Charlotte made efforts to win over her subjects, speaking Italian, visiting charitable institutions, inaugurating schools, and dressing in native Lombard dress. [61] On Easter 1858, Maximilian and Charlotte sailed down the Grand Canal of Venice in ceremonial dress. [62] Despite their efforts, anti-Austrian sentiment continued to spread rapidly throughout the Italian population. [56] The answer to this would have surprised him. Today, he is hardly remembered at all. Indeed, were it not for ‘The Execution of Maximilian’, Édouard Manet’s famous painting, the Habsburg archduke who once governed an empire across the Atlantic would be little more than a footnote, his ephemeral empire all but forgotten outside Mexico. Cibrario, Luigi (1869). Notizia storica del nobilissimo ordine supremo della santissima Annunziata. Sunto degli statuti, catalogo dei cavalieri (in Italian). Eredi Botta. p.120 . Retrieved 4 March 2019. This changed with the defeat of the Second Mexican Empire. The association of conservatives with Maximilian and foreign invasion entirely discredited their political project. Now, they were seen as traitors and the term “conservative” became pejorative. To be a conservative was not Mexican. This interpretation was embedded in the liberal historiography of the Porfiriato. So much so that when a writer called Francisco Bulnes published a work questioning Juárez’s role in defeating Maximilian the author received death threats and his publisher was boycotted. The Mexican Revolution, which lasted from 1910 through 1920, also appropriated the legend of Juárez into its own rhetoric of triumphant progress.

Felix Salm-Salm and his wife devised a plan to allow Maximilian to escape execution by bribing his jailors. However, Maximilian would not go through with the plan unless Generals Miramón and Mejía could accompany him and because he felt that shaving his beard to avoid recognition would undermine his dignity if he were to be recaptured. [132] Not destined to rule, Maximilian entered military service, training in the small Imperial Austrian Navy. He 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. [30] Maximilian lived for the most part at Chapultepec Castle, making occasional retreats to his villa at Cuernavaca, where he had also taken a mistress named Concepción Sedano. [49] He preferred to dress plainly and also enjoyed wearing traditional Mexican clothing. [112] He enjoyed the Mexican countryside and would often go horse-riding, walking, and swimming. [113] On Sundays at Chapultepec Palace, Maximilian and Carlota frequently held audiences with people from all social and economic segments, including Mexico's Indigenous peoples. [114] The royal couple also hosted multiple balls for Mexican high society. [115] Deteriorating military situation [ edit ] Smith, Gene (1973). Maximilian and Carlota: A Tale of Romance and Tragedy. Morrow. p.157. ISBN 0-688-00173-4. Hof- und Staats-Handbuch des Großherzogtum Hessen (1865), "Großherzogliche Orden und Ehrenzeichen" p. 10Ouch Charlotte, I feel for you. But before long, Maximilian was looking for even more controversial ways to get thrills. The ensuing saga would feature the great world leaders of the day, popes, bandits and queens; intrigue, conspiracy and cut-throat statecraft, as Mexico became the pivotal battleground in the global balance of power, between Old Europe and the burgeoning force of the New World: American imperialism.

H. Tarlier (1854). Almanach royal officiel, publié, exécution d'un arrête du roi (in French). Vol.1. p. 37. The sympathy between many in the United States and Mexico to defend the principle of republican government in the Americas was genuine. And Washington’s support for Juárez is a rare example of shared interests combining for an outcome beneficial to both countries. Indeed, President Andrés Manuel López Obrador said as much to Secretary of State Antony Blinken during discussions at the National Palace in October 2021. It should, however, be remembered that for many Mexican supporters of Maximilian it was the trauma of the US-Mexican War that convinced them that a monarchy was the best means to prevent the loss of more territory to the United States in the first place. Spoiler alert: Maximilian will also be executed. What happens in between Maximilian’s arrival and his execution would almost inevitably make for exciting reading, but Shawcross tells the story in a particularly readable way.Prince George of Saxony, who previously had been rejected by Charlotte, warned Leopold I of the “calculating character of the Viennese archduke." [44] The son of Leopold I, the Duke of Brabant, and future Leopold II, in contrast, wrote to Queen Victoria, who was Charlotte's cousin, “Max is a youth filled with ingenuity, knowledge, talent and kindness.” McAllen, M. M. (April 2015). Maximilian and Carlota: Europe's Last Empire in Mexico. Trinity University Press. p.380. ISBN 978-1-59534-263-8.

But the truth is, this whole Mexican Hapsburg affair marks not only the passing of an old world, but the start of ours. Beyond the farce and the violence, the deeper significance of Maximilian’s execution in Mexico is that it marks the victory of democracy over monarchy, modernity over tradition, state over church and the Americas over Europe. Parish Flannery: President Lopez Obrador likes to refer to his political enemies and critics as "conservatives." Do you think it make sense for Lopez Obrador to apply this terminology to today's feminists, environmental activists and investigative reporters? a b McAllen, M.M (8 January 2014). Maximilian and Carlota: Europe's Last Empire in Mexico. Trinity University Press. p.222. ISBN 9781595341853.Wooster, Robert (2006). "John M. Schofield and the 'Multipurpose' Army". American Nineteenth Century History. 7 (2): 173–191. doi: 10.1080/14664650600809305. S2CID 143091703. The sentence was carried out in the Cerro de las Campanas at 6:40a.m. on the morning of 19 June 1867, when Maximilian, along with Generals Miramón and Mejía, was executed by a Republican firing squad. He spoke only in Spanish and gave each of his executioners a gold coin in traditional European aristocratic fashion. His last words were, "I forgive everyone, and I ask everyone to forgive me. May my blood which is about to be spilled end the bloodshed which has been experienced in my new motherland. Long live Mexico! Long live its independence!" A photo of Maximilian's firing squad is owned by the Metropolitan Museum of Art, Gilman Collection. [133] Cunningham, Michele. Mexico and the Foreign Policy of Napoleon III (2001) 251 pp. online PhD version Despite the fact that he loved to mean girl palace staff, everyone seemed to love Maximilian. After all, he knew how to turn on the charm when it mattered. He loved talking about the finer things in life like art and culture, and he could be a warm and joyous presence in a court that was notorious for its cold manners. Still, even this had an ulterior motive.