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Maximilian and Juárez
Napoleon III attempts to make the Austrian Archduke Maximilian the successor of Mexico's great nationalist leader, Benito Jua+a7rez, and sets the stage for a war of national liberation and the rise of United States influence in the hemisphere.
353 pages, Hardcover
First published November 10, 1992
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About the author
Jasper Ridley
29 books20 followersJasper Ridley was a British writer, known for historical biographies. He was educated at Magdalen College, Oxford, and the Sorbonne. He trained and practiced as a barrister, before starting to write. During World War II, he was a conscientious objector and was, by his own account, violently abused while in a detention camp. He served on St Pancras Borough Council from 1945 to 1949, and stood, unsuccessfully, as Labour Party candidate for Winchester in 1955 general election.
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Displaying 1 - 12 of 12 reviews
June 13, 2021
“[Emperor] Maximilian awoke before daybreak and prayed by candlelight at a little altar that had been erected in his prison cell. He put on a black frock coat and carried his white hat. Just before 6 a.m. he was taken to the Cerro de las Campanas, traveling in a carriage with a priest. His valet, Grill, and his Hungarian cook, Todos, neither of whom was under arrest, followed in a second carriage just behind him… When they reached the Cerro de las Campanas they found more than 3,000 soldiers drawn up all around the square. Apart from the soldiers, there were less than fifty other onlookers. It was a beautiful morning, with a cloudless blue sky. As Maximilian alighted from the carriage he said to Grill that he had always hoped he would die on a beautiful sunny day…”
- Jasper Ridley, Maximilian and Juarez
Jasper Ridley’s Maximilian and Juarez tells the unlikely-but-true tale of how an Austrian Archduke came to rule Mexico at the behest of the Emperor of France, all while the United States of America was otherwise occupied in the wholesale slaughter of each other. It is one of those events that serve to remind you that life is far too short to learn even a fraction of the history of this world.
Before picking this up, the doomed emperorship of Archduke Maximilian, a.k.a. Maximilian I of Mexico, was something that existed only vaguely in my mind. I had run across it as a footnote in various books about the American Civil War, since the Union Army very nearly went to the aid of President Benito Juarez, who opposed the French-backed Second Mexican Empire. In all honesty, though, most of what I knew about Maximilian and Benito comes from watching way too many westerns as a kid, including Sam Peckinpah’s underrated Major Dundee, and John Wayne’s lousy The Undefeated, both of which featured Maximilian’s French troops as plot points.
I don’t know when or why I decided I needed to learn about the Second Mexican Empire, though it may have been while I was drinking cheap wine and watching Major Dundee clips on YouTube. Anyway, the search that led me to this title was in no ways systematic. A fast Google query segued to a short Amazon visit and a week later Maximilian and Juarez was in my hands. Then it was on my shelf for many months, before I finally got around to it. I mention this only to note that I had absolutely zero expectations, which is well enough, since this is an all-around modest effort.
Maximilian and Juarez is pretty much a textbook example of serviceable history. Its author was a prolific popular historian who – judging from his bibliography – was mainly interested in the Tudors. He covers all the bases, hits all the high points, and tells you most of the things you need to know, and some of the things you want to know, and he does so with a kind of competent, unspectacular professionalism.
After a non-linear opening chapter (which should have been a prologue), Ridley unspools the fast-paced narrative chronologically. He begins with a quick (though important) rundown of Mexican history, with its various revolts and revolutions, leading to the three-year civil war known as the War of Reform, which ended in 1860. The following year, the conservative Mexican politician José María Gutiérrez de Estrada offered the crown to Archduke Maximilian, the brother of Franz Joseph (who made a bigger mistake than Max in 1914). This seems super random and weird, but if you look at Europe in the age of kings and queens, you see that this sort of thing happened all the time (since even random archdukes needed employment).
