro falls May eighteen sixty seven and Maximilian
is arrested. His living conditions are harsh. There's no caught.
And there are these ironic reading choices like the history
of King Charles the First of England, which I'd have
to say it would be depressing to read about a
(16:42):
king who had lost his throne and his head while
you were in prison. Indeed, and then on Junet Maximilian
and his generals go to trial where they're charged under
the old ware As degree of eighteen sixty two, that
one that we mentioned to you guys earlier and asked
you to remember, that's coming into play now. And so
their court martialed and condemned to death, and on June nineteenth,
(17:04):
they're executed by firing squad outside of Carrataro. Miramon and
Mahia are shot in the back of traders and Maximilian
is shot head on, and Maximilian goes down pretty memorably.
His supposed last words are Viva Mexico, Viva Independencia. So
why is this decision to execute Maximilian is really pretty
(17:28):
unpopular abroad? Men like Victor Hugo and Giuseppe Garibaldi, who
is another former podcast subject, had even petitioned Ware's to
spare the Archduke's life. But because Wuareas wanted to set
an example for would be invaders coming into his country,
and because so many Mexicans had died in the war,
(17:48):
Wuarez decided not to spare Maximilian. Obviously, by July one,
the news of the death had gotten back to Paris,
right as Napoleon the Third was about to open the
prize of being ceremony of the Paris World's Fair, so
really bad timing for him. And as detailed accounts started
coming out, some people's anger at Napoleon the Third is
(18:10):
really rekindled. You know, why did he get into this
in the first place, and especially because Maximilian is a
pretty sympathetic figure. One of the people who is disturbed
at France's involvement in this whole thing is Eduard Manet,
who decides to go against his own dislike of painting
what he hadn't seen, you know, he believes artist should
(18:31):
paint from life. He decides to go against that principle
and recreate the execution of Maximilian because of course he
had not been there himself. But he doesn't go about
it like the heroic historic picture kind of style. He
uses really detailed news reports and they're all of these
very strange You can you can look them up actually
(18:52):
on MoMA's website, because they had an exhibit of some
of Manet's paintings of this. You can check out these
little cut and paste postcards people were really into making
of the time, taking pictures of um just soldiers in
this case, the wall where Maximilian was executed, and then
pasting on heads, like pasting on Maximilian's real head or
(19:15):
Mehia's real head. And uh so Mane had all of
this kind of stuff to look at, and he did
a series of paintings that, due to their controversial subject matter,
were never exhibited in Paris during his lifetime. But we
want to give you sort of enclosure on our other
subjects we've covered in this podcast too, especially Warez, because
(19:37):
his later history really surprised me. I knew him as
a Mexican national hero, and I figured since he was
an older man at this time, he probably had um
sort of a heroic end of life. But even though
he was reelective president of Mexico, political mistakes late in
his career made him really extremely unpopular at his death. Yeah,
(20:00):
he died in eighteen seventy two and didn't become the
celebrated hero that he is today until the twentieth century,
when it became clear that his reforms had helped modernize
the country. Carlotta or Charlotte lived until nine seven, and
she never really recovered from her paranoia and mental illness.
She spent the rest of her life in castles in
Belgium and in Italy, and Maximilian's older brother Franz Joseph
(20:23):
reigned as emperor until nineteen sixteen, so that wraps it up.
I thought this was such an interesting subject to learn about,
especially considering that it's going on parallel to the American
Civil War, and the fact that the US is at
war is such an interesting um, such an important part
(20:43):
of it all, kind of why it's able to start
in the first place, and it is an influence in
why it finishes. It's kind of an early example of
some major global politics going on. Yeah, it's actually a
really complicated story, it is, but it's got these charismatic
figures involved that make it kind of fun to talk about.
