or: The Phantom Crown.

For the French the fall of Puebla marked a highpoint. It pleased Napoleon doubly because the surrender coincided with the birthday of the Prince Imperial Louis Napoleon (who was later to die in Zululand). As for Juarez and his government in Mexico City it was time to pack the bags and head north for San Luis Potosi. After a brief period of lawlessness, with bandits riding into the city itself and no governing authority present to stop them, the French arrived on 10 June to be cheered by the population, relieved that law and order would now be restored and that the French had got there before the conservative forces under Marquez, who's retribution they feared.

By 16 June things were moving politically. The French appointed a junta comprised chiefly of Mexican conservatives, General Almollte was proclaimed President. Within a month this body had declared Mexico to be a 'Catholic Empire', and offered the Imperial Crown to Archduke Maximilian of Austria.

Back in Europe, however, the offer was not received with the greatest of enthusiasm. Maximilian knew that in reality the French only controlled the corridor of land from Vera Cruz to Mexico City itself, indeed bandits operated freely in the no-man's land within 20 miles of the capital itself. In an attempt to ensure the legitimacy of the offer Maximilian demanded that a majority of the Mexican people must declare for the Empire before he could accept the throne. For the French this meant that more of Mexico must be conquered. Forey was recalled and Bazaine appointed to supreme command.

In November 1863 the Franco-Conservative forces began their advance northwards. Mexican generals now headed Conservative armies, with Marquez invading Michoacan and General Tomas Mejia, a small, full blooded Indian, who was every bit the honourable gentleman of warfare to Marquez' rabid bigot, marching on San Luis Potosi. Their advance was rapid in the face of minimal resistance. Within three weeks San Luis Potosi had fallen, with 4000 liberal troops brushed aside. Again Juarez headed north, this time for Saltillo. On 9 December Marquez entered Guanajuato, greeted by cheering crowds of Indians. In the first week of January Bazaine himself captured Guadalajara, driving the liberals back on Colima. It was clear to all that the Liberal government of Juarez no longer had any factual claim of governing anything.

Bazaine now announced that any liberal soldier who accepted what was becoming know as "the intervention" would be welcomed back into the fold. It was policy, although Bazaine did not approve of this, to take such men into the ranks of the conservative forces with the same rank as they had held under Juarez. Approve or disapprove Bazaine could see that the system worked. Following the winner, bull or matador! many Mexicans joined the conservative ranks. After Guadalajara three Generals deserted the liberal cause.

In February a French column under Douay occupied Zacatecas. The French troops, again victorious without fighting were now claiming that they did not need bayonets to conquer Mexico, only legs. As for the liberals, there was now a shortage of both money and arms. Whilst Washington loudly criticized the intervention it was still busy with the Confederacy and could spare little to help republican neighbours to the south.

As the French and their conservative allies conquered territory they arranged plebiscites amongst the people, which were always overwhelmingly in favour of Maximilian. By April 1864 sufficient land was occupied, and sufficient votes had been cast to persuade Maximilian to accept the throne. At the end of May he and his Empress Carlotta, previously Princess Charlotte of Belgium, arrived in Vera Cruz to a frosty welcome from a naturally liberal population. In Puebla, however, the crowds could not have been more enthusiastic. This fact, in the city that had resisted for so long, combined with news that Acapulco had fallen to the French, persuaded the Royal couple that they had made the right decision.

A Mexican Imperial Army was created, the conservative troops forming the nucleus, but with contingents arriving from both Belgium and the Austrian Empire. It was certainly Napoleon's plan that the French would not have long term responsibility for the security of the Mexican empire, but that local forces would gradually take this role, supported by the Foreign Legion who, as had happened in Spain some 30 years before, were to be loaned to Maximilian's government for an extended period. Bazaine, however, was not keen on the formation of a strong Mexican Army, believing that they were unreliable, and was to do all in his power to hamper the growth of this force.

What followed the founding of the Empire was a succession of minor victories, pushing the liberal forces to the far extremes of the country. In July 1864 Durango fell; in November that year Sinaloa and Jalisco were also occupied. In February 1865 Bazanle, by now a Marshal of France, captured Oaxaca from a liberal force under Porfirio Diaz; in March French naval troops were landed to capture Guyamas. The campaign to take Oaxaca typified the problems faced by both sides, and the liberals' inability to stand before any concerted French attack.

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