Maximilian hemmed and hawed, setting conditions, dropping conditions, and generally showing himself ill-suited for the post. Meanwhile, Spain, Great Britain, and France embarked on a limited invasion of Mexico, landing at Veracruz for the alleged purpose of collecting unpaid debts. France, however, led by web-spinner Napoleon III, had other designs, and unleashed a full-scale takeover. The French army (one of the best armies in the world at that time) got off to a rough start, losing the first battle of Puebla (which gave the world Cinco de Mayo). They regrouped, however, and took Mexico City, opening the way for Maximilian to mount the throne.
What follows is a familiar story of local insurgents defeating a foreign occupier through guerrilla raids and attrition. Eventually, Napoleon III withdrew his French troops. Thereafter, it was only a matter of time before Maximilian’s short-lived reign would end. Perhaps his only decisive act was the choice to stay and face the consequences of a firing squad.
Ridley delivers this epic in 290 pages of text. Where some might see efficiency, I see an author doing the bare minimum. It’s a bit too much to say that Ridley phoned this in, but this is a stripped-down work. To be sure, Maximilian and Juarez is accessibly written, competently researched (the best I can tell), and grammatically sound. If I ever get into an argument at a bar about the Second Mexican Empire, I will probably be able to hold my own for ten minutes or so.
But this series of events deserves more.
Maximilian and Juarez is marked by superficiality. There are dozens of characters that need to be kept straight, yet Ridley makes no attempts at characterizations. With the exception of the dithering, Hamlet-like Maximilian, no one is given much of a personality, which is a shame, because the dramatis personae includes Napoleon III and his wife, not to mention Benito Juarez, who shares top billing but is mostly relegated to the background.
This is obviously not a military history, so I wasn’t expecting detailed tactical descriptions. Still, the battles – including the famed stand of the French Foreign Legion at Camarón (or Camerone) – are incredibly perfunctory. How do you make the last stand of a company of the Foreign Legion listless? Ridley achieves this dubious accomplishment. Also, there are no maps. Not a single one!
Overall, this felt like a book wherein the author gave seventy percent, tops. Probably I’m wrong. Probably he worked his ass off. If he did, it does not come across on these pages. One example of a certain inattention to detail: When describing Maximilian’s execution (which, like the FFL at Camarón can be dramatized in one’s sleep), Ridley states there were six riflemen in the death squad. Upon being given the order to fire, Ridley further states that Maximilian was hit six times, dying instantly. In the next sentence, we are told that the two men executed alongside Max also died instantly. I was left wondering: How the hell did that happen? Outside of Kennedy’s limo, six bullets can’t kill three men, with all six bullets also ending up in one victim. The discrepancy is not explained or even noted. (There are, I have discovered, a lot of descriptions regarding Maximilian’s death, though precious few come firsthand).
This is a perfectly fine work of popular history. Criticisms aside, I did not hate it (mainly because there’s not enough here to hate). I did learn a lot, even if my knowledge is only an inch deep. Upon reflection, however, fine really isn’t good enough. Not for a topic like this. This is a big, roiling, sweeping saga, featuring Mexican freedom fighters and an upstart golden-haired emperor and the French Foreign Legion. There are big battles and vicious ambushes and enough betrayals and executions to put George R.R. Martin to shame. There are spy games in Matamoros and the siege of Mexico City and a near-intervention of an American army led by Phil Sheridan and overseen by William Sherman and Ulysses Grant. You cannot tell this story with any sort of credit in less than three-hundred pages.
The life and death of the Second Mexican Empire deserves a better telling, one that recognizes the need to paint these scenes on a broad canvas.
- Jasper Ridley, Maximilian and Juarez
Jasper Ridley’s Maximilian and Juarez tells the unlikely-but-true tale of how an Austrian Archduke came to rule Mexico at the behest of the Emperor of France, all while the United States of America was otherwise occupied in the wholesale slaughter of each other. It is one of those events that serve to remind you that life is far too short to learn even a fraction of the history of this world.
Before picking this up, the doomed emperorship of Archduke Maximilian, a.k.a. Maximilian I of Mexico, was something that existed only vaguely in my mind. I had run across it as a footnote in various books about the American Civil War, since the Union Army very nearly went to the aid of President Benito Juarez, who opposed the French-backed Second Mexican Empire. In all honesty, though, most of what I knew about Maximilian and Benito comes from watching way too many westerns as a kid, including Sam Peckinpah’s underrated Major Dundee, and John Wayne’s lousy The Undefeated, both of which featured Maximilian’s French troops as plot points.
