WI: Successful Expédition du Mexique

Hi all,

The Mexican expedition was a failure in the end but still, France managed to fight the war for several years in adverse conditions, with a lot of tropical diseases.

So what if it had been more successful? I heard one of the problems was that Maximilien was not good enough for the job, as well as a representative of the European monarchies.

What if they had chosen a more "local" candidate? Would that have made a change? What could have been done and what would have been the consequences?

If the French had picked a better candidate and put more effort into it during the ACW, they might have done better. The long term problem is that both the USA and the UK are less than happy with these shenanigans, and are likely to force an end to them, one way or another...

The best result France could hope for would be to install a competent leader in Mexico and keep a strong Franco-Mexican alliance going. France has a willing partner in the Americas and the US/UK will have to come up with a very good excuse to attack a sovereign nation if they want to change leadership in Mexico.

Any good candidate? What would be the consequence of a stable Mexico, closely tied to France?

The Imperialist cause tried; Max adopted the Iturbides

Tanc49 said:

Hi all,

The Mexican expedition was a failure in the end but still, France managed to fight the war for several years in adverse conditions, with a lot of tropical diseases.

So what if it had been more successful? I heard one of the problems was that Maximilien was not good enough for the job, as well as a representative of the European monarchies.

What if they had chosen a more "local" candidate? Would that have made a change? What could have been done and what would have been the consequences?

Click to expand...

The Imperialists tried; Max adopted the Iturbide pretenders as his heirs, they brought Miramon and the Mexican conservatives aboard, etc - no one ever really bought what they were selling.

An invasion by European imperialists was just that, and given that all the Latin American republics had gained their independence only a few decades earlier from various European imperialist powers, and at great cost, there was never a particularly significant percentage of the population in Mexico (or anywhere else in Latin America) that wanted to see the Europeans come back...

There are reasons the various French, Spanish, British, and Portuguese attempts at hanging on to these territories, or conquering them, or re conquering them, all failed.

Best,

Thanks a lot for the comprehensive answer! Could they have backed a local candidate, similar to what the Brits did in Afghanistan?

Basically, backing (heavily) a faction?

Tanc49 said:

Thanks a lot for the comprehensive answer! Could they have backed a local candidate, similar to what the Brits did in Afghanistan?

Basically, backing (heavily) a faction?

Click to expand...

Perhaps the conservatives rally behind the Ituribes and France backs a rebellion against Juarez and company?

The reality was that the Liberals had won the Reform War

Tanc49 said:

Thanks a lot for the comprehensive answer! Could they have backed a local candidate, similar to what the Brits did in Afghanistan?

Basically, backing (heavily) a faction?

Click to expand...

The reality is that the Liberals had won the Reform War, which amounted to a Liberal-Conservative civil war that ended in 1859. Iturbide had been executed in 1824 for exactly the same reason Max went against the wall inn1867 ... There just wasn't a constituency for an imperial regime, especially since the French and Spanish were seen as the aggressors against Mexico in their attempts to influence policy, even before the 1860 Convention of London.

Best,