Equity & Justice: An Imperial Mexico Timeline

Sarthak · Nov 23, 2021

Sigh, Another Timeline?
Yes.
Well, get on with it, what's it about?
My attempt at a realistic Mexico-Wank with the Second Mexican Empire Succeeding
How will you update this TL?
Dunno. I have exams going on, and I wrote this after I got too tired from studying.1 update per 2 weeks is what I seem to be going for.
Well, what are you waiting for?
All right, you asked for it.

Sarthak · Nov 23, 2021

Chapter 1: Death and Misfortune

Excerpt: Rise of Empires: Mexico

‘……In the year 1864, two sides were locked in deadly combat with one another, as war raged on throughout the nation of Mexico. Mexico had never been a stable nation after the coups and counter-coups of the 1820s and 1830s, and the Mexican-American War hadn’t done much to add to the stability of the nation. But after the said war, two political factions began to vie for power over the other in the nation. The Conservative Party and the Liberal Party were extremely prejudiced against one another, and this resulted in overt political polarization in the nation of Mexico. Polarization came to a head as the tinpot Dictator of Mexico, Santa Anna was deposed in 1855 triggering the foundations for the Reform War of 1858 between the Conservatives and the Liberals. The Liberals won, but not for long, as the Second French Empire under Napoleon III invaded Mexico under the pretenses of retaking defaulted loans and installing a familiar and pro-French regime, in total contradiction of the American-led Monroe Doctrine. By the summer of 1864, after a rather mixed plebiscite (which was democratic & fair in some departments where it was held, and rather undemocratic in some other departments), Mexico was declared to be a Constitutional Monarchy under the sovereignty of Archduke Maximilian von Habsburg-Lothringen of Austria. Maximilian became Emperor Maximiliano I of Mexico and his dear Belgian wife, Charlotte, became Empress Carlotta.

Maximiliano I & Carlotta

But enemies did not allow Mexico to become a monarchy easily. Former Liberals, now called Republicans banded together to oust the foreign monarchy and reunite the nation under the banner of Republican Leader, President Benito Juarez, who spearheaded the Republican movement. Juarez and Maximiliano I were not different people. Both of them had similar goals and similar ideologies – namely the development of Mexico and the creation of a prosperous and united Mexico. But on fundamental levels, both of them could not reconcile with one another. One was a Republican and another was a Monarch after all. When he arrived on Mexican shores, Maximiliano I did attempt to reconcile the Empire and the Republicans and offered Juarez total amnesty and the position of Prime Minister. Juarez, whilst respecting Maximiliano I from a personal perspective, could not accept a government which he believed to be imposed by foreigners and outsiders. He refused this last chance at reconciliation. Arguably, this refusal laid the foundations for his death.

Benito Juarez

Imperial forces in 1864, with the aid of the French troops and Austro-Belgian volunteers began to spread throughout the nation, to impose Imperial rule on Mexico once and for all. Imperial loyalist general Tomas Mejia marched north to capture the important city of Monterrey in Northern Mexico. At the same time, with the loss of Mexico City to the Imperials and French, Juarez had temporarily taken up shelter in Monterrey, conspicuously close to the Mexican-American border. Juarez hadn’t been able to leave the city when Mejia approached the outskirts of the city on the 29th, and Juarez himself was cut in the crossfire of the ensuing battle. Juarez was the highest commander in the city and the regiments commanded by the Republicans deferred to him, however Juarez himself was unable to break out of the encirclement tactics that Mejia employed against the northern city. After a few hours of delay, Mejia and 2,000 Imperial troops aided by 400 French soldiers stormed the city of Monterrey intent on taking it once and for all. The ensuing hand to hand combat of the Republicans and Imperials within the roads and squares of the city involved high level officers as well, and Juarez himself was caught in the fighting. Jose Maria Iglesias, a close confidante of Juarez managed to order a few Republican troops to find a way out of the city, which was on the verge of falling to the Imperials. However, at the same time, Colonel Francois de Salazar, a French commander in command of the artillery, who had been held up by partisan and guerilla activity arrived and positioned his artillery on the lanes outside of the city to provide devastating fire towards the Republicans. Near the frontlines as Juarez was at the time, a shell exploded near him, and the fragments of the shell managed to wound him most grievously. Iglesias managed to take the wounded leader away from Monterrey just in time as Mejia flew the Imperial banner over the city’s main palace.

Capture of Monterrey

Iglesias and Juarez’s cabinet fled towards Chihuahua, where they were out of Imperial scrutiny, but without proper medical support on the harsh journey towards the northern department, Juarez soon died of the injuries he sustained at Monterrey on the 8th of September, 1864. The death of Juarez was something that no one could have predicted among the Republican Camp, and everyone among said camp was caught off-guard on their future course of actions in light of the death. Leadership problems erupted among the Mexican Republicans almost immediately.

Ortega, the chief pretender to the Presidency

The entire Republican movement had been so splintered, that it had been held together only by Juarez’s personal legitimacy and his own charisma and set of alliances among the Republican leadership. Without him, said legitimacy and alliances started to flounder apart. Iglesias fought with Sebastian Lerdro de Tejada, both of whom claimed to be Juarez’s successors, whilst as news of the death spread down south, other Republican commanders began to squabble with one another as well. General Jesus Gonzalez Ortega decided that as the strongest military commander for the Republicans in the north, he named himself President of the Republic of Mexico and refused to entertain the claims of both Iglesias and Tejada, and called the previous cabinet of Juarez to defer to himself. In Guanajuato, Manuel Doblado another competitor for the Presidency declared himself to be the legitimate successor of Juarez and as such the new President of the Republic. With the four claimants in the north, it can hardly be a surprise that other Republican bands waiting for orders from the top were caught by confusion as all four claimants sent rather differing orders for them to carry out. This confusion among the Republican ranks was exploited by the Imperial Generals, and General Jose Maria Tranquilino Almada inflicted a devastating defeat on the Republicans under the command of General Jose Maria Arteaga Magallanes at the Battle of San Julian near Guadalajara. The Imperial Government still didn’t know about the situation in the north and of Juarez’s death and instead took the fumbling of the Republican troops as the war finally swinging in favor of the Imperial government. They weren’t particularly wrong about that either…..’ [1]

Excerpt: Maximiliano & Carlotta: The Couple That Defined Mexico

‘…. As Juarez died of his wounds, Maximiliano I was going on a tour of Central Mexico, hoping to make sure that he would be well received by the Mexican population of the time. Maximiliano I and the Empress Carlotta, both managed to charm the Mexican Elite and the Indigenous Tribal Leaders. Maximiliano I was fluent in 11 languages (German, Spanish, French, Flemish, Latin, English, Italian, Hungarian, Czech, Polish, & Croatian) and Carlotta was fluent in German, Spanish, French, English, Italian and Flemish. Their cultural acumen managed to impress most of the Mexican elite and tribal leaders, who were won over by Carlotta’s hard work and Maximiliano’s kind persona. To show his magnanimous approach to governing and to reward services rendered to the new Imperial Crown of Mexico, Maximiliano I established the Order of the Mexican Eagle and the Order of Guadalupe. Similarly, Carlotta established the Order of San Carlos as an orderly dispensation towards successful women in the Second Mexican Empire. In terms of the two orders made by Maximiliano, the Order of the Mexican Eagle was an honor made for a limited amount of people – namely Knights, Officers, Commanders and Grand Officers, and as such it was mostly a military order. His second order, the Order of Guadalupe was a much less exclusive order, and was handed out to any citizen who showed themselves to be working extraordinarily in favor of the Second Mexican Empire.

Order of the Mexican Eagle

The imperial couple was determined to make Mexico what could essentially be called as a central paragon of culture. Carlotta was ambitious in her approach to particularly large balls and gatherings, which she usually gave on Monday evenings, at either the National Palace in Mexico City, or at the Couple’s new home – Chapultepec Palace. Styled in a mixture of European court traditions and Mexican indigenous decorations, these Monday balls were truly something that one had to gaze upon to register its wonder. Food wise, the Imperial Couple spared no expenses either. Viennese, Belgian, Austrian, French dishes made up the European side of menu whilst exotic dishes such as Tacos, Tostada, Tortas, Gorditas, Champurrados made up the Mexican side of the Imperial couple’s served dishes. On some occasions, commoners from Mexico City were allowed to join the balls, though limited to the merchants and bankers and other important commoners of the city. Maximiliano I also invited several artists who performed operatic and orchestral performances during these balls, leaving no doubt that the Imperial couple had good taste in music. Privately, these balls had another function as well, other than simply impressing the Elite, foreigners and people of Mexico. Maximiliano I used these gala events to observe the people closely, to discern allies, and to discern future political enemies and opponents.

The cry of Dolores

To know more about his new country, Maximiliano I set out on a grand journey of Central Mexico on the 10th of August 1864. With a contingent of 60 soldiers he travelled through the ill-maintained Mexican paths wearing nothing but a traditional Mexican charro attire, leaving his wife, Carlotta as Regent in Mexico City. Maximiliano I had timed his journey to match with the National Holiday of Independence in Mexico. On September 15, 1864, he arrived in Dolores and partook in the traditional Cry of the Dolores. A massive Independence Day Celebration took place in the city in honor of independence and their new Emperor. In Dolores, he attracted a great crowd as he addressed them. His voice quivered a bit – the Emperor was timid about speaking in Spanish during his earlier days – but he managed to make himself heard by the large gathering. In his speech he called for unity and to disregarding the blatant political violent polarization of the past, and called for unity and seize the Mexican future. Always a charismatic speaker, despite his surprising timidity regarding Spanish, the crowd returned his enthusiasm and returned the Emperor with a thunderous applause and shouts of support. [2]

Jose Maria Lacunza, 1st Chancellor of Imperial Mexico

On the 29th of September, Maximiliano’s visit across Central Mexico was cut short as news arrived to the south that Juarez had died and several political factions among the Republicans were now fighting amongst one another in a bid to secure their own power. Maximiliano I decided to return back home to Mexico City to appraise the military and domestic situation in light of the Republican Leader’s death. It was good that Maximiliano I decided to return as on the 2nd of October 1864, a particularly strong earthquake struck Puebla, and its aftershocks were felt as far as Mexico City. Maximiliano returned to Mexico City on the 8th and then visited Puebla on the 10th where he personally led some reconstruction works, on the advice of his Council of Ministers. Certainly this charitable work abled him to heighten his image in front of the Pueblan populace. After returning back from Puebla, Maximiliano I officially ended the Imperial Regency and appointed a new government within which framework, the Imperial Government would function.

Jose Maria Lacunza’s position as Chancellor of Mexico was reaffirmed and a new cabinet appointed by Maximiliano I consisted of:-

Minister of the Interior: Jose Salazar Illarregui (Conservative)
Minister of Foreign Affairs: Jose Fernando Ramirez (Liberal)
Minister of Financial & Economic Affairs: Jose Maria Garmendia (Liberal)
Minister of War & the Navy: Ignacio Suarez Navarro (Conservative)
Minister of Transportation: Jose Miguel Arroyo (Conservative)
Minister of Culture & Tradition: Faustino Chimalpopoca (Liberal)

The new government was the perfect balance of Liberal and Conservative and highlighted Maximiliano I’s pledge to form a new government that would work to heal the partisan divides of the past. The new government was appointed on the 24th of October under the Chancellorship of Lacunza, who remained in the confidence of the Emperor, and the new cabinet prepared to create new plans for finishing what was now being dubbed as the Mexican Civil War. Good news arrived for the Imperial government when on the 6th of November, Colonel Porfirio Diaz, who commanded 4,000 troops and the Republican resistance in Oaxaca decided to defect over to the Imperial government. Diaz had initially been a Republican, but his ideologies had always been in flux and he had never been trusted fully by the Republicans. Diaz believed that the fracture of heading the Republicans now meant that it was impossible for an outright Republican victory and he threw his dice into the Imperial side. This good news was offset by the fact that relations with France started to become strained as Emperor Maximiliano I took the advice of Miguel Miramon (who was still conversing with the Emperor through letters from Europe) and expanded the Imperial Mexican Army greatly, leaving the French forces in the region in the proverbial dust. But Maximiliano I was not perturbed by this sudden straining of the relation between Mexico City and Paris, for he had received great news during the waning days of November 1864.

The Empress Carlotta was pregnant…..’ [3]

Footnotes:-

[1] – Juarez was in Monterrey two days before the capture. He was almost stalled because Tejada was trying to persuade the man to stay, and ittl Tejada is successful, leading to the events in Monterrey ittl.

[2] – Nearly as otl.

[3] – Carlotta showed signs of fake pregnancy during this time otl, ittl its an actual pregnancy.

Main sources are from Maximilian & Carlota and Biography of Power within the chapter.

Sarthak · Nov 23, 2021

[Map] - Situation of Mexico at the end of 1864

Approximate Map

Sarthak · Nov 24, 2021

Chapter 2: Marching Till The End

Excerpt: The Mexican Civil War the 1860s: A Military, Political & Diplomatic History

‘……As 1864 waned and 1865 came, Mexico was in a state of flux as four new leaders claimed to be the President of the Mexican Republic. This was a godsend for the Imperials in Mexico and a massive wrench in the plan for the Republican Cause. As news of the fragmentation of the Republican Leaders reached Washington DC, American actors in the Mexican Civil War were forced to pause. The French intervention in Mexico constituted an ideological and geopolitical challenge to the United States of America and the theory of the Monroe Doctrine. After decades of what seemed to be shadowboxing in the long run, American politicians had finally been confronted by what they had long feared most: An European Power invading a New World Republic and bringing with it what they saw to be a Puppet Monarchy. Northerners in the American Republic believed that the Mexican Civil War and the Secession of the Southern States were so closely linked that they were nearly the very same conflict in and of itself. After all, Confederate politicians had cheered the French troops in Mexico in hopes of gaining recognition from the French Empire. Ulysses S. Grant, one of the American Civil War’s greatest generals believed the Mexican Civil War and the French involvement in it to be tantamount to a declaration of war between France and America. This view was certainly shared by many in the American government and military.

