FillyofDelphi
Banned
Max will never get the nationalists on side. He’s a foreigner imposed on Mexico by foreigners to act as a puppet for a foreign power. The war is referred to as Mexico’s second war of independence for a reason. He might be able to win the war but I can’t see how he can ‘win the peace’. He just doesn’t have enough support. He’s going to face continuous rebellion in guerrilla form, opposition to his policies from both conservatives and liberals, and the country will still face the extreme socio-economic problems as OTL. I’m certain there’d be another major civil war within a decade and he’ll be deposed when French troops inevitably leave.
I'm of the conclusion that the "Second War of Independece" moniker is to a great extent a case of the victors writing the history; attempting to dramatically downplay the domestic sympathy for the Conservative cause in the War of Reform (Which we're really talking about an extentison of) by casting them as forgein catspaws only, but there's very real disagreements on that front so I could very well be wrong. However, I was trying to imply not that Max would win the nationalists; merely that it's very possible Juarez would lose them which would splinter the opposition. Which is my point; Max may not be able to "win" the peace any more than previous governments did in the sense of reaching a lasting solution, but that's business as usual in 19th century Latin America. He is though capable of "not losing" long enough to get a notable degree of domestic support; for example, from native groups who's autonomy, protections, and land usage rights he restored.