SECOND FRENCH INTERVENTION: BACKGROUND AND DEVELOPMENT - HISTORY - 2024

The second French intervention in Mexico was a conflict between France and the Central American country, in which the Second Mexican Empire, endorsed by Napoleon III, was established. French troops fought against Mexico with the aim of ending the Benito Juárez government, an objective that was not achieved.

This conflict had the support of England and Spain, countries that gave France carte blanche for intervention. In addition, the United States gave its support to Mexico and American threats against France were key to the eventual Mexican victory.

Flag of the Second Mexican Empire

The war began in 1861 and culminated in the Central American victory in 1867, when the government of Benito Juárez was reestablished and Maximilian I of Austria, who had been appointed emperor of the country, was assassinated.

The conflict had the support of the Mexican conservative party and the Roman Catholic Church, but finally the Juarez troops prevailed over French rule.

In fact, the French troops withdrew completely in 1867. This led to the execution of Maximilian I and the reestablishment of the Mexican Republic.

Background

The Seven Years War

Although the Seven Years' War was an entirely European conflict, the consequences of this war were one of the main reasons why the French later decided to invade Mexico.

The conflict that broke out between Great Britain and France also spread to their colonies in America and the end of the war cost France a large part of its dominance on the continent. In fact, by the middle of the 19th century the Gauls had lost almost all of their territorial dominance in the New World.

This problem preceded a larger cause that was a catalyst for the start of the war: the expansive desire of the French and their need for a colonial empire.

Victory of Juárez in 1861

After the end of the War of Reform with the defeat of the conservatives in Mexico, the presidential elections were held. Benito Juárez (the leader of the Liberals during the course of the war) was the one who obtained the presidency in a legitimate way.

When the conflict ended, the Conservatives remained a problem. Its leader, Félix María Zuloaga, continued to cause conflicts in the country.

Furthermore, Mexico's productive infrastructure had completely collapsed and its production dropped significantly.

Cancellation of payment of debts

After the victory of Juárez, Mexico was in a very precarious economic situation, as the country was not producing enough money to pay the debts it had with France, Spain and the United Kingdom.

After constant battles fought across the country for three years (and the latent problem that Zuloaga continued to present), Mexico did not have the economic capacity to continue sending money to Europe.

Benito Juárez decided to stop the payment of the foreign debt that was had with the European nations, which led to the signing of the Treaty of London.

Causes

The Treaty of London

When Benito Juárez put a stop to the payment of the foreign debt, the affected European nations were France, Spain and Great Britain.

To seek to solve the problem, the leaders of the countries signed an agreement in London, in which they proposed to carry out actions to pressure Mexico to pay its debts.

This led the three countries to establish economic blockades in Central America. The three European nations decided to send a significant amount of troops to Mexico, but eventually, thanks to Mexico's diplomatic efforts, the English and Spanish returned to Europe. France maintained its invasive posture.

This movement on the part of the European powers was a clear violation of the Treaty of Monroe, which prohibited the European military presence in the American continent.

However, the United States was fighting its own civil war in 1861, which prevented it from originally intervening in the conflict.

Napoleon III's ambition

Napoleon III was in charge of commanding France at the time of the intervention. By that time, the French no longer had territory in the New World as a result of the conflicts that took place during the previous centuries.

One of the main reasons why the French decided not to withdraw their troops from Mexico was because the European nation wanted to regain territorial dominance in America. Their leader saw this as the perfect opportunity to do so.

Development

Originally, European troops from the three nations landed in Veracruz. Its original objective was to generate enough pressure to force Mexico to pay its debts; unable to do so, they took the city.

Many Mexican populations had nothing to oppose European rule and surrendered to the troops. The French, after completely seizing Veracruz, advanced to Mexico City.

It was during this advance that they reached Puebla, where the troops of the pro-Juárez general, Ignacio Zaragoza, faced a much larger number of French troops.

However, the battle that was fought saw the local troops emerge victorious. This fact significantly increased the morale of the Mexican troops throughout the war.

As Puebla guaranteed easy access to the capital of Mexico, the French insisted on its capture and finally succeeded, after two months of constant siege.

After the taking of this city they advanced to Mexico City, where Benito Juárez was. Therefore, the president had to evacuate the capital.

The Second Mexican Empire

After little resistance offered by local troops in Mexico City, the French seized the capital and appointed a provisional government.

However, shortly afterwards the French Conservatives invited Maximilian I of Austria to take the Mexican Crown, as planned by Napoleon III, King of France.

This led to the signing of the Treaty of Miramar, where all the terms between Napoleon III and Maximilian I were established for the taking of Mexico.

After the signing, Maximiliano I and his wife Carlota arrived in Mexico in 1864, settling in the country's capital. This forced the Juárez government to relocate further north.

The Austrian king (belonging to the powerful Habsburg family) was nothing more than a puppet of the French Empire in its attempt to dominate the Mexican territory. However, the king was a careful person who had no ill intentions for the people of the country.