Abraham Lincoln
President of the USA

During the initial European involvement in 1861, when British and Spanish soldiers marched into Mexico alongside the French to regain Mexican debt, on the insistence of Britain, an offer to intervene in Mexico had been given to the American government as well. Lincoln, on receiving the offer, determined that European powers using military force to regain debts defaulted in a New World Republic did not violate the Monroe Doctrine. On Lincoln’s answer, American Secretary of State Seward proclaimed that America would not accept the invitation, not because it violated Mexican sovereignty because Seward stated that America would take independent actions later on after the Southern Rebellion was suppressed. [1]

Margarita Maza
Former First Lady of Mexico

But these plans of the United States of America was unravelling at the get go, as Juarez died and his successors squabbled with one another over the title President and Imperial Mexico made slow by steady gains. When Juarez was alive, the American government could easily prop him up as the legitimate Head of State of Mexico, but with four Republican pretenders running around in Mexico, the legitimism of the Mexican Republic was shattered, and American diplomacy in the area reflected this. In Washington DC, Margarita Maza, the wife of the late Benito Juarez tried to secure further American funding and aid for the Mexican Republicans, in the memory of her late husband, but it was fundamentally becoming harder and harder for the former First Lady of Mexico to gain monetary aid when the American government did not know where and to whom that aid was going to be going. Lincoln himself believed that the death of Juarez was an utter disaster for the application of the Monroe Doctrine in Mexico and this sentiment was shared by the American Cabinet and the American Congress. Who would they now support?

The more belligerent of American leaders advocated for immediate war with Mexico after the Confederates were defeated after which they could install a proper figurehead President for the Mexicans. General Grant was an advocate of this plan, but President Lincoln remained hesitant. He believed that intervening in Mexico through direct military intervention was only going to unite the Mexican people - who were never really supportive of the Americans after the Mexican-American War - over to the Imperial side. As the American Civil War started to wind down, he had to take care of politicking as well, and he believed personally that any opposition party that would form against him after the Civil War would take up use of a hypothetical 2nd Mexican-American War with ample impunity. In a letter admonishing Seward for his high tone belligerency regarding Mexico, Lincoln wrote: -

“The political opposition soon to be formed will take up the question of our governmental relationship with Maximilian, and assume the assertion or anti-assertion of the Monroe Doctrine as their great political principle; carrying it eloquently before the people, who have undoubtedly kept the doctrine close and warm at heart; will they not gain a hold upon public favor not easily shaken off?” [2]

A relief came in the form of news that France and Imperial Mexico had seen a frosting of relationship, as Maximiliano I became more dependent on his locally raised Imperial Mexican Army rather than the French Army and rumors arose that Napoleon III was even thinking about withdrawing from Mexico over the issue, for he didn’t wish for a wayward vassal. This relief was offset by the fact that Emperor Franz Joseph of Austria was now publically contemplating intervening in Mexico to ‘aid Maximilian, the son of Austria & Mexico’. [3] In the end, Lincoln decided that until the Civil War was fully finished, America would have nothing to do with the Mexican Civil War. It was a classic move of kicking the proverbial can down the road, as even the giant policy makers of America at the time were caught off-guard on their future course of action in Mexico.

Refugio Tanori in 1889

A direct American intervention would have likely been the last hope for the Mexican Republicans, as the vastly expanded Imperial Mexican Army decided that 1865 was going to be the year in which they ended the war entirely. Under the command of Refugio Tanori, a skilled young commander in the Imperial Mexican Army, a force of 8,000 pro-Maximilian Mexican troops and 2,000 Franco-Austrian-Belgian troops invaded Durango, directly pitting themselves against the forces of General Jesus Ortega, who floundered at the sudden attack from the south. Ortega conducted a harsh scorched earth policy as he regrouped further in the north in a bid to regain military superiority in the region. His efforts to disrupt Imperial advances from the south was being disturbed by the fact that Tejada’s own militias attacked Ortega’s northern flanks in a bid to destroy a pretender to the Mexican presidency. Ortega gave battle to General Tanori at the Battle of Durango Nazar, which Ortega won, however he was unable to make use of his victory other than retreating to a sounder defensive parameter. Despite the military victory at the battle, Ortega had still lost most of Durango to the Imperials. Tanori for his part, recognized that he would not be able to advance further without creating a proper link between his small army and Mexico City, for he required the logistical support. His first course of action was to stamp down on the pro-Republican guerilla activities going on in the recently captured areas, and the perpetual bandits that called Northern Mexico home. These bandits looted indiscriminately, whether their victims be Republican or Imperial, they paid no mind, as only gold and money was on their heads for them.

The Belgian Legion in Mexico

Tanori requested the support of the newly arrived Belgian Legion, which was a group of 1500 Belgian volunteers sent by the Belgian Government; the new Empress of Mexico was Belgian after all. These Volunteers were at the time being criminally underused as a garrison in San Luis Potosi. Under the command of Colonel Carlos Oronoz, the Belgian Legion was asked to conduct cordon and search missions to reduce and exterminate banditry and pro-Republican guerillas in the mountains of Durango. The success of the Belgian Legions, which arrived in Durango on the 21st of March, 1865, was mixed. They did successfully manage to clamp down on guerilla activity – for a heavy price as 112 Belgian casualties are recorded in the fighting – but Banditry continued unabated as the bandits of Northern Mexico were used to dodging angry armies who were in pursuit of them. Meanwhile Ortega hadn’t forgotten about Tejada’s stab in the back against him during Tanori’s offensive and instead to cement his position as President of Mexico, he turned his attention to the north. This was a fatal mistake in hindsight. Without hindsight, it was a fair decision on part of Ortega, for the logistics of the Imperial Mexicans and the French in the region had reached their limit and they had stopped in order to regroup. It would take weeks and even months for them to regain a proper base of logistical support. With this in mind, Ortega attacked Tejada’s controlled territory in the north and managed to beat back Tejada’s troops all the way to Desierto. What followed was basically a Republican version of a feudal war of succession and feudal disputes.

Tejada found himself attacked not only by Ortega from the south, but also from Iglesias in the Northwest and soon, Ortega & Iglesias had punched Tejada’s forces all the way from their tentative borders all the way towards Monclova, capturing vast amounts of territory and resource rich areas in the process. Tejada gave up the territories in the rump Nuevo Leon and instead moved with the rest of his forces through Cantu and Los Herrera into Tamaulipas, which was controlled by General Manuel Doblado. Tejada’s sudden abandonment of the remnants of non-Imperial Nuevo Leon and sudden attack towards Tamaulipas took Doblado, who was gingerly gathering his forces in a coordinated defense against the southern Imperialist forces, by absolute surprise, as Doblado had nothing but the bare minimum defenses against the Nuevo Leonese border. His capital at Ciudad Victoria fell to the forces under the command of Tejada, and seeing no other option to secure at least a modicum of a power base behind him, Doblado left towards Tampico, which was controlled by the Imperial government and defected to the Imperial government. General Tomas Mejia who was in command in the region, and the one who had commanded the Franco-Mexican forces in Monterrey in 1864 took Doblado’s letter of defection and using the autonomy present to him as a General of the Empire, raised Doblado to Lieutenant General. As the remnants of Tejada’s Nuevo Leon fell and was divided between Iglesias and Ortega, the two started to feud over the territory themselves and were involved in running fighting with one another. But with Ortega and Iglesias fighting with one another over the division of lands in Nuevo Leon and over the Presidency and being Juarez’s Successor, Tanori saw an opportunity that was simply too great to miss. A native of Sinaloa, Tanori believed that he could capture most of Sinaloa which was being neglected by Ortega in favor of Northern Durango and Nuevo Leon. This would essentially cut off Ortega and Iglesias from Baja California and their base of power in the region, whilst also significantly reducing the two Republican leaders and their capability to wage war. The only problem was that the logistical ability of Mexico City to supply such an invasion was insignificant as the underdeveloped roads of Northern Mexico were ill-equipped to handle such large transfers of war materials. Tanori was taking a risk, but he had been reinforced by Porfirio Diaz and his experienced troops, and the two commanders commenced the May Offensive as Tanori invaded Sinaloa and Diaz conducted a feint attack into Northern Durango.

Military Situation in Mexico at the end of May 1865.
(Ignore America)

Diaz was stopped and checked by General Ortega who retreated back south and managed to stall Diaz’s advance into Durango, but the feint managed to work as Ortega was unable to properly reinforce Sinaloa against the Imperial forces in the region. Most of Sinaloa fell to Tanori’s invasion, and effectively split Ortega’s forces throughout Mexico in what became an uncoordinated mess. As May 1865 ended, the military situation for the Republicans had turned extremely dire. The disunity and infighting among the Mexican Republicans after Diaz’s death was effectively checkmate for Imperial Mexico….’

Excerpt: Maximiliano & Carlotta: The Couple That Defined Mexico

‘…..As the Imperial and French troops moved north to secure the Northern anti-Monarchist holdouts against Maximilian’s rule, Maximiliano turned his attention to the Clergy once again. Arguably, the disaffection of the Clergy in Mexico had been the mover that had brought Maximiliano from Austria to Mexico, however said Clergy was already disaffected with Maximiliano I due to the fact that the new Emperor of Mexico had retained much of the Liberal laws regarding the Clergy in Mexico. All that was different was that Catholicism became the State Religion, but even that was more akin to first among equals in religion rather than a true state religion of old. The Empress Carlotta also took a rather dim view of the Mexican Clergy, largely due to the fact that the Clergy in Europe and the Clergy in Mexico were vastly two different things, and the Imperial Couple regarded the Mexican Clergy as “stuck in the Middle Ages”. The Imperial couple had been warned in Rome in 1863 by Jose Maria Gutierrrez de Estrada that the Mexican Clergy was very different than in Europe, but the two had clearly underestimated the difference, and were started to become irate over it.

Juan Bautista de Ormaechea
Labastida's replacement as Archbishop of Mexico

Carlotta and Maximiliano shared the opinion that the clerics were spoiled, extremely overly entitled, corrupt and idiotic people. They hardly had any knowledge about Christian Theology (“I can debate more about the Bible than these fools!” – Maximiliano to Miramon in 1867) and they hardly cared for the common Mexican people except for fermenting public reaction by overtaxing the normal tithing. Maximiliano had thus decided to keep the Liberal Reforms that Juarez had passed after the Reform War, nationalizing Clergy lands, and allowing for toleration of other religions, a decision that finally made the arch-reactionary Archbishop of Mexico Labastida break with Maximiliano. Maximiliano I would have probably allowed the Archbishop to stay in place despite their break in relations, however Carlotta was far more vengeful than her husband, and knowing that Labastida now presented a threat to her husband’s reign after the break, she worked to remove Labastida away from a position of power. She would later write to Rome and have the Pope himself intervene. Pope Pius IX would later write back, removing Labastida as Archbishop of Mexico and replacing him with the more moderate Bishop of Tulacingo, Juan Bautista de Ormaechea. Ormaechea was not supportive of wholesale land nationalization of the Mexican Clergy but he recognized that the embezzled land needed to be returned back to a central authority and later convinced Maximiliano I to nationalize all lands that had been embezzled by the Clergy in Mexico, whilst the Clergy was allowed to keep the lands that they had owned from before 1800. It was in effect, a perfect compromise for the Liberals and Conservatives in Mexico at the time, regarding the Clergy. Of course Pius IX hadn’t been made aware of the fact that the Imperial Couple intended to keep most of the Liberal reforms in place, because if he had been informed, then it was highly unlikely that the Vatican would have replaced Labastida. All that Carlotta told Pius IX was that Labastida was simply becoming a hindrance on the development and consolidation of Imperial Mexico. This does show the undercurrent of sneakiness that Carlotta would later become known for, during the court intrigues of the Mexican Empire.

These actions of compromise mollified the powerful Clerical Party for some time, however the more hardline reactionary monarchists in Mexico were rather unnerved by this action on part of their new sovereign. They believed that only the catholic faith could ordain Kings and Emperors, as it had done for Charlemagne millennia ago. Despite this fact however, Maximilian’s reconciliatory approach to matters that had been rather large sticking points in the 1850s earned him the support of most moderates throughout the Mexican country, which was extremely important as the Mexican nation was still not fully under Monarchist rule.

The Austrian Volunteers

But as Maximiliano I and Carlotta worked against the Clergy’s stifling presence in Mexican politics at the time, France was starting to have double thoughts regarding Mexico. Maximiliano I had already overturned many of France’s decisions and laws in Mexico, including the Napoleonic Ecclesial Laws, which were stifling to all Liberals in Mexico. Furthermore, led by Achille Fould, the French opposition were lambasting against the French intervention, and this had led to a slight upswing in French Republicanism back in France, worrying Napoleon III greatly. Prussia was on the rise and as tensions rose between Berlin and Vienna regarding the final German settlement, Napoleon III knew that he needed the cream of the French military which was still in Mexico to be back in France. The decision to fully raise an indigenous Mexican military on part of Maximiliano I had alienated Napoleon III as well, who wanted to keep Maximiliano I under his own thumb. Five French regiments were recalled in early 1865 despite successes in the North, much to the frustration of Maximiliano and Carlotta, however Franz Joseph was not going to let France cut his brother dry in Mexico. The Austrian Imperial Ministry of War called out for volunteers in the Austrian Army to join up for ‘expedition into Mexico’ and 7,000 Austrian Volunteers (mostly made up of Slovenes, Croats and Italians – Maximilian as Head of the Austrian Navy before had endeared himself to these nationalities of the Austrian Empire) were dispatched to Mexico to make up for the sudden French withdrawal of regiments. With key successes being reported in Northern Mexico, Miramon finally managed to persuade key Prussian and British arms dealers to send weapons and armament to Mexico. Napoleon III had made a fatal mistake in his abrupt withdrawal of five experienced regiments, as French influence waned – in ostensibly French puppet state – whilst Austrian, Prussian and British influence grew.

