Second Mexican Empire
Encyclopedia
The Second Mexican Empire was the name of Mexico under the regime established from 1864 to 1867. It was created by Napoleon III of France
, who attempted to use the Mexican adventure
to recapture some of the grandeur of earlier Napoleonic times. The military intervention put Archduke Ferdinand Maximilian of Austria on the Mexican Throne as Maximilian I of Mexico
.
Promoted and installed by the French, with some support from the Austrian and Spanish Crowns, the intervention attempted to re-create a European-style monarchical system in Mexico. The French also had support from conservative elements within Mexico, such as the Mexican nobility
, who aimed to promote stability and end the constant cycle of unrest and revolution.
, daughter of King Léopold I of the Belgians
, he found himself in the middle of a political struggle between the Conservatives that backed him and the opposing Liberals, headed by Benito Juárez
. The two factions had set up parallel governments; the Conservatives in Mexico City
controlling central Mexico and the Liberals in Veracruz
. The Conservatives received funding from Europe, especially from Isabella II of Spain
and Napoleon III of France; the Liberals found backing from United States Presidents Abraham Lincoln
and Andrew Johnson
, after they had finished their own Civil War
in 1865.
Because some viewed Emperor Maximilian as a French puppet, he was not regarded as the legitimate leader of Mexico by them, including the U.S. government. However, many Mexicans did view him favorably and backed his government.
In 1867, Maximilian faced the firing squad at the orders of Benito Juárez
, in the Cerro de las Campanas near Querétaro
.
Maximilian proved to be too liberal for the conservatives, and too conservative for the liberals. He regarded Mexico as his destiny and made many contributions. Before his death, Maximilian adopted the grandsons of the first Mexican emperor, Agustín de Iturbide
. Today, Maximilian von Götzen-Itúrbide
is the pretender to the throne
of Mexico.
, which made the government in Washington powerless to intervene. Encouraged by the Empress Eugenie, who saw herself as the champion of the emasculated Catholic Church in Mexico, Napoleon III took advantage of the situation.
Napoleon III saw the opportunity to make France the great modernizing influence in the Western Hemisphere as well as enabling her to capture the South American markets. To give him further encouragement, there was his half brother, the Duc de Morny, who was the largest single holder of Mexican
bonds.
was set in Mexico during the years of the Second Mexican Empire. The two main characters, played by Clint Eastwood
and Shirley MacLaine
, aided a Mexican resistance force and ultimately led them to overpower a French garrison.
The 1969 film The Undefeated
starring John Wayne
and Rock Hudson
portrays events during the French Intervention in Mexico and was also loosely based on the escape of Confederate
General
Sterling Price
to Mexico after the American Civil War
and his attempt to join with Maximilian's forces.
The 1965 film Major Dundee
starring Charlton Heston
and Richard Harris
featured Union
calvary (supplemented by Galvanized Yankees
) crossing into Mexico and fighting French forces towards the end of the American Civil War.
The 1954 film Vera Cruz
was also set in Mexico and has an appearance of Maximilian having a target shooting competition with Gary Cooper
and Burt Lancaster
's character at Chapultepec Castle. Maximilian was played by George Macready
, who at 54 was twenty years older than the Emperor was in 1866.
The 1939 film Juarez featured Paul Muni
as Benito Juárez, Bette Davis
as Empress Carlota, and Brian Aherne
as Emperor Maximilian. It was based, in part, on Bertita Harding's novel The Phantom Crown (1937).
In Mexican popular culture, there have been soap operas like "El Carruaje" (1967), plays, films, and historical novels such as Fernando del Paso's Noticias del Imperio (1987). Biographies, memoirs, and novels have been published since the 1860s, and among the most recent have been Prince Michael of Greece's The Empress of Farewells, available in various languages.
Napoleon III of France
Louis-Napoléon Bonaparte was the President of the French Second Republic and as Napoleon III, the ruler of the Second French Empire. He was the nephew and heir of Napoleon I, christened as Charles Louis Napoléon Bonaparte...
