The History of The Santa Fe Republic
onservative forces within Mexico petition receptive European power to over through
the Mexican Republic. 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. A plebiscite is held, but no
democratic election can be truly representative under a state of foreign
occupation. Predictably the plebiscite favors the Emperor.
The French and allied forces soon achieved considerable victories. The nationalist,
liberals and the republicans, while offering resistance under the leadership of president
Benito Juárez, are driven northward into the state of New Mexico.
Unwilling to except the rule of Maximilian, a foreigner and "Austríaco", the republicans
seek support from the F.Z.T. and other parties.
Despite the hope given the Mexican republicans by the massive pressure on French Emperor Napoleon III to withdraw his troops from Mexico, no relief from the new Mexican Imperial forces are forth coming. The Spanish and English both see the establishment of a pro-French empire in the new world as an open threat 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. Despite this aid, no progress can be made against the imperial forces. A rump Mexican Republic state is established with a capital in exile in Santa Fe in the northern Mexican state of New Mexico. The republicans soon are forced to come to terms with the Mexican Empire and the territory under their control is declared the Santa Fe Republic after their de facto capital. The Republic is bolstered by the influx of Mormons who had founded an independent colony along the shored of an inland sea known as the Great Salt Lake. This colony, called Deseret by the Saints, had grown greatly with the arrival of pilgrims escaping the religious persecution at the hands of the Yanks. Having survived forcible expulsion from Yank states of New York, Ohio, Missouri, and Illinois, Young established a settlement at the inland sea on July 24, 1847.
