The theatre of ancient Greece was at its best from 550 BC to 220 BC. It was the beginning of modern western theatre, and some ancient Greek plays are still performed today. They invented the genres of tragedy (late 6th century BC), comedy (486 BC) and satyr plays.

The city-state of Athens was a great cultural, political and military power during this period. Drama was at its centre. Theatre was part of a festival called the Dionysia, which honoured the god Dionysus. In the Dionysia, the playwrights presented their work to an audience. It was a competition, with a winner and prizes. These two main genres were never mixed: they each had their own typical structure. Athens exported the festival to its colonies and allies in order to promote its way of life.

Only men were allowed as actors. The chorus were men, as were the actors. Technically, they had to be citizens of Athens, which only applied to free-born men plus a few special cases. The actors wore masks, so that the people would know which persona (character) the actor played.

The best known writers of plays are Aeschylus, Sophocles, Euripides for tragedies, and Aristophanes for comedies.

Origins
Some think early Greek religion and theatre were influenced by Central Asian shamanistic practices. A large number of Orphic graffiti discovered in Olbia seems to show that the colony was a major point of contact. Eli Rozik points out that the shaman can be seen as an early type of actor influencing the rituals of early Greek theatre.

Greek tragedy as we know it was made in Athens some years before 532 BC, when Thespis was the earliest recorded playwright. He won the first theatrical contest held at Athens, so he was the leader of the dithyrambs performed in and around Attica. Dithyrambs were ancient hymns sung in praise of the god of wine and fertility, Dionysus. They had a wild and ecstatic nature.

By Thespis' time the dithyramb had evolved far away from its cult roots. It had become a narrative, ballad-like genre. Because of this Thespis is often called the "Father of Tragedy". The statesman Solon is said to have created poems in which characters speak with their own voice. Spoken recitations, known as rhapsodes, of Homer's epics were popular in festivals before 534 BC. Thespis's contribution to drama is unclear, but his name is remembered in the common term for performer—a 'thespian'.

The dramatic performances were important to the Athenians – this is made clear by the Dionysian festival. This was organized perhaps to foster loyalty among the tribes of Attica. These had been recently created by Cleisthenes, who founded Greek democracy. The festival was created roughly around 508 BC.

Phrynichus was the first poet known to use a historical subject – his Fall of Miletus, 493 BC, told the fate of the town of Miletus after it was conquered by the Persians. He is also thought to be the first to use female characters (though not female performers).

Until the Hellenistic period, all tragedies were unique pieces written in honour of Dionysus and played only once. Today we only have the pieces remembered well enough to be repeated when repetition of old tragedies became fashion.

Classical period
After the Great Destruction of Athens by the Persian Empire in 480 BC, the town and acropolis were rebuilt, and theatre became an even more major part of Athenian culture and civic pride. The centre-piece was the competition between three tragic playwrights at the Theatre of Dionysus, twice a year. Each submitted three tragedies, plus a satyr play (a comic, burlesque version of a mythological subject). From 486 BC, each playwright also submitted a comedy. Aristotle claimed that Aeschylus added the second actor, and that Sophocles introduced the third. Apparently the Greek playwrights never used more than three actors.

Tragedy and comedy were viewed as completely separate genres, and no plays ever merged aspects of the two. Satyr's plays dealt with the mythological subject matter of the tragedies, but in a purely comedic manner. However, as they were written over a century after the Athenian Golden Age, it is not known whether dramatists such as Sophocles and Euripides would have thought about their plays in the same terms.

Hellenistic period
The power of Athens declined following its defeat in the Peloponnesian War against the Spartans. From that time on, the theatre started performing old tragedies again. Although its theatrical traditions seem to have lost their vitality, Greek theatre continued into the Hellenistic period (the period following Alexander the Great's conquests in the fourth century BC). The main Hellenistic theatrical form was not tragedy but 'New Comedy', comic episodes about the lives of ordinary citizens. The only playwright from the period whose work has survived is Menander. One of New Comedy's most important contributions was its influence on Roman comedy, an influence that can be seen in the surviving works of Plautus and Terence.

Buildings and performances
The plays originally had a chorus of up to 50 people, who performed the plays in verse accompanied by music, beginning in the morning and lasting until the evening.

The performance space was a simple semi-circular space, the orchestra, where the chorus danced and sang. The orchestra was on a flattened terrace at the foot of a hill, the slope of which produced a natural theatron (watching place). Later, the term "theatre" came to be applied to the whole area of theatron, orchestra, and skené (scene).

The theatres were made very large. Audiences might have up to fourteen thousand people. Actors' voices needed to be heard throughout the theatre, including the very top row of seats. The Greeks' understanding of acoustics compares well with the current state of the art.

In 465 BC, the playwrights began using a backdrop or scenic wall, which hung or stood behind the orchestra, which also served as an area where actors could change their costumes. It was known as the skênê (scene). In 425 BC a stone scene wall, called a paraskenia, became a common supplement to skênê in the theatres. The proskenion ("in front of the scene") was columned, and was similar to the modern day proscenium.

Greek theatres also had entrances for the actors and chorus members called parodoi. They were tall arches that opened onto the orchestra, through which the performers entered. By the end of the 5th century BC, around the time of the Peloponnesian War, the skênê, the back wall, was two stories high. Some theatres also had a raised speaking place on the orchestra called the logeion.

Scenic elements
There were several scenic elements commonly used in Greek theatre:
makhina, a crane. Actors playing gods came on suspended by a wire. The modern phrase deus ex machina means 'the god from the machine'. In effect, this means "by magic".
ekkyklema, a wheeled wagon used to bring dead characters for the audience to see
trap doors, or similar openings in the ground to lift people onto the stage
pinakes, pictures hung to create scenery
Phallic props were used for satyr plays, symbolising fertility in honor of Dionysus.

Greek chorus

Although in the early days the chorus was much larger, the numbers settled down to 12 or 15 in tragedies and 24 in comedies. They usually play a group character, such as 'the old men of Argos'. The chorus offers background information, summaries and comments. In many of these plays, the chorus expresses to the audience what the main characters cannot say, such as their hidden fears or secrets.

The chorus might sing, or might speak in unison (say the same thing together). The chorus made up for the fact that there were only one, two or three actors, who played several parts each (changing masks).

Before the introduction of several actors by Aeschylus, the Greek chorus was the main performer opposite a solitary actor. The importance of the chorus declined after the 5th century BC, when the chorus began to be separated from the dramatic action. Later dramatists depended less on the chorus.

Masks
The mask is known to have been used since the time of Aeschylus in the 6th century AD. It is one of the typical things they did in classical Greek theatre. Masks were also used in the worship of Dionysius, and that is probably how the tradition started.

Most of the evidence comes from a few vase paintings of the 5th century BC which depict actors preparing for a Satyr play. No physical evidence survived: the masks were made of organic materials. They were not considered permanent objects, and were dedicated to the altar of Dionysus after performances. There are, however, examples of statues of actors carrying a mask in hand.

Masks were made for the actors and for the chorus, who help the audience know what a character is thinking. The chorus all wear the same mask, because they represent the same character.

Mask functions
In a large open-air theatre, like the Theatre of Dionysus in Athens, the masks brought the characters' face closer to the audience, as they had exaggerated features and expressions. An actor could appear and reappear in different roles, since the audience did not identify the actor with one character. Their variations help the audience to distinguish sex, age, and social status. Also, they could show a change in a character's appearance, for example, Oedipus after blinding himself.p70 Unique masks were also create characters and events in a play, such as The Furies in Aeschylus' Eumenides and Pentheus and Cadmus in Euripides' The Bacchae. Worn by the chorus, the masks created a sense of unity and uniformity, a sort of multi-voiced persona or single organism.

References

Theatre of ancient Greece

Theatre of ancient Greece


North Walsham is a market town and civil parish in Norfolk, England, within the North Norfolk district. The town is located  south of Cromer and Norwich is  south.

Demography
The civil parish has an area of  and in the 2011 census had a population of 12,634. For the purposes of local government, the parish falls within the district of North Norfolk.

Transport
The town is served by North Walsham railway station, on the Bittern Line between Norwich, Cromer and Sheringham. Services run generally hourly in both directions and are operated by Greater Anglia.

The main road through the town is the A149. The town is also located on the B1145, a route that runs between King's Lynn and Mundesley.

The town is on the North Walsham & Dilham Canal, which is privately owned by the North Walsham Canal Company. The canal ran from Antingham Mill, largely following the course of the River Ant to a point below Honing. A short branch canal leaves the main navigation near Honing and terminates at the village of Dilham.

History
The towns name means 'W(e)alh's homestead/village'.

 North Walsham, an Anglo-Saxon settlement, and the neighbouring village of Worstead became very prosperous from the 12th century through the arrival of weavers from Flanders. The two settlements gave their names to the textiles they produced: 'Walsham' became the name of a lightweight cloth for summer wear, and 'Worsted' a heavier cloth. The 14th century 'wool churches' are a testament to the prosperity of the local mill owners. North Walsham's church of St. Nicholas was originally dedicated to the Blessed Virgin Mary and is one of the UK's largest parish churches. It was also the site of a wayside shrine to St. Thomas of Canterbury. This church had the second-tallest steeple in Norfolk until its collapse in 1724. Plans for its rebuilding were abandoned at the outbreak of the Second World War. The ruined tower dominates the town centre and is a famous landmark of the area, visible from many miles away. In the parish church of St. Nicholas can be found the ornate tomb of Sir William Paston; the remains of medieval painted screens; a telescopic Gothic font canopy; a unique Royal Arms Board; an ancient iron-bound chest; and many other ancient artefacts.

North Walsham was involved in the Peasants' Revolt of 1381. The peasants' leaders were defeated at the Battle of North Walsham and the site is marked by a wayside stone near the town's water towers.

The Great Fire of North Walsham took place on 25 June 1600. It began at six o'clock in the morning from a house occupied by a person with the surname of Dowle. Dowle subsequently fled and was captured and placed in gaol. The fire was devastating and destroyed 118 homes, 70 shops, the market cross, and market stalls. Although the church caught fire in five places, the building was mostly undamaged. It provided shelter for people whilst the town was being rebuilt.