, who attempted to use the Mexican adventure
French intervention in Mexico
The French intervention in Mexico , also known as The Maximilian Affair, War of the French Intervention, and The Franco-Mexican War, was an invasion of Mexico by an expeditionary force sent by the Second French Empire, supported in the beginning by the United Kingdom and the Kingdom of Spain...
to recapture some of the grandeur of earlier Napoleonic times. The military intervention put Archduke Ferdinand Maximilian of Austria on the Mexican Throne as Maximilian I of Mexico
Maximilian I of Mexico
Maximilian I was the only monarch of the Second Mexican Empire.After a distinguished career in the Austrian Navy, he was proclaimed Emperor of Mexico on April 10, 1864, with the backing of Napoleon III of France and a group of Mexican monarchists who sought to revive the Mexican monarchy...
.
Promoted and installed by the French, with some support from the Austrian and Spanish Crowns, the intervention attempted to re-create a European-style monarchical system in Mexico. The French also had support from conservative elements within Mexico, such as the Mexican nobility
Mexican nobility
Mexican nobility refers to the titled nobles and untitled gentry families of Mexico. Most of the descendants of these families still live in Mexico today, but some can be found in Europe and other countries....
, who aimed to promote stability and end the constant cycle of unrest and revolution.
History
The rule of Emperor Maximiliano was blemished by constant conflict. On his arrival in 1864 with his wife, Empress Carlota of MexicoCharlotte of Belgium
Charlotte of Belgium is remembered today as Carlota of Mexico as empress consort of Emperor Maximilian I of Mexico, ex-Archduke of Austria.-Princess of Belgium:The only daughter of Leopold I, King of the Belgians by his second wife,...
, daughter of King Léopold I of the Belgians
Leopold I of Belgium
Leopold I was from 21 July 1831 the first King of the Belgians, following Belgium's independence from the Netherlands. He was the founder of the Belgian line of the House of Saxe-Coburg-Gotha...
, he found himself in the middle of a political struggle between the Conservatives that backed him and the opposing Liberals, headed by Benito Juárez
Benito Juárez
Benito Juárez born Benito Pablo Juárez García, was a Mexican lawyer and politician of Zapotec origin from Oaxaca who served five terms as president of Mexico: 1858–1861 as interim, 1861–1865, 1865–1867, 1867–1871 and 1871–1872...
. The two factions had set up parallel governments; the Conservatives in Mexico City
Mexico City
Mexico City is the Federal District , capital of Mexico and seat of the federal powers of the Mexican Union. It is a federal entity within Mexico which is not part of any one of the 31 Mexican states but belongs to the federation as a whole...
controlling central Mexico and the Liberals in Veracruz
Veracruz
Veracruz, formally Veracruz de Ignacio de la Llave officially Estado Libre y Soberano de Veracruz de Ignacio de la Llave , is one of the 31 states that, along with the Federal District, comprise the 32 federative entities of Mexico. It is divided in 212 municipalities and its capital city is...
. The Conservatives received funding from Europe, especially from Isabella II of Spain
Isabella II of Spain
Isabella II was the only female monarch of Spain in modern times. She came to the throne as an infant, but her succession was disputed by the Carlists, who refused to recognise a female sovereign, leading to the Carlist Wars. After a troubled reign, she was deposed in the Glorious Revolution of...
and Napoleon III of France; the Liberals found backing from United States Presidents Abraham Lincoln
Abraham Lincoln
Abraham Lincoln was the 16th President of the United States, serving from March 1861 until his assassination in April 1865. He successfully led his country through a great constitutional, military and moral crisis – the American Civil War – preserving the Union, while ending slavery, and...
and Andrew Johnson
Andrew Johnson
Andrew Johnson was the 17th President of the United States . As Vice-President of the United States in 1865, he succeeded Abraham Lincoln following the latter's assassination. Johnson then presided over the initial and contentious Reconstruction era of the United States following the American...
, after they had finished their own Civil War
American Civil War
The American Civil War was a civil war fought in the United States of America. In response to the election of Abraham Lincoln as President of the United States, 11 southern slave states declared their secession from the United States and formed the Confederate States of America ; the other 25...
in 1865.
