Manifesto

The purpose of THE FRIENDS OF CARLOTA is two-fold - to tell a fasacinating story, serialized over the course of several months, and to teach are readers Spanish vocabulary and a bit of grammar.

This is an alternate universe story.

Maximilian and Carlota, Archduke and Archduchess of Austria, traveled to Mexico in 1864 to become Emperor and Empress of Mexico – installed on the throne by the troops of Louis Bonaparte III of France and royalist Mexican nobility. They were opposed by Benito Juarez and his army who did not wish to see Mexico ruled by foreigners.

In 1865, after the end of the American Civil War, Juarez and his cause were assisted by weapons from the United States, because President Johnson and his congress did not want France to once more gain a foothold in North America.

As a result of the action of the United States, Bonaparte removed his troops, effectively sealing the doom of Maximilian and the Mexican royalists and troops who had supported him.

Carlota sailed to Europe and sought audiences with the royal houses of country after country, attempting to raise troops to help shore up Maximilian’s rule, but everyone refused her. She had a nervous breakdown, and never returned to Mexico. Maximilian’s forces were defeated, he was arrested by Juarez, and was executed by firing squad on 19 June 1867 after a reign of just 3 years.

But in The Friends of Carlota, things happen quite differently…