The English naval hero, Horatio Nelson, and his brother, William, were educated at Paston Grammar School in North Walsham, founded by Sir William Paston (of Paston Letters fame) in 1606. Nelson left the school to start his naval career at the age of eleven. The school became Paston College in 1984.

During World War II, a North Walsham man lost his life when his Royal Air Force training aeroplane crashed in the United States. Local residents living near the site, in the State of Oklahoma, erected a monument in 2000 honouring the lives of all four RAF fliers who perished. The residents, who include Choctaw Native American People, and the Choctaw Nation government, continue honouring the lives of all four on each anniversary of the crashes, which took place in February 1943.

As part of the millennium celebrations, ten mosaics were commissioned, showing scenes from local history, including the Peasants' Revolt and the Great Fire of North Walsham, and a picture of a Norfolk wherry – an allusion to the canal.

Cinemas
North Walsham Picturedrome opened in King Arms Street around 1912 and survived until around September 1931. In 1931 the Regal Cinema opened in New Road and was open until 1979. When the Regal closed, the building was turned into a Vauxhall car dealership and later a Plant hire business, but in 2018 was knocked down to make room for housing.

32-years later, North Walsham had a cinema again, the Atrium, which opened in 2011. The Atrium is a state-of-the-art theatre and cinema with regular screenings and special events around the films.

Oak Tree Sculpture
The town's park features an oak tree sculpture commemorating the Battle of the Peasants' Revolt at North Walsham in 1381, and the Agricultural Workers Union being founded in the town in 1906. It is constructed from a 120-year-old tree that was diseased and was due to be felled. The sculpture was unveiled in September 1999.

North Walsham High School & the Atrium
North Walsham High School is an academy school for pupils aged 11 to 16 located in the town. The school is administered by Enrich Learning Trust. The school converted from community school status in October 2019. The school includes a £5.3m arts and education development called the 'Atrium', which is open to the wider community, funded by the initial co-location funds of reanimating communities. The building belongs to North Walsham High School, but the theatre, cinema, workshop, and events programme is run by a registered charity (The Atrium North Norfolk Ltd). The charity was formed in early 2013 and operates as 'the Atrium'.

Sport
North Walsham is home to a London 1 North rugby team. North Walsham R.F.C. narrowly missed out on promotion to National League 2 in 2005–06, losing a play-off to Nuneaton. It is also home to the North Norfolk Vikings Swimming Club who train at the Victory Leisure Centre on Station Road. You will find North Walsham parkrun every Saturday morning which is a free, timed 5k event at 9am at North Walsham High School. England footballer Lauren Hemp was born in the town and played for the local team as a child.

Media
Regional local news and television programmes are provided by BBC East and ITV Anglia. Television signals are received from the Tacolneston TV transmitter and via a local relay transmitter in West Runton

Local radio stations are BBC Radio Norfolk on 95.6 FM, Heart East on 102.4 FM, Kiss on 106.1 FM,  Greatest Hits Radio Norfolk & North Suffolk (formerly North Norfolk Radio) on 96.2 FM and Poppyland Radio, a community radio station that broadcast online.

The town is served by these local newspapers:
Eastern Daily Press
North Norfolk News
Eastern Evening News

Museum and heritage
North Walsham is home to the Norfolk Motorcycle Museum, a privately owned collection of around 80 motorcycles dating up to 1960. Toys are also on display, particularly die-cast toys.

North Walsham is home to the North Walsham Heritage Centre. The Heritage Centre displays information and artefacts on the whole range of the town's history.

Freedom of the Town
The following people and military units have received the Freedom of the Town of North Walsham.

Individuals
 Lauren Hemp: 5 August 2022.

References

External links

 North Walsham Town Council
 North Walsham Archive
 North Walsham Fun Day
 North Walsham History
 North Walsham In Bloom
 North Walsham Community Centre
 North Walsham Live Aid
 North Walsham Funday and Carnival
 North Walsham Scouts
 St Nicholas' Church, North Walsham
 North Walsham Chamber for Business
 North Norfolk Vikings Swimming Club
 North Walsham parkrun

Market towns in Norfolk
Towns in Norfolk
Civil parishes in Norfolk
North Norfolk

North Walsham


Kalyanananda (1874–1937) was a direct monastic disciple of Vivekananda, who had set up the Ramakrishna Mission Sevashrama at Kankhal, near Haridwar. As a monk of the Ramakrishna Order, he took up service to the humanity as the most important philosophy in his life and practiced it for the benefit of the local population and the pilgrims. He spent thirty six-years in Ramakrishna Mission Sevashrama Kankhal to serve the poor and afflicted. He was one of the pioneers to set up a hospital in a remote location for the poor, needy and the itinerant monks who did not have access to healthcare.

Pre-monastic life
Kalyanananda was born as Dakshinaranjan Guha in the year 1874 in Hanua village near Vazirpur town in Barishal district of East Bengal province (now Bangladesh). His father's name was Umesh Chandra Guha. He lost his father at an early age and was educated under the guardianship of his uncle. Extreme poverty compelled him to give up a formal education.

Monastic life
Dakshinaranjan was inspired by the ideals of Vivekananda of leading a selfless life and service to poor and needy by looking upon them as manifestation of God. In 1898, he joined the newly established monastery of Ramakrishna Order, the Belur Math. He was initiated by Vivekananda and took his monastic vows under the name Kalyanananda. He served an ailing Yogananda, another direct disciple of Ramakrishna, in his deathbed.
In 1899 when Vivekananda left for West a second time, Kalyanananda went for pilgrimage and for practicing austerities. In Benares he met Kedarnath Moulik who would later become famous as Achalananda, another monastic disciple of Vivekananda and the founder of Ramakrishna Mission Home of Service Benares. Together they were involved in serving the poor and needy in Benares and Kalyanananda developed initial exposure to Vivekananda's vision of practical Vedanta through this. From Benares, he went to Allahabad and got engaged in service activities. At Kishangarh in Jaipur, together with Swarupananda, another brother disciple, he got busy in providing relief to the local population affected by a famine. They fed about 300 people every day, which helped in alleviating the impact of the famine. In 1901, he returned to Belur Math to meet Vivekananda, who had come back from the West. Vivekananda had requested him to work for the sick and ailing monks around the Rishikesh-Haridwar region as he himself was the witness to the plight of the people there in absence of any healthcare facility. Vivekananda apparently told Kalyanananda, Kalyan, you will be a Paramhansa. Sarvagatananda of Vedanta Centre Providence, who as Brahmachari Narayan served Kalyanananda in Kankhal, used this statement as the title of the book on his reminiscences about Kalyanananda.

With the help of Swarupananda, Kalyanananda was able to raise some funds for beginning the work of the Sevashrama in Kankhal near Haridwar in a rented premise consisting of two rooms in 1901. He also met Vivekananda and served him before the latter's death. Once, he bought 20 kg of ice by walking over a distance of 8 km for Vivekananda. Vivekananda had told him the essence of practical Vedanta was service to the humanity, with spirituality as the mainstay. Kalyanananda followed this philosophy in practice by serving the patients as Gods or living manifestations of the divinity.

Later he was joined in his work by another disciple of Vivekananda, Nischayananda. The two monks received enthusiastic support from Dhanraj Giri, the head of Kailash Ashrama monastery in Rishikesh, who had a good relationship with Vivekananda and Abhedananda. Because of the effort of Dhanraj Giri, the local monks began accepting the two disciples of Vivekananda as part of the fraternity. Along with service to the poor patients, the two swamis followed strict austere practices like begging their food from a satra or alms house so that they did not have to spend the funds available for personal expenses like food and clothing.
Many monks of the Ramakrishna Order, including Brahmananda, Turiyananda and Shivananda, as well as householder disciples of Ramakrishna like Mahendranath Gupta, better known as "M", visited the Kankhal Sevashrama.
Kalyanananda's daily routine consisted in personally visiting every patient in the hospital and get to know about the condition, sitting by their side and talking to them, visiting the kitchen, the wards, the garden, the cowshed, the library and the temple shrine.

Last days
The last fifteen years of his life was spent in a shattered health owing to the strain of the excessive work. He suffered from diabetes. In 1932, he traveled to Advaita Ashrama in Mayavati and also went to Mussoorie in 1937. He died on 20 October 1937 in Dehra Dun.

Contribution
In June 1901, Kalyanananda started the Sevashrama in rented huts at Kankhal with a few phials of medicine himself donned multiple roles as doctor, nurse, accountant and all. In 1903 the Mission was provided with funds for the purchase of a plot of land measuring along with a well for water supply, and in 1905 two permanent buildings were constructed on this land by the funds sponsored by Babus Bhajanlal Lohia and Harshima, Sukdevdas of Calcutta.

The Sevashrama which started modestly over the years developed into a full-fledged hospital with many different sections and departments. During the initial stages, Kalyanananda and Nischayananda had to do everything, from picking up patients from roadside and bringing them to the hospital to serving them in every possible way. Because of financial constraints, they had to do even the menial work of cleaning the hospital and patients and for this they were looked down upon by the local monks. However this was eradicated through the efforts of Dhanraj Giri, the influential head of Kailash Ashrama, who knew Vivekananda and had great respect for him.

In 1902, Kalyanananda opened a branch centre of the sevashrama in Rishikesh. He set up a small dispensary there were poor local people and pilgrims used to come for treatment.

The two disciples of Vivekananda also provided service to the pilgrims during Kumbha Mela in Haridwar in 1903, 1915, and 1927.  Kalyanananda also started a library for the public in 1905 for providing education to labourers and their children. He started a school in the colony of the scavengers and other backward classes. He also provided drinking water to people who lived nearby and personally gave monetary and pecuniary help to poor and needy. Vivekananda had asked Kalyanananda never to return to Bengal. Therefore, he never went back to Belur Math despite repeated summonses.

Kalyanananda's philosophy was to look upon the hospital as a place of worship and the patients as God. He would often wake up at night and, accompanied by a faithful dog, went to pay a visit to the in-patient ward to check if anybody needed any service. He planted 150 mango trees in the premises of the hospitals, and he used to feed the monks and poor with the produce. At least one person was known to have received regular monetary help from him. He himself used to sew the pillow covers and bedsheets of the patients in order to ensure an excellent quality of linen to them. He used to keep every affairs of the hospitals, esp. pertaining to the services delivered to the patients under minute observations and sometimes used to do all tasks himself, including cleaning, when his staff were not present.

