In Mexico at least Spanish was still the prominent language and the cultural tradition held so dear by the conservatives were still widely excepted. Sadly for the conservatives the ensuing 40 years of liberal rule in Mexico had established a culture of its own. These tensions soon festered, and the conservative forces within Mexico began to petition any receptive European power. In response to these pleas and as a means to extract the debts owed to them, an army of intervention composed of Spanish, English, French, Belgian, Austrian, and even Egyptian troops landed in Mexico. The more liberally leaning Spanish and English soon withdrew, but the French troops under the rule of Napoleon III remained to establish a conservative, pro-French regime. To achieve this it was decided to re-establish a monarchy in Mexico. In October of 1863, a delegation on conservative Mexicans offered the crown to archduke Ferdinand Maximilian of Austria as a prince of the Hapsburg dynasty that had ruled Mexico centuries before. After a favorable plebiscite, the Archduke Ferdinand Maximilian accepted the imperial crown on the 10th April,1864. Four days later he and his wife boarded the S.M.S. "Novara" and set sail for their Mexico as Emperor and Empress of Mexico.		On their arrival at Vera Cruz, they were horrified to discover that their new empire was embroiled in a civil war. The French and allied forces had achieved considerable victories, but nationalist, liberals and the republicans were still offering resistance being lead by president, Benito Juárez. Known collectively as Juarista, these forces had been falling back into the northern state of New Mexico. To Juárez and his followers, Maximilian would always remain an unwelcome foreigner, an "Austríaco". Support from the F.Z.T. and other parties gave hope to the Mexican republicans. The Emperor Napoleon III came under massive pressure to withdraw his French troops from Mexico. The Spanish and English both see the establishment of a pro-French empire in the new world. Both see this as a challenge to their own colonial designs. Similarly, Prussia under the chancellorship of Bismark, see expansion of French power as a potential challenge to their rise to supremacy in Europe. The republican Mexican forces are funneled arms and funding through the F.Z.T. and the rump Mexican Republic is established with a capital in exile in Santa Fe in the northern Mexican state of New Mexico. This new entity is unable to make notable military victories over the Mexican imperial forces.