Because some viewed Emperor Maximilian as a French puppet, he was not regarded as the legitimate leader of Mexico by them, including the U.S. government. However, many Mexicans did view him favorably and backed his government.
In 1867, Maximilian faced the firing squad at the orders of Benito Juárez
Benito Juárez
Benito Juárez born Benito Pablo Juárez García, was a Mexican lawyer and politician of Zapotec origin from Oaxaca who served five terms as president of Mexico: 1858–1861 as interim, 1861–1865, 1865–1867, 1867–1871 and 1871–1872...
, in the Cerro de las Campanas near Querétaro
Querétaro
Querétaro officially Estado Libre y Soberano de Querétaro de Arteaga is one of the 31 states which, with the Federal District, comprise the 32 Federal Entities of Mexico. It is divided into 18 municipalities and its capital city is Santiago de Querétaro....
.
Maximilian proved to be too liberal for the conservatives, and too conservative for the liberals. He regarded Mexico as his destiny and made many contributions. Before his death, Maximilian adopted the grandsons of the first Mexican emperor, Agustín de Iturbide
Agustín de Iturbide
Agustín Cosme Damián de Iturbide y Aramburu , also known as Augustine I of Mexico, was a Mexican army general who built a successful political and military coalition that was able to march into Mexico City on 27 September 1821, decisively ending the Mexican War of Independence...
. Today, Maximilian von Götzen-Itúrbide
Maximilian von Götzen-Iturbide
Maximiliano Gustav Richard Albrecht Agustin von Götzen-Iturbide Maximiliano Gustav Richard Albrecht Agustin von Götzen-Iturbide Maximiliano Gustav Richard Albrecht Agustin von Götzen-Iturbide (born March 2, 1944 in Bistriţa, Romania (then Hungary), is the current head of the former Imperial House...
is the pretender to the throne
Pretender
A pretender is one who claims entitlement to an unavailable position of honour or rank. Most often it refers to a former monarch, or descendant thereof, whose throne is occupied or claimed by a rival, or has been abolished....
of Mexico.
Territorial division
The Empire was divided into 50 departments (departamentos):
|
San Luis Potosí San Luis Potosí officially Estado Libre y Soberano de San Luis Potosí is one of the 31 states which, with the Federal District, comprise the 32 Federal Entities of Mexico. It is divided in 58 municipalities and its capital city is San Luis Potosí.... Fresnillo Fresnillo /fres'nijo/ , founded in 1554 by Francisco de Ibarra, is the second largest city in Zacatecas state, north central Mexico... Guanajuato Guanajuato officially Estado Libre y Soberano de Guanajuato is one of the 31 states which, with the Federal District, comprise the 32 Federal Entities of Mexico. It is divided in 46 municipalities and its capital city is Guanajuato.... Guerrero Guerrero officially Estado Libre y Soberano de Guerrero is one of the 31 states which, with the Federal District, comprise the 32 Federal Entities of Mexico. It is divided in 81 municipalities and its capital city is Chilpancingo.... Iturbide Iturbide may refer to:*Iturbide *House of Iturbide, royal house of Mexico**Agustín I of Mexico*Iturbide Bridge, a locale of the Tampico Affair*Villa de Hidalgo, San Luis Potosí... Jalisco Jalisco officially Estado Libre y Soberano de Jalisco is one of the 31 states which, with the Federal District, comprise the 32 Federal Entities of Mexico. It is located in Western Mexico and divided in 125 municipalities and its capital city is Guadalajara.It is one of the more important states... Mapimí Mapimí is a city and municipal seat of the municipality of Mapimí in the Mexican state of Durango.As of the 1995 INEGI census, the population of the city was 4,765.... Matamoros The name Matamoros, meaning Moor-killer or Moor-slayer in Spanish , may refer to:-People:*Mariano Matamoros, a liberal priest and insurgent active during the Mexican War of Independence*Santiago Matamoros The name Matamoros, meaning Moor-killer or Moor-slayer in Spanish (see Saint James the... Matehuala Matehuala is the fourth-largest city in the Mexican state of San Luis Potosí. It is located at around , at an elevation of about 1,500 m. Matehuala is also the municipal seat of the municipality of the same name, located in the northern part of the state, on the border with the southwestern... Mazatlán Mazatlán is a city in the Mexican state of Sinaloa; the surrounding