In 1869, artist Édouard Manet finished his painting of The Execution of Emperor Maximilian, depicting the death, by firing squad, of Maximilian and two of his generals in 1867, in Querétaro, Mexico. The work could not be exhibited in Paris, because he had created just one clear figure among the eleven men in the scene: the soldier loading his rifle for the coup de grace is Napoleon III, the emperor of France.

That a famous artist should have painted this tragic scene, and done so as political commentary, is a fitting reminder of the sad, and frequently ridiculous misadventures of this Habsburg nobleman in Mexico.

Edward Shawcross, a British historian, tells this story in a narrative that is both detailed and entertaining. He bookends this fast-moving tale with short sections on Mexico’s history in the 19th century, outlining first how the country was ripe for European intervention, and then at the end, what happened after Maximilian’s death. Between these passages, we have a story worthy of a tragic opera, with a huge cast and an appropriate final act. The protagonist is Maximilian of Habsburg, a fairly decent man unlucky enough to be the younger brother of Franz Joseph, who became emperor of Austria and King of Hungary when their uncle abdicated in 1848. This left Maximillian with nothing to do. He married Carlota, a beautiful Belgian princess, and then built her a castle—Miramar—on the Adriatic south of Trieste. When, in 1861, Napoleon III, emperor of France saw an opportunity to reestablish French power in the New World he needed a suitable nobleman, for his ambition was to replace republican Mexico with a monarchy. And, as Shawcross writes, Archduke Maximilian “was a Habsburg, a Catholic, and, above all, available.” So, in January 1862, a French army reached Veracruz. This force soon made its way to Mexico City, and, with some help from the defeated conservative political faction in the Mexico, began fighting around the country against the forces of the republican president Benito Juarez. It was not until May 28, 1864, that Maximilian and Carlota, sailing on an Austro-Hungarian warship, followed suit and arrived in Veracruz.

The heart of The Last Emperor is the story of Maximillian’s brief reign, which was full of contradictions. Though he had been brought in by Napoleon III to reestablish European rule in in the New World, Maximilian was a romantic idealist, and considered himself a progressive. Once in power, he issued laws that established freedom of speech and religion, among other things. Yet his Mexican supporters were conservatives tied to the Catholic Church, who hated Juarez and his republicans for their seizure of church property. In any case, none of his reforms had any great effect, since his “government” barely functioned outside of Mexico City. The emperor wanted to be loved and respected by his people, but he found public ceremonies tiresome, and soon began to spend time locked away with Carlota in a palace on Chapultepec. Not too many months later, he left the city entirely for the cooler environs of Cuernavaca. His rule depended on his army, which consisted mostly of French soldiers, with some European volunteers. The few Mexicans who fought for or with him proved unreliable. On the other hand, their republican enemies were seldom able to beat imperial forces, since they proved disorganized, and poorly equipped. One of the major factors influencing the outcome of the struggle to control Mexico was the United States. The French forces, and Maximilian himself, arrived in Mexico during the American Civil War, when the Americans were too busy protecting the Union to enforce the Monroe Doctrine, or provide support to Juarez’s forces. When the Confederacy surrendered, things soon changed. President Andrew Johnson permitted American arms dealers to sell weapons to Mexican republicans, and, with combat over, vast amounts of war-surplus rifles, cannon, and ammunition were soon reaching Maximilian’s foes. The arms supplies are accurately reported, but The Last Emperor does not concentrate on military matters. There are several black and white photos of the main characters in the story, but only one map. That is of the siege of Querétaro, the final act for Maximilian.

The Last Emperor of Mexico should attract readers who are interested in an often overlooked period in the history of Mexico and France, or who simply want a well-written, entertaining account of this tragic figure.

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Our Reviewer: Jonathan Beard is a retired freelance journalist who has devoted most of his life to reading military history. When he worked, he wrote and did research for British, American and Danish science magazines, and translated for an American news magazine. The first book he owned was Fletcher Pratt’s The Monitor and the Merrimac. Jonathan reviews regularly for the Michigan War Studies Review. His previous reviews include Down the Warpath to the Cedars: Indians' First Battles in the Revolution, The Virtuous Wehrmacht: Crafting the Myth of the German Soldier on the Eastern Front, 1941-1944, Prevail Until the Bitter End: Germans in the Waning Days of World War II, Enemies Among Us, Battle of the Bulge, Then and Now, Mussolini’s War: Fascist Italy From Triumph to Collapse, Engineering in the Confederate Heartland, The Bletchley Park Codebreakers, Armada, Allied Air Attacks and Civilian Harm in Italy, The Collaborators, The Enigma Traitors, When Men Fell from the Sky, Midway: The Pacific War’s Most Famous Battle, When Men Fell from The Sky, The Lost Scientists of World War II, and U.S. Battleships 1939–45.

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