References

Category

20th-century Hindu religious leaders
Swami Vivekananda
1874 births
1937 deaths
Monastic disciples of Swami Vivekananda
Rishis
Vedanta
Monks of the Ramakrishna Mission

Kalyanananda


Flavius Probus (born c. 420, 430 or 435), a Roman Senator and a v. nob. (vir nobilis) of Narbonne, then Narbo, was a man of literary taste and precocious ability. His father was Flavius Magnus, Consul of Rome in 460. He was a friend of Sidonius Apollinaris from their schooldays.

He married before 450 Eulalia (?), born c. 425, a cousin of Sidonius Apollinaris, daughter of Thaumastus. They were perhaps the parents of:

 Industria of Narbonne, then Narbo, born c. 450 or 465, married before 475 to Tonantius Ferreolus
 Firminus (455 or 460 – c. 503), v. inl. at Arles, then Arelate, and a propinq. of Magnus Felix Ennodius
 Probatius (certain son), Bishop of Uzès in 506

References
 Sidonius Apollinaris, The Letters of Sidonius (Oxford: Clarendon, 1915), pp. clx-clxxxiii

5th-century births
5th-century Romans
Senators of the Roman Empire
Year of death unknown
Date of death unknown

Probus (son of Magnus)


The  were Japanese teamsters or cargo carriers who used horses to transport their shipments. They were chiefly active between the Heian Period and the Sengoku Period. Images of the bashaku are famously drawn on the emakimono depicting the founding of Ishiyama-dera.

During the same time period cargo carriers who used cows instead were known as shashaku.

Transportation methods
The transportation method of the bashaku was to hang the cargo from the back of their horses and then drive them to their destination. In the beginning farmers did this job during their free time on off-seasons but from the Muromachi Period and onwards it became a full-time occupation.

The bashaku lived in groups in towns along major highways and important sites of water to land traffic including Otsu, Sakamoto, and Yodo, and they carried goods brought by boat to areas where consumption was at that time high such as Kyoto and Nara.

Uprisings
Because of their organizational strength and the ease with which they could get news, and eventually their employment of armed escorts due to poor public security, they also became a source of rebellions during the Muromachi Period.  The most famous of these revolts are the Shocho Uprising and the Kakitsu Uprising.  However, when Mount Hiei's Enryaku-ji became the target of attacks in the latter uprising, the bashaku of Omi Province, who had received the temple's protection seceded from the rebels and the power of the bashaku split.

During the Hokke Rebellion of 1532, Enryaku-ji took the lead in suppressing the bashaku.  Bashaku members blockaded checkpoints connecting to Kyoto and thus imposed an economic embargo on the city where the power of militant Nichiren Buddhists held sway.

References

Sengoku period
History of transport in Japan
Economic history of Japan

Bashaku


The second French intervention in Mexico (), also known as the Second Franco-Mexican War (1861–1867), was a military invasion of the Republic of Mexico by the French Empire of Napoleon III, purportedly to force the collection of Mexican debts in conjunction with Great Britain and Spain.  Mexican conservatives supported the invasion, since they had been defeated by the liberal government of Benito Juárez in a three-year civil war. Defeated on the battlefield, conservatives sought the aid of France to effect regime change and establish a monarchy in Mexico, a plan that meshed with Napoleon III's plans to re-establish the presence of the French Empire in the Americas.  Although the French invasion displaced Juárez's Republican government from the Mexican capital and the monarchy of Archduke Maximilian was established, the Second Mexican Empire collapsed within a few years. Material aid from the United States, whose four-year civil war ended in 1865, invigorated the Republican fight against the regime of Maximilian, and the 1866 decision of Napoleon III to withdraw military support for Maximilian's regime accelerated the monarchy's collapse.  Maximilian and two Mexican generals were executed by firing squad on 19 June 1867, ending this period of Mexican history.

The intervention came as a civil war, the Reform War, had just concluded, and the intervention allowed the Conservative opposition against the liberal social and economic reforms of President Juárez to take up their cause once again. The Mexican Catholic Church, Mexican conservatives, much of the upper-class and Mexican nobility, and some Native Mexican communities invited, welcomed and collaborated with the French empire's help to install Maximilian of Habsburg as Emperor of Mexico. The emperor himself, however proved to be of liberal inclination and continued some of the Juárez government's most notable liberal measures. Some liberal generals defected to the Empire, including the powerful, northern governor Santiago Vidaurri, who had fought on the side of Juárez during the Reform War.

The French army landed in 1861, aiming to rapidly take the capital of Mexico City, but Mexican republican forces defeated them in the Battle of Puebla on 5 May 1862, Cinco de Mayo, delaying their taking the capital for a year. The French and Mexican Imperial Army captured much of Mexican territory, including major cities, but guerrilla warfare by supporters of the republic remained a significant factor and Juárez himself never left the national territory. The intervention was increasingly using up troops and money at a time when the recent Prussian victory over Austria was inclining France to give greater military priority to European affairs. The liberals also never lost the official recognition of the United States of America in spite of their ongoing civil war, and following the defeat and surrender of the Confederate States of America in April 1865 the reunited country began providing materiel support to the republican forces. Invoking the Monroe Doctrine, the U.S. government asserted that it would not tolerate a lasting French presence on the continent. Facing defeats and mounting pressure both at home and abroad, the French army began to redeploy to Europe in 1866, and the French empire in Mexico collapsed in 1867.

History

Background

Mexican monarchists long had hopes of restoring Mexico to a monarchical form of government, as it had been pre-independence and at its inception as an independent nation-state from the Spanish Empire in 1821, in the First Mexican Empire ruled by Emperor Agustín I. Mexican conservatives sought the aid of French emperor Napoleon III. With the United States embroiled in its Civil War (1861–65) against secessionist southern states, its focus was on domestic turmoil rather than exerting its power against the intervention of the French in violation of the Monroe Doctrine. A Mexican monarchy backed by France would, in Napoleon III's estimation, lead to the exertion of French power in Mexico and Latin America.

After the administration of Mexican president Benito Juárez placed a moratorium on foreign debt payments in 1861, France, the United Kingdom, and Spain agreed to the Convention of London, a joint effort to ensure that debt repayments from Mexico would be forthcoming. On 8 December 1861, the three navies disembarked their troops at the port city of Veracruz, on the Gulf of Mexico. When it became clear to the British that France's aim was to seize Mexico, the United Kingdom separately negotiated an agreement with Mexico to settle the debt issues and withdrew from the country. Spain subsequently left as well. The resulting French invasion established the Second Mexican Empire (1864–1867). France, Britain, Belgium, Austria, and Spain recognized the political legitimacy of the newly created monarchy, but the United States refused to do so, since it was a violation of the Monroe Doctrine, prohibitiing European powers' interference in the Americas.

The French intervention in Mexico, initially supported by the United Kingdom and Spain, was a consequence of Mexican President Benito Juárez's imposition of a two-year moratorium of loan-interest payments from July 1861 to French, British, and Spanish creditors.

Napoleon III's France sought not just debt collection, but rather regime change. Through the influence of the emperor's wife, Eugénie de Montijo, the emperor had come into contact with Mexican monarchist exiles, José María Gutiérrez de Estrada and José Manuel Hidalgo who exposed Napoleon to the decades long effort to import a European prince to ascend a Mexican throne. He was initially not interested in the project due to the inevitable opposition that the effort would invite from the United States due to the Monroe Doctrine, a concern that would be rendered null with the outbreak of the American Civil War in 1861. Juarez's debt moratorium finally provided a pretext for intervention. Napoleon III would also claim that the military adventure was a foreign policy commitment to free trade and that the establishment of a European-derived monarchy in Mexico would ensure European access to Mexican resources, particularly French access to Mexican silver. However, Emperor Maximilian disagreed with the French emperor on Mexican resources going to anyone but Mexicans. More importantly, Napoleon III wanted to establish Mexico as a monarchist ally in the Americas in order to restrain the growing power of the United States. To realize his ambitions without interference from other European states, Napoleon III entered into a coalition with the United Kingdom and Spain.

Multinational intervention
The Tripartite Expedition, a multinational coalition of Spain, Great Britain, and France, sought to enforce debt collection on the republican government of Benito Juárez, following his suspension of payments on Mexican government bonds.  On 14 December 1861, Spanish ships took possession of Mexico's main port, Veracruz. French and British forces arrived on 7 January 1862. On 10 January 1862 Spanish General Juan Prim issued a manifesto disavowing rumors that the allies had come to conquer or to impose a new government. It was emphasized that the three powers merely wanted to open negotiations regarding their claims of damages.

On 14 January 1862, a bill of claims was presented to the government in Mexico City. Foreign Minister Manuel Doblado invited the commissioners to travel to Orizaba with two thousand of their own troops for a conference while requesting that the rest of the tripartite forces disembark from Veracruz. The proposal to disembark most of the troops was rejected, but negotiations then resulted in an agreement, ratified on 23 January, to move the forces inland and hold a conference at Orizaba. The agreement also officially recognized the government of Juárez along with Mexican sovereignty.

French invasion

On 9 April 1862, agreements at Orizaba between the allies broke down, as France made it increasingly clear that it intended to invade Mexico and interfere in its government in violation of previous treaties. The British informed the Mexican government that they now intended to exit the country, and an arrangement was made with the British government to settle its claims. Minister Doblado on 11 April made it known to the French government that its intentions would lead to war.

Certain Mexican officers had been sympathetic to the French since the beginning of the intervention. On 16 April 1862, the French issued a proclamation inviting Mexicans to join them in establishing a new government. On 17 April 1862, Mexican general Juan Almonte, who had been a foreign minister of the conservative government defeated in the Reform War, and who was brought back to Mexico by the French, issued his own manifesto, assuring the Mexican people of benevolent French intentions.

Armed conflict broke out between the French invaders and republican Mexican defenders, the start of a protracted warfare. The French defeated a small Mexican force at Escamela, and then captured Orizaba. Mexican Generals Porfirio Díaz and Ignacio Zaragoza retreated to El Ingenio, and then headed towards Puebla. Almonte now attempted to consolidate the Mexican pro-French movement. The town of Orizaba joined him and so did the port of Veracruz and Isla del Carmen. Colonel Gonzáles, Manuel Castellanos, Desiderio Samaniego, Padre Miranda, and Haro Tamariz, and General Taboada arrived in Orizaba to support Almonte. On 28 April 1862, French forces headed towards Puebla.

