Latest / History Unplugged Podcast
The Last Emperor of Mexico: How a Habsburg Archduke Set Up a Kingdom in the New World in the 1860s
In 1864, a young Austrian archduke by the name of Maximilian crossed the Atlantic to assume a faraway throne. He had been lured into the voyage by a duplicitous Napoleon III (the nephew of Napoleon Bonaparte). Keen to spread his own interests abroad, the French emperor had promised Maximilian a hero's welcome. Instead, he walked into a bloody guerrilla war. With a head full of impractical ideals - and a penchant for pomp and butterflies - the new 'emperor' was singularly ill-equipped for what lay in store.
In this episode we are looking at this barely known, barely believable episode - a…
The skinny
The skinny isn't ready yet — notes appear once the transcript is processed.