Second French intervention in Mexico
The second French intervention in Mexico was an armed conflict between Mexico and France between 1862 and 1867. It took place after the Mexican government, headed by Benito Juárez, announced the suspension of the foreign debt payments in 1861. In response, France, the United Kingdom, and Spain formed an alliance called the London Convention and announced their intention to send troops to Mexico. The Mexican government repealed the Suspension of Payments Law, but the alliance continued with its plan. Alliance troops arrived in Veracruz in 1862 and entered into negotiations with the Government of Mexico. The leaders of the British and Spanish missions decided to return, but the French announced that they would occupy Mexico.
After suffering a setback in Puebla on May 5, 1862, the French continued the expedition that led them to occupy Mexico City on June 10, 1863. Since then, the Government of the Republic began a pilgrimage through various points of the country, while the French continued to occupy the capital, establishing the Second Mexican Empire. The French troops began to withdraw thanks to the Mexican attacks from 1866, before the imminence of a war between France and Prussia and the defeat of the Confederates in the American Secession War in 1865, who supported Napoleon III at all times.
Years before, some Mexican conservatives based in Europe had started lobbying to seek support for the installation of a monarchical regime in Mexico for the second time.
Background
Certain disputes with the clergy, as well as with Spanish diplomats in Mexico, had started a chain of unrest between Mexico and several European countries. In addition, the economic complications caused by the Reform War and the Ayutla Revolution, despite the measures taken by the government to reduce the costs of the war (for example, the reduction of military forces), forced the government to suspend the liquidation of external debts for a period of two years.
Spain, the United Kingdom, and France formed a tripartite alliance in October 1861, with the purpose of jointly protesting against Mexican economic policies; they demanded the payment of the debt, although, apparently, without the intention of intervening in the internal conflicts of Mexico. To put pressure on the Mexican government, they sent an armed expedition that arrived in Veracruz in January 1862.
Mexican Foreign Minister Manuel Doblado notified Spanish General Juan Prim, in charge of the tripartite movement, of the country's economic complications and managed to persuade him that the suspension of debts was temporary. For the governments of Spain and Great Britain, this explanation was sufficient and they sailed from Veracruz once the diplomatic conferences of the Treaty of La Soledad were concluded. However, the French troops refused to withdraw, since Napoleon III had intentions of establishing a colonial Empire in America. and establish a monarchy in Mexico from which he planned to support the Confederates in the American Civil War and drastically diminish the power of the United States in the region. The United States officially protested Austria's support on May 6.
The Liberal Reform
After the war against the United States, two political parties finally emerged with clear but antagonistic national projects. On the one hand, Lucas Alaman founded the Conservative Party, whose program included the centralist principle of the pre-eminence of central power over the regions to achieve the stability of the country, while proposing the government of the propertied classes, the preservation of the privileges of the Catholic Church and the army for being, respectively, the most powerful link between Mexicans and a guarantee of national security, and the development and modernization of the economy supported by a protectionist policy. On the other side was the Liberal Party, which proposed a federalist and democratic system, the creation of a modern society without privileged classes and an economy based on the principles of economic liberalism.
Both projects, being mutually exclusive, entered into conflict and led to two civil wars in the 1850s: the Ayutla Revolution and the Reform War (1857-1860).
Foreign intervention
The tripartite alliance and the landing in Veracruz
As a result of the suspension of payments Spain, France and England found the ideal pretext to intervene in the Mexican government. On October 31, 1861, in London, the three nations signed an agreement by which they adopted the necessary measures to send combined land and sea forces to the coasts of Mexico. The intervention had the objective of collecting debts accumulated for a long time and, although the demands were not strange, their fulfillment was difficult in the circumstances of the Republic. However, the Juarista government was forced to give an answer. He recognized the ruinous situation of the treasury and, at the same time, warned of the efforts that he would maintain to face the claims with dignity.
Despite the goodwill shown, some Spanish troops arrived in the port of Veracruz in December. The Spanish force, consisted of 6,320 men under the command of Generals Joaquín Gutiérrez de Rubalcava and Manuel Gasset and arrived in Mexico aboard 19 military ships, with a total of 308 guns and 4,314 crew members, in propeller frigates Lealtad, Princess of Asturias, Concepción, Berenguela, Petronila, Blanca, the steamers Francisco de Asís, Isabel la Católica, Blasco de Garay, Pizarro, Guadalquivir, Velasco, Ferrol, San Quintin, Álava and number 3, the urcas Santa María and Marigalante and the corvette Colón.
In addition to 10 transport ships with 308 crew members, the paddle steamers Pájaro del Océano, Cubano, Cuba, Maisi and Cárdenas, the steam transport frigates Favorita, Sunrise, Teresa Palma and Paquita.
