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Archduke Ferdinand Maximilian

Maximilian
Emperor Maximiliano around 1865.jpg
Emperor Maximiliano around 1864
Emperor of Mexico
Reign 10 April 1864 – 19 June 1867
Predecessor Monarchy re-established
(Benito Juárez, President of Mexico)
Successor Monarchy abolished
(Benito Juárez, President of Mexico)
Regent
Born (1832-07-06)6 July 1832
Schönbrunn, Vienna, Austria
Died 19 June 1867(1867-06-19) (aged 34)
Cerro de las Campanas, Santiago de Querétaro, Mexico
Burial Imperial Crypt, Vienna, Austria
Spouse Charlotte of Belgium
Full name
Ferdinand Maximilian Joseph
House Habsburg-Lorraine (by birth)
Iturbide (by adoption)
Father Archduke Franz Karl of Austria
Mother Princess Sophie of Bavaria
Religion Roman Catholicism
Signature Cursive signature in ink
Full name
Ferdinand Maximilian Joseph
Styles of
Maximilian I of Mexico
Reference style His Imperial Majesty
Spoken style Your Imperial Majesty
Alternative style Sire

Maximilian (Spanish: Maximiliano; born Ferdinand Maximilian Joseph; 6 July 1832 – 19 June 1867) was the only monarch of the Second Mexican Empire. He was a younger brother of the Austrian emperor Francis Joseph I. After a distinguished career in the Austrian Navy, he accepted an offer by Napoleon III of France to rule Mexico. France (along with the United Kingdom and Spain, who both withdrew the following year after negotiating agreements with Mexico's "democratic" government) had invaded Mexico in the winter of 1861, as part of the War of the French Intervention. Seeking to legitimize French rule in the Americas, Napoleon III invited Maximilian to establish a new Mexican monarchy for him. With the support of the French army, and a group of conservative Mexican monarchists hostile to the liberal administration of new Mexican President Benito Juárez, Maximilian traveled to Mexico. Once there, he declared himself Emperor of Mexico on 10 April 1864.

The Empire managed to gain recognition by major European powers including Britain, Austria, and Prussia. The United States however, continued to recognize Juarez as the legal president of Mexico. Maximilian never completely defeated the Mexican Republic; Republican forces led by President Benito Juárez continued to be active during Maximilian's rule. With the end of the American Civil War in 1865, the United States (which had been too distracted by its own civil war to confront the Europeans' 1861 invasion of what it considered to be its sphere of influence) began more explicit aid of President Juárez's forces. Matters worsened for Maximilian after the French armies withdrew from Mexico in 1866. His self-declared empire collapsed, and he was captured and executed by the Mexican government in 1867. His wife, Charlotte of Belgium (Carlota), had left for Europe earlier to try to build support for her husband's regime; after his execution, however, she suffered an emotional collapse and was declared insane.

Maximilian was born on 6 July 1832 in the Schönbrunn Palace in Vienna, capital of the Austrian Empire. He was baptized the following day as Ferdinand Maximilian Joseph. The first name honored his godfather and paternal uncle, The King of Hungary and the second honored his maternal grandfather, The King of Bavaria.


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