88 Facts About Maximilian I of Mexico

Maximilian I was an Austrian archduke who became emperor of the Second Mexican Empire from 10 April 1864 until his execution by the Mexican Republic on 19 June 1867.

Since Maximilian was a descendant of Charles V, Holy Roman Emperor, King of Spain when the Spaniards conquered the Aztecs and first brought Mexico into the Spanish Empire, a status it held until the Mexican independence in 1821, Maximilian seemed a perfect candidate for the conservatives' plans for monarchy in Mexico.

Maximilian I of Mexico was interested in assuming the throne, but only with guarantees of French support.

When Maximilian was first mentioned as a possible emperor of Mexico, the idea seemed farfetched, but circumstances changed and made it viable.

Mexican monarchists sought a European head of state and, with the brokering of Napoleon III, Maximilian I of Mexico was invited to establish what would come to be known as the Second Mexican Empire.

Maximilian's hold on power in Mexico was shaky from the beginning.

Rather than enacting policies that would return power to Mexican conservatives, Maximilian instead sought to implement liberal policies, losing him his domestic conservative backers.

Maximilian I of Mexico was tried and executed by the restored Republican government alongside his generals Miguel Miramon, a former President of Mexico, and Tomas Mejia Camacho in June 1867.

Maximilian I of Mexico's death marked the end of monarchism as a major force in Mexico.

Maximilian I of Mexico was born on 6 July 1832 in the Schonbrunn Palace in Vienna, capital of the Austrian Empire.

Maximilian I of Mexico was baptized the following day as Ferdinand Maximilian Josef Maria.

Maximilian I of Mexico's father was Archduke Franz Karl, the second surviving son of Emperor Francis I, during whose reign he was born.

Maximilian I of Mexico was thus a member of the House of Habsburg-Lorraine.

Maximilian I of Mexico's mother was Princess Sophie of Bavaria, a member of the House of Wittelsbach.

Rumors at the court alleged that Maximilian I of Mexico was the product of an extramarital affair between his mother and Napoleon II, Duke of Reichstadt.

The existence of an illicit affair between Sophie and the duke, and any possibility that Maximilian I of Mexico was conceived from such a union, are dubious.

Maximilian I of Mexico's education was then entrusted to a tutor.

From an early age, Maximilian I of Mexico tried to surpass his older brother Franz Joseph in everything, attempting to prove to all that he was the better qualified of the two and thus deserving of more than second-place status, but with primogeniture, Maximilian I of Mexico was destined for secondary status.

Maximilian I of Mexico was joyful, highly charismatic, and able to captivate those around him with ease.

Maximilian I of Mexico accompanied his brother on campaigns to put down rebellions throughout the empire.

Maximilian I of Mexico was horrified at what he regarded as senseless brutality and openly complained about it.

At a court ball in Vienna, Maximilian I of Mexico met and fell in love with a young Moldovan noblewoman, Viktoria Kesco, paternal aunt of the future Queen of Serbia.

Not destined to rule, Maximilian I of Mexico entered military service, training in the small Imperial Austrian Navy.

Maximilian I of Mexico displayed zeal in his naval career and his direct link with Emperor Franz Joseph enabled the diversion of resources to what had previously been a neglected service.

Maximilian I of Mexico embarked on the corvette Vulkan, for a brief cruise through Greece.

Maximilian I of Mexico's health worsened over the months, developing tuberculosis.

Maximilian I of Mexico's doctors advised her to leave Lisbon and go to Madeira, where she arrived in August 1852.

Maximilian I of Mexico learned to command sailors and received a solid education regarding the technical aspects of navigation.

Maximilian I of Mexico was instrumental in creating the naval ports at Trieste and Pola, as well as the battle fleet with which Admiral Wilhelm von Tegetthoff would later secure his victories.

Maximilian I of Mexico was however criticized for diverting massive funds to ship building from the training, sea going experience, and morale of sailors.

Maximilian I of Mexico initiated a large-scale scientific expedition.

