There has been and still is a deep American (USA) influence in Mexico.......other than the American invasion via Veracruz in the 1840s................and it is in more places than Texas.........families again.......also, German and Irish influence...............moonshine.........liquor........etc.........i noted when i was staying at my former college roomate's house in NE San Antonio, Texas.........that there was a large German influence in that city.........many street names were German..............the Nazis escaped Germany before it fell to the Soviets from the East and the Americans/British/French from the West............they went to Brazil or Argentina..............they knew.........where to go probably b/c of the European influence in South America................that had been there for centuries.....






Meanwhile, Robert E. Lee was winning battles for the South. Had France won at Puebla, it would have joined forces with the South and easily convinced England to help free the Southern ports from the Union blockade. Louisiana had at one time been French. France and England wanted to paralyze U.S. expansion into Latin America. Napoleon III dreamed of building stronger ties between France and Mexico, because both were Latin. The victory at Puebla protected not only the integrity of Mexico but also that of the U.S.

A year later, the French won several victories, paving the way for Napoleon III to send Maximilian, Archduke of Austria, and his wife, Carlota, to set up a monarchy in Mexico. But the Mexican resistance continued, and Washington continued to recognize the Benito Juarez government as the only legitimate one. At times, the Juarez government was situated in El Paso (now named Ciudad Juarez), and at times the Juarez government did have to go into temporary exile on this side of the Rio Grande.

Maximilian and Carlota set up their court, wrote a book on court etiquette, and reintroduced Mexico City to the royal grandeur it had known earlier through Spain. There were many upper-class Mexicans who supported the monarchy.