Occasion
The financial misdemeanours of the Mexican Government were made the pretext for the advance of French troops into Mexico in 1862.
Course of the War
The French force was checked in May 1862, and further reinforcements were sent out. They advanced again in February 1863, and entered Mexico City in June. A Provisional Government was established, and the crown was offered to Maximilian of Austria, who accepted it and reached Mexico City in June 1864. Juarez, the republican leader, was driven into the extreme north of the country. But his resistance was by no means overcome. Napoleon III bound himself to keep a force in Mexico for the protection of Maximilian. In 1865, on the restoration of peace after the Civil War in the United States, the Government of Washington refused to acknowledge any authority in Mexico but that of Juarez. The French were obliged to withdraw in 1867, and Maximilian was left to his fate. The Juarists got the upper hand, and Maximilian was executed.