Bøger af Edward Shawcross

The true story of Maximilian and Carlota and their turbulent reign in Mexico. This is history's judgement on the events surrounding the ill-fated reign of Maximilian of Mexico, the young Austrian archduke who in 1864 crossed the Atlantic to assume a faraway throne. He had been convinced to do so by a duplicitous Napoleon III. Keen to spread his own interests abroad, the French emperor promised Maximilian a hero's welcome, which he would ensure with his own mighty military support. Instead, Maximilian walked into a bloody guerrilla war - and with a headful of impractical ideals and a penchant for pomp and butterflies, the so-called new emperor was singularly unequipped for the task. The ensuing saga would feature the great world leaders of the day, popes, bandits and queens; intrigue, conspiracy and cut-throat statecraft, as Mexico became the pivotal battleground in the global balance of power, between Old Europe and the burgeoning force of the New World: American imperialism.

Mexico, 19th June 1867. Dressed in black and carrying a crucifix, a tall blonde bearded man steps out of his carriage. As he turns to face the firing squad, his last words ring out under the cloudless sky: 'Long live Mexico, long live independence.'The execution of Ferdinand Maximilian is the climax of one of the most extraordinary stories in history. This young Austrian archduke was born into Europe's most illustrious royal family, second in line to the Habsburg throne. Why did he die as the Emperor of Mexico, leaving his wife to descend into madness in a Belgian castle? The answer is a tale of operatic proportions, sweeping across continents from the 1848 European revolutions to the civil wars in Mexico and the USA, pitting Old World against New, conservatives against radicals, monarchies against republics. Harbouring ambitions of a Latin American empire to halt American expansionism, Napoleon III of France installed these puppets to rule over a country riven by internal factions - with tragic consequences.Marshalling an incredible range of sources to bring to life a cast of stranger-than-fiction characters, Edward Shawcross' The Last Emperor of Mexico is historical storytelling at its finest: the definitive telling of the greatest tale you've never known.

This book explores French imperialism in Latin America in the nineteenth century, taking Mexico as a case study.