Editing Porfirio Díaz (section)

== Second French Intervention in Mexico ==
{{Main|Second French Intervention in Mexico}}

===Battle of Puebla===
[[Image:Puebla map.png|thumb|300px|The terrain at the [[Battle of Puebla]] (1862). Díaz and his troops were located south, guarding a road leading into the city.]]
At the opening of the Second French Intervention, in which France would attempt to overthrow the [[Second Federal Republic of Mexico|Mexican Republic]] and replace it with a client monarchy, Díaz had advanced to the rank of general and was in command of an infantry brigade.<ref name="brit"/><ref>Garza, James A., "Porfirio Díaz" in ''Encyclopedia of Mexico'', Chicago: Fitzroy Dearborn 1997, p. 406.</ref> He was present at the first engagement of the war when he lost three-fourths of his men after the French attacked his brigade in the state of [[Veracruz]]. He retreated and joined up with the forces of [[Ignacio Zaragoza]] to continue harassing the enemy in the vicinity of [[Orizaba]].{{Sfn|Bancroft|1885|p=45}} Díaz and Zaragoza were forced to retreat before ending up in the city of [[Puebla (city)|Puebla]] by 3 May.{{Sfn|Bancroft|1885|p=47}}

On the morning of 5 May, Díaz was in command of the ''Oaxaca battalion'', guarding one of the roads leading into Puebla.{{Sfn|Bancroft|1885|p=47}} Commander of the French forces, [[Charles de Lorencez]] ordered his troops to ascend a hill overlooking the town for a direct attack upon the forts of Loreto and Guadalupe. The ascent failed, and the French were repulsed by attacks of Mexican cavalry and infantry.{{Sfn|Bancroft|1885|p=49}} During the battle, Díaz was not present at the hill but rather on the plains to the right of the Mexican front, where he repulsed another French attack. General Díaz pursued the French on their retreat to the Hacienda San Jose Renteria until recalled by Zaragoza.{{Sfn|Bancroft|1885|p=50}}

The French attributed their defeat at Puebla to a lack of [[Conservative Party (Mexico)|Conservative Party]] support.{{Sfn|Bancroft|1885|p=51}} The Mexican monarchist expatriates who had given the idea of a Mexican monarchy to [[Napoleon III]] had also been working independently of any Mexican authority or political party.{{Sfn|Bancroft|1888|pp=94–95}} When the French invaders arrived in Mexico they found the Conservatives reluctant to help the French in establishing a monarchy and proclaiming their loyalty to the type of [[Centralist Republic of Mexico|centralist republic]] they had once established in Mexico.{{Sfn|Bancroft|1888|pp=93–94}} However, the Conservatives were increasingly won over to collaborate with the French as a means of receiving the military aid that would return them to power.{{Sfn|Bancroft|1888|p=93}} Díaz would once again have to fight many of the men he once faced in the [[Reform War]] such as [[Leonardo Márquez]] and the ex-Conservative president [[Miguel Miramon]]. Eventually, Porfirio Díaz as well would be personally asked to join the French, an offer which he would refuse.{{Sfn|Bancroft|1888|p=163}}{{Sfn|Hannay|1917|pp=82–84}}

===Second Battle of Puebla===
[[File:Siège de Puebla - 29 mars 1863.PNG|thumb|300px|The [[Siege of Puebla (1863)|Second Battle of Puebla]] in which the French stormed the city, and General Díaz was forced to engage against them in [[urban warfare]]]]
The French loss at the Battle of Puebla delayed the French march into the interior of Mexico by a year while Lorencez awaited reinforcements from France. Meanwhile, Díaz had been made military governor of the Veracruz district.{{Sfn|Hannay|1917|p=63}} Soon after the Battle of Puebla, General Zaragoza died of typhus and was replaced in his command by [[Jesús González Ortega]].{{Sfn|Hannay|1917|p=65}}

