alternatehistory.com

I've read quite a few books and TLs about France successfully conquering Mexico (usually thanks to the CSA winning the ACW, but that's not important), and the country always ends up as a backwater shithole.

Now, Maximilian I was actually a rather liberal man, trying to help the poor of Mexico and even implementing some of Juarez's reforms during his reign. Pretty much the main problem Mexico had with him was that he was being forced on it by France.

So my question is this, had he remained in power, would Mexico really have remained such a crappy place? Isn't there a big chance he would have been able to modernize and stabilize the country?
Top