municipio for which the city serves as the municipal seat is Mazatlán Municipality. It is located at on the Pacific coast, across from the southernmost tip of the Baja California peninsula.Mazatlán is a Nahuatl word meaning... Michoacán Michoacán officially Estado Libre y Soberano de Michoacán de Ocampo is one of the 31 states which, with the Federal District, comprise the 32 Federal Entities of Mexico. It is divided in 113 municipalities and its capital city is Morelia... Nayarit Nayarit officially Estado Libre y Soberano de Nayarit is one of the 31 states which, with the Federal District, comprise the 32 Federal Entities of Mexico. It is divided in 20 municipalities and its capital city is Tepic.It is located in Western Mexico... Nazas Nazas is a city and seat of the municipality of Nazas, in the state of Durango, north-western Mexico.... |
Nuevo León Nuevo León It is located in Northeastern Mexico. It is bordered by the states of Tamaulipas to the north and east, San Luis Potosí to the south, and Coahuila to the west. To the north, Nuevo León has a 15 kilometer stretch of the U.S.-Mexico border adjacent to the U.S... Oaxaca Oaxaca , , officially Estado Libre y Soberano de Oaxaca is one of the 31 states which, along with the Federal District, comprise the 32 federative entities of Mexico. It is divided into 571 municipalities; of which 418 are governed by the system of customs and traditions... Puebla Puebla officially Estado Libre y Soberano de Puebla is one of the 31 states which, with the Federal District, comprise the 32 Federal Entities of Mexico. It is divided in 217 municipalities and its capital city is Puebla.... Querétaro Querétaro officially Estado Libre y Soberano de Querétaro de Arteaga is one of the 31 states which, with the Federal District, comprise the 32 Federal Entities of Mexico. It is divided into 18 municipalities and its capital city is Santiago de Querétaro.... Sinaloa Sinaloa officially Estado Libre y Soberano de Sinaloa is one of the 31 states which, with the Federal District, comprise the 32 Federal Entities of Mexico. It is divided in 18 municipalities and its capital city is Culiacán Rosales.... Sonora Sonora officially Estado Libre y Soberano de Sonora is one of the 31 states which, with the Federal District, comprise the 32 Federal Entities of Mexico. It is divided into 72 municipalities; the capital city is Hermosillo.... Tabasco Tabasco officially Estado Libre y Soberano de Tabasco is one of the 31 states which, with the Federal District, comprise the 32 Federal Entities of Mexico. It is divided in 17 municipalities and its capital city is Villahermosa.... Tamaulipas Tamaulipas officially Estado Libre y Soberano de Tamaulipas is one of the 31 states which, with the Federal District, comprise the 32 Federal Entities of Mexico. It is divided in 43 municipalities and its capital city is Ciudad Victoria. The capital city was named after Guadalupe Victoria, the... Tancítaro Tancítaro is a municipality in the western part of the Mexican state of Michoacán. The municipality has an area of 717.65 square kilometres and is bordered to the north by the municipalities of Peribán and Uruapan, to the east by Nuevo Parangaricutiro, to southeast by Parácuaro, to the south by... Tehuantepec Tehuantepec is a city and municipality in the southeast of the Mexican state of Oaxaca. It is part of the Tehuantepec District in the west of the Istmo Region. The area was important in pre Hispanic period as part of a trade route that connected Central America with what is now the center of... Tlaxcala Tlaxcala officially Estado Libre y Soberano de Tlaxcala is one of the 31 states which along with the Federal District comprise the 32 federative entities of Mexico. It is divided into 60 municipalities and its capital city is Tlaxcala.... Toluca Toluca, formally known as Toluca de Lerdo, is the state capital of Mexico State as well as the seat of the Municipality of Toluca. It is the center of a rapidly growing urban area, now the fifth largest in Mexico. It is located west-southwest of Mexico City and only about 40 minutes by car to the... Tula, Hidalgo Tula, formally, Tula de Allende, is a town and one of the 84 municipalities of Hidalgo, in central-eastern Mexico. The municipality covers an area of 305.8 km² , and as of 2005, the municipality had a total population of 93,296, with 28,432 in the town... Tulancingo Tulancingo is the second-largest city in the Mexican state of Hidalgo. It is located in the southeastern part of the state and also forms one of the 84 municipalities of Hidalgo, as well as the Archdiocese of Tulancingo... |
