Benito Juárez maintained Mexico’s republican government during the Second Mexican Empire. As president, he refused to recognize the French-backed monarchy and continued the constitutional government from locations outside occupied Mexico City.
Juárez had already been a central figure in Mexico’s Reform War, which ended shortly before the French intervention. His liberal government’s suspension of foreign-debt payments helped trigger the initial European expedition, although France soon pursued a political and imperial objective beyond debt collection.
After the French-backed empire was established, Juárez organized resistance and preserved the republican claim to national authority. The end of the American Civil War strengthened Mexico’s position because the United States could again oppose the French presence more effectively.
French troops withdrew, Maximilian was captured and executed, and Juárez returned to Mexico City in 1867. His government’s survival made the Puebla victory part of a larger republican struggle.