The year is AD 1864 when Maximilian I from Austria, brother of Austrians Emperor Franz Joseph I, arrived in Veracruz, Mexico, as its new leader. He was proclaimed as the Emperor of Mexico and was therefore the only monarch of the Mexican Empire.

But a Mexican lawyer an politician called Benito Pablo Juárez García got already president of Mexico in 1858. He of course refused to recognize Maximilian’s rule, although the Austrian had the backing of Napoléon III from France and others.

Finally, on June 19, 1867, His Imperial Majesty, Maximilian I from Austria, Emperor of Mexico, who has been captured, was sentenced to death by execution. His last words were, “I forgive everyone, and I ask everyone to forgive me. May my blood which is about to be shed, be for the good of the country. Viva Mexico, viva la independencia!”.