Juan N. Cortina

Maximiliano I himself was more focused on building his base of support within Mexico. To do this, he rationalized that he would have to work to uplift the economically poor Mexico. Under his reign, Mexico established the National Bank of Mexico as the first banking cooperation in Mexico, whilst a new railway line was being constructed between Mexico and Veracruz by French companies, defended by French troops across the construction sites against any guerilla activity. Whilst the railroad itself would not pay dividends until much later, the establishment of the bank certainly allowed for a greater access of commodity and commerce in Mexico City, which allowed for a greater inflow of money into the city. Like any good monarch, Maximiliano I knew that a key facet to earning the people’s mind was money. It was certainly this new flow of money that allowed Maximiliano I to win back the support of Juan N. Cortina, who has been misnamed by history as the Rio Grande Robin Hood (because this man didn’t distribute his wealth to the poor, far from it).

Jo Shelby, the first of many Confederate Immigrants to Mexico

All of this politicking and economic and social work had left the heavily pregnant Carlotta extremely frail by the end of March, and Maximiliano I, worried about the health of his wife and future child, temporarily released Carlotta from her work in the government and she stayed in Chapultepec Castle for the rest of her pregnancy attended by several members of the Mexican elite at the time, visiting her and showering her with praise. Maximiliano I for his part, departed his life from his native mistress (whose name is unknown to us), and decided to stay by the side of his wife when not working, to ease her through the pregnancy. And certainly Maximiliano I had a lot of work to do. With the defeat of the Confederate States of America in April 1865, a group of Confederate leaders wishing to flee America approached Maximiliano I with an offer. Confederates would immigrate to Mexico into an immigration hub or neo-colony named ‘New Virginia’ anywhere near Mexico City, allowing their families to settle down peacefully without having to suffer through America’s Reconstruction of the South. This group of Confederate Leaders was led by Commodore Mathew Maury and Explorer William Anderson. Maximiliano I had some doubts about the plan, though he was eager for American and European immigrants to boost the capital of the nation. He had just recently sent a telegram to Lincoln (in an unofficial capacity, for America still didn’t recognize the Empire), asking about Lincoln’s safety after the attempted assassination of President Lincoln on the 14th of April, 1865. [4] Lincoln hadn’t replied, even if he had, he could not for the USA did not recognize the Empire of Mexico, but in an unofficial capacity, his secretary had replied with a customary letter of gratitude for the courtesy. It wasn’t much, but it was a start. Maximiliano I didn’t know how much he could rankle America by allowing the Confederates to immigrate into Mexico. Most reluctantly he allowed the Confederates to immigrate, on the condition that they bring no slaves into Mexico, for slavery was outlawed in Mexico – of that issue Maximiliano I was firm – and on the condition that Confederate Generals who immigrated to Mexico joined the Imperial Mexican Army to stamp out the northern resistance. Though Maximiliano I found the Confederates to be morally extremely backwards, even he could not deny that their generals had proper military experience that could be useful for the nascent Imperial Mexican Army. A coldly pragmatic view, but for a man in the situation of Maximilian, something that was necessary. Joseph O. Shelby and Edmund Kirby Smith, both of whom fled into Mexico with the remnants of their troops became the first Confederate emigres of the 2nd Mexican Empire. Later on, Maximiliano revoked his wish for the Confederates to be a part of his military, for he decided he didn’t wish to gain the ire of the northern American giant more than he had already had, but allowed them to settle down peacefully in what became known as the New Virginia quarter of Mexico City, which is till this day, still filled with descendants of Confederate immigrants.

Prince of Tenochtitlan, Prince Francisco Maximiliano Carlos de Habsburgo-Lorena in 1900

Finally, during the ending days of May, 1865, Carlotta’s water broke, and she went into labor at Chapultepec Castle. Unexpectedly she gave birth to twins. A girl named Augustina Maria Carlotta Isabel was born first. Four minutes later a boy named Francisco Maximiliano Carlos (named after his uncle) was born as well. Due to Mexico’s male preference succession system at the time, Prince Francisco immediately became Heir to the Imperial Throne of Mexico whilst Princess Augustina became second in line to the Imperial throne. Maximilian was delighted at the birth of his children. In honor of his children, he created the title Prince of Tenochtitlan for Prince Francisco, which became akin to the title Prince of Wales in Britain. He also created the title Princess Imperial for Princess Augustina which became akin to the title of Princess Royal in Britain. The birth of the twins was regarded as a miracle for the Imperial couple, and certainly furthered the legitimacy of the Imperial family within Mexico. Throughout Mexico, church bells rang out 29 times to denote the fact that the Imperial Twins as they became called were born on the 29th of May, 1865. Thus started the Imperial House of Habsburg-Mexico……’

Footnotes:-

[1] – True Fact.

[2] – Soured from Monroe Doctrine: Empire and Nation in 19th Century America. True quote

[3] – True quote by Franz Joseph to the Austrian House of Lords in 1865

[4] – Heh, small drop

Information from Monroe Doctrine: Empire and Nation in 19th Century America & Maximilian& Carlotta: Europe’s Last Empire in Mexico

Sarthak · Dec 7, 2021

Chapter 3: Cinco de Agosto

Excerpt: The Mexican Civil War the 1860s: A Military, Political & Diplomatic History

“……The military situation fundamentally changed for most Mexicans after the birth of the Imperial Twins. What was once lacking for Maximiliano I and Carlotta – succession legitimacy – was now no longer lacking. Many religiously minded Mexicans followed the Imperial path after said legitimacy was secured after news spread of the birth of the Imperial Twins. This allowed for the military situation to change. The final rebels in Oaxaca were defeated and the rebels in the Yucatan were suppressed by the end of May. All that remained was the Northern provinces, which were still under the control of the three republican leaders, all of whom claimed to be the legitimate President of the Republic of Mexico.

Ortega, Tejada, and Iglesias could only sit back and try and comprehend the disaster that was falling upon the Republican cause at that point in time. Tejada refused a reconciliatory meeting brokered by Ortega and Iglesias, and instead decided that he would continue to fight on his own. Tepid American support in the form of weapons and some training supervisors had made his small band of militiamen a worthy fighting force, despite its small number. But there was a good reason why the Imperial forces had stopped offensives into the north whilst the southern resistance was being dealt with. Pathways were being cleared for troops to pass into the north easily, and for supplies to reach the north. By the end of June, Tanori, Diaz, and Mejia had over 60,000 men under arms in the north, all of whom were well equipped with the influx of Prussian, British and Austrian arms from Europe. Their training left much to desire, but the leadership and equipment of the Imperial forces gathering in the north was nothing to scoff at.

Imperial Mexican Troops of the Imperial Mexican Army c. 1860 - 1870

Ortega and Iglesias worked hard after hearing about the birth of the Imperial Twins, and realizing their folly decided to broker a general peace between their two factions and unite their forces against the encroaching Imperial forces. Iglesias and Ortega met with one another on the 8th of June, 1865 in a small town named El Pinto in Southern Coahuila. There, the two factions made peace with one another. Since Iglesias had the political backing and Ortega had the military backing of the splintered Republicans, it was decided that Iglesias would be the sole claimant of the Presidency between the two factions whilst Ortega became the Commander in Chief of the Republican Military. The Declaration of El Pinto – despite its optimistic note - came too late. Tejada dismissed the declaration and continued to assert his own claim to the presidency and the Imperials were now getting ready for a last single offensive into the north that would bring the Republicans to their knees. The hefty military defeats and splintering of the Republican leadership had also led to several members of the Republican militiamen defecting over to the Imperial forces, which essentially meant that the Republicans were quickly becoming deprived of manpower resources.

Tomas Mejia declared the beginning of the ‘Final Offensive’ on the 19th of June, 1865 and the Imperial forces began to move. The front was effectively divided into three ‘commander zones’. The west was commanded by Refugio Tanori, the center was commanded by Porfirio Diaz (with his central authority diminished – his previous Republican association led to suspicions), and the eastern sector commanded by Tomas Mejia himself. What happened next was basically a military campaign that was extremely one sided. Though Ortega and Iglesias had decided to let go of their rivalry and fight together to save the Republic, they had not been able to gain enough time to coordinate their forces together. The newfound enemies turning back into allies had disrupted the normal soldiers on the ground with different orders leading to disorganization. In the west, Tanori managed to secure Sinaloa with ease whilst Diaz marched north at a tepid pace and managed to take control of regional centers in and around of Central and Northern Durango. Tomas Mejia decided to first deal with Tejada before moving to secure his flanks against Iglesias and Ortega. From Tampico and San Luis Potosi, Imperial forces marched towards Ciudad Victoria and laid siege to it a week later on the 28th of June, 1865. Tejada had holed all of his military resources in the city and was prepared to defend it with all the remaining military resources that he had as a last stand for his own personal principles as well as his dream for the Republic. With the mountains to the east overlooking La Bandera and the Mirador Atlas Valley to the south of the city, Ciudad Victoria was a defending army’s prime area. Imperial forces under the command of Leonardo Marquez settled down for a siege that would last for three and a half more months.

Siege of Ciudad Victoria
The Last Stand of the Mexican Republicans

With Marquez taking the helms of the Siege of Ciudad Victoria, Mejia took the bulk of his offensive army and marched north to Monterrey. There, he received information that both Ortega and Iglesias were mobilizing the best of their troops at Nadadores, a small hub around twenty kilometers north of the disputed Monclova city. Mejia knew at that key juncture, that he would have to move his troops and engage in a decisive battle, or else he would lose the strategic initiative of the entire war. Mejia gathered his forces at Monterrey and marched north. Both Ortega and Iglesias, on receiving news of his movement, marched north and both of the armies met with one another at the southern outskirts of Monclova on the 5th of August, 1865.

Iglesias and Ortega spread their ~20,000 force from the mountains of Cerro de Mercado all the way east to the small high hills on the small ridge hugging the eastern side of Castanos. Mejia spread his ~15,000 men from San Isidro to El Canelo and the battle began as the frontal elements of both sides clashed with one another in the morning of the 5th outside of El Milagro and El Canelo. Mejia decided that he wanted to take a rather sneaky approach to the entire battle and decided to apply a double envelopment strategy against the Republicans and sent flanking detachments to the northern mountains to try and outflank the Republicans. Unfortunately for the Imperials, Ortega, who was acutely aware about Mejia’s personality and tactics, predicted that strategy and had placed troops in the region to stop any flanking advance. For the moment the Battle of Monclova effectively entered stalemate. At around midday, a 2000 strong advanced guard commanded by Porfirio Diaz arrived at the outskirts of Pozuelos de Arriba, commanding a strong cavalry and skirmishing detachment. Many Imperials feared that Diaz’s previous republican tendencies would come out victorious and that Diaz would command his troops against the Imperials at that key important juncture during the Battle. However, Diaz could see the wind blowing in favor of the Imperials at that point and decided to become fully committed to the Imperial cause. Seeing the frontlines from his vantage point, Diaz ordered his northern detachment to take the city of Monclova from the relatively small garrison of the city, whilst his southern cavalry detachment was ordered to take the Monclova pass, thereby encircling most of the Republican troops and pinning them down. When Mejia heard of his move, he ordered his troops to conduct a general advance to pin the Republicans down and thus make them unable to support their northern flank. The end result was that an hour later the entire Republican army was surrounded. Iglesias and Ortega ordered desperate breakout attempts, but at that point there were no holes in the encirclement to break out of. As troops began to die out of starvation and due to the fighting, most regimental commanders started to surrender their regiments out of their own accord until at around 5 pm, Iglesias and Ortega finally accepted the inevitable and tendered their surrender to Mejia.

The Battle of Monclova

The Battle of Monclova had ended in a decisive Imperial victory, thanks to the joint efforts of Mejia and Tanori. Iglesias and Ortega were both captured alongside the brass of the Northern Republicans and the northern provinces were effectively empty. It was a stunning military victory as well. A force of 16,000 Imperial forces had come out on top against a Republican force of around 22,000 men. The Imperials had lost around 2,000 in the fighting as casualties, whilst the Republicans lost half their number as casualties with most of the other half being taken as prisoners of war. The Battle of Monclova effectively broke the Northern Republicans and their military power. Due to the date of the battle being the 5th of August, till this day, the Battle is celebrated throughout Mexico as Cinco de Agosto.

Mejia, Diaz and Tanori moved north to secure the northern provinces once and for all, and Marquez continued to besiege Ciudad Victoria. On 13 September, 1865, Ciudad Victoria fell to the Imperial forces and Republican resistance to Imperial Mexico was effectively at an end. Banditry and pro-Republican guerilla attacks here and there continued in the north for another year or so, but the region was completely under the command of the Imperials in the aftermath of the Battle of Monclova. On the 25th of September, 1865, when Maximiliano I received the good news, from the gallery at Chapultepec Palace, Maximiliano I happily declared the end of the ‘Mexican Civil War’.

The end of the Mexican Civil War was seen as a relief by most in Mexico. Ignoring personal political inclinations of being a monarchist or republican, around eight years of brutal warfare had devastated Mexico to the ground, and many people wanted peace to return at almost any price. If the normal people on the ground with some republican tendencies had to accept a semi-constitutional monarchy for peace, then many were willing to accept it. Similarly, if the normal person with monarchist tendencies had to accept the reformist tendencies of their Emperor, they were willing to accept that as well. The people were tired of war, and many welcomed a new era of peace, and hopefully prosperity.

