Maximilain accepting the Mexican Throne
The Second Mexican Empire was created in 1864 by Napoleon III of France, who attempted to establish Mexico as a French colony to counter the growth of the now mighty United States.
Early years[]
During the formation of the empire, Archduke Ferdinand Maximilian of Austria was appointed Emperor of Mexico and the Mexican Empire was formed. However during the first years of the empire from 1864 to 1867, Mexican Liberals under the command of the Mexican president Benito Juarez and with aid of the United States formed a series of guerrillas throughout the nation, although they where often unsuccessful they harmed the Empire's economy and raised unpopularity of the empire. When in May 13,1865 the U.S. civil war ended; Napoleon III of France the french troops from Mexican territory fearing conflict with the United States. Emperor Maximilian However, with the help of Mexican Conservatives, and French colonial troops from indo china(in this universe the 60s sign how many vietneese were in our civilwar is never used) and the great leadership of his generals he pulled back the rebellion and crushed them in northern Chihuahua. Maximilian decided to move the Mexican capital to a strategic location close to the U.S.-Mexican border in the territory of Baja California. From there he implemented politics never seen in Mexico before, such as the total persecution of Roman Catholics and the banning of the Roman -Catholic church, which he saw as the "Primary enemy of the Empire and its People"; The Maximilian Land-Grants, which gave free land to Mexican citizens who were willing to work; The construction of roads and bridges to connect every corner of the nation, and the modernization of the Imperial Army and Navy which soon became the most powerful in the continent.
The Imperial Calendar[]
In 1870 Maximilian decided to adopt a new calendar for the Empire; He argued that the old calendar has been based on religious views and that the conventional calendar was obsolete for the empire, for the future empire will create a new era on the world. And thus he decided to create the Mexican Imperial calendar which begins in the year 1325 in the conventional calendar for that was the year that the Aztec empire was formed. The years would now be known as a.t.m. (Ascension to throne, Mexico). So that very year, 1870, became know as the year 545 a.t.m. of the Imperial calendar.
Age of Prosperity 545 a.t.m. - 555 a.t.m.[]
Thanks to Maximilian's economic policies and the destruction of the Catholic church in the empire, the nation experienced great changes both Economic and Cultural. The nation faced economic instability during the early 540's mainly because of the reconstruction efforts that the empire had made, But in 550 a.t.m. Maximilian proposed a new national currency, the Amero, a currency that was free of debt and could not be made out of nothing, like normal currency, rather it was produced accordingly to the nation's amount of resources and production. The Amero was a great success, it guaranteed an economic stability, no inflation, and eliminated debt. Then in 552 a.t.m. when the technique of interchangeable parts and mass-production reach the Imperial industry it did not take but 4 years for the Empire to become self-sufficient on production of goods and an economic power.
Mexican Empire's Expansion during Augustin II rule.
"The Time for Expansion"[]
In 567 a.t.m. Maximilian I of Mexico gave up the throne and named Augustin II of Mexico the new emperor. Augustin was raised to become the most efficient emperor by his adopted father, Maximilian. Like his father he felt a great love for his empire and his people, however, Augustin also saw any other nation neighboring Mexico as an enemy. So, in 569 a.t.m. he appointed General Villa into a "Continental Purification Campaign" to conquer Central America and the Caribbean. In only two years General Villa brought Central America to it's knees, and declared the territory a Mexican province. Augustin was most pleased with Villa and his accompanying generals and decided to established the "Knights of the Imperial Court" which was made of the twelve most successful generals who had reach the level of "Imperial Knight", these Imperial Court was primarily made to plan future invasions and wars. In 571 a.t.m. Augustin made his famous speech:
"The power and prosperity of our mighty nation has proven our worthiness in this world! The unworthy Central American countries and the European colonies in the Caribbean are ours now! The time for expansion is now, Let's expand even further than the world itself! All hail the Empire!"
Now American countries such as Great Colombia and the United States prepared for war against their dangerous neighbor.