I don’t know when or why I decided I needed to learn about the Second Mexican Empire, though it may have been while I was drinking cheap wine and watching Major Dundee clips on YouTube. Anyway, the search that led me to this title was in no ways systematic. A fast Google query segued to a short Amazon visit and a week later Maximilian and Juarez was in my hands. Then it was on my shelf for many months, before I finally got around to it. I mention this only to note that I had absolutely zero expectations, which is well enough, since this is an all-around modest effort.
Maximilian and Juarez is pretty much a textbook example of serviceable history. Its author was a prolific popular historian who – judging from his bibliography – was mainly interested in the Tudors. He covers all the bases, hits all the high points, and tells you most of the things you need to know, and some of the things you want to know, and he does so with a kind of competent, unspectacular professionalism.
After a non-linear opening chapter (which should have been a prologue), Ridley unspools the fast-paced narrative chronologically. He begins with a quick (though important) rundown of Mexican history, with its various revolts and revolutions, leading to the three-year civil war known as the War of Reform, which ended in 1860. The following year, the conservative Mexican politician José María Gutiérrez de Estrada offered the crown to Archduke Maximilian, the brother of Franz Joseph (who made a bigger mistake than Max in 1914). This seems super random and weird, but if you look at Europe in the age of kings and queens, you see that this sort of thing happened all the time (since even random archdukes needed employment).
Maximilian hemmed and hawed, setting conditions, dropping conditions, and generally showing himself ill-suited for the post. Meanwhile, Spain, Great Britain, and France embarked on a limited invasion of Mexico, landing at Veracruz for the alleged purpose of collecting unpaid debts. France, however, led by web-spinner Napoleon III, had other designs, and unleashed a full-scale takeover. The French army (one of the best armies in the world at that time) got off to a rough start, losing the first battle of Puebla (which gave the world Cinco de Mayo). They regrouped, however, and took Mexico City, opening the way for Maximilian to mount the throne.
What follows is a familiar story of local insurgents defeating a foreign occupier through guerrilla raids and attrition. Eventually, Napoleon III withdrew his French troops. Thereafter, it was only a matter of time before Maximilian’s short-lived reign would end. Perhaps his only decisive act was the choice to stay and face the consequences of a firing squad.
Ridley delivers this epic in 290 pages of text. Where some might see efficiency, I see an author doing the bare minimum. It’s a bit too much to say that Ridley phoned this in, but this is a stripped-down work. To be sure, Maximilian and Juarez is accessibly written, competently researched (the best I can tell), and grammatically sound. If I ever get into an argument at a bar about the Second Mexican Empire, I will probably be able to hold my own for ten minutes or so.
But this series of events deserves more.
Maximilian and Juarez is marked by superficiality. There are dozens of characters that need to be kept straight, yet Ridley makes no attempts at characterizations. With the exception of the dithering, Hamlet-like Maximilian, no one is given much of a personality, which is a shame, because the dramatis personae includes Napoleon III and his wife, not to mention Benito Juarez, who shares top billing but is mostly relegated to the background.
This is obviously not a military history, so I wasn’t expecting detailed tactical descriptions. Still, the battles – including the famed stand of the French Foreign Legion at Camarón (or Camerone) – are incredibly perfunctory. How do you make the last stand of a company of the Foreign Legion listless? Ridley achieves this dubious accomplishment. Also, there are no maps. Not a single one!
Overall, this felt like a book wherein the author gave seventy percent, tops. Probably I’m wrong. Probably he worked his ass off. If he did, it does not come across on these pages. One example of a certain inattention to detail: When describing Maximilian’s execution (which, like the FFL at Camarón can be dramatized in one’s sleep), Ridley states there were six riflemen in the death squad. Upon being given the order to fire, Ridley further states that Maximilian was hit six times, dying instantly. In the next sentence, we are told that the two men executed alongside Max also died instantly. I was left wondering: How the hell did that happen? Outside of Kennedy’s limo, six bullets can’t kill three men, with all six bullets also ending up in one victim. The discrepancy is not explained or even noted. (There are, I have discovered, a lot of descriptions regarding Maximilian’s death, though precious few come firsthand).