Marshal Francois Achille Banzaine

As soon as the declaration of ending the civil war was made, Maximiliano I ordered Chancellor Lacunza to send word for all foreign battalions and regiments in Mexico to retreat back to Mexico City and Veracruz, so that their withdrawal could be conducted in a faster and effective manner. The Belgians, Austrians, Sudanese and Dutch battalions withdrew in good order, not wishing to overstay their welcome, however a problem arose when the French started to sit down and ignore orders from Mexico City. In the mind of Marshal Francois Achille Banzaine, Imperial Mexico was effectively a puppet of the 2nd French Empire, and that he was not going to take the orders of a puppet state. He would conduct the withdrawal of French forces on his terms, and no one else’s. Thus started the slow wrench between Imperial Mexico and Imperial France……”

Excerpt: Imperial Mexico & the USA: A Historical Geopolitical Narrative

“……. The victory of Imperial Mexico over Republican Mexico proposed a great challenge to American Power in the New World, and almost immediately, relationship between the two powers soured as the American Congress refused Maximiliano I’s offer of recognition on the 27th of September, 1865. For President Abraham Lincoln, the man believed that the problem of Reconstruction needed greater focus than anything going on in Mexico, as he believed to some extent, that internal Republican dissent was going to topple the Imperial regime one way or another.

A pro-reconstruction poster showing VP Johnson and President Lincoln 'Repairing' the Union

Reconstruction in the newly reunited United States of America was proving to be a hard affair. Except for a rather small group of emancipationists, little concern was shown by the people towards the fate of former slaves. Many delegates and politicians, even ones known for being pro-emancipation, were quick to point out that voting for abolition of slavery as an institution did not mean that they were advocates of full equality between Whites and Blacks. The school system of America excluded blacks completely, segregation was institutionalized throughout the United States, and one Maryland Unionist Politician would later go on to say rather bitterly that ‘It is a great source of mortification that emancipation has not come from a high principle, but rather from party spirit, vengeful feeling against disloyal slaveholders, and regard only for material interest and nothing much else.’ [1]

Lincoln had passed the Civil Rights Act of 1865 [2], proposed by some of his opponents within the Republican Party. Despite alienating many in the American south, the Act served as a protection of the civil rights of people born of African descent in the United States of America. Lincoln found himself disappointed however, as the American Congress continued to veto the Ten Percent Plan proposed by Lincoln. Furthermore, Lincoln’s questionable methods of suppressing pro-Slavery and pro-Confederacy outlets in the American nation led to many within his own party to decry what was being called ‘anti-democratic’ methods of concluding the civil war. Whenever pro-Confederacy circuit judges, mayors or politicians were legitimately elected during small reconstruction elections, they found themselves deftly removed from office by Lincoln and a staunch unionist taking their position in government. From the point of view of maintaining the Union and removing Southern sympathizers, it was certainly a good plan, but from the point of view of maintaining democracy, Lincoln’s methods left sour tastes. Certainly, the temporarily disenfranchised population of the former Confederacy seeing unionists come to power without a proper election being held led to a lot of bad feelings spread across the American Deep South.

The American political scene itself was divided amongst Radicals, Unionists, Pro-South Unionists, Moderates and Big Tents as all sides of the political spectrum fought against one another in a bid to implement their view of what the Reconstruction should look like. The greatest struggle was perhaps the topic of Black Suffrage. By 1864, Lincoln seems to have been privately endorsing the suffrage rights of ‘highly smart’ freeborn blacks. What Lincoln meant by this is still somewhat up for debate, as he himself did not clarify this view properly. Many people in the USA however found Black Suffrage to be distasteful as an idea, not only because of their views on racial identity and rights, but also because many people feared that Black Suffrage would alienate the southern White population. General Banks, in command of Louisiana for most of the Civil War warned of a ‘third revolution’ if full political rights was given to the black populace of New Orleans. [3]

A picture list of Radical Republicans

The Radical Republican position of trying to disenfranchise Confederate supporters and enfranchise blacks completely found themselves under heavy attack from all corners of American society, and much ironically, a correspondent of President Lincoln noted that despite Constitutional Conventions in many of the Southern States applying the Emancipation Proclamation and doing away with slavery, vulgar & bitter prejudice against people of color continued unabated. At that point, Lincoln was forced to drop his plan for ‘half-enfranchisement’ for Blacks in the United States of America, and instead endorsed what can be called as a ‘limited enfranchisement’ plan for Blacks in the United States during Reconstruction.

Under the leadership of Jean Baptiste Roudanez and Arnold Bertonneau, Lincoln created the ‘Colored Suffrage Committee’ to look into the idea and prospect of limited black enfranchisement. In what followed, Lincoln began to look towards Europe, with their franchise limitation policies as a possible solution for enfranchising a small portion of the Black community whilst not angering the Southern population too much.

In the midst of this raging problem in the United States of America, it is therefore easy to understand why Lincoln was rather hesitant in trying to deal with Mexico first. But as is the case in many parts of history, events forced his hand. The event that forced Lincoln’s hand was the rather large amount of emigration of hardline Confederate supporters into Imperial Mexico. Prominent Confederates like Jo Shelby and Edmund Kirby Smith had joined Mexico already and their examples were taken up by other Confederates.

John B. Magruder in Mexico City after being awarded Mexican Citizenship

John B. Magruder crossed the American-Mexican Frontier three weeks before Cinco de Agosto and gathering a small band of 80 Confederate exiles, he managed to form a small band of pro-Imperial guerillas in the noted anti-Imperial north. After the Mexican North fell to the Imperials for his services, Magruder was made a naturalized Mexican citizen by Maximiliano I personally, who appreciated the Virginian’s military service to Imperial Mexico. Thomas C. Hindman, a prominent Confederate who led the unsuccessful defense of Arkansas in 1862 became a prominent Law practitioner in Imperial Mexico, trying to bargain with the French on behalf of Imperial Mexico. Hindman was joined by Alexander W. Terrel, another Confederate who practiced law in Mexico. Governor Pendleton Murrah of Texas became the Deputy Mayor of Carboneras. Though these are some rather rare cases of Confederates gaining high positions rather quickly, it does set the scene for the rather large ~10,000 Confederates fled from the Federal Government into Mexico in only 1865. With the major crossing points being only Brownsville, Laredo, and El Paso, the rather large exodus of former Confederates into Mexico gained Federal attention as well. As the emigration picked up pace after the Mexican Civil War ended, the American Congress decided something had to be done, so that the American nation did not lose valuable manpower to Mexico.

William McKendree Gwin, the self-proclaimed 'Duke of Sonora'

Despite this goal of limiting emigration to Mexico, another event caught the eyes of both Mexico and America. William McKendree Gwin had in 1864 tried to gain the support of Maximiliano I in creating a refugee hub for Confederate immigrants in Sonora, and trying to flout Mexican law, had tried to convince Maximiliano I to legalize slavery in the province only. Gwin was a charismatic fellow in his own right, and the former Senator of California was caught by surprise that his request was rejected squarely. Maximiliano I was not going to revive slavery in Mexico. Gwin however started to open plantations in Northern Sonora and claimed himself to be the ‘Duke of Sonora’ [4]. These plantations were not run by ‘slaves’ but ‘instituted labor’. It was clear to Chancellor Lacunza what was actually going on and the Mexican Chancellor sent word for the Imperial military to arrest anyone found in this ‘Duchy of Sonora’ scheme. Imperial troops soon blocked all border checkpoints between Sonora and America and turned Southern sympathizers bringing slaves with them back at the American border. Gwin was chased out of Sonora and back into America. General Refugio Tanori demanded to Lieutenant Colonel Stephen G. Whipple, who commanded the Californian Frontier American forces to hand over Gwin to Mexico to pay for his crimes of trying to make Sonora his own personal fiefdom.

Whipple, who was a staunch unionist during the Civil War would have personally loved to see Gwin, whom he hated, to get what he deserved, but Whipple, acting under orders from the California state government, told Tanori that he did not have the authority to hand over Gwin, who was hiding somewhere in the Californian mountains. Lincoln was advised by many to hold onto Gwin as a bargaining chip against Imperial Mexico, however, Lincoln personally felt uncomfortable in denying Mexico a man who had tried to reinstitute slavery in Mexico, considering the political situation in America at the time. Gwin was captured by American troops hunting for him on October 26, 1865 and at that key point, Lacunza made contact with Ignacio Mariscal, a Mexican Moderate Liberal who had sided with Juarez in the Reform War but had remained neutral in the Mexican Civil War. Mariscal had retired to America during the Civil War and lived in Washington DC. Lacunza offered Marsical the position of Mexican Ambassador to the United States, and Mariscal accepted this offer, and asked Lincoln personally in a tea meeting for Gwin to be handed over to Mexican law. However, the Republican appointed Ambassador of Mexico to America, Matias Romero, continued to hold on to power in Mexico City and continued to be recognized as the legitimate ambassador of Mexico. Romero’s lobbying meant that many in America, even people with Imperial sympathies, were hesitant to recognize Mexico’s claims to Gwin – which would essentially mean America recognizing Imperial Mexico.

With the collapse of Republican Mexico, Romero went to desperate measures, even asking America to invade Mexico. Lincoln did ask the American Department of War about a hypothetical invasion of Mexico, but at that point, the American War Department painted a rather pessimistic view of any invasion of Imperial Mexico. The presence of around ~80,000 battle hardened pro-Imperial Mexicans, and another 50,000 French troops, alongside a total of other 10,000 European troops alongside the limited logistics of any campaign into Northern Mexico meant that the Department of War believed that any invasion of Mexico was going to be in plain words – a national debacle. Something that Lincoln could not afford so soon after the end of the Civil War. Ulysses S. Grant, who had bene pro-war in 1864 with Imperial Mexico, had also changed his tune in late 1865 and believed that a military incursion into Imperial Mexico was not going to be good business for America. In addition, believing that an American attack into the Gulf of Mexico may be possible, Prime Minister Palmerston of the UK ordered 7 naval squadrons into the Gulf of Mexico as a clear intimidation tactic. Spain sent a single naval squadron as a show of force and presence as well – which was slightly extraordinary, considering they were still embroiled in the Dominican War and the Spanish-South American War. [5] And while relations between Paris and Mexico City had also soured a great deal during the last months of the Mexican Civil War, the Treaty of Veracruz signed on 12 November, 1865 allowed France to continue partial occupation of Veracruz and fleet basing rights in the city, alongside economic preferences to French companies. This meant that in any case of war between Imperial Mexico and America, Imperial Mexico would have the support of Imperial France, something that made many in America pale.

British Ironclads in the Gulf of Mexico protecting British trade against a probable Invasion of Mexico by America.

Despite the want from many Americans to continue posturing at Imperial Mexico, Lincoln and most of Congress conceded that it was highly likely that Imperial Mexico was there to stay, and that there was little barring invasion that America could do about it. The American Conservative Party, which had won 6 seats in the 1864 & 1865 Congressional Elections, was also an avid supporter of Imperial Mexico, and through their influence – which had contacts within Imperial Mexico – they presented a compelling case to recognize Imperial Mexico.

Lincoln went to Cabinet to finally decide whether or not America should recognize Imperial Mexico or not, and while Seward was opposed to it, most of the cabinet voted in favor of recognizing Imperial Mexico – mostly out of sheer pragmatism. No one in the Cabinet was willing to have a re-run of another devastating and time consuming war within the current political climate of America at the time. Seward was so unhappy with the recognition that he threatened resignation over the matter, however Lincoln, who was himself rather unhappy about the recognition and had only done so because he had little other choice, managed to calm him down. On the 20th of December, 1865, Romero was dismissed by Lincoln as the Ambassador of Mexico to America, and Lincoln formally recognized Mariscal as the Ambassador of The Mexican Empire to the United States of America, thereby recognizing Maximiliano I’s regime in a rather unorthodox manner. Romero went into exile to Spain rather than return to Mexico.

Ignacio Marsical, the first Ambassador of Imperial Mexico to the USA

Gwin was later handed over to Mexican authorities at the border in 1866 and he was prosecuted and given a lifetime in prison, which was later reduced to life in house arrest due to his health problems in 1871. The (unorthodox) recognition of Imperial Mexico by the United States of America was a diplomatic victory for Maximiliano I, and with the nation of Mexico finally calming down – both internally and internationally – Maximiliano I finally declared on the 29th of December, 1865 that the first parliamentary elections in Mexico under the Imperial regime would take place next year. As the military race ended in Mexico, the political race began….”

Footnotes:-

[1] – True Quote

[2] – Civil Rights Act of 1866 otl

[3] – Distasteful as it is, true fact.

[4] – True fact

[5] – Sourced from Ulysses S. Grant: The American Presidents Series: The 18th President, 1869-1877

Sarthak · Dec 13, 2021

Chapter 4: The First Election

Excerpt: Imperial Mexico: A Geo-Economic History

“…. As the new year dawned, the Second Mexican Empire was a nation filled with rather large amounts of economic problems. Which was to be expected, considering that Mexico had been in one conflict after another ever since 1846 and had rarely established a permanent peace in the preceding two decades. The new government of the Second Mexican Empire wished to make sure that they could exploit all of the economic opportunities of Mexico to revitalize the nation, and make the Mexican economy a powerful and stable one at that.

The Mexican Minister of the Interior, Jose Salazar Ilarregui, in particular believed that Mexico was destined for economic greatness, and that it was Mexico’s internal instability that had hindered the nation’s economic progress. Illaregui’s greatest achievement in the few months that remained in his term of office was the establishment of the Veracruz-Mexico City Railway Line. One of the largest problems facing Mexico was the utter lack of infrastructure in the entirety of the country to connect different parts of the nation. The idea of creating a railway line between Veracruz and Mexico City had been floated ever since the invention of the railway, however despite rights and concessions been given to British and American companies since 1838, none of the projects bore any fruits. In 1857, Don Antonio Escandon, a prominent Mexican industrialist gained governmental permission to build a railway line between the two important cities. The Reform War and the French Invasion temporarily halted progress and construction of the railway, and nearly made Escandon bankrupt, which would have stopped the construction. However, in 1864, Maximiliano I secured a loan of 30,000 pesos and handed it over to Escandon who continued with his construction project after the monetary relief given to him by the new Mexican Emperor. A further subsidy of 120,000 Francs given to the Railway by the French furthered the construction process and the French army guarding the railway tracks prevented bandits and Republican guerillas from stifling progress across the railway. Maximiliano I also established the Imperial Mexican Railway Company (CLFIM) as the national railway commission and Escandon was made the President of the CLFIM, who was ecstatic to be the leader of the budding railway industry in Mexico.