(21:04):
And consequently, because it is a good story, it's been
suggested a lot. So we want to thank listeners Gabriella
and Jen and Mike and probably other people who have
suggested Maximilian or Juarez before. And I think that's probably
a good segue to some listener mail. We have three
(21:25):
gorgeous postcards here from listener Abbey from Texas, and she
recently took a trip to visit her in laws in Moscow,
so she sent us a postcard of the Kremlin, a
postcard of the star Bell, and a postcard of the
Novodevichy convent. I hope, I said that correctly about the
last one, she said, this is the convent where Zur
(21:46):
stashed inconvenient women like mother's sisters, cast off wives. If
you paid across under the river into the convent, all
your sins are absolved. Pretty cool. Yeah, and they really
are beautiful postcards. Yes, thank you so much for sending those, Abby.
If any of you would like to send us, maybe
not something so physical that an email suggesting a topic
(22:08):
um like the one we talked about today, or just
any old topic you want to hear about, please email
us at History Podcast at how stuff works dot com,
or you can look us up on Facebook or on
Twitter at Myston History. And if you want to learn
a little bit more about Mexican traditions or about royalty,
we do have articles on both of those on our website.
You can search for them on our homepage at www
(22:30):
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Welcome to Stuff you Missed in History Class from how
Stuff Works dot com. Hello, and welcome to the podcast.
I'm Sarah Down and we talk about royalty a lot
on the podcast. It's really one of my favorite subjects
(00:21):
to cover, and consequently, because we talked about it so often,
some subgenres have developed. One of them royal impostors. You know,
we've talked about guys like Lambert Simnels and Falsdamitri. Yeah.
Now they're self proclaimed monarchs like Emperor Norton and the
King of Beaver Island James Strang. Yeah. Or just sad
royal childhoods like Queen Victoria, Queen Elizabeth. There seemed to
(00:43):
be a lot of those, and almost every other Royalty
episode is a sad royal childhood. But one of my
favorite of these royal subgenres, though, is the puppet ruler.
You know, somebody who is important or maybe really charismatic,
or just well connected, maybe just well born and kind
of weak and easy to control, who is ultimately propped
(01:05):
up by a more powerful outside force who's really controlling things.
And we're going to talk about a famous puppet ruler today,
Ferdinand Maximilian, Archduke of Austria by birth, Emperor of Mexico
by invitation, and he'll really surprise you. He's naive but goodhearted.
He truly believes that people of Mexico want him, an
(01:28):
Austrian prince to rule them, though he's deliberately misled in
that respect, and will look at that a little bit
more later. He takes this opportunity to rule with fatal dedication. Yeah,
I think he really will surprise you guys as a
as a not so good example of a puppet ruler
when it all comes down to it. But we're also
going to talk about the antithesis of royalty today. Mexico's
(01:49):
national hero, Benito Juarez, who was a self made man
who rose to the presidency, you know, got his own education,
and successfully defended his country from an allied European invasion.
You know, pretty serious stuff. But that these two men,
a halfsburg prince and the orphaned son of Zappatec Indians
(02:11):
should ever be in conflict together in Mexico is just
pretty bizarre when you think about it. But that they
had remarkably similar plans for what they wanted to do
with Mexico, plans for the people of Mexico is just
downright strange. So we're gonna talk about both of them.
We're going to talk about many, many countries and many
(02:32):
rulers in this episode. It really has something for everyone.
It does. So at first, we're going to start out
with Maximilian Ferdinand. Maximilian Joseph was born in Vienna July six,
thirty two, and his full title was Prince Imperial and
Archduke of Austria, Prince Royal of Hungary and Bohemia. That
sounds pretty fancy, like a lot of power, but those
(02:54):
were really just his younger son titles. Maximilian's older brother,
you see, was the future Emperor Franz Joseph of Austria Hungary.
