|
The French Intervention in
Mexico (1862-67)
by Timothy Neeno, M.A.
Beginning in 1862, while the United States was paralyzed by Civil War, the
French under Napoleon III tried to create an empire in Mexico under a puppet
ruler, the Archduke Maximilian of Austria. Over the next five years of war some
300,000 Mexicans died, and French ambitions were dealt a bruising blow. How had
this conflict come about, and how did a weakened, divided nation defeat one of
the most powerful empires in the world?
From 1521, when an army of conquistadors under Hernán Cortéz marched into the
Aztec capital of Tenochtitlan, until 1821, Mexico was under the harsh rule of
Spain. For three hundred years the Spaniards kept tight control of Mexico,
limiting her trade to Spain alone and preventing any attempts at self
government. After years of unrest and rebellion, the Spanish left Mexico,
leaving a land in turmoil. Between 1821 and 1848 Mexico was in a near constant
state of upheaval, in which she lost half her national territory to the
expanding United States. In the long period of strife before and after
independence, three groups grew in wealth, power and influence: the army, rich
landowners, and the Church. The Catholic Church alone controlled nearly one
half the taxable land in Mexico, while the owners of the great haciendas
reduced many ostensibly free smallholders to debt peonage. At the same time the
central government declined in authority and prestige. Of a population of nine
million people, some five million were Native Americans, with little or nor
rights, and three million others were mestizos, people of mixed European and
Native American blood, leaving a ruling class of one million European descended
Whites.
Read more...
|
|
|
