Maximilian I of Mexico
Archduke Ferdinand Maximilian of Austria was the younger brother of Emperor Franz Joseph I, placed on a Mexican throne by Napoleon III's imperial ambitions. A liberal Habsburg who had served as governor of Lombardy-Venetia, Maximilian was persuaded by a Mexican conservative delegation that the Mexican people wished him as emperor. He accepted the crown in 1864 after Napoleon III promised military support. Paradoxically more liberal than the conservatives who invited him, he retained many of Juárez's Reform Laws and offered Juárez amnesty — which Juárez refused. As French troops withdrew under US pressure (the Monroe Doctrine, invoked after the Civil War ended), his regime collapsed. Maximilian refused to flee, believing his honor required remaining with his Mexican supporters. Captured at Querétaro, he was tried by a military court and executed by firing squad on 19 June 1867. His death shocked European courts and Édouard Manet painted it in three versions. His wife Carlota went insane waiting in Europe for relief that never came.
- Lived: 1832 CE – 1867 CE
- Nationality: austrian
- Roles: emperor, head_of_state