So the younger Maximilian, who was intelligent, needed some sort
of occupation in life, and so those were the titles
that he got. At twenty two he became Rear Admiral
of the Austrian Navy and worked to modernize it, and
at twenty five he took up the position of Governor
(03:16):
General of the Lombardo Venetian Kingdom, which was under Austrian
control at the time, and he also got married. He
married the beautiful and charming seventeen year old Princess Charlotte
of Belgium, who was the daughter of King Leopold. The
first we mentioned him in our Victorian Albert episode. He's
kind of young Victoria's male mentor her uncle Um. But
(03:37):
Maximilian might have been really too bent on modernization. When
it came to his job in Italy, his brother considered
his policies they're just too liberal, and ended up removing
him from power. So when Maximilian lost the job, he
decided to take a little time off go on a trip,
and he journeyed all the way to Brazil, which really
(04:00):
kicked off a New World fascination, kind of an obsession
even with Maximilian, so speaking of the New World. At
the same time Maximilian was governing in Italy and traveling
to Brazil, Mexico was in the middle of a civil war.
La Reforma a liberal movement with the goal of curbing
the power of the aristocracy and the Church. The movement's
(04:22):
eventual leader was a man named Benito Juarez, a z
Appatec Indian who had been born in eighteen oh six.
He didn't seem like a likely candidate for the eventual
president of Mexico. He was orphaned at the age of three,
and he didn't even speak Spanish until he left his
hometown and studied in Wahaca. He was smart, though, and
while at first his intelligence made him a likely candidate
(04:43):
for the priesthood, he was soon studying law. His first
public office was on the municipal council, and he became
a member of both the state and national legislatures, judge,
and eventually governor of Wahaca, making him a notable public
figure in the state. But he got into trouble by
being so notable because when the Conservative Party of Mexico
returned to power in the elections of eighteen fifty three,
(05:05):
Whereas was exiled into the United States and he lived
in New Orleans in really almost semi poverty. I've seen
it described for two years before his party took back
control and he was appointed Minister of Justice and Public
Instruction for the new administration. And the new reform government
(05:25):
started to make some really, really big changes in Mexico,
and these changes were of course supported by Wuarez as
a as a minister, and just to give you a
sense of what was going on, um the government abolished
the special courts, the clergy and the military, it broke
up landed estates in this attempt to sort of create
(05:46):
a middle class from scratch in Mexico, and it forced
the church to sell its property, though don't think of
it quite like Henry the eight style, because they didn't
actually start confiscating property. And then it also increased the
educational opportunities available to the poor, something that Whereas especially
was really interested in and you can understand why from
(06:08):
his own background. And most importantly, the government created a
new constitution in eighteen fifty seven, so basically they were
in the process of transforming Mexico into a modern nation state.
But in eighteen fifty eight the Conservatives revolted and Whuarez
was forced to withdraw from Vera Cruz, where he created
(06:30):
his own government in exile, and that began a three
year long War of the Reform, which started before Whuarez
could finally return to power in eighteen sixty one, where
he was voted president. He inherits a lot of problems,
though after three years of war, Mexico is deep in debt.
So on July seventeenth, eighteen sixty one, President HuaaS supports
(06:53):
a movement passed by the Mexican Congress and suspends payment
of all foreign debts for two years. So this is
not okay with the European countries who are owed money
from Mexico. But what are they going to do about it? Well,
some Mexican conservatives were living in exile abroad, and one
of them, Jose Manuel Hidalgo E as now Rezar, suggests
(07:17):
to Empress Eugenie, the Spanish wife of the French Emperor
Napoleon the Third, that perhaps Juarez could be driven from
power by a new European backed monarchy. Sounds like a
bold plan, doesn't it It is. It's one also that
would be a win win for Mexican conservatives and France,
since for one thing, Juarez would be gone, also France
(07:39):
would get her money back, and both would get control
of the new monarch. Yeah, so they both have something
they can get out of it. And as a further
incentive though, for Napoleon the Third, installing his own ruler,
his own puppet ruler in Mexico would potentially prevent the
country from falling under US control, which was something that
(08:00):
was very uncomfortable with. So on October thirty one, eighteen
sixty one, France, Britain and Spain, three of the big
countries that had money due to them agreed to stage
a joint attack on Mexico to recoup their debts. There's
another player, though, that is really kind of more notable
for being out of the game than in it. And
(08:21):
I just think this is so interesting. But since the
eighteen twenties, the US had tried to prevent European influence
in the Americas with the Monroe Doctrine um just for
folks who don't know, basically a policy that viewed any
European efforts to colonize the Americas as a sign of
aggression to the United States itself. So normally Napoleon the
(08:42):
Third wouldn't have wanted to test the Monroe Doctrine, and,
by extension, test the United States. But since the American
Civil War had really just started, Napoleon figured correctly that
the US had bigger problems to deal with than a
French invasion of Mexico. Still, Napoleon the Third knew better
(09:02):
than to attempt to install someone related to him. Instead,
he offers the crown to the available eligible Habsburg Prince Maximilian.
