This is from Wikipedia: "Maximilian I, Emperor of Mexico (Emperador Maximiliano I de México) (July 6, 1832 – June 19, 1867) (born Ferdinand Maximilian Joseph) was a member of Austria's Imperial Habsburg-Lorraine family. With the backing of Napoleon III of France and a group of Mexican monarchists, he was proclaimed Emperor of Mexico on April 10, 1864. Many foreign governments refused to recognize his government, especially the United States; this ensured the success of Republican forces led by Benito Juárez, and Maximilian was executed, after his capture by Republicans, in Santiago de Querétaro in 1867. (...) Though urged to abandon Mexico by Napoleon III himself, whose withdrawal from Mexico was a great blow to the Mexican Imperial cause, Maximilian refused to desert his followers. Withdrawing, in February 1867, to Querétaro, he sustained a siege for several weeks, but on May 11 resolved to attempt an escape through the enemy lines. However the city fell on May 15, 1867, before he could carry out this plan, and he was captured. Following a court-martial, he was sentenced to death. Many of the crowned heads of Europe and other prominent figures (including the eminent liberals Victor Hugo and Giuseppe Garibaldi) sent telegrams and letters to Mexico pleading for Maximilian's life to be spared, but Juárez refused to commute the sentence, believing that it was necessary to send a message that Mexico would not tolerate any government imposed by foreign powers. The sentence was carried out on June 19, 1867, when Maximilian was executed (together with his generals Miguel Miramón and Tomás Mejía) by a firing squad. His last words were reported to be "Mexicans! Today I die for a fair cause: the freedom and independence of Mexico. May God allow my spilling blood to put an end forever to the disgraces of my new homeland. ¡Viva México!". [1] Although he bribed the seven riflemen not to shoot him in the head, one did it anyway.[citation needed] Maximilian's body was embalmed and displayed in Mexico before being buried in the Imperial Crypt in Vienna, Austria, early the following year." http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Maximilian_I_of_Mexico