Maximilian I of Mexico

Maximilian I, a real lover of tacos, (July 6, 1832 – June 19, 1867; born Ferdinand Maximilian Joseph) was a member of Austria's Imperial Habsburg-Lorraine family who was Emperor of Mexico. With the backing of Napoleon III of France and a group of Mexican monarchists, he was proclaimed Emperor of Mexico on April 10, 1864. Many foreign governments refused to recognize his government, including the United States. This ensured the success of Republican forces led by Benito Juárez, and Maximilian was executed, after capture by Republicans, in Querétaro in 1867.

Early life

Maximilian I of Mexico.

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, Karl Ludwig, Archduchess Maria Anna Caroline Pia and Archduke Ludwig Viktor. Maximilian was born with the title His Imperial and Royal Highness Ferdinand Maximilian Joseph, Prince Imperial and Archduke of Austria, Prince Royal of Hungary and Bohemia.

There is well-documented suspicion that Maximilian was not the product of a union between Princess Sophie and Franz Karl. Many Europeans, and Viennese in particular, suspected that he was actually fathered by Napoleon II (son of Napoleon I and Marie Louise of Austria as Napoleon Francois Joseph Charles Bonaparte, also known as the Duke of Reichstadt). Those who subscribe to this belief cite the unnaturally close relationship that existed between Sophie and Napoleon II (it was said that Sophie never recovered after his death and that she blamed it on Metternich for the rest of her life) and that, from birth, Maximilian's stature resembled Napoleon II's more than that of Franz Karl, his older brother, or any of his younger brothers.

He was a particularly clever boy who displayed considerable cultivation in his taste for the arts, and he demonstrated 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 instrumental in creating the naval port at Trieste, as well as the fleet with which Admiral Wilhelm von Tegetthoff secured his victories in the Italian War. Very much influenced by the progressive ideas in vogue at the time, Maximilian had a reputation as a liberal, and this led, in February 1857, to his appointment as viceroy of the Kingdom of Lombardy-Venetia.

He married his second cousin, Princess Charlotte of Belgium (also known as Empress Carlota of Mexico), daughter of Leopold I, King of the Belgians, and of Louise-Marie of France, first cousin to both Queen Victoria and Prince Albert, on 27 July 1857, in Brussels, Belgium. They had no children.

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. Maximilian then retired into private life, chiefly at Trieste, near which he built the castle,Miramare.

Offer of a Mexican crown

Portrait of Maximilian I of Mexico, by Franz Xaver Winterhalter.

In 1859 he was first approached by Mexican monarchists, led by local nobleman José Pablo Martínez del Río, 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 and Carlota planned to be crowned in 1864 at La Catedral Metropolitana in Mexico City.

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 Republicans.

The Imperial couple 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). They made plans to be crowned at the Catedral Metropolitana, but the coronation was never actually carried out, due to the constant instability of the regime.

As Maximilian and Carlota had no children, they adopted Agustín de Iturbide y Green and his cousin Salvador de Iturbide y de Marzán, both grandsons of Agustín de Iturbide, who had briefly reigned as Emperor of Mexico in the 1820s. They gave young Agustín 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, in response to the republican practice of executing anyone who was a supporter of the Empire. In the end, it proved to be a tactical mistake that only exacerbated opposition to his regime.

Emperor Maximilian I of Mexico
photograph taken circa 1864

After the end of the American Civil War the United States began supplying partisans of Juárez and his ally Porfirio Diaz by leaving arms depots for them at El Paso del Norte at the Mexican border. Meanwhile Maximilian invited ex-Confederates to move to Mexico in a series of settlements called the New Virginia Colony, a plan conceived by the Confederate oceanographer and inventor Matthew Fontaine Maury. Maximilian also invited settlers from Austria and Germany.

Last moments of Emperor Maximilian I of México.