In January 1862, the armies of the three European powers landed on Mexican territory. At least one of them arrived with imperialist plans promoted by Mexicans, who, faced with the virtual failure of the reactionary party, turned their eyes towards Europe in an ultimate effort to preserve their privileges and impose a purely conservative government. In 1860-1861, a commission headed by José María Gutiérrez de Estrada, José Manuel Hidalgo y Esnaurrízar and Juan Nepomuceno Almonte would persuade the government of Napoleon III to support a new intervention in Mexico that would lead to the establishment of a constitutional monarchy. Once they had their support, it was decided that the ideal candidate was Maximilian of Habsburg, who, after putting several conditions and reflecting on it for a long time, accepted the offer that was made to him.
Negotiation of the Preliminaries of La Soledad
Given such a scenario, the president found it necessary to call on Mexicans to unite against the invaders, but Congress, which stood out for its anti-Juarista attitude, stopped many of the presidential initiatives. So strong was the opposition in the Chamber that 51 deputies signed a formal petition to remove Juárez as incapable; however, 52 deputies voted in favor of him, saving his permanence in power by a single vote. The president made an effort to carry out a diplomatic arrangement before the ultimatum of the tripartite alliance. The Minister of Foreign Relations, Manuel Doblado, began an exchange of notes with the claimant governments. Given the urgency of the situation, Congress should have empowered the government to take all appropriate measures in order to save independence, defend the integrity of the territory, as well as the form of government prescribed in the Constitution and the Reform Laws.
The Mexican government managed to reach an agreement with the Spanish representative and sign the text known as «Los Preliminares de La Soledad». This document was accepted by the British but not by the French, who, with this fact, demonstrated their interventionist interests.
The battle of Puebla and the arrival in the capital
On April 9, 1862, the powers suspended the agreements of the London Convention, so the Spanish and English troops withdrew from the country. Meanwhile, Almonte, who had arrived in Mexico under the protection of the French forces, took command of the government that defended the intervention and organized a cabinet with members of the conservative party, while the invading army began the march towards the highlands with the order to seize the capital and impress the Mexicans with the forces he commanded. Although it is true that the first surprise would come to them when they were defeated by the Mexican army headed by Ignacio Zaragoza in the famous battle of Puebla on May 5, 1862, the arrival of reinforcements and a new French leader for the fight, General Federico Forey would eventually give the invading army the possibility of reaching the capital in 1863.
The invasion of Mexico
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France sent about 6,000 men under the command of Charles Ferdinand Latrille, Count of Lorencez, who arrived in Veracruz on March 6, 1862. Meanwhile, the sovereigns of Spain and Great Britain dissolved the tripartite alliance, aggrieved by the diligence of France, and they set out to settle their affairs with Mexico individually.
French troops were heading towards the capital; Lorencez marched towards Orizaba, where he received reinforcements from L'Herillier and Gambier.
Republican troops, under the command of Ignacio Zaragoza, tried to cut the French off the road to Mexico near the Acultzingo peaks, although it was useless. Zaragoza proceeded to rally his forces around Puebla; The victory of the Republicans in the battle of Puebla, which occurred on May 5, 1862, provided optimism and confidence, which increased the morale of the Mexican people. Juárez, then, took advantage of the time to prepare the defense; Trenches were built and resources were gathered to support a possible siege of Puebla. France sent reinforcements of 30,000 soldiers under the command of General Forey.
The following year, 1863, the French army invaded Tabasco, under the command of Eduardo Gonzáles Arévalo, on February 21 they took Jonuta and on March 15 the port of Frontera. On March 16 Forey began the siege of Puebla again; The city resisted for many days, but finally, after having destroyed the forts of Santa Inés and San Javier, it succumbed to the French troops. The siege came to an end on May 17, when Forey occupied the central square, although he did not enter the city until May 19. Generals González Ortega, Escobedo and Negrete were sent prisoners to France, but managed to escape on the way.
After the fall of Puebla, Juárez ordered the removal of the government archives, in order to facilitate the conduct of public business wherever the provisional capital was established. It was convenient to create the impression of a strategic withdrawal, not a breakout. The caravan of the Republic left Mexico City at the end of May 1863. In front marched a parade of horsemen and behind them an ashen carriage occupied by Juárez and his family, which rolled slowly so as not to bother Margarita, pregnant again.. Next came the cars of the cabinet members and longtime friends, such as the Post Office administrator Guillermo Prieto and the deputy and Supreme Court magistrate Manuel Ruiz, with several dozen fellow legislators and magistrates; hundreds of anonymous bureaucrats eager to make merit, and in the end an infantry picket of fifty men and an infinity of soldaderas with their children.