So it gives Maximilian something to think about here, something
to consider then on January eighth, eighteen sixty two, more
than ten thousand Allied troops arrived in Vera Cruz. Though
the British and Spanish soon pull out of the scheme. Yeah,
(09:24):
you can't imagine that they would be very keen on
the idea of a French controlled ruler being installed in Mexico. Yeah,
and Nouirez isn't happy about it either. He makes his
opposition to this European scheme quite clear. He declares that
any foreigner who makes an armed invasion without the declaration
of war will be put to death, as will any
Mexican who assists a foreign invasion. That's an important law
(09:48):
or proclamation to remember actually for this episode, so just
keep it in the vaca. Keep it in mind. There
are some really difficult early battles for the French, though,
with this invasion. On May five, eight sixty two, the
French are trounced at Puebla, which is a victory still
marked today by Sinca to Mayo. Next time you go
out for Senco to Mayo, you can tell all your
(10:08):
friends that you know it is not Mexican Independence Day.
You know the story behind it. Yeah, that's what people
mean when they're like, that's not what Senco to Mayo
is about. It's not inepen Now you know what you're
drinking Margarita's for victory at Puebla. So reports of that defeat, though,
get back to Paris and really kick off mass disapproval
of Napoleon the Thirds Project, I mean that they were
(10:30):
going to war over these debts and trying to install
a king. Another big defeat happens April thirty, eighteen sixty three,
at the Battle of Cameron, where only three of Captain
Jean Danjeu's legionnaires survive and Njeue's own wooden hand. This
is just like a weird, kind of freaky side note.
Den Jeu's own wooden hand is recovered from the scene
(10:53):
of the battle and turned into the symbol of the
foreign legion. Because the French soldiers had fought so bravely
even though they were really overwhelmed, it sounds like maybe
things aren't going to work out for the French. But
by May thirty one, eighteen sixty three, they do get
the upper hand and Juarez and his army have to
flee to the city of Saint Luis Potosi, which is
(11:17):
in the north of Mexico and basically just continue a
series of retreats all the way to El Paso del Norte,
which is later renamed Theo dad Aias. He and his followers,
called Republicans or Huaristas, continued to fight, but then back
at the capital, a new conservative government is established and
a formal invite goes out to Maximilian. He accepts under
(11:40):
two conditions. One is that the French will protect him,
and the other is that he has the approval of
the majority of the Mexican people. So poor Maximilian, he's
misled in both of these respects. Really, only a small
percentage of the Royalists want the Austrian prince to rule,
and Napoleon is already beginning to regret his decision. Just
(12:01):
a few months after offering the crown, but before Maximilian
actually moved, Napoleon writes to a friend quote, I realized
that I have gotten myself into a tight corner. But
the affair has to be liquidated. So yeah, that's disconcerting
for sure, But still Maximilian is really upbeat about his
new role. He in Charlotte, who changes her name to Carlotta,
(12:24):
arrived in Mexico May eighteen sixty four, and he's there
fully believing that he does have the support of the
Mexican people, not just this little group of royalists. But
both of them take their new job pretty seriously to
Carlotta learned Spanish and began studying Mexican history and art
and culture, and is reported to have developed a pretty
(12:46):
deep love and respect for it too, while Maximilian, surprise surprise,
started by upholding most of warez Is reform, so he
again doesn't seem like he's acting like a puppet ruler
at all. He sees himself as a protector of Mexico's
indigenous people. And unfortunately for Maximilian that line of thinking,
(13:08):
his real sense of responsibility towards Mexico and his desire
to do the right thing for his people didn't help
him out much at all. He made no friends with
his policies. Yeah, the Conservatives were disappointed that they had
basically imported foreign Warez, and the Church was angry that
he refused to restore their lands and instead upheld wharez
(13:28):
As reforms. And though Maximilian's policies were markedly similar to
those of war As, the liberals hated him for having
toppled their legitimate government Landy's just random Austrian dude, right.