Tuxpan Tuxpan is both a municipality and city located in the Mexican state of Veracruz. The population of the city was 78,523 and of the municipality was 134,394 inhabitants, according to the INEGI census of 2005, residing in a total area of 1,051.89 km²... Veracruz Veracruz, formally Veracruz de Ignacio de la Llave officially Estado Libre y Soberano de Veracruz de Ignacio de la Llave , is one of the 31 states that, along with the Federal District, comprise the 32 federative entities of Mexico. It is divided in 212 municipalities and its capital city is... Yucatán Yucatán officially Estado Libre y Soberano de Yucatán is one of the 31 states which, with the Federal District, comprise the 32 Federal Entities of Mexico. It is divided in 106 municipalities and its capital city is Mérida.... Zacatecas Zacatecas officially Estado Libre y Soberano de Zacatecas is one of the 31 states which, with the Federal District, comprise the 32 Federal Entities of Mexico. It is divided in 58 municipalities and its capital city is Zacatecas.... |
The role of France
Napoleon III had more ambitious goals in mind than merely the recovery of France's debts. Heavily influenced by his wife the Empress Eugenie, he was bent on reviving the Mexican monarchy. He wanted to place a monarch on the throne who would promote the interests of France. Prior to 1861 any interference in the affairs of Mexico by any of the European powers would have been viewed as a challenge to the United States and no one wanted to provoke a conflict with them. However in 1861 the USA was embroiled in its own bloody conflict, the American Civil WarAmerican Civil War
The American Civil War was a civil war fought in the United States of America. In response to the election of Abraham Lincoln as President of the United States, 11 southern slave states declared their secession from the United States and formed the Confederate States of America ; the other 25...
, which made the government in Washington powerless to intervene. Encouraged by the Empress Eugenie, who saw herself as the champion of the emasculated Catholic Church in Mexico, Napoleon III took advantage of the situation.
Napoleon III saw the opportunity to make France the great modernizing influence in the Western Hemisphere as well as enabling her to capture the South American markets. To give him further encouragement, there was his half brother, the Duc de Morny, who was the largest single holder of Mexican
Mexico
The United Mexican States , commonly known as Mexico , is a federal constitutional republic in North America. It is bordered on the north by the United States; on the south and west by the Pacific Ocean; on the southeast by Guatemala, Belize, and the Caribbean Sea; and on the east by the Gulf of...
bonds.
Chronology
- 1832: Archduke Ferdinand Maximilian born on 6 July, the second son of Archduke Franz Karl and his wife Sophie in Schönbrunn Palace, Vienna.
- 1851: Begins career in the Imperial and Royal Navy with the rank of lieutenant.
- 1856: The construction of his castle of Miramar near the Adriatic port of Trieste began.
- 1857: Ferdinand Max appointed the governor-general of the northern Italian provinces of Lombardy-Venetia. On the 27th July marries the Princess Charlotte of Belgium in Brussels.
- 1859: On the 19th April relieved of his post as governor-general. War breaks out between France and Piedmont-Sardinia.
- 1861: Napoleon III suggests Maximilian as a candidate for the throne of Mexico.
- 1863: In October a Mexican delegation arrives at Miramar to offer Maximilian and Charlotte the crown. Maximilian makes his acceptance conditional on a national plebiscite in his favour.
- 1864: On the 14th April Maximilian and Charlotte leave Miramar on board the Austrian ship NOVARA to sail to Mexico.
- 1865: End of the American civil war. Pressure on France to respect the Monroe Doctrine.
- 1865: Maximilian adopts Don Agustin and Don Salvador.
- 1866: Napoleon III orders the withdrawal of French troops from Mexico. The Emperor Maximilian refuses to desert his Mexican supporters. Charlotte sails to Europe to plead for help, growing persecution mania robs her of her senses. Republican troops on the advance in Mexico.