They traveled equally on horseback, on the back of a mule or in carriages and wagons full of mattresses, chairs, tables and even parrots. From a distance the caravan looked like a snake that crawled along the roads, ascended the hills, forded streams and raised enormous clouds of dust in its path. That was a colorful set in which the bright red of the blankets, the earthy red of some cars, the dark reddish of the horses, the matte of the weapons, the white of the scarves, the gray of the hats and the blue of the soldiers who achieved uniform", wrote a journalist [citation needed].
In a few days they advanced 300 kilometers to reach Dolores Hidalgo. As the cradle of independence, the town seemed ideal to install the Government there, especially when the governor of Guanajuato, Manuel Doblado, kept his National Guard of 5,000 men intact. But the conservative general Tomás Mejia was roaming the region, and they had to continue north for another tens of kilometers, to San Luis Potosí.
The caravan began to enter San Luis Potosí on June 9, meeting no opposition. Furthermore, the harassed substitute governor happily handed over to Juárez the superb State Government building—where there were magnificent rooms for the governor and his family—and transferred local powers to the former palace of the bishopric. Meanwhile, on June 10, French troops made their triumphant entry into Mexico City, where General Forey set up the occupation government. Juárez, predicting victory, organized resistance, and the northern states prepared for war.
Meanwhile in Tabasco, the French troops, after a bombardment, took the state capital San Juan Bautista on June 18 of that same year, and the interventionist Eduardo González Arévalo named himself Governor of Tabasco.
Forey returned to France to receive the title of Marshal, and in his place François Achille Bazaine took over. The French army already exceeded 45,000 men, and added to the previously conquered territories, it already occupied Tlaxcala, Toluca and, very soon, Querétaro. On November 9, Bazaine left, accompanied by his áscar, to the north; they met little resistance, which caused them few losses by occupying the main towns of the country. Imperial General Márquez captured San Luis Potosí, just days after Juárez transferred his government to Saltillo.
Republicans resisted the French advance in various parts of the country using basically guerrilla techniques; in Tabasco, the republican forces stopped the French by defeating them in the Battle of El Jahuactal on November 1, 1863, the city of Tampico had been blockaded by guerrillas and, in the south, Porfirio Díaz, commanding 4,000 soldiers, hindered the passage from Mexico to Veracruz. Despite this, the French advance could not be prevented, which occupied Guadalajara, Aguascalientes and Zacatecas in 1864.
Republican generals pleaded with Juárez to resign his position in order to put an end to the war of French intervention. Among them were Generals Manuel Doblado and Jesús González Ortega, as well as Santiago Vidaurri, Governor of Nuevo León and Coahuila. The latter joined the imperial side because of serious differences between him and Juárez. Meanwhile, Benito Juárez, due to the reduction of Republican territory, was forced to move his capital back to Monterrey.
However, the federal forces of Tabasco under the command of Colonel Gregorio Méndez Magaña, managed to deal a heavy blow to the French interventionist aspirations, defeating them in the memorable capture of San Juan Bautista on February 27, 1864, recovering the capital of the the state of San Juan Bautista, covering the national arms with glory and giving them new energy to continue the fight.
Due to the internal and external problems of Napoleon III (The Prussian victory at Sadowa, the fall of the Army of Northern Virginia, the Ems Telegram, the pressure of the legislature to liberalize the French Empire) a change occurred in the panorama for the republicans. Attempts by France to withdraw its troops finally materialized at the beginning of 1866, which began the republican advance towards the center of the country, since the imperial army did not have the necessary troops to contain its advance. In 1867 Maximilian I of Mexico reorganized the Imperial Army, appointing conservative generals to high military posts. The command fell to the generals Miguel Miramón, Tomás Mejía and Manuel Ramírez de Arellano. However, when the republican troops approached Mexico, Maximilian moved to Querétaro to continue the fight.
Starting on March 6, 1867, General Mariano Escobedo besieged the city of Querétaro; Meanwhile, General Porfirio Díaz was besieging Mexico City, preventing Márquez and Vidaurri from reinforcing the imperial troops in Querétaro. After 71 days of resistance, Querétaro fell into the hands of Escobedo for treason, and on June 19, Generals Tomás Mejía and Miguel Miramón, together with Maximiliano I, were shot on the Cerro de las Campanas. Juárez entered the capital from the country on July 15, 1867; the Republic had triumphed.[citation needed]
French warships.
The French Army, in order to invade the Mexican Pacific ports, relied on at least the following warships:
- Victoire
- The Bayonnaise. He began the intervention in Mazatlan, blocking the port in 1862.