The Order of Administration[]
In November, 571 a.t.m. Augustin proposed to the Imperial Parliament that the newly acquired territories were given to the knights of the Imperial court to manage until a viceroy could be appointed. However, parliament did not ratify his proposal and instead passed the Order of Administration, which organized every territory as a whole and named it after the time it was conquered, exp: All Central American countries became one territory and being the first one to be conquered would be called "Imperial Administrative Area 1" or Area 1 for short.thus the Caribbean islands were organized as one territory, Area 2. These territories would, according to the order of administration, become self-governing when they go through the three stages of the "areas" which were:
- Reformation- The beginning stage of a conquered area, during this stage the area would be run by the Knight in charge of the Imperial Court whose responsibility is to oversee all reconstruction projects in the area and put down any early rebellion. During this stage the "numbers",Colonized people, do not have any power of self-governance.
- Developing- The second stage of a conquered area, during this stage the area would no longer be overseen by the Imperial court but rather by the Imperial Parliament. To get to this stage an Area should have a growing economy and a peaceful society. Numbers will now have control over their politics but limited in certain ways.
- Satellite- The Last stage of a conquered area. The head of the Area government is now a viceroy appointed by the emperor, however, the numbers will now have a total self-governance on their social and political affairs, the viceroy only oversees the Area to keep it under control.
Augustin agreed to the order of administration so long as the empire controls every economic aspect of the newly found Areas. And so, the new law of administration of conquered areas was formed, a law that would be continuously applied to many other territories in the future.
The War of Infamy[]
After the Ordinance was ratified, the new Administrative Areas experienced much discrimination from "Imperials", native-born Mexicans, who saw them as burdens to the Imperial society. Especially for their religion, which was banned from the Empire. And so, in 575 a.t.m. , a priest named Baltasar Morelos began a small rebellion "In the name of Jesus christ" against the empire; although it was no recognized as such until 577 a.t.m., when he and a small group of "Cristeros", rebels who fought in the name of god, came upon a small garrison of Imperial troops near Area 1's capital city who were leaving to a small port about six miles away. The Cristeros opened fired on the troops killing nine of them and wounding 20, Among those dead was Duke Henry Bauer who was being scouted to meet secretly with the Viceroy of Area 1. This caused an uproar in both sides of the nation, Imperialist were outraged for such a brutal demonstration. The "Numbers", however, felt that this was a sign that they could win a war of independence against the Empire, And so it started, the War of Infamy.
The Persecution of the Cristeros[]
When Emperor Augustin heard the news of the recent killing of the Duke and Imperial troops. he was outraged and ordered an immediate captured of the ones responsible for such "infamy". More than 5,000 troops arrived within a week of the killing, by orders of the emperor himself, they captured any "Number" who seem the slightest suspicious and tortured them until the troops get the information they sought. In June 13, 577 a.t.b. Morelos was captured along with 30 other rebels and was executed on the spot. The news of his death rejoiced the population and called it "The lesson for all the numbers".
The Area 1 Massacre[]
When the Numbers heard the news of the execution of their "Holy savior", an explosion of rebellions and guerrillas took place within days of the execution. In one week more than 300,000 Numbers all over the area had unionized and massacred more than 2,000 Imperial citizens which came to be know as the Area 1 Massacre. The Viceroy Julio Maurer, together with 7,000 troops and more than 50,000 volunteered militia, did not wait for orders of the emperor to take action. In June 21 they faced the rebel troops who outnumbered them two to one, despite the numerical and homefield advantage of the rebels many of them did not possessed fire weapons and some of them did not carry weapons at all, so the rebel leader Mauricio de Villalobos ordered a full charge against the imperial forces of Maurer. Viceroy Maurer however maneuver his troops so well that the battle ended within 20 minutes resulting on thousands of Number casualties but no more than 200 Imperial casualties. After the battle Villalobos offered to end all rebellions in the Area if the Viceroy was willing to accept negotiations. Maurer accepted and received Villalobos in his tent, When Villalobos entered Maurer rose up of his chair pulled out a pistol, shouted "Equidad en la Justicia!"(Equity in Justice) the Empire's motto, and shot Villalobos in the head, killing him instantly, Then Maurer ordered the execution of every single one of the rebels, "Leave none of these rats alive! kill them all! Viva Mexico!" were the words he gave to his soldiers, to which the soldiers replied shouting "Viva Mexico!". These day came to be remembered by the Imperials as "The day of undenied justice".