So to add to this, Maximilian basically had to personally
finance his own government. France took all the customs revenue
(13:49):
to pay back that pre war debt, so everything came
from Maximilian's own inheritance, which really makes it seem that
France wasn't going into this in good faith. I mean,
I of Napoleon had Napoleon the Third had multiple motives,
But if his primary motive was to get the money
back at the expense of the government he had set up,
(14:09):
you have to wonder what his intentions really were all along.
And meanwhile, it's not like the fightings over either. Maximilian
has to get further help from his brother in Austria
and his father in law in Belgium, and the US,
even though the Civil War is ongoing, is still a factor.
Lincoln did openly complain about the violation of the Monroe
Doctrine because there was too much fear on his part
(14:31):
of creating an alliance between the French and the Confederates.
And meanwhile, Maximilian refused the services of Confederate troops who
had moved into Mexico for fear he'd anger Lincoln to
the point of war. Lincoln's support, however, was already with Juarez.
The two wrote to each other, and the US provided
him with some assistance even during the Civil War. After
(14:53):
the war ended, more than fifty thousand U. S. Soldiers
approached the border and transferred arms and weapons to the Wuarristas.
By June eighteen sixty five, even the idealistic Maximilian could
see the writing on the wall. He could see what
was about to happen here, he wrote, quote, it must
be said openly that our military situation is very bad.
(15:14):
The American Civil War has ended, and the threat of
war with the United States looms. So Napoleon the Third
sees the writing on the wall too, though. On January
eighteen sixty six, he informs Maximilian that he's going to
withdraw French troops from Mexico, and he doesn't even wait
for a reply before he publicly announces that intention. So
(15:36):
when Carlotta figures out what's going on and realizes that
Frances pulling out, she heads off to Europe to try
to rally support around her husband. She begs Napoleon the
Third to reconsider. She asks Pope Pious the Ninth to help,
and when it becomes clear that no one can really
do anything for Maximilian, she has a mental breakdown and
(15:58):
she suffers from the effects of that for the rest
of her life. So Maximilian, meanwhile, he still believes that
he has the support of the Mexicans and he won't
abdicate since he feels like he'll be abandoning them if
he does so. So his backers make him Supreme Commander
of the Imperial Army, and on February five, eighteen sixty seven,
he leaves Mexico City for Kirataro, where he's met by
(16:21):
his general's Miramon and Mahia. They await waras is advancing
army there. Carataro falls May eighteen sixty seven and Maximilian
is arrested. His living conditions are harsh. There's no caught.
And there are these ironic reading choices like the history
of King Charles the First of England, which I'd have
to say it would be depressing to read about a
(16:42):
king who had lost his throne and his head while
you were in prison. Indeed, and then on Junet Maximilian
and his generals go to trial where they're charged under
the old ware As degree of eighteen sixty two, that
one that we mentioned to you guys earlier and asked
you to remember, that's coming into play now. And so
their court martialed and condemned to death, and on June nineteenth,
(17:04):
they're executed by firing squad outside of Carrataro. Miramon and
Mahia are shot in the back of traders and Maximilian
is shot head on, and Maximilian goes down pretty memorably.
