Maximilian I was an Austrian archduke installed as Emperor of Mexico by Napoleon III — a European aristocrat who genuinely tried to govern a country he did not understand, funded partly by the chocolate trade. He implemented liberal reforms that angered the conservatives who had invited him, failed to win over the liberals who considered him an invader, and was executed by firing squad when the French troops propping him up withdrew.

This episode traces Maximilian from the Habsburg court through the French intervention in Mexico, the brief imperial reign, and the firing squad at Queretaro that ended one of the nineteenth century’s most misguided colonial experiments.

• Maximilian’s Habsburg upbringing and Napoleon III’s scheme to install a European monarch in Mexico
• The liberal reforms that alienated his conservative backers and failed to win over Juarez’s republicans
• The French withdrawal and Maximilian’s refusal to abdicate despite the collapse of his position
• The capture, trial, and execution at Queretaro that shocked European courts