The Veracruz-Mexico City Railway

Illaregui went beyond just these, and managed to bring out a loan of 25,000 pounds from the Bank of England, which proved to be the final monetary requirement for the railway tracks. As greed for money improved the morale of the construction workers, the rate of construction grew exponentially. Important Engineers from America and Britain, William Elliot and Martin Lyons respectively also headed the construction process so that by April 27, 1866, the entire railway was ready and brand new. The ecstatic Maximiliano I traveled to Veracruz on horseback and began to prepare for a grand opening of the Veracruz-Mexico City Railway. In honor of the Interior Minister who had committed so much for the project, the Mexican Emperor named the Veracruz station to be the Illaregui Railway Station. However, underneath the veneer of enthusiasm and happiness for the project ending, tensions had already started to rise. Austrian, Belgian, Spanish, and European Volunteer troops had already left from Veracruz in late 1865 after the end of the Mexican Civil War, however, Marshal Banzaine remained in Veracruz with 12,000 French troops, who seemed to be intent on permanently occupying the important port city.

Maximiliano I was thankful for the French for their aid in installing him as Emperor, and as such, was hesitant in making any high demands of the French leaving, and politely asked the French contingent to instead to remain within their own quarters of the city. Carlotta, on the other hand, had no such restraints, and bluntly demanded that the French army withdraw now that the conflict was over and the Imperial Mexican Army was standing on its own two feet. Banzaine met Carlotta’s blunt demands with his own blunt statement. He refused to leave Veracruz with his troops without orders from Paris. A telegram was sent to Paris regarding this matter from Mexico City, however Napoleon III, who was intent on making Mexico his puppet in all but name, politely ignored the request.

In particular, Napoleon III was trying to milk the success of the Mexican Adventure in France for all that it was worth. During the 1863 French Legislative Elections, 19.5% of the French electorate had supported Opposition Candidates against the French Empire, and the presence of opposition candidates for the first time in the 2nd Empire’s history was frightening to the French Imperial Government. Prominent Republicans such as Ollivier, Darimon, Favre, Picard, Simon, Carnot, Gueroult, Garnier-Pages, Pelletan, Thiers had been elected to the Chamber of Deputies, and had dealt the Napoleonic Regime a huge blow in prestige and self-confidence. These Republicans had been the fiercest domestic opponents of the French invasion of Mexico. The success of said invasion discredited the Imperial opposition and restored a great deal of self-confidence in Napoleon III. In particular, pro-Napoleonic politicians levelled heavy amounts of slurs and arguments against the temporarily discredited Republicans. Napoleon III used this opportunity to garner support from Maximiliano I to give preferences to French companies in Mexico and lowered tariff rates for French goods in Mexico in addition to paying off the Mexican debt owed to France. Economically it was a huge win for the French Emperor.

As such, with tensions between the Imperial Mexicans and French boiling underneath the surface – in particular, Maximiliano I was miffed that his dear wife had been ignored by the Parisian court – the Veracruz-Mexico City Railway was inaugurated by Maximiliano I on May 12, 1866. The Mexican people cheered, yet they looked at the French contingent with unhidden anger and growing ferocity. Maximiliano I knew that he would have to divert attention from the French and make sure that the Mexicans were focused somewhere else. Maximiliano I then boisterously claimed that he was going to initiate a National Railway Plan in coordination with the CLFIM to build a national network of railways throughout the Empire of Mexico, to promote connectivity, to develop infrastructure and to elevate the economic status of Mexico. In particular, the National Railway Plan promised the creation of a railway line through the Isthmus of Tehuantepec, which promised to be a grand economic endeavor with great results. The optimistic note of the National Railway Plan did distract most Mexicans from the French, fortunately for Maximiliano I.

Maximiliano I and the Imperial Mexican government began to court other European nations to offset the overwhelming and overbearing French influence in the government. Carlotta’s influence saw Belgian money flow into the National Railway Plan, whilst Maximiliano I also sent overtures to Isabella II of Spain. Spain, was receptive of the offers coming from Mexico. They had just finished fighting in the War of Hispaniola Restoration (1863 – 1866) and had accepted the surrender of General Gaspar Polanco Borbon on January 1866, which had ended with Captaincy General of Santo Domingo being reconquered by Spain, much to the chagrin of America and Britain. [1] Despite the victory, as a measure of making sure future rebellions did not happen, the newly restored Captaincy gained a lot of autonomy from the Spanish mainland government. Nevertheless, Isabella II was also sure that if she could get Mexico to intervene in the Chincha War, then the war could be won by Spain. Maximiliano I politely refused the offer of entering the Chincha War, which remained a stalemate between Peru, Ecuador, Chile & Spain. Mexico had just finished two decades worth of fighting and had no appetite for more for the time being.

Leopoldo O'Donnell
Prime Minister of Spain (1864 - 1871)
Founder of the O'Donnell Doctrine

Though Isabella II was disappointed with the rebuff, Leopoldo O’Donnell, the Prime Minister of Spain (of Irish heritage like his name suggests) decided that the Mexican rebuff was well within their rights. Instead, O’Donnell created what has been coined as the O’Donnell Doctrine. The O’Donnell Doctrine was Spain’s doctrine of reasserting Spain’s economic power in the previous colonies of Spain in Latin America. O’Donnell believed that meddling too much in former Spanish America would gain the ire of America and Britain and was instead turning his eyes towards Africa, now that his imperial tendencies were satisfied with Dominica. He had already started making overtures of settling the Chincha dispute with Peru, which were being debated in the Peruvian Congress. O’Donnell’s Doctrine created a large amount of Spanish money being thrown at Mexico. O’Donnell and Spain didn’t care what the money was being used for, but if it increased the economic influence of Spain in Mexico, then they were willing to invest more and more money into the Mexican Empire. Maximiliano I, who wanted to offset French influence, was more than happy to allow extra investment in the form of Spanish gold to enter the Mexican economy.

Of course, being an Austrian by birth, Austria in particular was well involved in Imperial Mexico’s economic plans as well. Franz Joseph I gave the Streyr Armory a concession to start a regional armory in Veracruz, which was one of the more noteworthy economic implants that Austria conducted in Mexico. Furthermore, Franz Joseph I also sent Feldmarshall-Leutnant Wilhelm von Ramming to Mexico as a military instructor for the Imperial Mexican Army. With von Ramming, a group of 12 Austrian officer cadets were sent to Mexico as an experiment to see if the rough training terrain in Mexico would make the Austrian Army better at irregular warfare, which was something that Austria was extremely lacking in. The victory of Maximiliano I also had implications for the Austrian Army. Franco-Austrian cooperation grew with one another and France gave up blueprints of the Chassepot Rifle to the Austrian Army for a tidy sum of 20,000 Krones. The Austrians, who were ecstatic about having a breechloading rifle that was within the scope of their budget, began to produce it, and by the start of the Brother’s War, the Imperial Austrian Army was equipped with ~48,000 Chassepot Rifles.

All of these foreign advancements in Mexico was accompanied by the talk of immigration and setting up Mexico as an immigration hub. Maximiliano I had made it clear ever since 1864 that he intended to uplift Mexico by attracting immigrants from throughout the entire European world. Even the Ottoman and North African World was open for Maximiliano I, as he had favorable opinions of the Ottoman Empire. [2]. Mexico was already undergoing a rather large boom in immigration as Confederates and Confederate Sympathizers fled the United States of America into Imperial Mexico, where they were received with cordial tones. Despite Maximiliano I’s iron will regarding slavery, as long as the institution was not reinstated in Mexico, he was willing to play along as a friend of the Confederate exiles. Already by the end of 1866, Mexico had around ~12,000 Confederate Exiles, and with Reconstruction progressing in America, more Confederate Exiles leaving America in favor of Mexico seemed likely.

On the personal initiation of Maximiliano, I, the Mexican Immigration Office (OMI) was established as a commission to properly coordinate immigration into Mexico. Through the OMI and through his Imperial connections with Vienna, 543 German families from Austria and Southern Germany were settled in Mexico from 1864-1866, and around 189 families of Italian descent (mostly from Austrian Venetia) settled in Mexico as well. In addition to these immigrants from the Austrian Empire, the Ottoman Empire finally agreed to Maximiliano I’s 1864 offer of settling the immigrant Ottoman Turkino (Ottoman Jews) in Mexico, and allowed 41 families to immigrate to the region. Basques and Catalans, both of whom were discriminated by Spain’s increasing Castile-focused government, also found themselves immigrating to Mexico due to Maximiliano I’s lax immigration requirements.

Breton Immigrants in Veracruz c. 1870

Although Italians, Turkinos and Germans remained the major highlight of immigrants to Mexico from Europe, a smaller amount of other European peoples also started immigration trends to Mexico. Irishmen, always wanting a safe Catholic haven began to look at the Mexican nation with speculative glances, and Bretons and Corsicans, blanching under the stifling Parisian government of France were also weighing their options in the form of immigration caucus’s and meetings. This set the tone for European immigration into Mexico. Germans and Italians formed the largest immigrant groups, whilst Turkinos, Irishmen, Bretons, Corsicans, Basques and Catalans formed the nexus of other smaller immigrant group in the country. Thus the stage for the famous (or infamous depending on a certain perspective) polygot empire of Maximiliano I was set…..”

Excerpt: Maximiliano’s Chancellors: The Illustrious Political History of the Golden Age of Mexico

“……As soon as the announcement was made that the first General Elections in Imperial Mexico were going to be held on the 1st of June, 1866, the political race between several political factions in the Mexican Empire began. One of the most important events in this proverbial race was the foundation of the Frente Nacional de Mexico or the National Front of Mexico. Santiago Vidaurri was the founder of the National Front on the 2nd of January, 1866. The National Front created by Vidaurri was made to be a Big Tent & Third Way political party, intended to unite the Conservatives and Liberals of the Mexican nation under the banner of Monarchism, Mexican Nationalism and Pro-Economic Development views. Vidaurri was of the opinion that if the previous polarization between the conservatives and liberals was allowed to continue, then it would tear the Mexican nation apart once more and bring about the fall of the Second Mexican Empire.

Santiago Vidaurri

Vidaurri found supporters on both sides of the political spectrum, true to his idea of a Big Tent political party. Ignacio Vallarta, Sosthenes Rocha, Porfirio Diaz, Jose Salazar Illaregui, Faustino Chimalpopoca, Manuel Gonzalez Flores were all supporters of the National Front and later joined the party. These were not small names. Ignacio Vallarta was a prominent Mexican Jurist who was also the Deputy Leader of the Mexican Supreme Court. He had been a prominent supporter of Juarez who had decided to side with Maximiliano I after anarchy gripped the Mexican Republicans after Juarez’s death. Sosthenes Rocha was a caudillo of the north, having fought under the banner of both the Liberals and Conservatives before, and his military skill was unquestionable. Porifiro Diaz was of course one of the victors of Cinco de Agosto and a powerful military figure in Mexico in his own right. Illaregui was the Minister of the Interior and directly responsible for the full establishment of the Veracruz-Mexico City Railway, whilst Chimalpopoca was the Minister of Culture and a powerful Nuhuatl politician from the Yucatan. Flores was an important military leader in Oaxaca and a key friend and ally of Diaz as well. The influence that these men commanded, both in the political right and political left spectrums of Mexico were extremely considerable, especially as Vidaurri was positioning his party to become the middle way for the Mexican people, a message that was extremely tempting for many Mexicans.

In response, other political parties began to move as well.

Having returned from Europe on January 14, 1866, Miguel Miramon took the helms of the Mexican Conservative Party to steer it in time for the Mexican General Elections. However, the Conservative Party suffered from a lack of unity among one another. Miramon’s command was stifling to many, and Tomas Mejia rose up in opposition, deeming himself as the proper leader of the Conservative Party. The cunning and shrewd Felix Maria Zuloaga continued to meddle in the party leadership, aiming for the top himself. The Liberals under Lacunza tried to make their presence known, however, the destruction of Juarez and the Republicans had depleted the political force of the Liberals in the general populace, and Lacunza and neither of any of the Liberal politicians had the strong personalities of Mejia and Miramon to aid them politically in the public. Lacunza did try to offset this with the general wealth that the Liberals had with them, though the success of the over-spending that Lacunza became involved in had mixed results.

Foreign elements within the country also had destabilizing effects in the infighting between the Mexican political factions. Antonio Lopez de Santa Anna now proclaimed himself as the Imperial Patriot in his exile in Columbia, and sent a letter to Maximiliano I asking for a general amnesty for himself. Maximiliano I, who could read the country of Mexico well, decided not to grant this amnesty, knowing that the people of Mexico still disliked Santa Anna for his rather ill-advised governments which saw Texas declare independence, America invade, and America gain Gasden for only a measly $250,000. Instead, Maximiliano I granted Santa Anna a pension of 6300 pesos a month as long as he remained outside of the country. It was a comfortable pension granted by the magnanimous Mexican Emperor, but it was not enough for Santa Anna, who wanted to return to Mexico as it’s proverbial savior.

With this political situation, the greatest political and national topics of the nation needed to be tackled during and after the general elections. The topic of expanding the suffrage was the greatest problem. Juarez had taken with him the governmental rolls of people eligible to vote, and had promptly lost it [3] much to the despair of the Imperial government, as they now had to make new lists for the people eligible to vote. Maximiliano I was personally in favor of using the suffrage requirements issued in Europe as a compromise between the Conservatives and Liberals, with the Conservatives arguing for a limited franchise limited to the ‘intellectuals’ of the empire, which was basically a codeword of the era for the political elite and the Liberals arguing for a wider franchise.

Bitter debate over the national issue of suffrage continued, and during this time, led by the Mexican youths, such as Rita Cetina Gutierrez and Cristina Farfan began to protest in Yucatan asking for voting privileges for women as well, thus expanding the entire debate of suffrage to include arguments for both genders, much to the headache of everyone in Mexico City as the Chamber of Deputies exploded in a fury of debate.