- 1867: Maximilian and his Imperial troops besieged in the town of Querétaro. The town falls through betrayal after 72 days. On 19 June the Emperor Maximilian and two loyalist generals executed by a republican firing-squad on the Hill of the Bells.
- 1868: On the18th January the body of Maximilian laid to rest among his ancestors in the Imperial Crypt of the Capuchin Church in Vienna.
Popular culture
The 1970 film Two Mules for Sister SaraTwo Mules for Sister Sara
Two Mules for Sister Sara is an American-Mexican western film starring Clint Eastwood and Shirley MacLaine set during the French intervention in Mexico. The film was released in 1970 and directed by Don Siegel. It was to have been the first in a five-year exclusive association between Universal...
was set in Mexico during the years of the Second Mexican Empire. The two main characters, played by Clint Eastwood
Clint Eastwood
Clinton "Clint" Eastwood, Jr. is an American film actor, director, producer, composer and politician. Eastwood first came to prominence as a supporting cast member in the TV series Rawhide...
and Shirley MacLaine
Shirley MacLaine
Shirley MacLaine is an American film and theater actress, singer, dancer, activist and author, well-known for her beliefs in new age spirituality and reincarnation. She has written a large number of autobiographical works, many dealing with her spiritual beliefs as well as her Hollywood career...
, aided a Mexican resistance force and ultimately led them to overpower a French garrison.
The 1969 film The Undefeated
The Undefeated (1969 film)
The Undefeated is a 1969 American Western film directed by Andrew V. McLaglen and John Wayne and starring John Wayne and Rock Hudson. The film portrays events surrounding the French Intervention in Mexico and is also loosely based on General J. O...
starring John Wayne
John Wayne
Marion Mitchell Morrison , better known by his stage name John Wayne, was an American film actor, director and producer. He epitomized rugged masculinity and became an enduring American icon. He is famous for his distinctive calm voice, walk, and height...
and Rock Hudson
Rock Hudson
Roy Harold Scherer, Jr., later Roy Harold Fitzgerald , known professionally as Rock Hudson, was an American film and television actor, recognized as a romantic leading man during the 1950s and 1960s, most notably in several romantic comedies with Doris Day.Hudson was voted "Star of the Year",...
portrays events during the French Intervention in Mexico and was also loosely based on the escape of Confederate
Confederate States Army
The Confederate States Army was the army of the Confederate States of America while the Confederacy existed during the American Civil War. On February 8, 1861, delegates from the seven Deep South states which had already declared their secession from the United States of America adopted the...
General
General
A general officer is an officer of high military rank, usually in the army, and in some nations, the air force. The term is widely used by many nations of the world, and when a country uses a different term, there is an equivalent title given....
Sterling Price
Sterling Price
Sterling Price was a lawyer, planter, and politician from the U.S. state of Missouri, who served as the 11th Governor of the state from 1853 to 1857. He also served as a United States Army brigadier general during the Mexican-American War, and a Confederate Army major general in the American Civil...
to Mexico after the American Civil War
American Civil War
The American Civil War was a civil war fought in the United States of America. In response to the election of Abraham Lincoln as President of the United States, 11 southern slave states declared their secession from the United States and formed the Confederate States of America ; the other 25...
and his attempt to join with Maximilian's forces.
The 1965 film Major Dundee
Major Dundee
Major Dundee is a 1965 Western film written by Harry Julian Fink and directed by Sam Peckinpah. It starred Charlton Heston and Richard Harris as officers from opposing sides in the American Civil War who band together to hunt down a band of Apaches....
starring Charlton Heston
Charlton Heston
Charlton Heston was an American actor of film, theatre and television. Heston is known for heroic roles in films such as The Ten Commandments, Ben-Hur for which he won the Academy Award for Best Actor, El Cid, and Planet of the Apes...
and Richard Harris
Richard Harris
Richard St John Harris was an Irish actor, singer-songwriter, theatrical producer, film director and writer....
featured Union
Union Army
The Union Army was the land force that fought for the Union during the American Civil War. It was also known as the Federal Army, the U.S. Army, the Northern Army and the National Army...
calvary (supplemented by Galvanized Yankees
Galvanized Yankees
Galvanized Yankees was a term from the American Civil War used to refer to former Confederate prisoners of war who had sworn allegiance to the Union. Due to doubts about their ultimate loyalty, Galvanized Yankees were generally assigned to garrison forts far from the Civil War battlefields or in...