A second French [[Siege of Puebla (1863)|siege of Puebla]] was this time led by [[Élie Frédéric Forey]] with 26,000 men, against the 20,000 troops commanded by Ortega. The Mexican defenders would hold out for two months from 16 March to 17 May in 1863, until they ran out of provisions. Against the advice of Díaz who suggested an offense, Ortega simply maintained a policy of defense, until the city was stormed.{{Sfn|Hannay|1917|p=65}}

As [[Urban warfare|street fighting]] broke out at the beginning of April, Díaz was in command of the most exposed quarter of the city made up of seventeen blocks, and he made his headquarters at the strongest point of the district which was a large building known as the ''meson de San Marcos''.{{Sfn|Bancroft|1888|p=63}} As Díaz planned his defenses, the French advanced with artillery and cannonballs began to crash through the building.{{Sfn|Bancroft|1888|p=63}}

As French [[zouave]]s poured through the breaches, they were repulsed every time, and by the evening Díaz had regained complete control over his headquarters.{{Sfn|Bancroft|1885|p=64}} Similar scenes occurred throughout the city and by April 25, Forey was contemplating suspending military operations until larger siege guns could arrive.{{Sfn|Bancroft|1888|pp=64–65}} Despite the ongoing stalemate, the French were reassured by the knowledge that the Mexicans were running out of food and supplies.{{Sfn|Bancroft|1888|p=65}}

===First Escape===
[[File:Young Porfirio Diaz.jpg|thumb|A young Porfirio Díaz, at the time of the Intervention]]
Díaz, among other officers, managed to escape before even arriving in Veracruz.{{Sfn|Hannay|1917|p=73}} Díaz then headed for Mexico City to report to President [[Benito Juárez]]. The president prepared to depart Mexico City and commissioned Díaz to raise troops for the military district of [[Queretaro]].{{Sfn|Hannay|1917|p=73}}

After capturing Mexico City in June 1863, Dubois de Saligny, Napoleon's representative, appointed the members of a Mexican [[puppet government]] tasked with ratifying French intentions of establishing a monarchy.{{Sfn|Bancroft|1888|pp=84–85}} On 8 July 1863, this so-called ''Assembly of Notables'' resolved to change the nation into a monarchy, inviting Napoleon's candidate, [[Maximilian of Mexico|Maximilian of Habsburg]], to become Emperor of Mexico.{{Sfn|Bancroft|1888|p=86}}

In August, Forey and Saligny were recalled to France, and command over the French administration and the military of the conquered Mexican territories fell upon [[François Achille Bazaine|Marshal Bazaine]], already present with the expedition, who officially assumed his post on 1 October 1862.{{Sfn|Bancroft|1888|p=113}}

By October 1863 Díaz was placed in charge of the Eastern division of the Mexican military with command over 3000 men.{{Sfn|Bancroft|1888|p=115}} General Díaz proceeded to sweep through the states of [[Queretaro]], [[Michoacan]], and [[State of Mexico|Mexico]], into [[Guerrero]], proceeding to capture the rich silver-bearing town of [[Taxco]] on 29 October.{{Sfn|Bancroft|1888|pp=126–127}} Díaz then proceeded south toward [[Oaxaca]] recruiting more men on the way until his forces had swelled to 8000 troops.{{Sfn|Bancroft|1888|p=127}} The state of Oaxaca would be his main base of operations for the rest of the war.

===Commander of the South===
[[File:Second_French_Intervention.png|thumb|300px|French controlled territories in 1864. Díaz at this time received command over all unoccupied southern Mexico]]
Porfirio Díaz was now not only the military but also the political commander over all unoccupied territories south of Veracruz.{{Sfn|Bancroft|1888|p=127}} As the French made encroachments, forces under the command of Díaz managed in the [[Battle of San Juan Bautista]] to back the capital of [[Tabasco]], in February 1864.{{Sfn|Bancroft|1888|p=127}} Díaz's hold was consolidated enough that he began making excursions into Veracruz, and [[Minatitlán, Veracruz|Minatitlán]] was taken by 28 March 1864.{{Sfn|Bancroft|1888|p=128}}

Meanwhile, French control over central Mexico was rapidly expanding, and by March 1864 President Juárez had fled to [[Monterrey]]. Even as the northern military situation was dire, Díaz still maintained a solid hold over [[Guerrero]], [[Oaxaca]], [[Tabasco]], and [[Chiapas]].{{Sfn|Bancroft|1888|p=131}} Meanwhile, Emperor Maximilian and his wife Charlotte, now Empress of Mexico finally arrived in Mexico City on 12 June 1864.

