'Maximilian I, Emperor of Mexico' (Emperador Maximiliano I de México) (
July 6,
1832 –
June 19,
1867) (born Ferdinand ''Maximilian'' Joseph) was a member of
Austria's Imperial
Habsburg-Lorraine family. With the backing of
Napoleon III of
France and a group of Mexican conservatives, he was proclaimed
Emperor of Mexico on
April 10,
1864. Many foreign governments refused to recognize his government, especially the United States; this ensured the success of Republican forces led by
Benito Juárez, and Maximilian was executed, after his capture by Mexican Republicans, in Querétaro in 1867.
Early life
Maximilian was born in
Schönbrunn,
Vienna,
Austria, the second son of
Archduke Franz Karl of Austria and his wife
Sophie Friederike Dorothee Wilhelmine, Princess of Bavaria. His siblings were Emperor
Franz Josef of Austria (sometimes identified by the English spelling Francis Joseph),
Karl Ludwig, Archduchess Maria Anna Caroline Pia and
Archduke Ludwig Viktor. Maximilian was born as 'His Imperial and Royal Highness Ferdinand Maximilian Joseph, Prince Imperial and Archduke of Austria, Prince Royal of
Hungary and
Bohemia'.
He was a particularly clever boy, showing considerable taste for the
arts and displaying an early interest in
science, especially
botany. He was trained for the
navy, and threw himself into this career with so much zeal that he quickly rose to high command, and was mainly instrumental in creating the naval port of
Trieste and the fleet with which Admiral
Wilhelm von Tegetthoff won his victories in the
Italian War. Very much influenced by the progressive ideas in vogue at the time, he had some reputation as a
liberal, and this led, in February
1857, to his appointment as viceroy of the
Kingdom of Lombardy-Venetia.
He married Princess
Charlotte of Belgium (also known as
Empress Carlota of Mexico), daughter of
Leopold I, King of the Belgians, on
July 27,
1857, in
Brussels,
Belgium.
They lived as the Austrian regents in
Milan until
1859 when Emperor Franz Josef dismissed Maximilian. The emperor was angered by the liberal policies pursued by his brother in Italy. Shortly after Maximilian's dismissal, Austria lost control of most of its Italian possessions. He then retired into private life, chiefly at Trieste, near which he built the beautiful castle
Miramar.
Offer of a Mexican crown
In
1859 he was first approached by Mexican monarchists with a proposal to become the
Emperor of
Mexico. He did not accept at first, but sought to satisfy his restless desire for adventure with a botanical expedition to the tropical forests of
Brazil. However, after the
French intervention in Mexico, under pressure from
Napoleon III and after General
Élie-Frédéric Forey's capture of
Mexico City and the
plebiscite which confirmed his proclamation of the empire, he consented to accept the crown in
1863 (Maximilian was not told of the dubious nature of the plebiscite, which was held while French troops were occupying most of the territory). His decision involved the loss of all his noble rights in Austria, though he was not informed of this until just before he left. Archduchess Charlotte was thereafter known as "Her Imperial Majesty Empress Carlota".
Emperor of Mexico
Maximilian landed at
Veracruz on
May 28,
1864 with the backing of Mexican conservatives and
Napoleon III; but from the very outset he found himself involved in serious difficulties since the Mexican liberals, led by
Benito Juárez, refused to recognize his rule. There was continuous warfare between his French troops and the Mexican republicans.
The Imperial couple were crowned at the
Catedral Metropolitana in 1864 and chose as their seat Mexico City. The Emperor and Empress set up their residence at
Chapultepec Castle, located on the top of a hill formerly at the outskirts of
Mexico City that had been a retreat of
Aztec emperors. Maximilian ordered a wide avenue cut through the city from
Chapultepec to the city center; originally named Avenue of the Empress, it is today Mexico City's famous ''
Paseo de la Reforma'' (The Reform Promenade).
As Maximilian and Carlota had no children, they adopted
AgustÃn de Iturbide y Green and his cousin
Salvador de Iturbide y de Marzán, both grandsons of
AgustÃn de Iturbide, who had briefly reigned as Emperor of Mexico in the 1820s. They gave young AgustÃn the title of "His Highness, the Prince of Iturbide" and intended to groom him as heir to the throne.
To the dismay of his conservative allies, Maximilian upheld several liberal policies proposed by the Juárez administration – such as land reforms, religious freedoms, and extending the right to vote beyond the landholding class. At first Maximilian offered Juárez an amnesty if he would swear allegiance to the crown, which Juárez refused. Later Maximilian ordered all captured followers of Juárez to be shot: a tactical mistake that only exacerbated opposition to his regime.