On 5 May 1862, Mexican forces commanded by Ignacio Zaragoza and Porfirio Díaz won a major victory against the French at the Battle of Puebla while the latter were trying to ascend the hill towards the fortified positions of the city. The French retreated to Orizaba to await reinforcements. Mexico's victory was a pause in the French push to capture the capital of Mexico City, delaying the French for a year.  In Mexican history, Cinco de Mayo is a day to commemorate Mexican nationalism.

Conservative Mexican Generals Florentino López, Leonardo Márquez, and Juan Vicario sought to join the French, and Mexican republican forces suffered defeats at Barranca Seca and Cerro del Borrego in the vicinity of Orizaba.

With the defeat of the small French force at Puebla in May 1862, in July Napoleon III sent reinforcements of 30,000 troops under the command of General Forey.  The French Emperor gave Forey instructions laying out France's occupation policy, directing the French commander to work with Mexican supporters in the pursuit of both military and political goals. The aim was to establish a new government friendly to French interests, and the geopolitical aim of preventing the United States from becoming too powerful in the Americas was also emphasized. Forey reached Orizaba on 24 October 1862, and began planning another siege of Puebla, the defense of which had now passed on to Jesús González Ortega after General Zaragoza had died of typhoid fever on 8 September.

On 10 January 1863, a French squadron bombarded the Mexican Pacific port of Acapulco and on 3 February, Forey finally set out for Puebla. González Ortega had meanwhile been building up the town's fortifications, and on 10 March he declared martial law. The French arrived on the 16 March and began the siege.

On 8 May 1863 at Battle of San Lorenzo, Bazaine and Márquez defeated Ignacio Comonfort who intended to provide reinforcements to Puebla. Having run out of ammunition and food, González Ortega held a council of war, and it was agreed, with the republican situation hopeless, to surrender on 17 May, after destroying the remaining armaments. All of the officers were taken  prisoner and were intended to be transported to France. González Ortega and Porfirio Díaz escaped before being sent out of the country as prisoners.

Establishment of the Empire

Upon hearing of the fall of Puebla, President Juárez prepared to evacuate the capital and move the republican government to San Luis Potosi. Congress closed its session on 31 May after granting Juárez emergency powers. The French entered the capital on 10 June 1863.

On 16 June the French government nominated 35 Mexican citizens to constitute a Junta Superior de Gobierno who were then tasked with electing a triumvirate that was to serve as the executive of the new government. The three elected were Juan Almonte, Archbishop Labastida, and Jose Mariano Salas. The Junta was also to choose 215 Mexican citizens who together with the Junta Superior were to constitute an Assembly of Notables that was to decide upon the form of government. On 11 July, the Assembly published its resolutions, that Mexico was to be a constitutional monarchy and that Ferdinand Maximilian was to be invited to accept the Mexican throne. The executive was then officially changed into the Regency of the Mexican Empire.

Although Republican guerrilla forces in the countryside around the capital counted no victories against the French, they maintained a presence.  Cuernavaca was captured by imperial forces on 29 July 1863. Republican guerrilla commanders Catarino Fragoso, León Ugalde, and others continued to wage warfare against towns occupied by the French.

Imperialist successes in the central Mexico
Franco-Mexican forces captured Pachuca and Tulancingo in July to serve as bases for expanding operations. Imperialist Juan Chávez under the command of Tómas Mejía defeated the Republican forces of Tomás O'Horán on the road to Guanajuato. O'Horan would then switch sides and join the imperialists. Imperialist colonel José Antonio Rodríguez then captured San Juan de los Llanos in Puebla. The Gulf Coast port of Tampico was captured by French vessels on 11 August 1863. French control of the country still centered on Veracruz and Mexico City but was gradually expanding. By October, advancing combined forces were spreading across the central regions of Mexico from Jalisco to San Luis Potosi to Oaxaca.

In August 1863, Imperialist Mejía captured the town of Actopan, Hidalgo in the state of Mexico in September, and more Imperialist victories in that state followed. Imperialist commander Gavito, managed to disperse republican guerrillas in Cuayuca, and the Imperialist commander Jesús María Visoso defeated Republican guerrillas at Puebla.

Franco-Mexican forces under Leonardo Márquez and de Berthier entered Morelia, Michoacan unopposed on 30 November, after Republican forces had evacuated the city. After reinforcements arrived, the Republican forces led by José López Uraga attempted to recapture Morelia but were defeated by Márquez.

General Mejía captured Querétaro on 17 November, while Republican forces there retreated further north to Guanajuato. Imperialist forces pursued them and Guanajuato was taken on 9 December.

On 22 December, the Republican government evacuated the city of San Luis Potosí and intended to relocate north to the state of Coahuila. Imperialist forces led by Mejía captured the city on 25 December, only to face an assault by Republican forces on the 27 December, which was ultimately defeated.

Imperialist advances

French general Bazaine occupied the city of Guadalajara on 5 January 1864. The liberal generals Uraga and Ortega remained in the vicinity but carried out no attacks. After French assaults led by General Abel Douay, González Ortega retreated towards Fresnillo, and Uraga westward.

Mexican General Felipe Navarrete of Yucatán proclaimed his support of the Empire, and invaded the state capital of Mérida with the support of French forces, capturing it on 22 January 1864.

Douay, with General Castagny headed north, succeeding in capturing Aguascalientes and Zacatecas by 7 February 1864. Castagny was left in charge of Zacatecas, while Douay went to the relief of Colonel Garnier at Guadalajara. On 16 February, Castagny won a victory at Colotlán in which he took eighty prisoners and Republican General Luis Ghilardi was executed. Republican General and governor of Aguascalientes José María Chávez Alonso was also executed after being captured in Jerez.

Imperialists struggled to hold on to the southern state of Chiapas. The nearby state capital of Tabasco, San Juan Bautista was recaptured by the Republicans on 27 February. The success inspired a republican incursion into Veracruz, succeeding in capturing Minatitlán on 28 March.

On 19 March 1864, the western Mexican commander Manuel Lozada, at the head of indigenous troops of the Tepic district sided with the imperialists.

Douay headed south, pursuing the Republican guerrilla chiefs Simón Gutiérrez and Antonio Rojas, routing the former, and destroying two factories for arms and powder near Cocula. In March, Douay entered Colima.

Republican General Ortega and several guerrilla bands were driven back into the Sierra Hermosa after Manuel Doblado was repulsed by Mejía in Doblado's attempted assault on Monterrey. Doblado fled the country for the United States and died a year later. Mejia was subsequently granted the cross of the Legion of Honour by Napoleon III.

The Emperor and Empress of Mexico arrived in Veracruz in the summer of 1864 and were later crowned in the Cathedral of Mexico City.

Republican General Porfirio Diaz, with three thousand troops defeated the imperialists commander Marcos Toledo at the silver mining town of Taxco on 26 October 1864. Díaz then besieged the brigade of Juan Vicario in the town of Iguala until imperialist reinforcements forced him to abandon the siege. Díaz headed south to his home state of Oaxaca and increased his troops to eight thousand.

The Imperialists now controlled the central Mexican states, containing its major cities, two thirds of the population, rich mines and agricultural lands, and the main centers of manufacturing and trade. The Republicans still controlled the sparsely populated frontier states of the north, where President Juárez still led his government-in-exile in the city of Monterrey. These northern states granted them the considerable revenue coming into the Pacific ports of Manzanillo, Mazatlan, and Guaymas. Arms also flowed in from the U.S. states California and Texas along with mercenaries.

The republicans also still held southern states of Guerrero, Oaxaca, Tabasco, and Chiapas where troops led by Porfirio Diaz maintained a formidable hold.

Northern Campaign

The Imperialists now focused on capturing the rest of the north, with troops under General Mejía campaigning along the northern Gulf Coast, supported by Charles Dupin's anti-guerrilla corps at Tampico, and Aymard's brigade at San Luis Potosi. Castagny supported the rear, and the entire operation was headquartered at Querétaro.

On the Pacific Coast, a naval squadron under de Kergrist was ready to cooperate with Douay's troops in Jalisco and sweep north towards Sinaloa. They were aided by quarrels within the Republican military leadership that resulted in José López Uraga being demoted and subsequently joining the Imperialists. On 26 September 1864, the Imperialists captured the port of Bagdad and now controlled every major port in the Gulf. The commander of troops at Bagdad, Juan Cortina then defected to the Imperialists.

Santiago Vidaurri, the governor of Nuevo León and Coahuila had broken with Juárez, as early as March 1864 over the administration and finances of his state, and had even held a referendum on joining the Empire. Republican troops drove him into Texas, but troops loyal to Viduarri remained active in the region. As Republican forces in the north were diverted by Imperial advances. Vidaurrist troops captured Monterrey on 15 August 1864, with President Juárez barely escaping, and pursued as far as Parras in a bullet-riddled carriage. The triumphant Vidaurri then headed towards the capital where he was made a councilor of Emperor Maximilian. By the end of the year the imperialists controlled Nuevo León and the greater part of Coahuila to the banks of the Rio Grande.

Southern Pacific Campaign

On 28 October 1864, imperialist Generals Leonardo Márquez and Douay attacked the army of Republican General Arteaga in the ravine of Atenquique, routing them. A few days later, the Republicans, Simón Gutiérrez and Antonio Rojas were defeated near the U.S. border by the Imperialist Carlos Rivas, with French reinforcements. Márquez occupied Colima and by 18 November 1864, Márquez had captured the port of Manzanillo.

On 12 November 1864, a French squadron under de Kergrist, arrived at Mazatlan and demanded a surrender under the threat of bombardment. At the same time, the imperialist Manuel Lozada besieged the town on land leading to a successful capture.

The imperialist Juan Vicario was repulsed at Chilapa de Álvarez, while on the way to replace the French garrison in the southern, Pacific port of Acapulco, and subsequently the port had to be evacuated and left to the Republicans in December. French vessels succeeded in recapturing Acapulco on 11 September 1864.