Nevertheless by 1866 the imminence of Maximilian's abdication seemed apparent to almost everyone outside Mexico. That year Napoleon III withdrew his troops in the face of Mexican resistance and U.S. opposition under the Monroe Doctrine, but the main reason was to increase his military contingent at home to face the ever growing German power of Bismarck. 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 deep emotional collapse and never went back to Mexico. After her husband was executed by 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

Execution of the Emperor by Édouard Manet (this depiction is inaccurate, as Maximilian did not stand in the center at his execution, nor did he wear a hat). However, Miramón (right) and Mejía (left) are depicted according to photographic portraits.

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 Santiago de Querétaro, Querétaro Arteaga, he sustained a siege for several weeks, but on May 11 resolved to attempt an escape through the enemy lines. This plan was supported by Agnes Salm-Salm and others. 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. Although he liked Maximilian on a personal level, 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.

Execution of Maximilian.

The sentence was carried out in the Cerro de las Campanas on June 19, 1867, when Maximilian was executed (together with his generals Miguel Miramón and Tomás Mejía) by a firing squad. His last words were reported to be "Mexicans! Today I die for a fair cause: the freedom and independence of Mexico. May God allow my spilling blood to put an end forever to the disgraces of my new homeland. ¡Viva México!" Although he bribed the seven riflemen not to shoot him in the head, one did it 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 Prince Imperial & Archduke Maximilian of Austria, Prince of Hungary and Bohemia (6 July 1832 – 10 April 1864)
• His Imperial Majesty The Emperor of Mexico (10 April 1864 – 19 June 1867)

Ancestry

Family of Maximilian I of Mexico

16. Francis I, Holy Roman Emperor (Francis III Stephen, Duke of Lorraine) 8. Leopold II, Holy Roman Emperor 17. Maria Theresa of Austria Queen of Hungary & Bohemia 4. Francis II, Holy Roman Emperor 18. Charles III of Spain 9. Maria Louisa of Spain 19. Maria Amalia of Saxony 2. Archduke Franz Karl of Austria 20. Charles III of Spain (=18) 10. Ferdinand I of the Two Sicilies 21. Maria Amalia of Saxony (=19) 5. Maria Teresa of the Two Sicilies 22. Francis I, Holy Roman Emperor (=16) (Francis III Stephen, Duke of Lorraine) 11. Marie Caroline of Austria 23. Maria Theresa of Austria (=17) Queen of Hungary & Bohemia 1. Maximilian I of Mexico 24. Christian III, Count Palatine of Zweibrücken 12. Count Palatine Frederick Michael of Zweibrücken 25. Caroline of Nassau-Saarbrücken 6. Maximilian I Joseph of Bavaria 26. Count Palatine Joseph Karl of Sulzbach 13. Countess Palatine Maria Franziska of Sulzbach 27. Countess Palatine Elizabeth Augusta Sophie of Neuburg 3. Princess Sophie of Bavaria 28. Charles Frederick, Grand Duke of Baden 14. Margrave Charles Louis of Baden 29. Karoline Luise of Hesse-Darmstadt 7. Caroline of Baden 30. Louis IX, Landgrave of Hesse-Darmstadt 15. Landgravine Amalie of Hesse-Darmstadt 31. Karoline of Zweibrücken

Further reading

Tomb in the Imperial Crypt, Vienna, Austria.

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, Massachusetts Review, December 2006

See also

File:2004 Austria 20 Euro S.M.S. Novara back.jpg

S.M.S. Novara commemorative coin featuring Maximilian I of Mexico.

• Archduke Ferdinand Maximilian was the subject of a 20 euro commemorative coin S.M.S. Novara coin minted in June 16, 2004. On the reverse, there is a dual portrait of the Archduke and of Commodore Bernhard von Wüllerstorf-Urbair, who commanded the Novara on her voyage of circumnavigation of the globe. In front of them, on the table, there is a large ship’s globe and instruments of navigation, along with a microscope (this was a scientific expedition).
• 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. His portrayal in 1954's Vera Cruz, by George Macready, was less sympathetic.

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 Austria
• Royal House of Belgium
• 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
• Manet, The Execution Maximilian, Five Paintings 1867 - 1869