The Last Emperor of Mexico: Panel discussion about Mexico and the United States in the 1860s

shawcross last emperor

Ed Shawcross’s new book describes the audacious attempt by Napoleon III, intent on curbing the rise of American imperialism, to install a young Austrian archduke and a Belgian princess as the emperor and empress of Mexico. After US troops intervened, the French army withdrew and the regime collapsed. This event will explore what these events tell us about the revolutionary instability in the Atlantic world in the 1860s, and about the relationship between Mexico, the United States and Europe. The panel includes Ed Shawcross in discussion with Alys Beverton, whose forthcoming book discusses the place of Mexico in the American political imagination, and Mark Power Smith, author of Young America: The Transformation of Nationalism Before the Civil War.