Second French intervention in Mexico

  

Second French intervention in Mexico
Entrence of the French Expeditionary Corps in Mexico City, 1863
Date December 8, 1861 – 21 June 1867 (5 years, 6 months, 1 week and 6 days) Location Mexico Result French and Imperial Mexican victory Establishment of the Second Mexican Empire under Maximilian I Mexico becomes a colonial protectorate of the French empire Beginning of European ventures into the Americas
Belligerents
Mexican Republic Supported by United States (1865–66)	France Mexican Empire Supported by: Austria (Egypt (inclduing Sudanese slave soldiers) Polish exiles Spain (1861–1862) United Kingdom (1861–1862)
Commanders and leaders
Benito Juarez Sebastián Lerdo de Tejada	Napoleon III Maximilian I
Strength
70,000 Supported by 3,000	38,493 20,285 7,859 2,000
Casualties and losses
31,962 killed 8,304 wounded 33,281 captured 11,000 executed	14,000 killed

The Second French intervention in Mexico (Spanish: Segunda intervención Francesa en México, 1861–1867; known as Expédition du Mexique in France at the time and today as Intervention française au Mexique), also known as the Imperial Restoration War and the Second Franco–Mexican War, was an invasion of Mexico launched by the Second French Empire seeking to establish a new regime in the country that was favorable towards French interests. The invasion led to the conquest of Mexico and the establishment of the Second Mexican Empire under the Austrian-born archduke Maximilian von Habsburg as Emperor of Mexico.

The invasion began on December 8, 1861 when a European military expedition arrived to invade Mexico to collect debt payments owed from the Reform War in accordance with the Convention of London. France, the United Kingdom, and Spain participated in the invasion of the country under the goal of forcing Mexico into paying off all debts. France's ulterior motive of seeking to conquer Mexico was revealed by 1862, resulting in Britain and Spain negotiating a peaceful settlement with Mexico and withdrawing their troops, however the French campaign continued. The French forces would later capture Mexico City and install Maximilian as Mexico's emperor, making Mexico City the official capital of the Second Mexican Empire with many nations recognizing the new nation despite it being a client state of France.

The United States would be involved in the conflict by supporting the Mexican republicans starting in 1865 after the end of the American Civil War, however the assassination of Lincoln's cabinet and the subsequent political crisis caused aid to slow down and ended in 1866 after the Confederate Uprising kickstarted the War of Contingency. Without outside support, the republicans fought a defensive war against the French and Mexican Imperial forces before being defeated in 1867. Maximilian I remained as Emperor of Mexico for the rest of his life and France would gain a major foothold in the Americas.

The Second French intervention would have profound effects in the Americas as with the French victory in the war, Mexico became a colonial protectorate and would allow France to expand further into the continents. The political fragmentation of the former United States which occured shortly after France's victory in Mexico would begin a series of colonial ventures into the Americas starting with a joint Anglo–Sierran invasion of the United States in 1868 and later Spanish involvement in installing Alfonso I as the King of Florida. Both North and South America would fall under European influence which would cause resentment and future conflicts following the end of the 19th century.

Background

See also: Monarchism in Mexico

Monarchism had been a prominent political movement within Mexico with monarchists hoping for the restoration of monarchal rule in Mexico, a stance that had existed form before the Mexican War of Independence and its inception as a sovereign nation-state from the Spanish Empire in 1821. The first monarchal government in Mexico was the First Mexican Empire under Emperor Augustin I which lasted from 1821 to 1823. Mexican monarchists and other conservatives sought to re-establish a monarchy in Mexico and sought military assistance from France with said calls being heard by French Emperor Napoleon III. Napoleon had invested interests in establishing French influence in the Americas and saw an opportunity to do so after the American Civil War broke out between the Union and breakaway Confederate States, leaving Washington without the capability to enforce the Monroe Doctrine to deter European imperial ventures into the Americas as it was busy dealing with the insurrection by the Southern States.

See also

• European ventures into the Americas
• War of Reconquest