The Imperialists however hoped to soon begin operations to dislodge Porfirio Díaz from his stronghold in the south, and began to survey the land and build roads. Towards the end of 1864, General Courtois d'Hurbal entered Oaxaca by way of Yanhuitlan and other columns followed from Orizaba and Mexico City. Díaz was based in Oaxaca City with three thousand regulars, three thousand troops in the mountains, and had converted the city into a fortified camp.

Commander in Chief of the French Forces, Bazaine decided to lead the siege of Oaxaca City in person and by the end of January 1865, the besieging forces numbered seven thousand men. The use of artillery began on 4 February, and an assault was ordered for February 9th. The massing of forces produced a panic in Díaz' men. Díaz was not willing to engage in a hopeless last stand and surrendered. Díaz sent to Puebla and imprisoned, however he escaped seven months later and raised an army in the southern state of Guerrero. This prompted Élie Frédéric Forey, the former Commander of French forces in Mexico, to criticize Bazaine for not executing Díaz. The former Republican General José López Uraga sent a letter to Díaz hoping to win him over to the imperialist cause, arguing that guerrilla warfare was devastating the country and assuring Díaz that Mexican independence was secure under Maximilian. Díaz rejected this offer.

French colonel Mangin remained at Oaxaca and reorganized the civilian government. Imperialist forces would continue to face sporadic conflict with Republican forces led by General Luis Pérez Figueroa.

Michoacan continued to be a Republican stronghold, serving as a base of operations for Nicolás Régules, Manuel García Pueblita, Carlos Salazar Ruiz, and Vicente Riva Palacio, with the latter being named governor by Arteaga who held supreme command of the regional forces. On 31 January, Republican forces under Nicolás Romero was defeated at Apatzingán by Colonel Poiter with a loss of 200 men. On 19 May, Salazar with 400 men defeated a Franco-Mexican force of 700 at Los Reyes. Arteaga occupied Tacámbaro, and León Ugalde and Fermín Valdés captured Zitácuaro. Regulas ventured out into Guanajuato where he was checked and instead hastened back to Michoacan where he captured Tacámbaro on 11 April, where the imperialists lost a significant number of Belgian mercenaries. The connection to Belgium was through Empress Carlota, a Belgian princess and daughter of the Belgian king. The town however was soon taken back. Regules once again ventured out, this time towards Morelia but was checked at Huaniqueo by Potier.

In Jalisco, Douay's operations resulted in Republican guerrilla commander Antonio Rojas being killed on 28 January 1865 at Potrerillos. Franco-Mexican operations led by Douay and Manuel Lozada resulted in the defection of the commander of the Republican Central Forces Miguel María de Echegaray, along with General Rómulo Valle.

In January 1865, Castagny was sent with three thousand men to the Pacific Coast port of Mazatlán to follow up on the Imperialist victory there from the previous November. Fierce warfare ensued with the Republican General Ramón Corona and Lozada was sent to aid Castagny resulting in an Imperialist victory at El Rosario in April, 1865. Corona fled to the north but returned in September to win a victory for the Republicans, at Mazatlán

Sonoran Campaign
The success at Mazatlán now allowed the imperialists to turn their attention towards the northwest coast, and Castagny hoped to capture the port of Guaymas. A French squadron landed several hundred men under Colonel Garnier on 29 March. Garnier sent troops by sea to Álamos and managed to gain support among the Yaqui, Mayo, and Opata. Chief Refugio Tánori arrived at Guaymas with reinforcements allowing the imperialists to win the  on 24 September, and then march into Hermosillo.

Decline of imperial military control
The end of the American Civil War in April 1865, with a victory of the North, marked a turning point in the French intervention. U.S. President Abraham Lincoln never recognized the government of Emperor Maximilian but could not materially aid the Republican cause in Mexico until the Civil War ended. Mexican Republican commanders were hopeful that surplus arms and Union troops would soon aid them. Maximilian received a message from the liberal government, hopeful that the U.S. would now aid the Republicans, and advising him that he should leave the country while he still could. President Juárez was now confident of his ultimate victory, writing that "the United States will never permit [Maximilian] to consolidate his power, and his sacrifices and victories will have counted for nothing."

Struggle for the North and the Black Decree
Republicans organized forces in the north with General Miguel Negrete gathering two thousand troops and in early April, capturing Saltillo, and Monterrey, which had been abandoned by the imperialists. Negrete advanced towards Matamoros and was joined by American volunteers, and general Juan Cortina who had previously defected to the Imperialists, yet now defected back to the Republicans. They succeeded in capturing all of the towns along the Rio Grande from Piedras Negras downstream. They got as far as Matamoros upon which they retreated after being faced with General Tomás Mejia and his French reinforcements.

Republican Colonel Pedro José Méndez captured Ciudad Victoria on April 23d, the culmination of a campaign that had begun in January. He subsequently captured Ciudad Tula on 4 June and cut off communications from the imperialist held Tampico.

Bazaine dispatched generals Auguste Henri Brincourt and Baron Neigre towards the Mapimi border in order to go after Negrete. Meanwhile, Colonel Pierre Joseph Jeanningros headed up from San Luis Potosi in order to rendezvous with imperialist forces at Saltillo. Negrete engaged with Jeanningros in a skirmish on 31 May, and retreated. His forces were disbanded in the course of being pursued by the imperialists.

A concentration of U.S. army troops and vessels in Texas along the Rio Grande, led to a surge of imperialist troops along the frontier which only caused guerrilla warfare to flare up in the southern states. A few imperial prefects resigned, unable to govern or defend their respective departments without enough troops.

In August 1865 as French troops were concentrated in the north under Bazaine. Sinaloa was left under the care of one regiment under Colonel Cotteret based in Guaymas, while the surrounding areas were entrusted to Indian allies. Republican General Antonio Rosales was killed in August in an attempt to retake Álamos. but General Corona nonetheless pressed upon the imperialists and succeeded in driving French troops throughout Sinaloa back to Mazatlán.

After the defeat of Negrete, Brincourt had then proceeded towards Chihuahua with two thousand five hundred men. He entered Chihuahua City, then serving as the provisional capital of the Mexican Republic, on 15 August, reorganized the administration, was able to drive President Juárez out, and also provided encouragement to the various indigenous allies of the Empire in the region. Out of fear that a border skirmish would occur with American forces, Bazaine ordered Brincourt to return to Durango within three weeks of reaching Chihuahua. Brincourt believed that leaving a garrison of a thousand men in Chihuahua was enough to pacify the region, but Bazaine repeated his orders, and Brincourt left on 29 October.

On 1 October 1865, the Republican government was able to arrange a loan in New York for $30 million, indicating investors' confidence that the Republic would be able to repay the funds. Volunteers from the U.S. were joining the Republicans. Juárez, now taking refuge at El Paso del Norte on the U.S.-Mexican border, expressed confidence that U.S. pressure could play a decisive role in influencing French withdrawal.

The Imperial government made a major change in the way war was conducted. On 2 October 1865, the imperial government with the signature of the emperor issued the so-called "Black Decree."
The troops under your orders will take no prisoners. Every individual of whatever rank, taken with arms in his hands, shall be put to death. In the future, let there be no exchange of prisoners. Let our soldiers understand that they cannot surrender to such men. This is a death-struggle. On both sides it is only a question of killing or be killed.
Less severe penalties were prescribed for aiding guerrillas and exceptions were made for those who were forced into service or were involved circumstantially.

On 13 October, Imperialist Colonel Ramón Méndez won a victory over the Republicans at Amatlán, and captured the generals Arteaga and Salazar, the latter who ranked as the commander in chief of the Republican army of the center. Méndez took advantage of the recently passed Black Decree to execute both of them.

Mariano Escobedo attempted to take Matamoros on 25 October. Imperialist commander Tomás Mejía hesitated to take the offensive due to the presence of nearby U.S. troops and their sympathy for the Republicans, until French reinforcements arrived and scattered Escobedo's forces on 8 November.

After having stayed El Paso del Norte, Juárez was subsequently able then to return to Chihuahua City on 20 November. Maximilian however had convinced Bazaine to retain Chihuahua and an expedition of five hundred troops then towards the city led by Jean-Baptiste Billot. Juarez was forced to evacuate yet again on 9 December and fled to the American border.

Escobedo then fell back on Monterrey succeeding in capturing the city, but a remnant of imperial forces remained in the citadel and held out until General Pierre Joseph Jeanningros arrived with reinforcements on 25 November, after which the imperialists recaptured Monterrey.

General Mejía and French naval commander Georges Charles Cloué protested to the United States regarding the aid in material, supplies, hospital care and troops being lent to the Republicans but the commandant at Clarksville, at the mouth of the Rio Grande, replied that such troops could no longer be considered as belonging to the United States military. In January 1866, American troops raided Bagdad, a blatant violation of neutrality which resulted in the federal government removing the commandant and disciplining those involved in the raid. The sack of Bagdad would leave the French cautious, and prevent them from active campaigning near the border, instead focusing on consolidating their hold a few strong positions, maintaining communications with French held ports.

Napoleon III announces the French troop withdrawal
At the opening of the French chambers in January 1866, Napoleon III announced that he would withdraw French troops from Mexico. In reply to a French request for neutrality, the U.S. Secretary of State William H. Seward replied that French withdrawal should be unconditional. Napoleon assured the American government that the withdrawal would no longer be deferred, laying out a plan to reduce the troops in phases starting in November 1866 and ending one year later in November 1867. Seward then requested that French reinforcements to Mexico should now cease, and that Austria should stop recruiting volunteers for the Mexican expedition. The French and Austrian governments subsequently complied.

Further northern retreats
Billot retired on 31 January from Chihuahua, leaving the city in charge of Indian allies, but it fell to Republican troops in March. Maximilian commanded Bazaine to retake Chihuahua in May, and a new expedition was prepared. But new withdrawal instructions from France caused the expedition to be abandoned.

French troops were evacuated from Durango by November, and Castagny withdrew to Leon, leading to a loss of the former province to the Republicans. Juárez moved his government south to Durango on 26 December 1866.

