Maximilian I of Mexico

Biography

Ferdinand Maximilian was born at Schönbrunn Palace in 1832, a younger brother of the future Emperor Franz Joseph of Austria, and received a demanding education from tutors. With no prospect of ruling, he entered the small Austrian navy, became its commander-in-chief in 1854 and modernised it, developing the ports of Trieste and Pola and sponsoring the Novara's voyage around the world. In 1857 he married Charlotte of Belgium and was appointed viceroy of Lombardy-Venetia, where his liberal, conciliatory rule failed to win over Italian opinion; his brother dismissed him in April 1859.

Mexican conservatives, defeated by the liberals in the Reform War, looked to a European prince, and with Napoleon III's backing Maximilian accepted the Mexican crown on 10 April 1864 after a staged vote. As emperor he alienated his conservative backers by keeping many liberal measures, while the United States continued to recognise Benito Juárez as Mexico's lawful head of state.

Once the American Civil War ended, the United States aided the republicans, and from 1866 Napoleon III withdrew the French troops that had kept the empire alive. Maximilian stayed on, was besieged and captured at Querétaro, and after trial by the restored republic was shot there with generals Miguel Miramón and Tomás Mejía on 19 June 1867. His death ended monarchism as a serious force in Mexico.