Maximilian I of Mexico was impressed enough to immediately consider building a residence there, a goal which he actually carried out in March 1856, when he began construction of what would later be called Miramare Castle, located near the city of Trieste.

At end of the Crimean War in March 1856 that brought a period of peace to Europe, Maximilian I of Mexico traveled to Paris to meet Emperor of the French, Napoleon III and his wife the Empress Eugenie.

Maximilian I of Mexico stands tall over the century and shall surely leave his mark on it.

Maximilian I of Mexico was accompanied by the Belgian princes, visiting the cities of Tournai, Kortrijk, Bruges, Ghent, Antwerp, and Charleroi.

In Brussels, Maximilian I of Mexico met the only daughter of the king and the late queen Louise of Orleans, Charlotte of Belgium, and romance blossomed.

Maximilian I of Mexico later remarked on the contrast of the Belgian Palace of Laeken to the splendor of the Imperial Viennese royal residences, not surprising since Belgium was but a small and new kingdom.

In October 1866, as the Empire began to falter, Maximilian I of Mexico wrote to Alice Iturbide that he was returning her son, Agustin, to her care.

One biographer claims that Maximilian took a mistress in Mexico.

Historian Enrique Krauze suggests that Maximilian I of Mexico was rendered sterile due to venereal disease contracted from a Brazilian woman when he spent time in the country following his dismissal as viceroy.

Maximilian I of Mexico was arrested as a traitor by the French and executed by firing squad in 1917.

The nearest living agnatic relative to Maximilian is the head of the Habsburg family, Karl von Habsburg, and members of the House of Habsburg-Lorraine still reside in Mexico, among them Carlos Felipe de Habsburgo, the first male of the former ruling house to be born in the country.

Maximilian I of Mexico worked on developing the imperial navy, and he organized the expedition of the ship Novara, which would turn out to be the first circumnavigation of the globe conducted by the Austrian Empire, a scientific expedition, which lasted more than two years from 1857 to 1859, and which involved the participation of many Viennese intellectuals.

Maximilian I of Mexico went to Vienna in April 1858 to ask his brother the emperor to grant him both military and administrative jurisdiction, while continuing a policy of concessions.

Maximilian I of Mexico hoped to moderate the severe dispositions of General Ferenc Gyulay.

Maximilian I of Mexico had just received permission from his brother to open the private law schools in Pavia and Padua.

In Pavia, one of the cities governed by Maximilian I of Mexico, Austria created a veritable state of military occupation.

The failed monarchy of Agustin I that saw him forced to abdicate, swearing to remain in exile, met its final demise when he returned to Maximilian I of Mexico and was shot in 1824.

The name of Maximilian I of Mexico came up swiftly in discussions among the Mexican monarchists on potential candidates for a Mexican throne.

Maximilian I of Mexico was unlikely to ever rule in Europe because of his elder brother's position as emperor and disapproval of his younger brother's liberalism.

In that year, Maximilian I of Mexico declined the offer, but several attempts were made by the Mexican royalists.

The Assembly met in July 1863 and resolved to invite Maximilian to be Emperor of Mexico.

The Mexican plebiscite duly held in occupied territory "was a farce", but Maximilian I of Mexico accepted the proclamation that a majority of Mexicans voted in favor of him as emperor.

The crown of Mexico came at a high cost to Maximilian.

Emperor Franz Joseph isolated his younger brother Maximilian I of Mexico by forcing him to renounce any rights to the Austrian throne or as an archduke of Austria.

On 9 April 1864 Maximilian I of Mexico reluctantly agreed to the "Family Pact".

The new emperor of Mexico landed at Veracruz on 29 May 1864, and received a sparse reception from the townspeople due to a yellow fever outbreak.

Maximilian I of Mexico had the backing of Mexican conservatives, nobility, clergy, some Native American populations, and numerous European monarchs, but from the very outset he found himself involved in serious difficulties, since the Liberal forces led by President Benito Juarez refused to recognize his rule.

Maximilian I of Mexico acquired a country retreat at Cuernavaca, a villa known as the Jardin Borda.

