Includes bibliographical references and index

"In the 1860s, Napoleon III persuaded a young Austrian Archduke and a Belgian princess to leave Europe and become the Emperor and Empress of Mexico. Political novices Maximilian and Carlota accepted the throne and arrived in a Mexico newly pacified by a French army of 30,000 troops ruled by terror, pushing Mexico's great revolutionary leader Benito Juarez to the American border. Maximilian and Carlotta were unable to raise new taxes and found themselves simultaneously contending with France's threats to withdraw troops and battling Juarez's resurgent forces. When America aided Juarez in pushing back Maximilian's imperial soldiers, their regime fell apart. Maximilian was executed by a firing squad and Carlota descended into madness, spending the rest of her long life secluded in a Belgian castle"--,Provided by publisher