Mexico and France went to war.
The Pastry War , the Franco-Mexican War , a civil war , two empires and a domestic dictatorship occurred through the 19th century .	Mexican	Mexican people	Pastry War	Pastry War	Franco-Mexican War	Franco-Mexican War	civil war	Reform War	two empires	Emperor of Mexico	a domestic dictatorship	List of Presidents of Mexico#Porfiriato
The second French intervention in Mexico -LRB- Segunda intervencin francesa en Mxico -RRB- , also known as the Maximilian Affair , Mexican Adventure , the War of the French Intervention , the Franco-Mexican War or the Second Franco-Mexican War , was an invasion of Mexico in late 1861 by the Second French Empire , supported in the beginning by the United Kingdom and Spain .	Mexico	Second Federal Republic of Mexico	Second French Empire	Second French Empire	United Kingdom	United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland	Spain	History of Spain (181473)
Emperor Napoleon III of France was the instigator , justifying military intervention by claiming a broad foreign policy of commitment to free trade .	Napoleon III of France	Napoleon III	free trade	free trade