By December 1864, forces under Díaz had taken back the port of [[Acapulco]].{{Sfn|Bancroft|1888|pp=170}} The French still struggled to make any inroads south against the forces commanded by Díaz and his lieutenant, the elderly Liberal caudillo, and former president of Mexico, [[Juan Álvarez]].<ref name="FOOTNOTEBancroft1888170"/> By the end of the year, the French were making scouting expeditions and building roads to make further attempts south.<ref name="FOOTNOTEBancroft1888170"/>

Finally, in early 1865, a French expedition against Díaz's base of operations in Oaxaca City set out under General Courtois d’Hurbal by way of [[Santo Domingo Yanhuitlán|Yanhuitlan]]. Díaz evacuated Oaxaca City and began to build barricades while commanding 6000 troops for the defense of the city.{{Sfn|Bancroft|1888|p=188}} It was such an important republican stronghold, that Bazaine himself assumed command of the operation in person.{{Sfn|Bancroft|1888|p=189}}

By February 1865, the French had surrounded the city with siege materials and 7000 troops. An assault was scheduled for 9 February.{{Sfn|Bancroft|1888|p=190}} Due to mass desertions which left him outnumbered ten to one,{{Sfn|McAllen|2014|p=161}} Díaz chose not to fight, instead surrendering unconditionally.{{Sfn|Bancroft|1888|p=190}} Díaz and his officers were taken prisoner and sent to [[Puebla (city)|Puebla]].{{Sfn|Bancroft|1888|p=190}}

===Second Escape===
[[File:Batalla de Miahuatlán, Francisco Paula de Mendoza (1906).jpg|thumb|300px|Díaz's victory in the [[Battle of Miahuatlán]] opened the way for his recapture of [[Oaxaca City]]]]
After being kept seven months in Puebla, Díaz managed to escape from French confinement yet again and returned to Oaxaca.{{Sfn|Bancroft|1888|p=192}} When news of this reached Paris, former commander of the French Intervention, Forey who had once fought against Díaz at Puebla, criticized Bazaine for not having had Díaz shot immediately upon capturing him.{{Sfn|McAllen|2014|p=161}}

Throughout late 1865, as the French were still unable to secure the entire country, [[Napoleon III]] was led to the conclusion that France had gotten involved in a military quagmire.{{Sfn|Bancroft|1888|p=207}} At the opening of the [[Corps législatif|French Chambers]] in January 1866, he announced his intention of withdrawing French troops from Mexico.{{Sfn|Bancroft|1888|pp=208}} The French considered Emperor Maximilian to be doomed due to a lack of popular support and began to pressure him to abdicate.{{Sfn|Bancroft|1888|p=230}}

French authorities considered forming an alternative Liberal government, more accommodating, and less humiliating to French interests than Juárez,{{Sfn|Bancroft|1888|p=229}} and Díaz was proposed but ultimately rejected as a candidate to lead such a government due to his loyalty to Juárez.{{Sfn|Bancroft|1888|p=233}} The alternative government scheme never materialized, Maximilian refused to abdicate, and the French left him in Mexico to his fate, the last French troops departing by March 1867.{{Sfn|McAllen|2014|pp=335–336}}