This is a perfectly fine work of popular history. Criticisms aside, I did not hate it (mainly because there’s not enough here to hate). I did learn a lot, even if my knowledge is only an inch deep. Upon reflection, however, fine really isn’t good enough. Not for a topic like this. This is a big, roiling, sweeping saga, featuring Mexican freedom fighters and an upstart golden-haired emperor and the French Foreign Legion. There are big battles and vicious ambushes and enough betrayals and executions to put George R.R. Martin to shame. There are spy games in Matamoros and the siege of Mexico City and a near-intervention of an American army led by Phil Sheridan and overseen by William Sherman and Ulysses Grant. You cannot tell this story with any sort of credit in less than three-hundred pages.
The life and death of the Second Mexican Empire deserves a better telling, one that recognizes the need to paint these scenes on a broad canvas.
August 2, 2023
Not a fan of the authors background nor his not so subtle defense of Juarez, his contention with The Church. The book has a wealth of information despite the bias thar is painfully obvious. The victims here despite the downplaying are The Emperor/Archduke and His Wife. Even the United States sadly intervened in assisting the bandits. Sad history.
September 12, 2008
This is a fine and well-researched book, though it does have a few serious errors (details on my website soon) in the "Alice Iturbide" chapter. Otherwise I'd give it 5 stars. Highly recommended.
December 16, 2023
Fascinating history of the time Napoleon the III decided it would be a good idea to install the brother of the Austro-Hungarian emperor as the Emperor of Mexico. Spoiler: It ends badly.
I was interested to learn of Juarez' machinations not only against the French and the Monarchists, but also against other liberals who threatened his position as the shadow President of Mexico. Juarez is today regarded as an undisputed hero, but of course the actual history is more complicated than the legend.
I was interested to learn of Juarez' machinations not only against the French and the Monarchists, but also against other liberals who threatened his position as the shadow President of Mexico. Juarez is today regarded as an undisputed hero, but of course the actual history is more complicated than the legend.
September 28, 2017
Very interesting history of the French intervention in Mexico. Although I knew something about this period of Mexican history before reading this book, it was interesting to read the history of Maximillian in the context of what was going on in the U.S. and Europe during this period of time. Although the book is titled "Maximillian & Juarez", the book is primarily focussed on Maximillian.
October 26, 2023
An accessible if meandering narrative of a period of history I've always wanted to know more about. Ironically the two men in the title probably get the least attention, which is maybe how history ought to be done.
July 2, 2016
I knew a little about the French intervention in Mexico. I knew what Cinco de Mayo was about, the fight to gain independence from Spain, and the 1910 Revolution. Now I know a lot more about this particular time in the complex and turbulent history of Mexico. It is a sad tale of what happens when European powers are convinced to set up a government at the behest of Mexican conservatives and clergy who opposed the rule and reforms of Benito Juárez. Of course, there are resources to be had, and that is a good part of the draw for foreign powers. Unpaid debts owed to European powers also figured into this intervention.
This is a straightforward history of the events, covering people and places, battles, and intrigues. Maximilian's regime is more fully covered than that of Juárez. Juárez was pushed to the margins of Mexico during the fight, but eventually prevailed after Napoleon III withdrew his promise of soldiers to protect the fragile empire he had set up in Mexico. Maximilian's story and that of this wife Charlotte is a sad one. He was rather unsuited for the job, and he'd been sold a story of how welcome he would be.
This was happening at the time of the U.S. Civil War, which made for interesting alliances and calculations on the part of the Union, the Confederacy, and the U.S. after the Civil War's end.
Another reviewer mentioned some inaccuracy in the chapter on Alice Iturbide. Since this is my first reading of any depth into Mexican history, I cannot comment on any factual errors or even Ridley's interpretation. That said, I learned much. I think that since Mexico is a close neighbor, it is worthwhile and important to know something of her history.