The Republic of California,Hawaii, and the Roosevelt treaty[]
In 578 a.t.m. Viceroy Maurer was honored by the Emperor himself for his heroic campaign against the rebels. He was given permission to become the 5th knight of the Imperial court. When in 579 a.t.m. Queen Liliuokalani sent a letter to the Imperial Court of Mexico asking for assistance after the United States had occupied the Islands. In the letter Liliuokalani stated that she had no interest on regaining the throne of Hawaii, but her sole desire was to force American businessmen out of the islands and to give the land that was rightfully property of the Hawaiians back to the people of Hawaii. To gain the Empire's support she stated that if Mexico occupied the islands and pushed the Americans back, she would convince the people of Hawaii to willingly give in to Imperial control. Maurer urged the Emperor Augustin I to declare war on the United States reminding the emperor of his past claim by stating that "the time of expansion is now!" Augustin I, however, was unsure to attack the industrialized United States, he said to Maurer "If we want to conquer the United States, we have to go a peace at a time." and "If the United States were to no longer be united, victory is guaranteed." Maurer took the Emperor's words and acted on them, he sent the Filibuster Josef Barraza into the state of California, using the debated issue of the Indian wars on the U.S. he divided the people of California by claiming that the federal government has acted against its own set of rules by attacking the Native Americans. He formed the "Californios" or Californian citizens who wanted independence of the United States and the equality of Native Americans in the western territories of the U.S. soon, the Californios outnumbered loyal U.S. citizens in the region and claimed independence. However, the United States Government sent troops to put down the Californios. The previously loyal citizens of the U.S. were outraged by the U.S. government's actions and became Californios. By the end of 578 a.t.m.(1903 a.d.) 97% of the inhabitants of the west of the U.S. considered themselves Californios. In 579 a.t.m. a famous Californio, William Walker, went into the Mexican Capital of Charlotte and arranged a meeting with the Imperial Court; He asked the Imperial Court to help the cause of California and to declare war to the United States. The Imperial Court ,once again, refused to attack the United States. But in 579 a.t.m. while Walker was leaving Charlotte U.S. Federal troops captured him and 5 Imperial troops who were with him at the time. The Imperial Court asked the United States to release them and to punish the Federal troops who had entered illegally into Imperial territory, if this demands were not met the Empire would declare war to the U.S.
The United State senate sent a letter to the Empire saying that the demands were met, and that Walker was released in California, however, A group of Californios intersected the letter and sent another one in its place claiming that the U.S. welcomed war with Mexico and went on insulting the Emperor Augustin. The next day the Imperial Court unanimously voted for war against the United States. In February 22th, 579 a.t.m. Imperial troops captured the Californian capital of Sacramento with help of Californio Militia. In July 2, 579 a.t.m. California claimed independence from the U.S. calling the new formed nation the "Republic of California." claiming the former states of California, New Mexico, Nevada, and Arizona. The United States trying to end the war, recognize it's independence and promised to pay $10 million dollars to the Republic to cover the cost of reconstruction.
Nevertheless, the Empire did not stopped the war and in September 14, 579 a.t.m. the Imperial Navy occupied the Hawaiian Islands and claimed them an Imperial Territory. The U.S. senate, desperate to end the war, gave the rights of the Hawaiian Islands to Mexico in an attempt to appease the Mexican Imperial Court. However by January 13, 580 a.t.m. Imperial troops were in the streets of Washington. An outnumbering America army led by General Pershing was just arriving to Washington to repel the Imperial troops, so the Imperial Troops hurried into the now fortified White House and captured President Roosevelt. Roosevelt signed the Roosevelt treaty which gave the Louisiana and Oregon territories to Mexico, and sold Texas for 10 million Ameros. The Imperial troops quickly accepted the treaty and left Washington.
The Formation of Area 3[]
After the war, the Imperial Parliament debated on how to divide the territories because all of them were acquired by one war, however, they were acquired at different times. Maurer, being the fifth knight, desired to quickly annex the Hawaiian territories because trade with China was a priority. So in December 4, 580 a.t.m. the Hawaiian islands were annexed to the Empire as Area 3 and reconstruction of the Islands immediately began in the command of the fifth knight, Maurer.