| Description |
In 1858, civil war broke out in Mexico. Ignacio Comonfort had been elected president, but he was eventually considered too dictatorial in his leadership and was ousted. Benito Juarez assumed the presidency and, with the support of the United States, strived to establish democracy in Mexico. Nevertheless, General Miguel Miramon (who had European support for the presidency) forced Juarez into exile. After three years of fighting, Juarez defeated Miramon and began his official term as an elected president in 1861. Because of the war, Mexico was in complete financial ruin and Juarez soon suspended payment of its debt to foreign creditors. His actions left Mexico open to invasion, and the United States (who had just entered their own civil war) could do nothing to support Mexico against Europe. On May 5, 1862, France, Spain, and England attacked the Mexican army in Puebla but suffered a great loss. England and Spain withdrew, but France, under Napoleon III's leadership, stayed and won another battle against Mexico in 1863, thus initiating the French occupation of Mexico during the Second Empire. Napoleon convinced the Austrian Archduke Maximilian to assume the crown of Mexico, and this he did until June 19,1867, when he was executed in Queretaro. The presidency once again belonged to Juarez, but he died shortly afterward, in 1872. Today, the French occupation continues to be remembered as an important part of Mexican history. The event frequently serves as a backdrop for several modem-day movies and plays, and numerous authors write about its influence in Mexico and the world. Two novelists in particular, Carlos Fuentes, in "Tlactocatzine, del Jardin de Flandes" and Aura, and Fernando del Paso, in his tome Noticias del Imperio, focus on this historical occurrence as an integral part of their narratives. Fuentes places his tales in modem times but employs mystical techniques to take his readers back to the nineteenth century. Del Paso uses the Maximilian Empire as an opportunity to develop a historical novel, weaving fact and fiction into a story that highlights parallels between French occupation and recent history. This thesis will examine how Fuentes and del Paso base their works in the Second Empire and how they thread history into a modem era. |