His supposed last words are Viva Mexico, Viva Independencia. So
why is this decision to execute Maximilian is really pretty
(17:28):
unpopular abroad? Men like Victor Hugo and Giuseppe Garibaldi, who
is another former podcast subject, had even petitioned Ware's to
spare the Archduke's life. But because Wuareas wanted to set
an example for would be invaders coming into his country,
and because so many Mexicans had died in the war,
(17:48):
Wuarez decided not to spare Maximilian. Obviously, by July one,
the news of the death had gotten back to Paris,
right as Napoleon the Third was about to open the
prize of being ceremony of the Paris World's Fair, so
really bad timing for him. And as detailed accounts started
coming out, some people's anger at Napoleon the Third is
(18:10):
really rekindled. You know, why did he get into this
in the first place, and especially because Maximilian is a
pretty sympathetic figure. One of the people who is disturbed
at France's involvement in this whole thing is Eduard Manet,
who decides to go against his own dislike of painting
what he hadn't seen, you know, he believes artist should
(18:31):
paint from life. He decides to go against that principle
and recreate the execution of Maximilian because of course he
had not been there himself. But he doesn't go about
it like the heroic historic picture kind of style. He
uses really detailed news reports and they're all of these
very strange You can you can look them up actually
(18:52):
on MoMA's website, because they had an exhibit of some
of Manet's paintings of this. You can check out these
little cut and paste postcards people were really into making
of the time, taking pictures of um just soldiers in
this case, the wall where Maximilian was executed, and then
pasting on heads, like pasting on Maximilian's real head or
(19:15):
Mehia's real head. And uh so Mane had all of
this kind of stuff to look at, and he did
a series of paintings that, due to their controversial subject matter,
were never exhibited in Paris during his lifetime. But we
want to give you sort of enclosure on our other
subjects we've covered in this podcast too, especially Warez, because
(19:37):
his later history really surprised me. I knew him as
a Mexican national hero, and I figured since he was
an older man at this time, he probably had um
sort of a heroic end of life. But even though
he was reelective president of Mexico, political mistakes late in
his career made him really extremely unpopular at his death. Yeah,
(20:00):
he died in eighteen seventy two and didn't become the
celebrated hero that he is today until the twentieth century,
when it became clear that his reforms had helped modernize
the country. Carlotta or Charlotte lived until nine seven, and
she never really recovered from her paranoia and mental illness.
She spent the rest of her life in castles in
Belgium and in Italy, and Maximilian's older brother Franz Joseph
(20:23):
reigned as emperor until nineteen sixteen, so that wraps it up.
I thought this was such an interesting subject to learn about,
especially considering that it's going on parallel to the American
Civil War, and the fact that the US is at
war is such an interesting um, such an important part
(20:43):
of it all, kind of why it's able to start
in the first place, and it is an influence in
why it finishes. It's kind of an early example of
some major global politics going on. Yeah, it's actually a
really complicated story, it is, but it's got these charismatic
figures involved that make it kind of fun to talk about.
(21:04):
And consequently, because it is a good story, it's been
suggested a lot. So we want to thank listeners Gabriella
and Jen and Mike and probably other people who have
suggested Maximilian or Juarez before. And I think that's probably
a good segue to some listener mail. We have three
(21:25):
gorgeous postcards here from listener Abbey from Texas, and she
recently took a trip to visit her in laws in Moscow,
so she sent us a postcard of the Kremlin, a
postcard of the star Bell, and a postcard of the
Novodevichy convent. I hope, I said that correctly about the
last one, she said, this is the convent where Zur
(21:46):
stashed inconvenient women like mother's sisters, cast off wives. If
you paid across under the river into the convent, all
your sins are absolved. Pretty cool. Yeah, and they really
are beautiful postcards. Yes, thank you so much for sending those, Abby.
If any of you would like to send us, maybe
not something so physical that an email suggesting a topic
(22:08):
um like the one we talked about today, or just
any old topic you want to hear about, please email
us at History Podcast at how stuff works dot com,
or you can look us up on Facebook or on
Twitter at Myston History. And if you want to learn
a little bit more about Mexican traditions or about royalty,
we do have articles on both of those on our website.
You can search for them on our homepage at www
(22:30):
dot how stuff works dot com. Be sure to check
out our new video podcast, Stuff from the Future. Join
how Stuff Work staff as we explore the most promising
and perplexing possibilities of tomorrow. The How Stuff Works iPhone
app has a rise. Download it today on iTunes,
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