) crossing into Mexico and fighting French forces towards the end of the American Civil War.
The 1954 film Vera Cruz
Vera Cruz (film)
Vera Cruz is a 1954 American Technicolor Western starring Gary Cooper and Burt Lancaster, and featuring Denise Darcel, Sara Montiel, and Cesar Romero. The movie was directed by Robert Aldrich from a story by Borden Chase...
was also set in Mexico and has an appearance of Maximilian having a target shooting competition with Gary Cooper
Gary Cooper
Frank James Cooper, known professionally as Gary Cooper, was an American film actor. He was renowned for his quiet, understated acting style and his stoic, but at times intense screen persona, which was particularly well suited to the many Westerns he made...
and Burt Lancaster
Burt Lancaster
Burton Stephen "Burt" Lancaster was an American film actor noted for his athletic physique and distinctive smile...
's character at Chapultepec Castle. Maximilian was played by George Macready
George Macready
George Peabody Macready, Jr. , was an American stage, film, and television actor often cast in roles as polished villains.-Background:...
, who at 54 was twenty years older than the Emperor was in 1866.
The 1939 film Juarez featured Paul Muni
Paul Muni
Paul Muni was an Austrian-Hungarian-born American stage and film actor...
as Benito Juárez, Bette Davis
Bette Davis
Ruth Elizabeth "Bette" Davis was an American actress of film, television and theater. Noted for her willingness to play unsympathetic characters, she was highly regarded for her performances in a range of film genres, from contemporary crime melodramas to historical and period films and occasional...
as Empress Carlota, and Brian Aherne
Brian Aherne
Brian Aherne was a British actor of both stage and screen, who found success in Hollywood.-Early life and stage career:...
as Emperor Maximilian. It was based, in part, on Bertita Harding's novel The Phantom Crown (1937).
In Mexican popular culture, there have been soap operas like "El Carruaje" (1967), plays, films, and historical novels such as Fernando del Paso's Noticias del Imperio (1987). Biographies, memoirs, and novels have been published since the 1860s, and among the most recent have been Prince Michael of Greece's The Empress of Farewells, available in various languages.
See also
- First Mexican EmpireFirst Mexican EmpireThe Mexican Empire was the official name of independent Mexico under a monarchical regime from 1821 to 1823. The territory of the Mexican Empire included the continental intendencies and provinces of New Spain proper...
- Pretenders to the Imperial Throne of Mexico
- Mexican Imperial OrdersMexican Imperial OrdersThere were three Imperial Orders of the Mexican Empire were created to reward those subjects loyal to the Monarchy during the two periods of the Mexican Empire. Those were the Order of Guadalupe, the Order of the Mexican Eagle and the Order of Saint Charles.All three were abolished after the fall...
- Imperial Crown of MexicoImperial Crown of MexicoThe Imperial Crown of Mexico was the crown created for the monarch of Mexico on two separate occasions. The crown of the First Mexican Empire, ruled by Agustin I of Mexico, can be seen in his many portraits , but its history is not entirely known....
- List of Emperors of Mexico
- French intervention in MexicoFrench intervention in MexicoThe French intervention in Mexico , also known as The Maximilian Affair, War of the French Intervention, and The Franco-Mexican War, was an invasion of Mexico by an expeditionary force sent by the Second French Empire, supported in the beginning by the United Kingdom and the Kingdom of Spain...
- House of Habsburg-IturbideHouse of Habsburg-IturbideThe House of Habsburg-Itúrbide is the second royal house after the House of Itúrbide In 1822 when the newly independent Mexican congress confirmed the title of Agustín I, Constitutional Emperor of Mexico on Agustín de Itúrbide, a Mexican general. After the demise of the First Mexican Empire less...