The turn of the war

By 1865 the French had taken a large part of Mexican territory. His advance seemed unstoppable after capturing Oaxaca, a city that was commanded by the one who became president a few years later, Porfirio Díaz.

After the Gallic victory, which occurred on February 9, other troops from the country took over Guaymas on March 29.

However, the war took a turn after the victory of the Mexican federalist troops in Michoacán, on April 11 of the same year. This event brought with it a response from Maximilian I: the so-called Black Decree was signed, which proclaimed that all the captured troops were to be executed immediately.

This decision caused the death of a large number of Mexican officers at the hands of the French in the war. In fact, such a decision by Maximilian I was what ended up costing him his life at the end of the war, as the decree was used as a basis to justify his execution.

The end of the American Civil War

When the north prevailed over the south in the United States and the Civil War ended, the Americans were finally able to focus on removing the French from America.

It was not an easy task at first, since the American capacity was little to send troops to fight in Mexico; the country was weakened as a result of the war.

In fact, before the start of the Civil War, the then president of the United States had shown his sympathy for Mexico and had been deeply opposed to the European invasion.

However, the lack of troops did not limit the US intervention. The United States Congress issued a resolution refusing to recognize the establishment of a monarchy in Mexico as a result of the destruction of a republic.

In addition, the United States government gave its support to all Latin American nations. They used as a basis for the intervention the fact that, if a European monarchy was established in America, the security of any country on the continent could not be guaranteed.

Mexico sold territory to the United States to buy weapons left over from the war, and several American generals personally led the troops to where the federal army of Juárez was. This turned out to be key to Mexico's victory.

End of the war

In 1866 Napoleon III ordered his troops to withdraw immediately from Mexico for fear of deteriorating the French country's relationship with the United States. After the announcement, the Mexicans managed to defeat the French army in numerous battles, until their total retirement at the end of the year.

In a matter of months the Mexicans managed to regain control of their country, until the remaining French troops boarded three warships and returned to France.

Napoleon III had asked Maximilian I to withdraw from the country, but he remained firm in Mexico. He had to withdraw to Querétaro in 1867 after the incessant Mexican advance, and the local army finally launched a siege on the city.

Maximiliano I tried to escape, but was captured by Mexican troops. He was brought to trial in court martial and sentenced to death.

He was executed in June 1867 at the hands of troops loyal to Benito Juárez, who had kept the government running throughout the course of the war.

Consequences

Reestablishment of the republic

After the execution of Maximiliano I, Mexico City lowered its arms and was retaken by the Mexicans. Benito Juárez was able to return to the capital, where the constitutional order of the republic was re-established.

However, the president made few changes to the laws of the country, because during the operation of the Empire Maximilian I had maintained almost all the government policies that the country had before the war.

Dissolution of the conservative party

As the Conservatives had shown their full support for the Empire and the French during the war, their political influence in Mexico diminished to such an extent that the party died of itself.

He did not have the support of any politician, which caused Juárez to rule unopposed during the first years of the new republic.

Emergence of Porfirio Díaz

The end of the war marked the beginning of a few years of liberal rule in Mexico, until in 1871 Benito Juárez was reelected to the presidency despite the fact that the country's Constitution did not allow reelection.

Porfirio Díaz, who had fought in the war alongside Juárez, started a rebellion with the conservatives who remained in the country to overthrow him from the government.

Although the uprising was almost under control, Juárez died. When elections were called, Porfirio Díaz ran as a candidate and won, starting the Porfiriato.

Prominent figures

Maximiliano I of Mexico

Maximiliano I was the younger brother of the then Austrian Emperor Francisco José I. He had an illustrious career in the navy of his country before Napoleon III offered him to take over the Second Mexican Empire.

He was declared Emperor of Mexico on April 10, 1864 and remained in office until his eventual execution in 1867.

Maximilian I

Benito Juarez

Benito Juárez had been the president of Mexico before the Three Years' War and legitimized his stay again after the end of it. The decision he made to suspend the payment of the foreign debt brought with it the invasion of European troops into Mexican territory.

The troops fighting for the republic remained loyal to the president throughout the invasion. It managed to keep the government in operation during the existence of the Second Mexican Empire, in addition to providing stability to the country after the dissolution of the latter.

Napoleon III

References

1. The Mexican Campaign, 1862-1867, The History Website of the Fondation Napoleon, (nd). Taken from napoleon.org
2. French Intervention in Mexico and the American Civil War, 1862–1867, Office of the Historian, (nd). Taken from state.gov
3. Franco-Mexican War, Heritage History, (nd). Taken from heritage-history.com
4. 1861-1867 - Franco Mexican War, Global Security Organization, (nd). Taken from globalsecurity.org
5. Benito Juárez, Wikipedia in English, April 7, 2018. Taken from wikipedia.org
6. Maximilian I of México, Wikipedia in English, April 6, 2018. Taken from wikipedia.org
7. Napoleon III, Wikipedia in English, April 7, 2018. Taken from wikipedia.org