- Rhin. Considered one of the most modern warships to use propellers.
- D'Assas
- Diamond
- Lucifer
- Cordelière. In the waters of Mazatlan he fought against the forces of Colonel Gaspar Sánchez Ochoa.
- Marie
- Talisman
The intervention
Aware that the task of creating a monarchy in Mexico would require more time and resources, Napoleon prepared a new military expedition, this time made up of more than thirty thousand men under the command of General Elie Fréderic Forey, which arrived in Veracruz in September of 1862. Lorencez was dismissed and Forey began to prepare a new attack against the city of Puebla. It was not until March 16, 1863 that the new French Army began preparations to establish a formal siege.
Because Zaragoza had died of typhus in September, General Jesús González Ortega was appointed commander of the Army of the East, who, after bravely resisting the French siege for two months, had to surrender on May 17 and deliver the place
The siege and fall of Puebla determined the destruction of the Mexican Army and the capital of the Republic was left at the mercy of the invader. Given this, President Juárez decided to flee to San Luis Potosí, but not before declaring that the national powers and the Government would march together with him and his cabinet.
Juárez and the flight from his government
On May 31, with the imminent arrival of French troops, Juárez and his cabinet left the capital. That same day, Congress gave the president a new vote of confidence, closed its sessions, and dissolved itself. However, several deputies, including the current president of the Chamber, Sebastián Lerdo de Tejada, decided to accompany the president on his pilgrimage to the north. In the first instance, Juárez, his cabinet and the permanent deputation went to San Luis Potosí, where the powers of the nation were established; Later, the itinerant Government of the Republic would begin its long journey through various parts of the country, maintaining itself, despite a thousand vicissitudes, as the highest body of Mexican representation throughout the duration of the French intervention and the empire of Maximilian.
The extraordinary powers granted to Juárez by Congress, at the beginning of the war, allowed him to remain in the executive branch even after his legal term had ended, in November 1865. He decided to extend his mandate beyond this date, citing the serious circumstances that the nation was going through and in order to avoid the dismemberment of the liberal group at such a critical moment.
Conclusions
The French invasion of Mexico was an attempt by Napoleon III to revive the French Empire, as well as prevent the growth of the United States through some annexation of Mexican territory. It was devastating for Mexico, as it only helped to increase the period of instability and turmoil during part of the 19th century. It also increased foreign debt and created a disruption in agricultural and industrial production.
The fall of the empire of Ferdinand Maximilian of Habsburg is mainly attributed to the withdrawal of French troops, but the liberal style with which Maximilian ruled was an internal factor that also played a role. The liberal measures issued by Maximilian, such as the one that instituted free and inescapable secular primary education, earned him the rejection of the conservatives, with whom he shared the government, without gaining him the favor of the liberal republicans in return. In addition to this, the withdrawal of the French troops at a critical moment, when the Republicans were still hostile and without having reached an agreement with them by which they recognized the Empire, facilitated the reconquest of the lost territories.
However, the French invasion and the subsequent establishment of the Habsburg monarchy were made possible more by external than internal factors.[citation needed] French positioning plans in overseas took advantage of the fact that the United States of America was immersed in the Civil War, which guaranteed that they would not be in a position to support the Mexican federalists.
In the same way, at the same time two crucial events would take place and that would be part of the cause of the defeat of the French occupation:
- The federalists of the United States won the war of secession, being now in a better position to help with arms and logistics Benito Juárez, who was at that time with his parallel government in Paso del Norte (today Ciudad Juárez) and with that, the Mexican guerrillas would begin to inflict defeats on the French Army, such as the battles of Santa Gertrudis, La Carbonera, Miahuatlán and the battle of April 2, among others.
- The Austrian Empire had lost the Austro-Prussian war, also known as the Seven Weeks War, in front of Prussia in the previous year. That war meant a disastrous defeat for the Austrians, who forced them to yield several territories within Europe and pay large sums of money as war compensations; so the brother of Maximiliano, the emperor of Austria Francisco José, was in no position to help him in any way possible.
- After the Prussian victory in the aforementioned war, Foreign Minister Otto von Bismarck was diplomatically manoeuvring to unite the rest of the German kingdoms and principalities against France. Such manoeuvres would eventually trigger the Franco-Prussian war. In the face of the German threat, the French saw it as a priority to have all their troops ready in case of a war against the Germans.
With the new European political situation, determined by the rise of Prussia, the interest of both the French and Austrian governments in maintaining an expedition in America waned. The cost to France of invading Mexico alone was 300 million francs, according to official data from that country.