Mexico, French in

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MEXICO, FRENCH IN

MEXICO, FRENCH IN. In October 1861, the United Kingdom, France, and Spain signed a treaty to undertake coercive action to secure reparation for their subjects and the execution of certain obligations contracted by Mexico. They agreed to refrain from intervention in Mexico's internal affairs and neither to make any territorial aggrandizements nor to influence its form of government. Spanish armed forces promptly seized Veracruz. After French and British soldiers arrived on the Mexican coast, a conference of commanders of the allied forces held at Orizaba could not agree. The British and Spaniards decided to withdraw from Mexico. The French army captured Mexico City in June 1862.The invaders convoked an assembly of notables, which decided to establish a Mexican monarchy headed by Ferdinand Maximilian, archduke of Austria, whom Napoleon III had selected.

Attracted by the glittering dream of a throne, Maximilian accepted the invitation. On 10 April 1864, he signed the Convention of Miramar, which specified that Napoleon III would support the exotic empire until 1867. After Maximilian's arrival in Mexico, he sought to secure recognition by the United States, but that government continued to support the republican leader, President Benito Juárez, who took refuge on the northern frontiers of his country.

The fortunes of Maximilian's empire largely depended on the outcome of the American Civil War. During that struggle, the United States made mild protests against French intervention in Mexico, but after the defeat of the Confederacy, the United States began to protest more strongly. France vainly attempted to secure the recognition of Maximilian's government by the United States or to postpone the withdrawal of its troops. Finally, on 12 March 1867, the last detachment of French soldiers left Mexican soil. The soldiers of Juárez soon captured Maximilian, and he faced a firing squad on 19 June 1867. Thus, the United States had repelled what it deemed a clear violation of the Monroe Doctrine, and republican government returned to Mexico.

BIBLIOGRAPHY

Leonard, Thomas M., ed. United States-Latin American Relations, 1850–1903: Establishing a Relationship. Tuscaloosa: University of Alabama Press, 1999.

Schoonover, Thomas D., ed. Mexican Lobby: Matías Romero in Washington, 1861–1867. Lexington: University Press of Kentucky, 1986.

Schoultz, Lars. Beneath the United States: A History of U.S. Policy toward Latin America. Cambridge, Mass.: Harvard University Press, 1998.

Weeks, Charles A. The Juárez Myth in Mexico. Tuscaloosa: University of Alabama Press, 1987.

William SpenceRobertson/a. e.