Much like every nation with electoral proceedings in the 19th century, Mexico had an undercurrent of pro-universal suffrage leanings. Radical reformists in the Chamber proposed Universal Male Suffrage to the Chamber on the 28th of January, which was fought down by everyone else much to the displeasure of many in Mexico. To many, the so called ‘Liberal Emperor of Mexico’ was not fulfilling his role as a Liberal Emperor. Maximiliano I was not supportive of full suffrage, not at that point anyway, however he said nothing for or against the bill, staying true to his promise of being a true semi-constitutional monarch. Despite this, everyone in the Chamber of Deputies, Conservatives, Nationalists (name for the members of the National Front) and Liberals all agreed that the franchise issue needed to be settled and quickly, so that the growing franchise debate in Mexico could be laid to rest. In the end it was Vidaurri himself who proposed a compromise solution to the suffrage debate.

The Chamber of Deputies in bitter debate over suffrage

He proposed the 1866 Bill, which gave the right to vote to all Males with over 50 pesos a month salary that paid the national tax and over the age of 20. This was in effect, ~85% of the national adult population. The age limits and monetary requirements were added to appease the Conservatives. To appease the Liberals, who were supportive of the Female campaigners in Yucatan, women who were the leader of their own households, passed an 80 peso per month monetary requirement, and owned personal property were allowed to vote in the national elections. This was modeled after the 1861 Austrian Crownland Reforms, which basically allowed women who were leaders of their own household, passed a 48 Krone monetary requirement and passed property qualifications to vote in the Austrian Imperial elections. For Mexico, this effectively meant that ~2.5% of Mexico’s female population was eligible for the vote. [4] To most, it was the perfect compromise, and with pro-compromise candidates voting in favor of the bill, Vidaurri’s proposition became law on February 26, 1866 and the national electoral registers began to tally the national population based on the 1866 Mexican Electoral Law. In effect, from a country whose adult population was ~6.8 million, ~2.75 million people gained the right to vote in Imperial Mexico. It was more conservative than the Liberal’s plan of around 4 million voters, and it was more liberal than the Conservative plan of 1.8 million voters. It was in effect, the perfect compromise for many.

Other political issues were also brought up. Mexico owed what was essentially 66% of her economy in debt to France, a staggering total of around 28 million pesos, the legacy of a misspent money from the Santa Anna and Reform War. Maximiliano I more than anyone else knew that trying to default on said debt would see France invade once again. The Mexican political scene was dominated by pro-bond (Liberals), pro-spending cuts (Conservatives) and pro-fiscal policy reform (Nationalists), who all had their own ideas about reducing the debt. The Liberals argued for issuing bonds to creditors domestically and internationally, however many people were put off by the fact that bonds tended to accumulate interest and debt on their own, whilst the Conservatives argued for spending cuts, which did not sit well with the Mexican people who wanted to increase the development of the nation. The National Front’s platform of fiscal policy reform to generate more money to pay off the national debt seemed more likeable to many.

In this situation, the era of national campaigns started for the first time in Mexican history. Conservatives began scouring the nation, bringing the local elites and conservatives into their fold. Liberals travelled throughout the nation, giving speeches and handing out campaign promises. The Nationalists did the same as well. It was the beginning of a new era, and the end of an old one. For the most part, the most robust campaign for the elections came from the Nationalists, both due to the fact that as a new political force, they needed to ‘bond’ with the people more and because of the fact that Vidaurri believed that reconciling differing political factions in the country was the better way to go. The Conservatives and Liberals both used rather traditional methods of trying to campaign, leaving most campaign proposals and activities to local party authorities, and allowing them to have considerable political autonomy in their own right.

The infobox of the elections (left) and electoral map of the elections (right)

Much to the surprise of the Conservatives and Liberals, the 1866 Imperial Mexican Elections ended in a landslide victory for the National Front, even if they didn’t gain a majority in the unicameral Chamber of Deputies. Winning 236 seats versus the Conservative’s 138 and the Liberal’s 121, the National Front had exceeded the expectations of even Vidaurri himself during the elections. The party’s lack of majority was a concern, however Maximiliano I upon receiving the results on the 11th of June, offered the Chancellorship of Mexico to Vidaurri, who accepted the offer and formed a national minority government.

Viduarri’s cabinet was a popular cabinet, as famous figures entered the national government.

Chancellor: Santiago Vidaurri (National Front)

Minister of the Interior: Jose Salazar Illaregui (National Front)

Minister of Foreign Affairs: Ignacio Vallarta (National Front)

Minister of Financial and Economic Affairs: Don Antonio Escandon (Non-Partisan)

Minister of War: Porfirio Diaz (National Front)

Minister of the Navy: Ramon Corona (National Front)

Minister of Transportation: San Miguel de Gonzalez (Non-Partisan)

Minister of Culture and Tradition: Faustino Chimalpopoca (National Front)

With the first elections in Imperial Mexican history complete, the Mexican nation began to settle down. The issue of debt, development and Maximiliano I’s own personal dreams for a grand Mexican Navy were all going to collide in the future as the Golden Age of Mexican Parliamentarianism began….”

Excerpt: For God and the Emperor: The Rise of the Modern Austrian Federation

“…. The situation in Austria at the beginning of 1866 was one that was filled with cautious optimism. Franz Joseph’s brother, Archduke Maximilian was successful in his endeavor to become the Mexican Emperor, and economic cooperation with the French had made it possible for the Austrian military to have a proper breech loading rifle, and economic investments in Latin America were paying dividends. The better position consequently elevated Minister-President Richard Graf von Balcredi to an enviable position, as he enjoyed the confidence of the Emperor and the general population as well.

Richard von Balcredi
The Czech Founder of Modern Austria

The biggest problem that Balcredi faced was the Hungarian Question. Ever since the defeat of the Hungarian Revolution of 1848-49 the Hungarians had started a passive resistance against the Habsburg State, and had instead left many Austrian noses out of joint. It was obvious to most that reform was required. Two proposals began to form in the Austrian government. The first was the proposal of a ‘Dual Monarchy’ which would divide Austria into two halves – The Austrian Empire and the Kingdom of Hungary which would have been equal halves united under a united ministry and the same monarch. This plan drew the most amount of support from the German elite and the Hungarian population. The second proposal was the ‘Crownland Proposal’, which was more favored by Balcredi. The Crownland Proposal would instead turn Austria into a federal nation with each already pre-existing crownland of the Austrian Empire gaining significant democratic autonomous powers, thereby becoming a true centralized yet federal nation. This proposal had more support in virtually every other ethnicity of the empire, and had its fair share of supporters within Austrian Germany and Hungary as well.

Balcredi had all the impetus he need to move forward with the Crownland Solution, however a singular major hurdle was left in his path. The Empress Elisabeth still favored the Austro-Hungarian proposal and was starting to lean on Emperor Franz Joseph to try and appoint Friedrich Ferdinand von Beust as the Minister-President of Austria. Balcredi went to the Emperor, with whom he had a solid relationship, and asked him to exclude the Empress from the government of Austria temporarily so that the Crownland proposal could go ahead. Of course, this was told in a polite tone, as Balcredi could not afford to alienate the Emperor. Franz Joseph, who was troubled by nationalism in the empire, and more than slightly irritated at the political scheming of his wife, acquiesced, and Elisabeth was sent to the Habsburg castles of Bucovina for four months as a retreat alongside Franz Joseph’s children.

Balcredi soon approached his government, and laid out a fleshed idea of a unified federal Austrian Empire. Finding support from most in his cabinet, Balcredi went to the Reichstrat and presented his proposal. His proposal was large, long and definitive. The 1866 Bill of Settlement proposed:-

The government of the Austrian Empire to be changed from a unitary government into a Federal government.
Each Crownland in the Austrian Empire to become the federal ‘units’ of the Empire.
Each Crownland would have their own unicamerial legislative body, led by a Crownland Cabinet and a Crownland Premier, with autonomous Crownland elections taking place for the determination of the composition of the legislative assembly of the Crownland.
The separation of elections under the previous constitution to be abolished, and fully common elections throughout the empire, known as federal elections, to take place for the House of Deputies.
Each Crownland would be able to legislate in their own local languages alongside German.
So as long as the National Laws were not contradicted, each Crownland would have the authority to prescribe policies on commerce, taxation, healthcare, education, suffrage, transportation, culture, and municipal governments. [5]

It was a definitive reform which would change the entire face of the Austrian Empire, and consequently, Central Europe. The Imperial Council of Austria voted 279-235 in favor of the proposal on February 12, 1866 [6] and the bill went to Franz Joseph for final review and acceptance. Franz Joseph was wary of federalization, however, willing to experiment and in high optimism after he received a new letter from his brother in Mexico, Franz Joseph signed the bill two weeks later on the 27th, and on the 28th, it officially became law.

Austrian Imperial Council passing the 1866 Great Federal Reform

For the next month, Franz Joseph and Balcredi became involved in appointing the first Premiers of each Crownland, by the end of which, both Emperor and Minister-President were feeling proud of themselves, for they had managed to mute regionalist and nationalist sentiments with the implementation of the new federal system.

Crownland	Premier	Political Affiliation
Inner Austria	Baron Franz von John	Non-Partisan
Tyrol	Karl Franz Joseph Hofer Edler von Passeyr	Non-Partisan
Further Austria	Johann Hofer Edler von Passeyr	Non-Partisan
Bohemia	Egbert Belcredi	Federalist Party
Moravia	Frantisek Palacky	Old Czech Party
Silesia	Friedrich von Freudenthal	Non-Partisan
Bukovina	Karl von Auersperg	Non-Partisan
Carinthia	Josip Stritar	Non-Partisan
Carniola	Markus Pernhart	Non-Partisan
Dalmatia	Mihovil Pavlinovic	People’s Party
Galicia Lodomeria	Agenor Goluchowski	Non-Partisan
Austrian Silesia	Armand Graf Kuenberg	Non-Partisan
Austrian Littoral	Eduard von Bach	Non-Partisan
Hungary	Ferenc Deak	Deak Party
Croatia-Slavonia	Josip Sokcevic	Non-Partisan
Fiume	Bartol Benedikt Zmajic	Non-Partisan
Venetia	Georg Otto von Toggenburg-Sargans	Non-Partisan

The First Premiers of Federal Austria © Vienna Archives

But while internally, the Austrian Empire had managed to stabilize with the aid of Balcredi’s Reform, foreign actors were moving against Austria. Bismarck was alarmed by the stability of the ‘Great Federal Reform’ as it was called, and moved against the Austrians by finalizing his alliance with the Italians, and went ahead trying to provoke war with Austria. On the 17th of June, 1866, Prussia moved ahead and provided the Frankfurt Parliament of a federal plan which outlined that a new ‘German Federation’ would consist of all the member states barring Austria, Luxembourg and Limburg. Viewing Balcredi’s courting of Duke Friedrich VIII Of Schleswig-Holstein to be in violation of the Gastein Convention, the contents of the 17 June Plan were purposefully made provocative to Austria.

Prussians Invade Holstein

Austria rejected the plan soundly and on the 21st which prompted Bismarck to send Prussian troops into the Austrian administered Holstein on the 25th of June, 1866. Receiving news of this, Austria asked the German Confederation to prepare for war against Prussia, which the Bundestag approved. This was taken by Prussia to be a formal declaration of war and on the 28th of June, 1866, both Austria and Prussia declared war on one another, thus starting the Brother’s War – a stalemate that would change the face of Europe, and consequently, the entire world….” [7]

Footnotes:-

[1] – Due to perceived weakness with the Americans doing nothing with Imperial Mexico, the Spanish stay in Dominica, and continue their winning streak and re-establish the colony.

[2] – Maximiliano I offered to make an Ottoman quarter to Mexico City OTL. The Ottomans withheld an official answer until the entire situation in Mexico calmed down.

[3] – True Fact.

[4] – Maximilian, Vidaurri, Diaz were supportive of such measures otl.

[5] – This is the OTL Proposal.

[6] – OTL Votes tally. Was vetoed by Elisabeth otl.

[7] – As you can see, the butterflies have hit well and true!

Sarthak · Dec 19, 2021

Chapter 5: The Austro-Prussian War

The German Front

Excerpt: In The Name of Franz Joseph: The Wars of Austria’s Most Iconic Emperor

“…. As war arrived in the German Confederation over Prussian provocations in the region against Austria, the two power blocs that formed within Germany had a near equal number of forces arrayed against one another. Austria could field ~250,000 troops in Germany whilst its minor allies could field ~120,000 troops. The same was the story for the Prussians who could field ~260,000 troops whilst their allies could field ~100,000 troops in the region. Prussia’s alliance with Italy fundamentally changed the situation for the Austrians, and they were forced to send ~100,000 troops, mostly from Hungary, Croatia and Slovenia to the Austro-Italian border so as to keep their Venetian border well defended.

Surprisingly it was Hanover that made the first military move outside of Holstein. Both George V of Hanover and Alexander von Arentschildt, the Commander of the Hanoverian Armed Forces, knew that the Austrians were needed to cover their own inferiority in front of the Prussian army. The Hanoverian army, small, yet modern, equipped with the best the British industries had to offer, was the largest threat to Prussian forces in Northern Germany. Hanoverian troops, trained by professional British experts were also qualitatively closer to the Prussian Army than any other Austro-allied force in the German Confederation. George V knew very well that unless the Hanoverian force could link up with the forces of other smaller Austrian allied troops, then Hanover would be subsumed by Prussia by the sheer force of numbers if nothing else. Von Arentschildt led the Hanoverian Army into a massive troop movement to the south to unite with the Bavarian army at Gottingen. This force under von Arentschildt was supplemented by 2000 Austrian troops under the command of Ludwig von Gablenz, who had retreated from Holstein. Von Gablenz decided that preserving his force to fight another day was a far better choice than to be subsumed and killed to the man in the Prussian Invasion of Holstein. Unfortunately for George V, von Gablenz, Arentschildt and indeed all of Hanover, the Prussian forces reached Gottingen first, and instead inflicted a brutal defeat to the surprised Hanoverian Army, which forced George V to retreat back into Hanover to prepare for the national defense of the country. Over the course of the war, Hanover would be completely occupied by Prussian and Oldenburg troops, despite a brave, if yet foolish, a national campaign of resistance against the Prussian occupiers, led by George V himself.

