Maximilian Von Research Articles

The Figure of the Black in German Aesthetic Theory

DURING THE COURSE of the eighteenth century the figure of the Black became a permanent fixture in German arts and letters. Whether as the cabin boy resolving the conflict in Friedrich Maximilian von Klinger's drama Sturm und Drang or as the female image of the noble savage in an allegorical grouping of Meissen porcelain, the presence of the Black in European thought during and immediately after the Age of Enlightenment raised the question of the depiction of the Black and the nature of its reception. When writers of this age turned to speculations concerning basic principles of art, the function of such figures in theoretical contexts provided a clue to the comprehension of the exotic as well as of the specific role of the Black in eighteenth-century thought. An understanding of the aesthetic implications of one aspect of the exotic during this period can be extrapolated from an evaluation of the theories of the beautiful in the eighteenth century and an analysis of their discussion of the Black.'

The Italian Diplomacy of the Mexican Empire, 1864-1867

ON APRIL 10, 1864, at the Chateau of Miramar near Trieste, Archduke Ferdinand Maximilian von Habsburg accepted the imperial crown offered him by a Mexican delegation. As Emperor Maximilian I, he became the embodiment of that newly created sovereign entity, the Mexican Empire.' Thenceforth his imperative task was to win the recognition of the other powers of the world.2 This study will concern his relations with one of them, the Kingdom of Italy. In 1864, Italy was an anomaly among the powers of Europe. Hammered into being between 1859 and 1861, the newest and weakest of Europe's great powers was an amalgam of lesser states unified by war and revolution. King Victor Emmanuel II, though scion of an ancient house, was the beneficiary of the spoilation of his princely brothers and neighbors. Thus Victor Emmanuel was, in the eyes of his conservative fellow sovereigns, hardly less revolutionary than the most wild-eyed American republican.3 Consequently the speed with which the European monarchical powers recognized the new Italy had become a sort of barometer measuring the willingness of old Europe to accept the new forces of nationalism and liberalism. No one was surprised when the anticlerical and radical republican government of Mexico's President Benito Juarez recognized the new kingdom.4 It was

Bismarck’s Man in Mexico: Anton von Magnus and the End of Maximilian’s Empire

U NTIL 1864 PRUSSIAN INTEREST in Mexico was occasional and indifferently cordial. But in that year Ferdinand Maximilian von Habsburg took up the Mexican crown, and Otto von Bismarek, prime minister of Prussia, perceived that Mexican affairs were related to his own plans for German unification. Bismarck was always seeking an opportunity to humiliate the French emperor Napoleon III, under whose auspices Maximilian had come to Mexico.1 More important, the Prussian wanted to make impossible the political and military recovery of Austria after the Italian war of 1859. It was well known that Emperor Francis Joseph, harassed by movements of nationalism and separatism, despaired of ruling his empire and often considered abdication. In that eventuality, the succession of his brother Maximilian was widely assumed.2 Bismarck was not prepared, however, to tolerate Maximilian as readily in Vienna as in Mexico City. He could not risk any kind of leadership in Austria that might revitalize the Habsburg monarchy and stymie his ambitions for Prussia. He came to view Maximilian as a threat to his statesmanship in Europe; consequently, it will be seen that his policy in Mexico was that Maximnilian not survive the crash of his empire. History has not been kind to the memory of the Emperor Maximilian. His record in Mexico was one of almost unrelieved catastrophe, and he is often dismissed as a visionary fool. Before he came to the New World, however, he was known as an able, imaginative, and resolute prince, indeed as the natural superior of his brother, Francis Joseph. From their earliest childhood the emperor and Maximilian

Matías Romero: Mexican Minister to the United States During the Juárez-Maximilian Era

IN THE 1860's when French troops invaded Mexico and imposed Maximilian von Hapsburg as emperor, President Benito Juarez actively resisted the European aggression until eventually his republicans triumphed over the imperialists. Historians have usually given some credit for the success of the Juaristas to the United States, whose military and diplomatic leaders opposed the empire and favored the republic. Certainly President Juhrez had a great advantage in being recognized as the legitimate head of Mexico by the United States government. During those critical years a brilliant young Mexican, Matias Romero, served in Washington as the official representative of the Juhrez government. Romero's task of maintaining cordial relations between the two countries proved especially difficult because of the wars being waged on both sides of the Rio Grande-the Civil War on one side and the French Intervention on the other. In addition to the usual diplomatic duties, Romero was involved with attempts to secure a fifty million dollar loan in the United States, the purchase of several million dollars worth of munitions, propaganda activities on behalf of the Mexican republic, and diplomatic maneuvering to thwart the agents of Napoleon III and his puppet Maximilian. Before considering the activities of Matias Romero a few biographical notes may be of interest, especially since there is no article about him in English nor any biography in Spanish or English. Such obscurity is undeserved for a man who was once postmaster-general of Mexico, three times minister of the treasury, senator and deputy in the Mexican legislature, a promoter and official of Mexican railroads, editor of thousands of pages of documents, author of several books and more than twenty published articles in English and Spanish, an organizer of the Pan American Union, and envoy to the United States intermittently over a period of forty years.'

Plácido Vega: A Mexican Secret Agent in the United States, 1864–1866

Mexico in the 1860's was torn by bloody civil war between liberals and conservatives, aggravated by the intervention of thousands of French troops who supported the conservative faction. This latter group set up a monarchy in Mexico headed by Emperor Maximilian von Hapsburg and soon controlled most of the country. However, the liberals and republicans under President Benito Juárez were never completely conquered; they eventually rallied and their triumph was symbolized by the execution of Maximilian in 1867. The European intervention forced President Juárez to seek aid from the United States, and he dispatched several secret agents north with orders to secure arms, men, and moral support for his government.