After the end of the
American Civil War the
United States began supplying arms to the republicans. By
1866 the imminence of Maximilian's
abdication was apparent to almost everyone outside Mexico.
In
1866 Napoleon III withdrew his troops in the face of Mexican resistance and U.S. opposition under the
Monroe Doctrine. Carlota travelled to
Europe, seeking assistance for her husband's regime in
Paris and Vienna and, finally, in
Rome from
Pope Pius IX. Her efforts failed, and she suffered a profound emotional collapse (some say insanity) and never went back to Mexico. After her husband was executed by Mexican republicans the following year, she spent the rest of her life in seclusion, first at
Miramare Castle near
Trieste,
Italy, and then at
Bouchout Castle in
Meise,
Belgium, where she died on
January 19,
1927.
Downfall
Though urged to abandon Mexico by Napoleon III himself, whose withdrawal from Mexico was a great blow to the Mexican Imperial cause, Maximilian refused to desert his followers. Withdrawing, in February
1867, to
Querétaro, he sustained a
siege for several weeks, but on 11 May resolved to attempt an escape through the enemy lines. However the city fell on
May 15,
1867, before he could carry out this plan, and he was captured. Following a
court-martial, he was sentenced to death. Many of the crowned heads of Europe and other prominent figures (including the eminent liberals
Victor Hugo and
Giuseppe Garibaldi) sent telegrams and letters to Mexico pleading for Maximilian's life to be spared, but Juárez refused to commute the sentence, believing that it was necessary to send a message that Mexico would not tolerate any government imposed by foreign powers.
The sentence was carried out on
June 19,
1867, when Maximilian was executed (together with his generals
Miguel Miramón and
Tomás MejÃa) by a firing squad. His last words were reported to be "Poor Carlota!" (referring to his wife, who was absent in Europe seeking help for him, and was driven to madness when she learned of his death).
[1] Although he bribed the seven riflemen not to shoot him in the head, one did anyway. Maximilian's body was embalmed and displayed in Mexico before being buried in the
Imperial Crypt in
Vienna,
Austria, early the following year.
Titles from birth
Titles Maximilian held from birth, in chronological order:
★ ''His Imperial and Royal Highness'' Archduke Maximilian of Austria, Prince of Hungary and Bohemia (
6 July,
1832 –
10 April,
1864)
★ ''His Imperial Majesty'' Maximilian I, Emperor of Mexico (
10 April 1864 –
19 June 1867)
Ancestry
Further reading
Execution of Maximilian
Maximilian's papers were published at
Leipzig in
1867, in seven volumes, under the title ''Aus meinem Leben, Reiseskizzen, Aphorismen, Gedichte'' (''In My Life: Travelogues, Aphorisms & Poems'').
Other works:
★ ''The Cactus Throne'' by Richard O'Connor, ISBN 0-380-00641-3
★ ''The Crown of Mexico'' by
Joan Haslip, ISBN 0-03-086572-7
★ ''Maximilian and Juarez'' by Jasper Ridley, ISBN 1-84212-150-2
★ ''La Corona de Sombra'' by
Rodolfo Usigli ISBN-10: 0390891509 ISBN-13: 978-0390891501
★
From Mexico to Miramar or, Across the Lake of Oblivion by C.M. Mayo, Massachussetts Review, December 2006
See also
★
History of Mexico
★
Habsburg
★
Second Mexican Empire
Franz Liszt wrote a Funeral March in Maximilian's honour in
1867, which was published as No. 6 of ''
Années de Pèlerinage, Troisieme Année'' in
1883.
In the
1939 film ''Juarez'',
Brian Aherne gave a very sympathetic portrayal of Maximilian.
Fernando del Paso's novel ''
Noticias del Imperio'' concerns the life of Maximiliano I and Carlota during their reign in Mexico.
French composer
Darius Milhaud wrote an opera entitled ''Maximilien'', which was premiered at the
Palais Garnier in 1932.
External links
★
Imperial House of Mexico
★
C.M. Mayo's Maximilian Page
★
''Recollections of my life'' by Maximilian I of Mexico Vol. I at archive.org
★
''Recollections of my life'' by Maximilian I of Mexico Vol. II at archive.org
★
''Recollections of my life'' by Maximilian I of Mexico Vol. III at archive.org
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