Prussian troops at the Battle of Gottingen

The Electoral Prince of Hesse-Cassel was fortunate that his army was not destroyed by the invading Prussians, however that was more due to the fact that his army was small enough to be completely ignored by the bigger players in the Brother’s War. Elector Frederick William’s domain was however not to be free from invasion either. Under the command of General Beyer, Hesse-Cassel was invaded on June 30. The Prussian invasion numbered 17,000 combatants, a disproportionately large amount for such a small nation with a small military. The only military resistance offered by the 3,000 men large Hesse-Cassel Army was at Gieszen, where they fought under the command of Heir Karl of Hesse, in an attempt to buy time for the royal government of Hesse and its notable peoples to flee into allied territory. After news arrived that Frederick William, the Royal Family, the Treasury and government had escaped, Heir Karl of Hesse surrendered to General Beyer. On the 2nd of July, Beyer entered an eerily quiet Hesse-Cassel, which was stripped bare of its treasury and most of its nobility, which had fled south to find refuge. The population of the small German domain was conflicted, and this was reflected in General Beyer’s prideful march into the capital’s square, where on one side, the on looking populace cheered the Prussians on, whilst on the other side of the square, the populace jeered and shouted insults at the invading army.

But where Hanover and Hesse-Cassel had been easy targets for the Prussians to invade, Saxony proved to be a more tough nut to crack. The Saxon government had responded to the Prussian ultimatum by sending an insult to Berlin, mocking the stature of the Hohenzollern Royal Family and the small mindedness of Bismarck [2], and the Prussians were eager to bring them down to heel. The Saxon Army knew very well that they were not capable of matching the might of the Prussians, and under the command of Crown Prince Albert von Wettin, the Saxon Army began to retreat as the Prussians entered the Saxon nation. Saxony employed as much means as possible to stall the advance of the Prussian troops. Saxon pioneers blew up railway lines as the army retreated, slowing the speed of the Prussian advance, whilst bridges were demolished by the Saxon army’s engineers as they retreated. Crops, which could be used to feed the Prussian Army was bought by the Saxon Army and then stored in their own logistical carriages, stripping the farming regions of Saxony bare of any useful crops for the Prussian Army. The Saxon military offered no resistance to the invading Prussian army except, for a small garrison of 700 men, under the command of Prince Georg of Saxony, who were told to hold the border fortress of Konigstein at all costs. This act of Saxon defiance was partly political, as Albert knew that he would have to show his country that the Saxon army had not retreated without a fight, and the decision was also made due to military concerns that the Saxon army would not be able to link up with the Austrians down south in time, if extra time was not created. Konigstein resisted for two days before it surrendered, giving up precious time for Albert’s army to link up with the Austrian Army of Bohemia.

Archduke Ernest of Austria
The Hero of '66

In Prague, the Austrian Army of Bohemia was being gathered by Archduke Ernest of Austria. Archduke Albrecht von Teschen was initially ordered to take command of the northern armies, however Albrecht’s back pains made him unable to travel from Venice to Prague [3], and thus the command of the forces fell to Archduke Ernest. Archduke Ernest was a quiet man, and a personality who seemed intent on staying in the shadows. He had been extremely successful in 1849 when he had invaded Tuscany and had defeated the legendary Garibaldi multiple times. He had been outnumbered 3:1 in his invasion of Tuscany, yet he had won with significantly less casualties than his revolutionary opponents. Yet no one besides the Archduke and the Imperial family knew of his achievements. No one in the Army of Bohemia knew what to expect when Ernest took the helm of the army. Yet, unlike Albrecht and Benedek, who were too cautious to fight against the Prussians, Ernest intended to bring the fight to the Prussians. He clogged up the mountain passes near Silesia with reinforcements from Galicia and Hungary, preventing the Prussian II corps under Stephan von Schimdt from linking up with the main Prussian army under the command of General Helmuth von Moltke.

On the 11th of July, 1866, the Prussians invaded Bohemia after they managed to deal with the Saxon resistance at Konigstein. Albert had already managed to link his army with the Austrians, and the Austrians gave battle to the Prussians at Naklerov, around 8 kilometers from the Saxon-Bohemian border. The Battle of Naklerov, despite the enthusiasm of the Austrian and Saxon troops, was a Prussian victory. The Austrians and Saxons had taken up excellent defensive positions along the Naklerov mountain passes, however they had not been able to bring their heavy artillery into position in the cramped and small passageways that entered into Naklerov. The northern entry of the passes, however, were wide and allowed the Prussians to bring their own artillery to bare, which forced the Austrians and Saxons out after a few hours of heavy mountain fighting. The Austrians were also in shock regarding the excellent and skillful use of von Moltke’s revolutionary dispersed warfare tactics, which on a one on one basis, could defeat the Austrian shock tactics rather handily. The Austrians retreated down south, towards the Elbe River towards the outskirts of the town of Aussig (Czech: Usti Nad Labem). There, Archduke Ernest forced the Army of Bohemia to settle down for an attack. Prince Friedrich Karl of Prussia’s main Prussian force approached Aussig on the 15th of July, and attacked the region. The Austrians held the high ground at Chuderov, and Archduke Ernest, having been forewarned of the extreme amounts of autonomy that Prussian commanders wielded in the field of war, had already started the employment of anti-dispersed warfare techniques. After all, Garibaldi was also a master of dispersed warfare, and Ernest had defeated the man. Archduke Ernest began to employ militias and brigands throughout the entire battlefield, which ambushed the dispersed Prussian units with sudden hit and run attacks that effectively impaled the autonomous Prussian units before they could even be used properly against the main Austrian force defending Aussig. The Prussians were forced to retreat, ending the Battle of Aussig in an uplifting victory for Austria.

A depiction of the Battle of Aussig

The Prussians tried to take Teplice in order to outflank the Austrians at Aussig, however that maneuver failed after the Prussians came to meet the full force of the sixty-year-old fortifications of Teplice, which were well maintained and ready for months of long siege. Prussia could not afford such a long war, and after a brief skirmish, von Moltke ordered the Prussian forces outside of Teplice to retreat back to the Prussian positions at Telnice, from where the Prussians were going to launch a second attack at Aussig. The Second Battle of Aussig took place on the 22nd of July, 1866. At this key point in the war, von Moltke had used Prussia’s superior railway system to bring in more reinforcements from Eastern Prussia, whilst Archduke Ernest miscalculated the attack at Aussig as a diversion, and instead Ernest placed around half of his forces at Ustek as a reservist force against any Prussian misdirection against the Austrian Army of Bohemia. Unfortunately, the second attack at Aussig was not a diversion, and the Prussians used the sudden numerical superiority that they enjoyed to push the Austrians towards the Elbe River. Fearful of being trapped on the wrong side of the Elbe River, and thus offering half of the Austrian Army of Bohemia to be annihilated, Archduke Ernest ordered his troops to retreat beyond the Elbe and to settle down for a second battle. The Austrians retreated and the Prussians occupied Aussig with light casualties.

At that point, Archduke Ernest was aware that he needed to find a proper battlefield to win a last blow against the Prussians, or that his entire strategy against Prussia would go up in flames. He left an advanced guard under the command of von Filipovic at Tasov, whilst the bulk of the Austro-Saxon Army retreated south of the Elbe River at Leitmeritz (Czech: Litomerice). Von Filipovic’s forces at Tasov were defeated by the Prussians, and the remainder of his forces retreated south towards the Army of Bohemia, and linked up with the main army, which was now stretching from Sulejovic all the way to Vrutice, hugging the Elbe River as its main defense against the Prussians. On July 30, the Prussians arrived to the sight of the entire Austrian Army and Saxon Army’s digging in for a large battle the next day. Since the bulk of the Prussian forces had not arrived, Friedrich Karl, despite his want to finish the battle himself, was advised by von Moltke to wait for the next day, so that General von Bittenfeld and Prince Friedrich Wilhelm could link up with the Prussian Army. The next day, the two generals and their forces arrived and linked up with the main Prussian force under Friedrich Karl and von Moltke. Von Bittenfeld’s western force was positioned west of the Elbe at Chotimer, whilst the main force under Friedrich Karl took up positions within Litomerice. The eastern flank under Friedrich Wilhelm took up positions as Horidla. As the two armies stared at each other from the distance, the famous Battle of Leitmeritz was in the making.

The Battle of Leitmeritz

The Prussians intended to converge their three armies on the Austrian force and deal a devastating defeat, whilst the Austrian strategy was simply to defend at all costs. Ernest was waiting for the reinforcements from Transylvania to arrive in particular. Both armies had been famished and tired after what was days of fighting one another without proper supplies. The Prussian Army hadn’t eaten in days, and the Austrians only had ammunition enough for one and a half days of serious fighting. Both armies knew that the Battle for Leitmeritz was going to be all or nothing. The Battle started the next day with the two side’s shooting artillery shells at each other in the morning before the Prussian eastern flank attacked the Austrian eastern flank, which was made up of Saxons under the command of Crown Prince Albert. Though the Saxon lines were dangerously close to falling apart, the counterattack of the Austrian ‘Hunter’ Regiments, equipped with the modern chassepot rifles managed to stabilize the eastern flank for the Austrians. In the center, Crown Prince Friedrich Karl authorized the river crossing for the Prussian Army, under the cover of Prussian artillery and Prussian sharpshooters. Though the Prussians had a general advantage in terms of their infantry equipment, in terms of artillery, the Austrian Artillery Corps had the Prussians outclassed, and the initial attempts to cross the river at the morning of the 31st met with nothing less than failure. Nevertheless, at around 10 am, two Prussian divisions managed to cross the river at Zalhostice which forced Archduke Ernest to order the Austrian Western flank to attack, so that they could pin the Prussian western flank down. The Prussian forces at Trnovany began to cross the river in full as well, giving way to panic in the Austrian Army at the center. Yet, as the Austrian sub-commanders began to panic as the Prussians began to cross the river in full, the quiet and disinterested Archduke Ernest kept a calm mind and noted that as the flanks engaged with one another and the center crossed the river, gaps had opened up between the three parts of the Prussian Army. As the modern saying goes – a light bulb glowed in Archduke Ernest’s head, and he immediately seized the initiative, and at around midday ordered four divisions of the eastern flank’s forces to cross the river as Pistany to wedge a gap between the Prussian center and western force. Similarly, the Austrian Cavalry reserve was ordered by the Archduke to cross the river at Kresice and create a gap between the Prussian center and eastern force. The gap was exploited by the Austrians and soon the Prussian armies found themselves detached from one another. It was at that moment, that Archduke Ernest ordered a general advance, and the Austrians began to close in. The Prussian Center managed to retreat mostly in good order but both von Bittenfeld and Prince Friedrich Wilhelm’s flanking forces were unable to escape properly as many divisions of their forces were encircled by the Austrians. By the end of the day, the Battle of Leitmeritz had ended, and in decisive Austrian victory.

A painting of the Austrian Cavalry breaking through the Prussian lines.

The Austrian losses during the battle was relatively light. They faced ~2500 killed in battle, and around ~6000 wounded in battle, with a few hundred missing in action, for a total casualty count of ~10,000 men in an army that was as large as 230,000. The Prussians on the other hand suffered disastrous casualties. They lost ~6500 killed, ~10,000 wounded, ~5000 missing and ~20,000 men captured, for a total casualty of ~42,000 men. The Austrians proceeded to chase after the fleeing Prussians and by August 5, the Prussians had been forced out of Bohemia. The next day, the Austrians invaded Saxony and managed to evict the Prussians, who had been severely depleted of men due to Leitmeritz by the 16th of August, 1866. Archduke Ernest also made attempts to invade Prussia, however von Moltke skillfully brought in reinforcements from Mecklenburg, Pomerania and Brandenburg that made it impossible for the Austrians to probe into Prussian territory, creating an effective stalemate. Upon the initiation of the stalemate, Napoleon III decided to intervene diplomatically and with the Austrians managing to evict the Italians from their invasion, Napoleon III offered to hold a peace conference for the war, promising to be a ‘neutral’ power. On the 23rd of August, the Prussians and Austrians signed an armistice, and accepted the French offer, sending their diplomats to Strasbourg, thus ending the Brother’s War….”

The Italian Front

Excerpt: The Italian Wars Against Austria: 1848 – 1948: A Grand Military History

“…. After General Ludwig von Benedek’s request for command in Italy was approved and Archduke Albrecht was sent to Bohemia to command the troops there, von Benedek began preparing for war against the Kingdom of Italy, which he deemed to be inevitable due to the Prusso-Italian Alliance aimed against Vienna. Von Benedek’s prediction became reality when King Victor Emmanuel of Italy declared war on the Austrian Empire on the 29th of June, 1866 a day after the Prussian and Austrian declarations of war against one another. General Alfonso Ferrero La Marmora, the Chief of Staff of the Italian Army, sent an intimation to Mantua, informing Benedek that hostilities would start the next day on the 30th. Benedek accepted the intimation and continued his preparation for war. La Marmora had the advantage of numerical superiority and local manpower against the Austrians, however, Benedek had three key advantages up his sleeve. The first was that he knew the geography of Northern Italy within the Kingdom of Lombardy-Venetia like the back of his hand (literally – he could draw a detailed geographic map of the region without referring to anything [1]), the second was that the 10,000 strong Austrian Volunteers who had taken part in the Mexican Civil War had returned and almost the entirety of this battle hardened veteran force had been given to his command, and finally the last advantage that Benedek held over Italy was that Austria held total naval dominance over the Italians. Benedek intended to use all of his advantages to deal a devastating military defeat against the Italians.

