France invaded Mexico to install an emperor over a debt dispute
Napoleon III's France invaded Mexico in 1861, ostensibly over unpaid debts, and installed Maximilian I as emperor.
The Second French intervention in Mexico, also called the Second Franco-Mexican War, ran from 1861 to 1867. France under Napoleon III invaded the Republic of Mexico, claiming the goal was to force collection of Mexican debts alongside Britain and Spain.
Mexican conservatives, beaten by Benito Juárez's liberal government in a three-year civil war, backed the invasion. They sought French help to change the regime and establish a monarchy.
The plan ended with Emperor Maximilian I executed by firing squad in Querétaro City.
Why it mattersIt shows how a dispute over debt became a foreign invasion that briefly turned a republic into a European-backed monarchy.
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