===Fall of the Second Mexican Empire===
[[File:13488 2 de abril de 1867. Entrada del general Porfirio Díaz a Puebla.jpg|thumb|300px|Painting depicting Díaz' entry into Puebla on 2 April 1867, after winning the [[Third Battle of Puebla]]]]
When Díaz returned to Oaxaca in late 1865, he found his army of the South dispersed, and enemy forces controlling the Oaxacan coast along with [[Tehuantepec]].{{Sfn|Bancroft|1888|pp=258–259}} By Spring, 1866, Díaz had gained some victories, aided by local uprisings.{{Sfn|Bancroft|1888|pp=258}} He began to focus on cutting off communications between Oaxaca City and Veracruz{{Sfn|Bancroft|1888|p=259}} Díaz won the [[Battle of Miahuatlán]] on 3 October, and then advanced upon Oaxaca City which surrendered by 1 November 1866. Most of southern Mexico except for certain areas of Yucatan were now back in the hands of the Mexican Republic.{{Sfn|Bancroft|1888|p=261}}

Díaz now concentrated his forces in northern Oaxaca, Vera Cruz, Mexico, and Puebla for future operations.{{Sfn|Bancroft|1888|p=337}} On 9 March 1867, Díaz began the [[Third Battle of Puebla]], subjecting the city to an attack much like the one he had once defended it from, taking the city by 2 April.{{Sfn|Hannay|1917|p=108}} Díaz spared the troops, but ordered the execution of the officers, taunting them by saying that “even though they had not lived like men, they could die like men”.{{Sfn|McAllen|2014|p=346}}

All that remained of the Empire were [[Querétaro City]], where Maximilian and his leading generals were present, Mexico City, and Veracruz, the latter two which had, through Díaz’ capture of Puebla, been cut off from communications with each other. Leonardo Márquez had been sent from Queretaro to relieve the siege of Puebla, but he was too late.{{Sfn|Hannay|1917|pp=108–109}} Díaz pursued Márquez and a skirmish ensued on 8 April, but Márquez got away and made it back to Mexico City{{Sfn|Hannay|1917|p=110}}{{Sfn|McAllen|2014|p=347}}

===Siege of Mexico City===
[[File:The Valley of Mexico from Chapultepec (Mexico City), 1850 Casimiro Castro.jpg|thumb|300px|Díaz directed efforts to take back Mexico City from his headquarters at [[Chapultepec]]]]
Díaz now focused on taking back Mexico City and succeeded in seizing [[Chapultepec Castle]], Maximilian's former residence, from its remaining imperial defenders, subsequently making it his headquarters.{{Sfn|McAllen|2014|p=347}} Díaz now had Mexico City surrounded with 28,000 troops yet being concerned with preventing damage to the capital{{Sfn|Creelman|1911|p=275}} he did not attack, and a seventy-day standoff ensued.{{Sfn|McAllen|2014|pp=347–348}} Meanwhile, the [[Siege of Querétaro]] against Emperor Maximilian's headquarters was ongoing and ultimately ended by May 14 in a Liberal victory.

Even after Maximilian had been captured, [[Leonardo Márquez]] was stalling for time at Mexico City, but hope for the imperialists was running out. Márquez' officer [[Tomás O'Horán y Escudero|General O’Horan]] went to meet Díaz without authorization and offered to surrender the city, warning Díaz that Márquez was about the escape, but Díaz rejected the offer.{{Sfn|Creelman|1911|p=280}} On 20 June, the day after Maximilian had been executed, Díaz ordered a barrage of artillery against the positions of the enemy, and his observers suddenly began to notice white flags of surrender.{{Sfn|Creelman|1911|p=282}} The remaining imperialist officers were arrested and it was discovered that Márquez had disappeared the day before.{{Sfn|Creelman|1911|p=283}} Upon occupying the city Díaz ordered his military bakers to begin supplying the city's starving population with food. He placed the city under martial law to prevent looting but also began a house-by-house search for any remaining imperialist officers.{{Sfn|Creelman|1911|p=283}} Márquez would never be found and he successfully escaped the country to find refuge in Cuba.{{Sfn|Creelman|1911|p=281}}