Ludwig von Benedek

The Italians crossed the border at the Mincio River on the 1st of July and started their invasion of Austrian Venetia. They occupied the city of Valeggio without too much of a fuss and the Italian divisions under the command of La Marmora pushed north after regrouping in Valeggio. The Austrian Forces under the command of General Joseph Freiherr von Maroicic dug in near Santa Lucia, around eight kilometers to the north of Custoza, where Benedek was preparing the bulk of his army. La Marmora entrusted the command of the Italian Northern Force to General Enrico Morozzo Della Rocca, who attacked the entrenched Austrian VII Corps at the Battle of Santa Lucia, the first major battle of the Austro-Prussian War. The Austrian troops, composed of Venetian and Austrian troops held their ground at Santa Lucia for four hours of heavy attacks, before von Maroicic was reinforced with eighteen powerful artillery batteries that tore through the Italian lines. The Austrians had even better artillery pieces than their Prussian counterparts, and the Italian artillery counterattack was lackluster compared to the Austrian bombardment of the Italian lines, which gave the VII Corps an opportunity to counterattack and destroy the center of Rocca’s divisions, forcing Rocca to disengage from the Battle and regroup back under the command of La Marmora, thus ending the Battle of Santa Lucia as an Austrian victory.

Despite the Italian defeat at the Battle of Santa Lucia, the battle itself was a rather small affair, and La Marmora was not disheartened by the defeat and instead regrouping with Rocca, began a whirlwind advance towards Custoza, where he hoped to attack Benedek’s main force and avenge the Battle of Custoza (1848). Von Benedek was slow on the uptake that his forces had managed to defeat the Italians at Santa Lucia, and instead ordered the VII Corps to remain where they were, as Benedek feared that the Italians would use deception tactics against him and his forces. This proved to be a miscalculation when the Italians under La Marmora attacked Custoza on the 6th of July, 1866. Despite the surprise attack by the Italians, the Austrians still held the advantage of still holding the Quadrilateral Forts, and thus they had great defensive positions against the incoming Italian attack. However, a foolish decision on the part of General Hans von Auersperg, the General who commanded the Piret Brigade, destroyed said advantage after he led the Brigade in a breakout attempt against the Italians during the battle. Though the brigade managed to inflict heavy and considerable damage to La Marmora’s forces, they were encircled and virtually wiped out by the Italian cavalry. This left the central portion of the Quadrilateral forts under-manned and Benedek did not have enough men to plug the gap, due to his plan of keeping the VII Corps in the north. The Italians pierced through the Austrian gap, and managed to divide the entire Austrian Army into two portions. Benedek knew that at that point, it was going to be futile to try and gain a victory and instead he withdrew the Austrian Army from Custoza in good order in order to make sure that a devastating defeat was avoided. The Italians entered Custoza triumphantly, having avenged the humiliation of 1848 when Radetzky had smashed the Italians in Custoza.

Battle of Verona

Benedek ordered the VII Corps to unite with the main Austrian Army and he ordered the Austrian volunteers, garrisoning Verona to join up with his army as well, swelling his numbers and recovering some of the numbers lost at Custoza. La Marmora was quick to capitalize on his victory and he marched north, to capture Verona, one of the key cities of Austrian Venice. This time Benedek was prepared. With the entire army of around 90,000 men bristling with heavy modern guns and artillery pieces, bolstered by the Verona Fort, faced the Italian Army at the outskirts of Verona spread from Bassone in the North to Caselle in the south whilst La Marmora positioned the Italian army at Valle. At 8 am in the morning of the 10th of July, the Austrian Cavalry on the northern wing of the army attacked the Italian Army in a light probing maneuver. This attack did not create any substantial gains for the Austrian Army, however, it did create a panic in the Italian rear and managed to immobilize two Italian divisions which became sitting ducks in the face of the Austrian long ranged artillery, which only added to the growing panic in the Italian flanks and rear. This forced La Marmora, who was more of an offensive general to take a defensive bent, as he consolidated his forces into a tight and rigid defensive posture in order to offset the fact that he no longer had proper command of a good few of his divisions. Seeing their opportunity, the Austrian Jaegers, some of Austria’s best infantry troops attacked the rigid Italian lines and managed to pierce through a good few lines before being repulsed. Though the attacks were repulsed, the attacks managed to force the Italians back towards Palazzolo, where the Italian reserves were placed. This positioning of the Italian army opened up an opportunity for the Austrian Hussars in the south, who attacked without orders, and managed to smash through the Southern Italian flank, thus exposing the entirety of the Italian center. At this key moment in the battle, General Ludwig Freiherr von Pulz conducted a northern probing attack towards the Italian northern flank, giving the illusion to the Italians that they were on the verge of being encircled. A general attack by von Hartung’s Slovenian brigades routed the Italians as a result as the Italian Army of the Po Valley retreated from the battle in a disorganized mess, ending the Battle of Verona in a decisive Austrian victory.

After a week of Austrian advance guard harassing the defeated Italian Army, La Marmora was forced to order a retreat back into Italian border. Benedek’s army returned to the Mincio River border where they promptly burned down every bridge on the River, making any second invasion of Austrian Venice a non-starter, especially due to the fact that Benedek’s army was now patrolling the River. That effectively brought the land war between Austria and Italy to a halt. Despite some actions with Garibaldi’s guerilla activities in the Alps, none of which bore any particular fruit, the Italian and Austrian armies did not confront each other again in 1866. This was met with elation in Vienna and groans of discontent back in Florence. The Italians now tried to make up for their loss at land by winning the sea campaigns, however even there, the Austrians managed to win a stunning victory.

Under the command of Count Carlo di Persano, the Italians were engaged in a naval offensive in the Adriatic Sea. The Italians outnumbered the Austrian fleet, with their Adriatic fleet having some ~45 ships whilst the Austrians commanded a paltry 30 in comparison to the Italians. However, under the command of Admiral Wilhelm von Tegetthof, the Austrians were still ready to give battle to the Italians. In a daring scheme, von Tegetthof abandoned all conventional means of naval warfare against a numerically superior opponent and went on the offensive, ordering the Austrian fleet towards the key strategic island of Palagruzza, which controlled major trading sea lanes in the Adriatic Sea from his flagship the Erzherzog Ferdinand Max. The Austrian fleet, composed of 7 armored ships, 7 wooden steam ships and 13 minor ships re-charted their course towards Palagruzza. Meanwhile, commanding a much more formidable fleet, made up of 13 Armored ships, 10 Wooden steam ships and 10 minor ships, Persano was caught off guard by von Tegetthof’s daring naval offensive and raced towards the small island of Palagruzza after von Tegetthof’s goal became clear, believing the naval offensive to be a ruse.

The Battle of Palagruzza

As the Italian fleet near Palagruzza, Persano ignored most reports that stated that the Austrian fleet was much closer than he believed. Persano believed that his more modern ships were much faster than the old depilated Austrian fleet and that the reports were only mistaking trading ships and fishermen boats for the Austrian fleet – which to be fair to the man, was a common occurrence in the war. But Persano’s dismissal of the reports of seeing the Austrian fleet effectively allowed the Austrians to attack the Italian fleet whilst it was still forming. Tegetthof attacked the Italian fleet right off the coast of Palagruzza on the 7th of August, 1866, seeing a rather large gap open up in the disunited Italian fleet. Tegetthof then applied the classical naval strategy of crossing the T to attack the Italian fleet. The Austrian’s sudden attack was devastating for the disunited Italian ships as the vanguard of the Italian fleet was caught up in a brutal attack by SMS Kaiser Max and SMS Prinz Eugen, which managed to clear the way for the main Austrian attack to pierce through the Italian fleet formation. The Italian vanguard exploded into confusion and Commodore von Petz took the opportunity to take the Austrian 2nd Naval Division to the northern Italian rear and fall on their 2nd Division. The unarmored ships of the 2nd Division (Austria) went against the armored and modern ironclads armed with heavy guns in a daring naval assault that not only managed to hold their ground, but also break the Italian 2nd Division completely as Austrian wooden ships slipped in between the Italian ships and fire at them point blank, dealing a lot of damage and casualties. Tegetthof, seeing the opportune moment, threw his flagship, the Ferdinand Max at the Italian 1st division which was being attacked in a pincer movement conducted by the Austrian 2nd Naval Division. Persano’s flagship, the Affondatore was caught up in the attack and a particularly close shot by the Ferdinand Max managed to set the Italian flagship’s armory ablaze, and the Affondotare sank beneath the waves, taking the Italian naval command of the Adriatic Fleet along with it. The individual captains of the Italian Navy now started to disengage, however without a central authority between them, their withdrawal was rather haphazard, which allowed the Austrians to sink a further four Italian ships before the Italians disengaged completely. The Battle of Palagruzzo was a complete victory. For the cost of 226 killed and wounded in the Austrian fleet, the Italians had lost 6 ships during the battle, and ~1200 killed and wounded during the Battle, thus handing over complete naval superiority to the Austrians. As the Italians left the battle, Tegetthof’s victory was saluted by his men – mainly from Croatia, Venice, Istria, and Dalmatia with the traditional Venetian cry of glory – “Viva San Marco!”. In the aftermath of the naval victory, Austrian mariners disembarked at Palagruzzo and forced the 20 man Italian garrison on the island to surrender and the island was occupied by the Austrians.

Admiral Tegetthof leading the Austrians during the Battle of Palagruzza

The entire Italian front of the war had been an utter disaster for Italy, both on land and on sea. Whilst the city of Venice itself – which harbored nationalistic feelings, groaned at the news of the Italian loss, Inland Venetia, which was far more pro-Austrian, celebrated with great parties thrown in the honor of von Benedek and von Tegetthof. The Italians, humiliated, agreed to an armistice on the 19th of August, which ended the Italian front of the Brother’s War. In the short time that the two sides had been at war with one another, the Austrians had suffered ~7000 casualties whilst the Italians had suffered around ~15000 casualties, showing the unpreparedness of the Italian military against the Austrians. As the Austrians cruised back to the homeland drunk with victory in the Italian front, the Italians felt nothing but humiliation….”

The Aftermath

Excerpt: The German Question

“….The armistices of the Austro-Prussian War created an interesting position for both Austria and Prussia. Though Prussia had been militarily defeated in a spectacular fashion at Leitmeritz and Saxony was liberated, the Austrians had no capability of striking into Prussia to liberate the rest of her North German allies, and Prussia was completely unwilling to let go of the German Confederation question, despite their weakened position in the region. With Albrecht von Bernstorff leading the Prussian delegation and Karl II von Schwarzenberg leading the Austrian delegation at Strasbourg, the two Germanic powers were unwilling to back down, even with the military position of the two powers being reoriented in the aftermath of the Battle of Leitmeritz. The Italian delegation, led by Emilio Visconti Venosta, was simply eager to return to peace with the most minimal damage done to Italy.

Bismarck was initially unwilling to back down, despite the turnarounds in the war, however Napoleon III’s subtle threat about French troops invading Rhineland backed him into a corner. Austria alone could not threaten Prussia directly, however if the French intervened militarily, then in all essentiality, it was possible that the two powers could carve Prussia at their own care. Russia was unlikely to intervene in time, and the British were not willing to break out of their splendid isolation after the Crimean War. Prussia finally agreed to make concessions, and negotiations began in earnest. The Treaty of Strasbourg (1866) contained the following provisions:-

Italy would pay 8 million lira in reparation to Austria [Article 12]
Italy would give up their fleet at Lake Garda to Austria [Article 13]
Italy would demobilize their border with Austria for 3 Years [Article 14]
Prussia was allowed to annex Schleswig-Holstein, Hanover, Hesse-Darmstadt, Nassau, Hesse-Cassel, Frankfurt, Saxe-Meiningen, Reuss-Greiz, Schaumburg-Lippe. [Article 2]
The German Confederation to evict Prussia and all annex territories from the Confederation [Article 3]
Prussia to pay 6 million Krones as reparations to Austria [Article 4]
Prussia to pay reparations for all deposed monarchs from the annexed territories [Article 5]
Prussia to reduce their border garrisons with Saxony, Austria, Bavaria, Wurttemberg, and Baden by 33% [Article 6]
The Prussian Province of Hohenzollern to be annexed by Wurttemberg. [Article 7]
The German Confederation to be abolished as an entity, due to disagreements between the Prussians and Austrians [Article 8]
Bavaria, Saxony, Wurttemberg, Baden, German Austria & Lichtenstein to form a new Germanic Intragovernmental Union recognized by international powers named the South German Confederation. It would fulfill all the duties of the previous German Confederation for the participants. [Article 9]
Limburg to be affirmed as a part of the Kingdom of the Netherlands [Article 10]
Luxembourg to be an independent Duchy. [Article 11]

The Treaty was signed on the 1st of September, 1866 and officially ended the Brother’s War. Bismarck handed in his resignation as Minister-President/Chancellor of Prussia and was replaced by Eduard von Simson, who used the opportunity to declare the Kingdom of North Germany instead, as a means to consolidate the Prussian gains in the war. In Austria, Richard von Balcredi took the outrage of leaving Austria’s northern allies in the dust, and handed his resignation to Franz Joseph, who accepted it most reluctantly. He was succeeded as Minister-President of Austria by Count Karl Sigmund von Hohenwart of the Federalist Party. Meanwhile, in Italy, the Ricasoli government collapsed as outrage over Italy’s abysmal performance in the war generated protests throughout the Italian nation. Urbano Rattazi took the helms of Italy as Prime Minister and promised significant reforms in Italy as a premiership promise.

The Brother’s War had ended, and now its consequences were brewing in the post-war world…..”

[1] – True Fact

[2] – True fact. The Saxon insults called Bismarck ‘too small for his lofted britches’.

[3] – Which was why Albrecht stayed in Venice IOTL.
some parts of the naval battle taken from the Battle of Lissa on Wikipedia.

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