Maximilian I of Mexico

Younger brother of Franz Joseph, persuaded by Napoleon III to accept the throne of a French puppet empire in Mexico in 1864. When France withdrew its army under American pressure after the Civil War, Maximilian was left exposed; captured by the republican forces of Benito Juárez, he was tried by court-martial and shot at Querétaro. His execution stunned European opinion and was immortalized in five paintings by Édouard Manet.