In the northwest provinces of Sonora and Sinaloa the French were mostly confined to the ports of Guaymas and Mazatlan, though the imperial General Edvard Emile Langberg held positions in the interior with the aid of the Opata natives. Álamos was captured by the Republican general Ángel Martínez with forces from Sinaloa and dealt out retributions to the indigenous Mayo and Yaqui tribes that had allied themselves with the Empire. He then took back Hermosillo on 4 May only to lose it to the Imperialists the day after. The French withdrew from Guaymas in September, and around the same time Langberg was killed in a battle that led the Republicans to take the town of Ures.

Sonora now fell to the Republicans and hundreds of refugees fled to the United States or tried to retreat with the French. Imperialist commanders Refugio Tánori and José Almada were overtaken and shot with their families by the Republicans.

Southern defeats

In July, 1865 Arteaga had advanced towards Tacámbaro with three thousand men where he was routed by Lieutenant Colonel Van der Smissen with fewer than a thousand troops.

In Michoacan, Regules were repeatedly repulsed to the point that his forces dissolved in April 1866. In May however, he resumed operations and made it into the Toluca region, finding allies around Zitacuaro and Guerrero. Acapulco was held on to by the imperialist General Montenegro, but his troops were greatly weakened by fever and desertion.

After Republican general Porfirio Díaz escaped, he fled to Oaxaca and hoped to form a new army. The imperialist prefect Prieto had held on to Tehuantepec since mid-1865 and hoped to turn it into a base for operations. Díaz encroached upon this territory in the Spring of 1866, notably at Jamiltepec and Putla, upon which he sought to cut off communications between Oaxaca and Puebla. Díaz took Teotitlan in August 1866, before he was repulsed by Austro-Mexican forces. In early October, Diaz routed the imperialist general Oronoz, who barely escaped and retreated into Oaxaca City, after which Díaz began a siege. The siege was lifted for a few days to face Austro-Mexican reinforcements, which Díaz defeated, and then captured Oaxaca City on 1 November 1866. From there he completed the capture of Oaxaca and advanced into Puebla.

Defeats in the northern Gulf Coast
In the northeast, Republican forces were led by Méndez who blocked the route to Tampico, Mariano Escobedo who was based north of Linares, and Gonzáles Herrera and Trevino who were based around Parras. After a Republican assault on Parras, the imperialist commander Briant came up from Saltillo, reinstalled the imperialist prefect Campos, on 20 February. He then set out to attack the liberals at Santa Isabel where due to underestimating their forces was routed and captured. The Republicans did not immediately take Parrs, but the French withdrawal allowed them to take the town in June 1866.

At Charco Escondido, Mejia was struggling against Republicans whose forces were being swelled by American soldiers. He was given reinforcements by General Jeanningros in April. Another train of reinforcements led by General Olvera left Matamoros where they were surrounded and defeated by Republican troops led by Mariano Escobedo near Camargo. Olvera nonetheless managed to retreat to and hold Matamoros, but the Imperialist General Tuce who had arrived with reinforcements from Monterey was obliged to retreat. Mejía was left with 500 men, and ultimately retreated on June 23d with all his men to Veracruz.

In November 1866, Matamoros fell to the Republicans with the aid of U.S. troops. On 9 November, the imperialist Generals Márquez and Miramón returned from Europe to aid in the war effort. By the end of November, the French withdrawal had resulted in the Republicans taking back the North and West of the country.

On 13 November 1866, the French completed their evacuation of Mazatlán. After having aided the evacuation the former imperialist General Lozada retired from the conflict and proclaimed his neutrality.

The Republican commander Méndez who had raided communications between San Luis Potosí and the Gulf of Mexico was killed during an imperialist raid near Tampico. Nonetheless, due to the French withdrawal, the Republican General Aureliano Rivera captured Tampico in May. The French held on to the port but surrendered in July and in August they surrendered Tuxpan. Veracruz was now the only gulf port left under imperialist control.

Monterrey was evacuated by the Imperialists on 25 July 1865, and Saltillo on 4 August.

Douay evacuated Matehuala on 28 October, then being the northernmost imperialist post. Troops were left in San Luis Potosí under Mejía, yet the small prospect of victory induced them to retreat on Christmas Eve to San Felipe in Guanajuato. Castagny reached Guanajuato around the same time, with French forces from Durango and Zacatecas the latter having been evacuated in November.

Central Mexico becomes vulnerable
Veracruz and the roads leading to it had been harassed by Republicans ever since the beginning of 1866, with the beginning of the French withdrawal. There was an Imperialist victory at Papaloapan River, but by August, Tlacotalpan and Alvarado were surrendered to the Republicans. A Republican revolt led by Ignacio Alatorre had been crushed in Papantla and Misantla, but with Republican successes further north, Alatorre rose up again, capturing Jalapa in November. Pachuca was captured by Republicans in November, and Perote fell in January, 1867.

The capital itself became vulnerable in late 1866. Cuautitlán was raided in October, and Chalco and Tlalpan were left exposed to Republican incursions in December, while raiders harassed the stream of imperial soldiers and refugees heading towards Vera Cruz. The Imperialist commander Ortiz de la Peña had retreated to Cuernavaca after a defeat in Ixtla, and Regules and Riva Palacio moved ahead to occupy the Lerma Valley.

Guadalajara was abandoned by the French on 12 December 1866, and imperial forces were left under General Gutiérrez. The imperialists evacuated the city on 19 December, and headed for Guanajuato. The former imperial commander Lozada meanwhile declared the neutrality of the department of Nayarit.

Final French evacuations
On 19 December 1866, Napoleon III made it known that all troops would now be withdrawn, ahead of the previously laid out schedule.

In late December, the French evacuated Guanjuato, rendezvousing in Querétaro with retreating troops from San Luis Potosi, and then heading towards the port of Vera Cruz. An imperialist garrison under Mejía however remained at Guanajuato, was able to hold a position and keep Republican troops at bay.

Bazaine evacuated Mexico City on 5 February 1867. Vera Cruz was left in charge of the imperial general Pérez Gómez. Vera Cruz was a hub of activity with more than thirty vessels, including transports, mail steamers, and squadron ships in the harbor to help the evacuation. Bazaine and the last of the French troops embarked for Toulon on 12 March.

Republican victory

With the end of the official French presence, the intervention was technically over, and yet the Empire which French troops and their Mexican collaborators had set up would last for a few months more, with the same Mexican generals that had previously fought alongside the French continuing the play a leading role, along with hundreds of Frenchmen who remained as independent mercenaries.

After a council at Orizaba which decided against his abdication, Emperor Maximilian intended to return to Mexico City, first remaining at Puebla for nearly three weeks and making preparations for the campaign. The country was divided into three great military districts the western, comprising the provinces north of Colima, including Durango and Chihuahua; the eastern, stretching from Aguascalientes and Tampico northward; and the central, embracing all the vast remainder to Chiapas. Miramón, who took command of the western district, had already set out to create his army, with little regard for the means to be employed, but Mejía in the east stood at the head of nearly 4,000 men; and Márquez, controlling the center, had 4,000 under Ramón Méndez in Michoacan, and fully 2,000 troops stationed at Puebla, Maximilian assumed the supreme command, and issued orders for the active formation of the new national army as well as a militia.

Unfortunately for the Empire, the Western and Eastern military district were in possession of the Republicans, as well as the region south of Puebla, while the few remaining central provinces were overrun by hostile bands and about to be invaded by the Republican armies. Funds and resources were also lacking. Meanwhile arms and funds from the United States were pouring into the hands of the Republicans.

On 27 January 1867, Miramón triumphantly captured Aguascalientes and nearly succeeded in capturing President Juárez, the retreat of Governor Auza managing to save him. Miramón however, did not intend to advance any further, satisfied with seizing funds from the population and with the diversion he had created among the Republicans, he retired to join Castillo at San Luis Potosí. Republican general Mariano Escobedo figured out his intentions and intercepted him at San Jacinto at 1 February, leading to a complete rout. Miramón escaped with Castillo and took refuge in Querétaro. The Republicans had by then captured Guanajuato, and then Morelia. The Imperialists retreated from Michoacan to the borders of San Luis Potosi and fell back upon Querétaro.

Siege of Querétaro

Maximilian joined the army at Queretaro along with Minister Aguirre, Leonardo Márquez, and Miguel López with the sum of 50,000 pesos, with 1,600 men and twelve cannons. Maximilian reached Querétaro on 19 February, and was received by enthusiasm Miramón and the other generals who held a formal reception for the emperor.

A few days after his arrival a review of the troops was held, showing 9,000 men with 39 cannon, including about 600 Frenchmen, Miramón was placed at the head of the infantry, of which Castillo and Casanova received each a division, Méndez assuming command of the reserve brigade, in which Miguel López served as colonel, Mejía became chief of the cavalry, Reyes of engineers, and Arellano of the artillery. Márquez, chief of the general staff, was accorded the foremost place, to the affront of Miramón. Maximilian, Miramón, Márquez, Mejía, and Méndez became known as the five magic M's of the Empire.

In the first council of war that had been held on 22 February, it had been agreed to fight the Republicans at once, before their combined forces became too strong, but ultimately this strategy, which historian Bancroft suggests could have achieved victory, was rejected on the advice of Márquez. As the Republicans began to surround Querétaro, Márquez then suggested retreating to Mexico City, still held by the Imperialists, gathering their forces, and facing the Republican armies in one final decisive battle; this was deemed impractical.

On 5 March, the Republican forces came into view of the defenders at Querétaro, and began to prepare for a siege. After the fighting had begun Márquez once again brought up his plan of retreating to Mexico City, but Miramón and others strongly opposed it. Miramón planned to lead a counterattack to recover the hill of San Gregorio on 17 March. When the time arrived however, a false alarm arose that the Imperialist headquarters were under attack, leading to the assault on San Gregorio to be put off.

Miramón now expressed his support for a plan to destroy the Western positions of the Republicans therefore providing a way to retreat if needed. Márquez was assigned to go to Mexico City to seek reinforcements. Miramón was assigned to provide a distraction and on 22 March he led an expedition down the valley, which captured a quantity of provisions. Márquez was able to depart during the night with 1,200 horsemen and Miramón now became the leading general at Querétaro.

After the Imperialists repulsed another Republican assault, leaving the latter with 2,000 deaths, Miramón, during an award ceremony, took one of the medals and asked to decorate the Emperor for his conduct during the battle, which Maximilian accepted, and would go on the wear as the most valued of his decorations.