Maximilian I of Mexico was in agreement and sought to establish a regime that included liberals.

Maximilian I of Mexico never left Mexico's national territory, continuing to be recognized by the US government.

Maximilian I of Mexico refused, decreeing freedom of worship and confirmed the sale of Church property, as well as other liberal reforms.

Maximilian I of Mexico had other priorities as well, including reorganizing his ministries and reforming the Imperial Mexican Army.

Maximilian I of Mexico attempted to implement a law guaranteeing the natives a living wage and outlawing corporal punishment for them, along with limiting their inheritance of debts.

Maximilian I of Mexico appointed the Indigenous scholar Faustino Galicia as an advisor to his government.

Many of Maximilian I of Mexico's reforms were simply revivals of previous Mexican legislation.

Franciso Arrangoiz who had been Maximilian's minister to Britain, Holland, and Belgium, later accused Maximilian of passing such reforms to gain favorable public opinion in Europe, and to give the impression that he had a 'creative genius' and was 'lifting Mexico out of barbarism.

Maximilian I of Mexico celebrated Mexican independence by commemorating the Cry of Dolores, in the actual town where it took place.

Maximilian I of Mexico lived for the most part at Chapultepec Castle, making occasional retreats to his villa at Cuernavaca, where he had taken a mistress named Concepcion Sedano.

Maximilian I of Mexico preferred to dress plainly and enjoyed wearing traditional Mexican clothing.

Maximilian I of Mexico enjoyed the Mexican countryside and would often go horse-riding, walking, and swimming.

An unofficial American raid occurred near Brownsville, and Juarez's minister to the United States, Matias Romero, proposed that General Ulysses S Grant or General William Tecumseh Sherman intervene in Mexico to help the liberals.

Maximilian I of Mexico spent the rest of her life in seclusion in Belgium, living until 1927.

In October 1866 Maximilian I of Mexico moved his cabinet to Orizaba and was widely rumored to be leaving the nation.

Maximilian I of Mexico intended to appeal to the nation in order to hold a national assembly which would then decide what form of government the Mexican nation was to take.

Lopez appears to have assumed that Maximilian I of Mexico would be allowed to escape.

The city fell on 15 May 1867, and Maximilian I of Mexico was captured the next morning after a failed attempt to escape through Republican lines by a loyal hussar cavalry brigade led by Felix Salm-Salm.

Maximilian I of Mexico was captured along with his generals Tomas Mejia Camacho and Miguel Miramon.

Felix Salm-Salm and his wife devised a plan to allow Maximilian I of Mexico to escape execution by bribing his jailors.

Maximilian I of Mexico spoke only in Spanish and gave each of his executioners a gold coin in traditional European aristocratic fashion.

Maximilian I of Mexico's execution was portrayed in a series of three paintings by French painter Edouard Manet, who had Republican sympathies.

In Bad Ischl, the Maximilian I of Mexico fountain on the Traun, built in 1868, is a reminder of him.

Maximilian I of Mexico, played by actor Johannes Nussbaum, is portrayed in an unfavorable light.

In literary fiction, Harry Turtledove's 1997 alternative history novel How Few Remain where the Confederate States of America won the American Civil War, Maximilian is still Emperor in 1881 and sells the provinces of Sonora and Chihuahua to the Confederacy for CS $3,000,000 because his country is financially strapped.

Conspiracy theorists writing in German allege Maximilian I of Mexico was not executed and that, having entered a secret agreement with Juarez, lived in exile in El Salvador as Justo Armas until 1936.

Maximilian I of Mexico saw himself as a liberal, aligned with the ideas of Mexican liberalism, but he lacked the understanding that his position was tenuous.

Maximilian I of Mexico was initially supported by Mexican conservatives, who failed to realize Maximilian I of Mexico's political outlook.

Mexican conservativism survived the execution of Maximilian I of Mexico, to fight the increased anticlericalism in the wake of the Mexican Revolution, but Mexican monarchism did not.