The French encounter no resistance to their occupation of Mexico City.

In June 1863, a provisional government is chosen, and in October a delegation of Mexican conservatives invites Ferdinand Maximilian Joseph von Habsburg of Austria to accept the Mexican crown, all according to the plans of French emperor Napoleon III.

Maximilian is a well-intentioned monarch who accepts the crown believing that this act responds to the desire of a majority of Mexicans.

Before departing for Mexico, Maximilian signs an agreement with Napoleon III, under which Maximilian assumes the debts incurred for the upkeep of the French army in Mexico.

On June 12, 1864, the Emperor Maximilian I and his Belgian wife, Marie Charlotte Amelie Leopoldine, now called Empress Carlota, arrive in Mexico City.

The republican government under Juárez retreats to the far north.