On 1 April Miramón led a counterattack to the hill of San Gregorio, but lack of reinforcements left the attack without any decisive results.

As any news of Márquez failed to arrive, a mission was sent to Mexico City to see what happened. Miramón urged Maximilian to leave as well but, the emperor chose to stay. The mission failed, and now leading officers outright urged surrender.

The Imperialists now planned to fight their way out of Querétaro, and as preparation Miramón planned an attack on the Cimatario Hill on 27 April, to which he advanced with 2,000 men. The Imperialist repulsed the Republican forces, dispersing thousands and taking 500 prisoners, but the Imperialists squandered vital time planning their next move, and Republican reserves arrived to provide a defeat.

The Imperialists now sought to break through the enemy lines and seek refuge in the mountain range of the Sierra Gorda, and possibly reach the coast. The operation was scheduled to take place on 15 May.

Unfortunately for the Imperialists, before these plans were carried out they were betrayed by Colonel Miguel López, and on the night of 14 May, he opened the gates of Querétaro to the Republican forces in exchange for a sum of gold. Republican troops quickly overwhelmed the city and Miramón, Mejía, and Emperor Maximilian were taken prisoner.

The end of the Empire and the execution of Maximilian

Following a court-martial, Maximilian was sentenced to death. Many of the crowned heads of Europe and other prominent figures (including 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. He believed he had to send a strong message that Mexico would not tolerate any government imposed by foreign powers.

Maximilian was executed on 19 June (along with his generals Miguel Miramón and Tomás Mejía) on the Cerro de las Campanas, a hill on the outskirts of Querétaro, by forces loyal to President Benito Juárez, who had kept the federal government functioning during the French intervention. Mexico City surrendered the day after Maximilian was executed.

The republic was restored, and President Juárez was returned to power in the national capital. He made few changes in policy, given that the progressive Maximilian had upheld most of Juárez's liberal reforms.

After the victory, the Conservative party was so thoroughly discredited by its alliance with the invading French troops that it effectively became defunct. The Liberal party was almost unchallenged as a political force during the first years of the "restored republic". In 1871, however, Juárez was re-elected to yet another term as president in spite of a constitutional prohibition of re-elections. The French intervention ended with the Republican-led government being more stable and both internal and external forces were now kept at bay.

Porfirio Díaz (a Liberal general and a hero of the French war, but increasingly conservative in outlook), one of the losing candidates, launched a rebellion against the president. Supported by conservative factions within the Liberal party, the attempted revolt (the so-called Plan de la Noria) was already at the point of defeat when Juárez died in office on 19 July 1872, making it a moot point. Díaz ran against interim president Sebastián Lerdo de Tejada, lost the election, and retired to his hacienda in Oaxaca. Four years later, in 1876, when Lerdo ran for re-election, Díaz launched a second, successful revolt (the Plan de Tuxtepec) and captured the presidency. He held it through eight terms until 1911 now known as the Porfiriato. After many decades of civil wars, Mexico had finally exhausted itself and the general Porfirio Díaz had forced peace through his regime with no big rebellions or coups occurring.

France's adventure in Mexico had improved relations with Austria through Maximilian but produced no result as France had politically alienated itself in the international community. During 1866, Prussia went to war with France's indirect ally Austria, which was promptly defeated while French troops were still in Mexico unable to affect the situation in Europe. As for Napoleon's empire, it would later collapse in 1870 during the Franco-Prussian war.

U.S. diplomacy and involvement
As early as 1859, U.S. and Mexican efforts to ratify the McLane-Ocampo Treaty had failed in the bitterly divided U.S. Senate, where tensions were high between the North and the South over slavery issues. Such a treaty would have allowed U.S. construction in Mexico and protection from European forces in exchange for a payment of $4 million to the heavily indebted government of Benito Juárez. On 3 December 1860, President James Buchanan had delivered a speech stating his displeasure at being unable to secure Mexico from European interference:

European governments would have been deprived of all pretext to interfere in the territorial and domestic concerns of Mexico. We should have thus been relieved from the obligation of resisting, even by force, should this become necessary, any attempt of these governments to deprive our neighboring Republic of portions of her territory, a duty from which we could not shrink without abandoning the traditional and established policy of the American people.

United States policy did not change during the French occupation as it had to use its resources for the American Civil War, which lasted 1861 to 1865. President Abraham Lincoln expressed his sympathy to Latin American republics against any European attempt to establish a monarchy. Shortly after the establishment of the imperial government in April 1864, United States Secretary of State William H. Seward, while maintaining U.S. neutrality, expressed U.S. discomfort at the imposition of a monarchy in Mexico: "Nor can the United States deny that their own safety and destiny to which they aspire are intimately dependent on the continuance of free republican institutions throughout America."

On 4 April 1864, Congress passed a joint resolution:

Resolved, &c., That the Congress of the United States are unwilling, by silence, to leave the nations of the world under the impression that they are indifferent spectators of the deplorable events now transpiring in the Republic of Mexico; and they therefore think fit to declare that it does not accord with the policy of the United States to acknowledge a monarchical government, erected on the ruins of any republican government in America, under the auspices of any European power.

Near the end of the American Civil War, representatives at the 1865 Hampton Roads Conference briefly discussed a proposal for a north–south reconciliation by a joint action against the French in Mexico. In 1865, through the selling of Mexican bonds by Mexican agents in the United States, the Juárez administration raised between $16-million and $18-million dollars for the purchase of American war material. Between 1865 and 1868, General Herman Sturm acted as an agent to deliver guns and ammunition to the Mexican Republic led by Juárez. In 1866 General Philip Sheridan was in charge of transferring additional supplies and weapons to the Liberal army, including some 30,000 rifles directly from the Baton Rouge Arsenal in Louisiana.

By 1867, Seward shifted American policy from thinly veiled sympathy for the republican government of Juárez to open threat of war to induce a French withdrawal. Seward had invoked the Monroe Doctrine and later stated in 1868, "The Monroe Doctrine, which eight years ago was merely a theory, is now an irreversible fact."

Divisions and disembarkation of allied troops

French expeditionary force, 31 December 1862

At its peak in 1863, the French expeditionary force counted 38,493 men  (which represented 16.25% of the French army). 6,654  French died, including 4,830 from disease. Among these losses, 1,918 of the deaths were from the regiment of the French Foreign Legion.

Général de Division Forey

1ère Division d'Infanterie (GdD Bazaine)
1ère Brigade (GdB de Castagny)
18e Bataillon de Chasseurs
1er Régiment de Zouaves
81e Régiment de Ligne
2e Brigade (GdB ?)
20e Bataillon de Chasseurs
3ème Régiment de Zouaves
95e Régiment d'Infanterie légère
 Bataillon de Tirailleurs algériens
2x Marine artillery batteries

2e Division d'Infanterie (GdB Douay – acting)
1ère Brigade (Col Hellier – acting)
1er Bataillon de Chasseurs
2e Régiment de Zouaves
99e Régiment d'Infanterie légère
2e Brigade (GdB Berthier)
7e Bataillon de Chasseurs
51e Régiment de Ligne
62e Régiment de Ligne
2x Army artillery batteries

Brigade de Cavallerie (GdB de Mirandol)
1er Régiment de Marche (2 squadrons each of 1er and 2e Chasseurs d'Afrique)
2e Régiment de Marche (2 squadrons each of 3e Chasseurs d'Afrique and 12e Chasseurs à cheval)

Naval Brigade
Bataillon de Fusiliers-Marins
2e Régiment d'Infanterie de Marine

Units not yet arrived:
7e Régiment de Ligne (2000 men)
1e Régiment Étranger (4000 men)
2e Bataillon d'Infanterie legère d'Afrique (900 men)
Bataillon Egyptien
detachment/ 5e Régiment de Hussards

Belgian Voluntary Troops 1864–65

This corps was officially designated as the "Belgian Volunteers", but generally known as the "Belgian Legion".

Bataillon de l'Impératrice Charlotte (grenadiers)
Bataillon Roi des Belges (voltigeurs)

16 October 1864
1st Grenadier Company
4 Officers, 16 Non-commissioned officers, 125 grenadiers, 6 musicians, 1 canteener
2nd Grenadier Company "Bataillon de l'Impératrice"
4 Officers, 16 Non-commissioned officers, 122 grenadiers, 4 musicians, 1 canteener
1st voltigeur Company
4 Officers, 16 Non-commissioned officers, 122 voltigeurs, 4 musicians, 1 canteener
2nd voltigeur Company
4 Officers, 16 Non-commissioned officers, 121 voltigeurs, 4 musicians, 1 canteener

14 November 1864
3rd Grenadier Company
4 Officers, 16 Non-commissioned officers, 68 grenadiers, 6 musicians, 1 canteener
4th Grenadier Company
4 Officers, 15 Non-commissioned officers, 67 grenadiers, 6 musicians, 1 canteener
3rd voltigeur Company
3 Officers, 16 Non-commissioned officers, 61 voltigeurs, 3 musicians, 1 canteener
4th voltigeur Company
3 Officers, 15 Non-commissioned officers, 69 voltigeurs, 4 musicians, 1 canteener

16 December 1864
5th Grenadier Company
6th Grenadier Company
5th voltigeur Company
6th voltigeur Company
362 volunteers

27 January 1865
189 volunteers

15 April 1866
1st Mounted Company
70–80 horsemen (formed from Regiment "Impératrice Charlotte")

16 July 1866
2nd Mounted Company
70–80 horsemen (formed from Regiment "Roi des Belges")

Austrian Voluntary Corps December 1864

While officially designated as the Austrian Voluntary Corps, this foreign contingent included Hungarian, Polish and other volunteers from the Danube Monarchy. It consisted of:

159 officers
403 infantry and jägers (Austrian)
366 hussars (Hungarian)
16 uhlans (Polish)
67 bombardiers (mixed)
30 pioneers (mixed)
several doctors

Egyptian Auxiliary Corps January 1863
This unit was commonly designated as the "Egyptian Battalion". It consisted of 453 men (including troops recruited from the Sudan), who were placed under the command of French commandant Mangin of the 3rd Zouave Regiment. Operating effectively in the Veracruz region, the Corps suffered 126 casualties until being withdrawn to Egypt in May 1867.

