Benito Juárez in the context of "Second French Intervention in Mexico"

Mexico, officially the United Mexican States, is a country in North America. It is the northernmost country in Latin America and borders the United States to the north, and Guatemala and Belize to the southeast; while having maritime boundaries with the Pacific Ocean to the west, the Caribbean Sea to the southeast, and the Gulf of Mexico to the east. Mexico covers 1,972,550 km (761,610 sq mi), and is the thirteenth-largest country in the world by land area. With a population exceeding 130 million, Mexico is the tenth-most populous country in the world and is home to the largest number of native Spanish speakers. Mexico City is the capital and largest city, which ranks among the most populous metropolitan areas in the world.

Human presence in Mexico dates back to at least 8,000 BC. Mesoamerica, considered a cradle of civilization, was home to numerous advanced societies, including the Olmecs, Maya, Zapotecs, Teotihuacan civilization, and Purépecha. Spanish colonization began in 1521 with an alliance that defeated the Aztec Empire, establishing the colony of New Spain with its capital at Tenochtitlan, now Mexico City. New Spain became a major center of the transoceanic economy during the Age of Discovery, fueled by silver mining and its position as a hub between Europe and Asia. This gave rise to one of the largest multiracial populations in the world. The Peninsular War led to the 1810–1821 Mexican War of Independence, which ended Peninsular rule and led to the creation of the First Mexican Empire, which quickly collapsed into the short-lived First Mexican Republic. In 1848, Mexico lost nearly half its territory to the American invasion. Liberal reforms set in the Constitution of 1857 led to civil war and French intervention, culminating in the establishment of the Second Mexican Empire under Emperor Maximilian I of Austria, who was overthrown by Republican forces led by Benito Juárez. The late 19th century saw the long dictatorship of Porfirio Díaz, whose modernization policies came at the cost of severe social unrest. The 1910–1920 Mexican Revolution led to the overthrow of Díaz and the adoption of the 1917 Constitution. Mexico experienced rapid industrialization and economic growth in the 1940s–1970s, amidst electoral fraud, the Tlatelolco massacre, and economic crises. The late 20th century saw a shift towards neoliberalism, marked by the signing of the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) in 1994, amidst unrest in Chiapas.

In the history of Mexico, La Reforma (from Spanish: "The Reform"), or reform laws, refers to a pivotal set of laws, including a new constitution, that were enacted in the Second Federal Republic of Mexico during the 1850s after the Plan of Ayutla overthrew the dictatorship of Santa Anna. They were intended as modernizing measures: social, political, and economic, aimed at undermining the traditional power of the Catholic Church and the army. The reforms sought separation of church and state, equality before the law, and economic development. These anticlerical laws were enacted in the Second Mexican Republic between 1855 and 1863, during the governments of Juan Álvarez, Ignacio Comonfort and Benito Juárez. The laws also limited the ability of Catholic Church and Indigenous communities from collectively holding land. The liberal government sought the revenues from the disentailment of church property, which could fund the civil war against Mexican conservatives and to broaden the base of property ownership in Mexico and encouraging private enterprise. Several of them were raised to constitutional status by the constituent Congress that drafted the liberal Constitution of 1857. Although the laws had a major impact on the Catholic Church in Mexico, liberal proponents were not opposed to the church as a spiritual institution, but rather sought a secular state and a society not dominated by religion.

The Juárez Law reduced the power that military and ecclesiastical courts held. The Lerdo Law forced land held in collective ownership to be sold to individual owners. It aimed at creating a dynamic real estate market, creating a class of yeoman farmers owning their own land, and raising revenue for the state. The measure was intended to strip the Church of most of its property, as well as to break Indigenous communities' collective ownership of land.

The Political Constitution of the Mexican Republic of 1857 (Spanish: Constitución Política de la República Mexicana de 1857), often called simply the Constitution of 1857, was the liberal constitution promulgated in 1857 by Constituent Congress of Mexico during the presidency of Ignacio Comonfort. Ratified on February 5, 1857, the constitution established individual rights, including universal male suffrage, and others such as freedom of speech, freedom of conscience, freedom of the press, freedom of assembly, and the right to bear arms. It also reaffirmed the abolition of slavery, debtors' prisons, and all forms of cruel and unusual punishment such as the death penalty. The constitution was designed to guarantee a limited central government by federalism and created a strong national congress, an independent judiciary, and a small executive to prevent a dictatorship. Liberal ideals meant the constitution emphasized private property of individuals and sought to abolish common ownership by corporate entities, mainly the Catholic Church and indigenous communities, incorporating the legal thrust of the Lerdo Law into the constitution.

A number of articles were contrary to the traditional powers of the Catholic Church, such as the ending of Catholicism as official religion, the nationwide establishment of secular public education, the removal of institutional fueros (legal privileges), and the forced sale of Church property. Conservatives strongly opposed the enactment of the constitution, which polarized Mexican society. The Reform War (1858-1860) began as a result, with liberals winning on the battlefield over conservatives. The losing conservatives sought another way back into power, and their politicians invited Maximilian I of Mexico, a Habsburg, to establish a Mexican monarchy with the Church's support. The republican government-in-domestic-exile was headed by President Benito Juárez as the legitimate Mexican government under the constitution. With the ouster of the French and the defeat of the conservatives in 1867, the Restored Republic was again governed under the 1857 Constitution. The constitution was durable but its provisions not always followed in practice. It was revised in 1874 to create a Senate. It remained as Mexico's constitution until 1917 although many of its provisions ceased to be enforced.

