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Maximilian I (Spanish: Fernando Maximiliano José María de Habsburgo-Lorena; German: Ferdinand Maximilian Josef Maria von Habsburg-Lothringen; 6 July 1832 – 19 June 1867) was an Austrian archduke who became emperor of the Second Mexican Empire from 10 April 1864 until his execution by the Mexican Republic on 19 June 1867.
The Emperor of Mexico (Spanish: Emperador de México) was the head of state and head of government of Mexico on two non-consecutive occasions during the 19th century. With the Mexican Declaration of Independence from Spain in 1821, Mexico briefly became an independent monarchy – the First Mexican Empire .
A referendum on Maximilian becoming Emperor was held in Mexico on 4 December 1863. [1] The proposal was supposedly approved by 100% of voters, with not a single vote cast against. [1] Maximilian subsequently took the throne on 11 April 1864, starting the era of the Second Mexican Empire.
Maximilian was born in 1832, the second son of Archduke Franz Karl of Austria of the House of Hapsburg and Princess Sophie of Bavaria. After a career in the Austrian Navy, he was encouraged by Napoleon III to become Emperor of Mexico following the French intervention in Mexico. Maximilian arrived in Mexico in May 1864.
The Emperor Maximilian Memorial Chapel is a small Roman Catholic chapel located on the Cerro de las Campanas (Hill of the Bells) in Querétaro City in central Mexico. It is dedicated to the memory of Emperor Maximilian I of Mexico, and was built on the spot where the Emperor and two of his generals were executed on 19 June 1867.
One consequence is the occupation of Mexico by the Second French Empire with Napoleon III as the de facto emperor instead of the installation of Emperor Maximilian. 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).
Conflicts between congress and the emperor, coupled with the emperor's struggle to pay the military which propped up his regime, led to the empire's collapse. The emperor abdicated and went into exile in 1823. Mexico established a federal republic under the Constitution of 1824, but the idea of monarchy continued among Mexican conservatives. [2]
The Emperor of the French promised to support Maximilian militarily if he agreed to leave for Mexico. However, Maximilian hesitated and was slow to agree to this venture. Emperor Franz Joseph I was ambivalent to the proposal and his ministers questioned its wisdom. Maximilian made his assent subject to ratification by the Mexican people.