Maximilian protested the loss of the Egyptian Corps, ostensibly to suppress a rebellion in the Sudan, because they were "extremely helpful in the hot lands".

 A battalion commander
 A captain
 A lieutenant
 8 sergeants
 15 corporals
 359 soldiers
 39 recruits

Spanish Expeditionary Force January 1862
Making up this contingent were:
 5373 infantry (two brigades)
 26 pieces of artillery,
 490 bombardiers
 208 engineers
 100 administrators
 173 cavalry

Captain Yarka, Romanian volunteer (1863)
At least one Romanian, an officer, served with the French forces. Captain Yarka of the Romanian Army served with the 3rd Regiment of Chasseurs d'Afrique as a volunteer, keeping the same rank. In April 1863, Yarka engaged a Republican ("Juariste") Colonel in one-on-one combat, killing him. Yarka himself was wounded. In contemporary French sources, he is referred to as Wallachian ("Valaque").

See also
Pastry War, also known as the First French Intervention in Mexico
History of democracy in Mexico
List of battles of the French intervention in Mexico

References

Bibliography

Further reading

 Bancroft, Hubert Howe. History of Mexico: Being a Popular History of the Mexican People from the Earliest Primitive Civilization to the Present Time The Bancroft Company, New York, 1914, pp. 466–506
 Black, Shirley Jean. Napoleon III and the French Intervention in Mexico: A Quest for Silver. Norman: University of Oklahoma Press 1974.
 Brittsan, Zachary. Popular Politics and Rebellion in Mexico: Manuel Lozada and La Reforma, 1855–1876. Nashville: Vanderbilt University Press 2015.
 Corti, Egon Caesar. Maximilian and Charlotte of Mexico (2 vols. 1968). 976 pages
 Cunningham, Michele. Mexico and the Foreign Policy of Napoleon III, Palgrave Macmillan, 2001
 Dabbs, Jack A. The French Army in Mexico, 1861–1867: A Study in Military Government. The Hague: Mouton 1963.
 Garay, Lerma. Antonio. Mazatlán Decimonónico, Autoedición. 2005. .
 Shawcross, Edward. The Last Emperor of Mexico: A Disaster in the New World. London: Faber & Faber, 2022; The Last Emperor of Mexico: The Dramatic Story of the Habsburg Archduke Who Created a Kingdom in the New World. New York: Basic Books, 2021.
 Sheridan, Philip H. Personal Memoirs of P.H. Sheridan, Charles L. Webster & Co., 1888,  (vol. 2, part 5, Chapter IX)
 Topik, Steven C.  "When Mexico Had the Blues: A Transatlantic Tale of Bonds, Bankers, and Nationalists, 1862–1910," American Historical Review, June 2000, Vol. 105, Issue 3, pp. 714–40

External links
Chronology of the Mexican Adventure 1861–1867
Bibliography for the French intervention in Mexico

1860s in Mexico
19th-century colonization of the Americas
19th century in Mexico
19th-century guerrilla wars
1861 in the French colonial empire
1862 in the French colonial empire
1863 in the French colonial empire
1864 in the French colonial empire
1865 in the French colonial empire
1866 in the French colonial empire
1867 in the French colonial empire
1861 in Mexico
1862 in Mexico
1863 in Mexico
1864 in Mexico
1865 in Mexico
1866 in Mexico
1867 in Mexico
Conflicts in 1861
Conflicts in 1862
Conflicts in 1863
Conflicts in 1864
Conflicts in 1865
Conflicts in 1866
Conflicts in 1867
Expeditions from France
French colonization of the Americas
Foreign intervention
Foreign relations during the American Civil War
History of Mexico
Independent Mexico
Invasions by France
Invasions of Mexico
Maximilian I of Mexico
Napoleon III
Proxy wars

Second French Empire
Wars involving Austria
Wars involving Belgium
Wars involving France
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France–Mexico relations

Second French intervention in Mexico


An incubation period is the time it takes between the day a person is infected with a pathogen (something that causes a disease, like a virus), and the day that the person starts having symptoms of the disease.  For example, if a person is infected with the common cold, it usually takes about one to three days for the person to start having cold symptoms.  This means that the common cold's incubation period is one to three days.

With some diseases, like Human Immunodeficiency Virus (HIV, the virus that causes AIDS), a person can still give other people HIV during the incubation period.  Even though the person with HIV has no symptoms, the virus is making copies of itself during the incubation period.

What affects incubation periods
Many different things affect the incubation period for a disease.  These things include:
 How much of the pathogen a person got
 Whether the person was vaccinated against this pathogen, and if they were, which vaccine was used
 How fast the pathogen makes copies of itself once it is in the body
 How strong the person's immune system is

Examples of incubation periods
Incubation periods are not exactly the same for everyone, because every person is different.  Because of this, an incubation period is always written as a range (for example, "one to three days").

For many conditions, incubation periods are longer in adults than they are in children or infants.

Some diseases have very short incubation periods.  Other diseases have incubation periods of many years.  For example:

References

Diseases

Incubation period


Emmanuel Addoquaye Lomotey (born 19 December 1997) is a Ghanaian professional footballer who plays as a midfielder for Cypriot club Ethnikos Achna on loan from Allsvenskan club Malmö FF.

Club career

Dreams FC
Lomotey was born in Accra, Ghana. He finished his formation with Dreams FC. He made his professional – and Ghana Premier League – debut on 21 February 2016, starting in a 1–0 away win against Cape Coast Ebusua Dwarfs.

Lomotey scored his first professional goal on 12 March 2016, netting the opener in a 1–1 home draw against Wa All Stars FC. He suffered relegation in his first season, but achieved immediate promotion from Ghana Division One in his second by contributing with ten goals in 24 appearances.

Extremadura UD
On 30 August 2017, Lomotey moved abroad after agreeing to a one-year loan deal with Segunda División B side Extremadura UD. Initially assigned to the reserves in Tercera División, he started to feature regularly for the first team from March 2018.

On 30 June 2018, Córdoba CF announced that Lomotey signed a three-year contract with the club, being initially assigned to the B-side also in the third division. On 18 July, however, he was bought outright by Extremadura and was immediately loaned to Villarreal CF with a buyout clause.

Amiens SC
In August 2020, Emmanuel moved to Amiens SC in Ligue 2 on a four-year deal.

Malmö FF
In August 2022, Emmanuel moved to Malmö FF.

On 12 July 2023, Lomotey signed for Cypriot First Division club Ethinkos Achna on a season-long loan deal.

International career
On 25 May 2017, Lomotey made his international debut for Ghana, after coming on as a second-half substitute for Gideon Waja in a 1–1 non-FIFA friendly home draw against Benin.

References

External links

1997 births
Living people
Footballers from Accra
Ghanaian men's footballers
Men's association football midfielders
Ghana Premier League players
Segunda División B players
Tercera División players
Extremadura UD B players
Extremadura UD footballers
Villarreal CF B players
Ligue 2 players
Amiens SC players
Malmö FF players
Ethnikos Achna FC players
Ghana men's international footballers
Ghanaian expatriate men's footballers
Ghanaian expatriate sportspeople in Spain
Ghanaian expatriate sportspeople in France
Ghanaian expatriate sportspeople in Sweden
Ghanaian expatriate sportspeople in Cyprus
Expatriate men's footballers in Spain
Expatriate men's footballers in France
Expatriate men's footballers in Sweden
Expatriate men's footballers in Cyprus

Emmanuel Lomotey


"Come Back to Me" is the fifth single by Arjen Anthony Lucassen's progressive rock/metal opera Ayreon, released on 2005 from its sixth album, The Human Equation, in which the song was called "Day Seven: Hope".

The song is written, composed, produced and mixed by Lucassen, who is also performing lead vocals, guitar, bass and keyboards on it. Lucassen is portraying a character called Best Friend, while James LaBrie from Dream Theater also sing as the album's main character, Me.

"Come Back to Me" is the only single ever released by Lucassen in which he provides lead vocals. In the single version, Joost van den Broek from After Forever and Cleem Determeijer are playing keyboards, while Peter Vink is playing bass. A video clip was also released.

Music
The song follows the plot of the main story of the album. For more information of it, see the plot at the article of the album.
It is the seventh day, and Best Friend decides to make an attempt to reach Me through his position, and decides to take Me back to the days when they were young, when they didn't have a worry in the world. Best Friend calls to Me, telling him to come back to the real world, in pain. Me feels as if he is trapped, and tries to shout, but something holds him back; as if his quest was not yet complete. Though in this version there's an extended bridge before a different tone of the ending; whereas in the album version Me's screams end the song to dark powerchords to represent his plight, the ending of Come back to Me is more upbeat, the "happy" arpeggios keep playing, Arjen keeps singing the chorus with Me's screams repeated.

Music video
A music video was shot for the song. It shows Best Friend (Arjen) visiting Me (who is not performed by James LaBrie) at the hospital. Sitting next to the bed, Best Friend looks at a photo album that he is holding. Through the photos of him and Me, Best Friend remembers the good times he had with Me, like camping, chasing girls, stealing fruit, etc. Meanwhile, the band is shown performing next to a swimming pool. Arjen and Ed are seen playing the acoustic guitar and the drums, respectively, while Peter Vink and Joost Van den Broek are playing the bass guitar and the keyboard, respectively. In the end, all the musicians are seen performing in the pool, while swimming, or just diving at the pool, along with a young Best Friend and Me.

Track listing
Come Back to Me - 3:00
August Fire - 2:42
When I'm Sixty-Four (The Beatles cover) - 2:52
Back 2 Me [Dance Mix by Two Maniacs] - 3:20
Come Back to Me (video clip)
Making of (video)

Personnel
Arjen Lucassen - vocals, electric guitar, bass guitar, electronic keyboard, synthesizer
James LaBrie (Dream Theater) - vocals
Cleem Determeijer - keyboards
Joost van den Broek (After Forever) - keyboards
Peter Vink - bass guitar
Ed Warby (Gorefest) - drum kit

References
Come Back to Me page at Ayreon's official website

External links
Ayreon official website

2005 singles
Ayreon songs
2004 songs

Come Back to Me (Ayreon song)