The second French intervention in Mexico (Spanish: segunda intervención francesa en México), 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.

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 Catholic Church, conservatives, much of the upper-class and Mexican nobility, and some indigenous communities invited, welcomed and collaborated with the French empire to install Maximilian as Emperor of Mexico. However, there was still significant support for republicanism in Mexico. Mexican society was most resistant to European models of governance, including monarchies, during and after the French intervention. The emperor himself however proved to be of liberal inclination and continued some of the Juárez government's most notable 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.

José de la Cruz Porfirio Díaz Mori (/ˈdiːəs/; Spanish: [poɾˈfiɾjo ˈði.as]; 15 September 1830 – 2 July 1915) was a Mexican general and politician who was the dictator of Mexico from 1876 until his overthrow in 1911, seizing power in a military coup. He served on three separate occasions as President of Mexico, a total of over 30 years, this period is known as the Porfiriato and has been called a de facto dictatorship. Díaz’s time in office is the longest of any Mexican ruler.

Díaz was born to a Oaxacan family of modest means. He initially studied to become a priest but eventually switched his studies to law, and among his mentors was the future President of Mexico, Benito Juárez. Díaz increasingly became active in Liberal Party politics fighting with the Liberals to overthrow Santa Anna in the Plan of Ayutla, and also fighting on their side against the Conservative Party in the Reform War.

Hidalgo, officially the Free and Sovereign State of Hidalgo, is one of the 31 states which, along with Mexico City, constitute the 32 federal entities of Mexico. It is divided into 84 municipalities and its capital city is Pachuca de Soto. It is located in east-central Mexico and is bordered by San Luis Potosí and Veracruz on the north, Puebla on the east, Tlaxcala and State of Mexico on the south and Querétaro on the west.

In 1869, Benito Juárez created the State of Hidalgo and made Pachuca its capital city; "de Soto" was added later in recognition of Manuel Fernando Soto [es], who is considered the most important driving force in creating the state. The state was named after Miguel Hidalgo y Costilla, the initiator of the Mexican War of Independence.

Naucalpan, officially Naucalpan de Juárez, is one of 125 Municipalities of Mexico State, and is located just northwest of Mexico City. The municipal seat is the city of Naucalpan de Juárez, which extends into the neighboring municipality of Huixquilucan.

The name Naucalpan comes from Nahuatl and means "place of the four neighborhoods" or "four houses." Juárez was added to the official name in 1874 in honor of Benito Juárez. The history of the area begins with the Tlatilica who settled on the edges of the Hondo River between 1700 and 600 B.C.E., but it was the Mexica who gave it its current name when they dominated it from the 15th century until the Spanish conquest of the Mexica Empire. Naucalpan claims to be the area where Hernán Cortés rested on the "Noche Triste" as they fled Tenochtitlan in 1520, but this is disputed. It is the home of the Virgin of Los Remedios, a small image of the Virgin Mary which is strongly associated with the Conquest and is said to have been left here.

Chihuahua, officially the Free and Sovereign State of Chihuahua, is one of the 31 states which, along with Mexico City, are the 32 federal entities of Mexico. It is located in the northwestern part of Mexico and is bordered by the states of Sonora to the west, Sinaloa to the southwest, Durango to the south, and Coahuila to the east. To the north and northeast, it shares an extensive border with the U.S. adjacent to the U.S. states of New Mexico and Texas. The state was named after its capital city, Chihuahua City; the largest city is Ciudad Juárez. In 1864 the city of Chihuahua was declared capital of Mexico by Benito Juárez during the Reform War and French intervention until 1867. The city of Parral was the largest producer of silver in the world in 1640. During the Mexican War of Independence, Miguel Hidalgo was executed on July 30, 1811, in Chihuahua city.

Although Chihuahua is primarily identified with its namesake, the Chihuahuan Desert, it has more forests than any other state in Mexico, aside from Durango. Due to its varied climate, the state has a large variety of fauna and flora. The state is mostly characterized by rugged mountainous terrain and wide river valleys. The Sierra Madre Occidental mountain range, part of the continental spine that also includes the Rocky Mountains, dominates the state's terrain, and is home to the state's greatest attraction, Las Barrancas del Cobre, or Copper Canyon, a canyon system larger and deeper than the Grand Canyon. The state also has the largest crystal cave in Mexico known as the Naica cave discovered in 2001. Chihuahua is also home to the archaeological site of Paquimé in Casas Grandes that was created by the people of the Mogollon culture of Northern Mexico and is recognized as an UNESCO World Heritage site. Chihuahua is the largest state in Mexico by area, with an area of 247,455 square kilometres (95,543 sq mi), it is slightly larger than the United Kingdom, and slightly smaller than Wyoming, the tenth largest US state by area. The state is consequently known under the nickname El Estado Grande ('The Great State' or 'The Big State').

The history of Mexico spans over three millennia, with the earliest evidence of hunter-gatherer settlement 13,000 years ago. Central and southern Mexico, known as Mesoamerica, saw the rise of complex civilizations that developed glyphic writing systems to record political histories and conquests. The Spanish conquest of the Aztec Empire in the early 16th century established New Spain, bringing Spanish rule, Christianity, and European influences.

Mexico gained independence from Spain in 1821, after a prolonged struggle marked by the Mexican War of Independence. The country faced numerous challenges in the 19th century, including regional conflicts, caudillo power struggles, the Mexican–American War, and foreign interventions like the French invasion. Efforts at modernization during La Reforma included promoting civil liberties and the separation of church and state, but the country was still beset by internal strife and external threats, including the Second Mexican Empire.