This is a straightforward history of the events, covering people and places, battles, and intrigues. Maximilian's regime is more fully covered than that of Juárez. Juárez was pushed to the margins of Mexico during the fight, but eventually prevailed after Napoleon III withdrew his promise of soldiers to protect the fragile empire he had set up in Mexico. Maximilian's story and that of this wife Charlotte is a sad one. He was rather unsuited for the job, and he'd been sold a story of how welcome he would be.
This was happening at the time of the U.S. Civil War, which made for interesting alliances and calculations on the part of the Union, the Confederacy, and the U.S. after the Civil War's end.
Another reviewer mentioned some inaccuracy in the chapter on Alice Iturbide. Since this is my first reading of any depth into Mexican history, I cannot comment on any factual errors or even Ridley's interpretation. That said, I learned much. I think that since Mexico is a close neighbor, it is worthwhile and important to know something of her history.
October 12, 2016
Fairly indepth coverage of the life of Maximilian and a slight coverage of the life of Juarez. A history of Mexico from 1810 through the Mexican War of Independence and the multiple revolutions between 1920 and 1870.
This book focuses on the search of an emperor for Mexico, the selling of the idea to Maximilian and the term of his reign. All, of course, was under the control of France and Napoleon III.
Interesting how an event in one country affects another. President Buchanan's team had negotiated with Mexico to gain control of Baja California. Thanks to the timeliness of John Brown's raid on Harper's Ferry, the belligerent Congress decided that they did not care for Buchanan's response to Brown and therefore decided to not approve the treaty.
Likewise goes the span of Emperor Maximilian's reign. If there was not a Civil War in the US, there would be no French occupation of Mexico nor a reign of Maximilian. Soon after the war ended, Grant moved troops down to Texas to help the Liberals. Secretary of State bluffed the French into thinking that war was to be launched against France and immediately France withdrew. Basically this ended the reign of Emperor Maximilian. An execution squad ended his life soon after his capture and trial.
This book focuses on the search of an emperor for Mexico, the selling of the idea to Maximilian and the term of his reign. All, of course, was under the control of France and Napoleon III.
Interesting how an event in one country affects another. President Buchanan's team had negotiated with Mexico to gain control of Baja California. Thanks to the timeliness of John Brown's raid on Harper's Ferry, the belligerent Congress decided that they did not care for Buchanan's response to Brown and therefore decided to not approve the treaty.
Likewise goes the span of Emperor Maximilian's reign. If there was not a Civil War in the US, there would be no French occupation of Mexico nor a reign of Maximilian. Soon after the war ended, Grant moved troops down to Texas to help the Liberals. Secretary of State bluffed the French into thinking that war was to be launched against France and immediately France withdrew. Basically this ended the reign of Emperor Maximilian. An execution squad ended his life soon after his capture and trial.
October 20, 2007
A great book about an interesting time. Of course I attended the University of Mexico for graduate school and developed my love of the history during that time. There is a link between the hard cover copy (I don't have the paperback) of this book and Christopher Buckley's "Wet Work." I picked these two books at random in an Iowa book store one evening and read them simultaneously in Hong Kong a few nights later. The link caused me to think I was hallucinating. A dubious prize of autographed copies of my books if anyone wants to find the link. (I'll optimistically limit it to the first ten researchers).
pej
pej
November 4, 2015
More focused on Maximilian and the conservative forces than Juarez and the liberals, this is still a reasonable narrative of the French Intervention. More focus on the contingency of US inaction and the tenacity of Juarez and the liberal forces would present a more interesting depiction. As this book depicts matters, there's no particular reason for everything to fall apart in 1866.
March 26, 2018
Una excelente obra, introductoria, de uno de los capítulos más contados pero no por ello conocidos de la historia mexicana. Totalmente recomendado, lo van a pasar excelente al leerlo. Muchos datos, cientos de anécdotas y un estilo que muestra objetividad y sencillez. ¡Leer ya! 😎
May 14, 2012
Molto confusionario, salta da un anno all'altro, si fatica a seguire la cronologia degli eventi.
Displaying 1 - 12 of 12 reviews