ISBN: 9781156311394

Purchase includes free access to book updates online and a free trial membership in the publisher's book club where you can select from more than a million books without charge. Excerpt: … More...

Purchase includes free access to book updates online and a free trial membership in the publisher's book club where you can select from more than a million books without charge. Excerpt: Maximilian I of Mexico (6 July 1832 19 June 1867; born Archduke Ferdinand Maximilian Joseph of Austria) was a member of the Imperial House of Habsburg-Lorraine. After a distinguished career in the Austrian Navy he was proclaimed Emperor of Mexico, during the Second Mexican Empire, with the backing of Purchase includes free access to book updates online and a free trial membership in the publisher's book club where you can select from more than a million books without charge. Excerpt: Maximilian I of Mexico (6 July 1832 19 June 1867; born Archduke Ferdinand Maximilian Joseph of Austria) was a member of the Imperial House of Habsburg-Lorraine. After a distinguished career in the Austrian Navy he was proclaimed Emperor of Mexico, during the Second Mexican Empire, with the backing of Napoleon III of France and a group of Mexican monarchists on 10 April 1864. Many foreign governments refused to recognize his government, including the United States. This helped to ensure the success of Liberal forces led by Benito Juárez, and Maximilian was executed, after capture by the Liberals, in 1867. In Mexico, he and his consort are known as Maximiliano and Carlota. Archduke Ferdinand Maximilian as a young officer. The future emperor of Mexico was born at Schönbrunn Palace, Vienna, Austria, the second son of Archduke Franz Karl of Austria and his wife Sophie Friederike Dorothee Wilhelmine, Princess of Bavaria. His siblings were Archduke Franz Josef (later Emperor Franz Josef I of Austria), Archduke Karl Ludwig, Archduchess Maria Anna Caroline Pia and Archduke Ludwig Viktor. He was born with the full title His Imperial and Royal Highness Ferdinand Maximilian Joseph, Prince Imperial and Archduke of Austria, Prince Royal of Hungary and Bohemia. He was widely known as Archduke Ferdinand Max. There is well-documented suspicion that Ferdinand Max was not the product of a union between Princess Sophie and Franz Karl. Many Europeans, and Viennese in particular, suspected that he was actually fathered by Napoleon II (son of Napoleon I and Marie Louise of Austria as Napoleon François Joseph Charles Bonaparte, also known as the Duke of Reichstadt). Those who subscribe to this belief cite the unnaturally close relationship that existed between Sophie. More: Books, , Mexicans-of-Austrian-Descent~~Books-LLC, , , , , , , , , , General Books LLC<