Claim: Mexico and France went to war.
Evidence: The Pastry War , the Franco-Mexican War , a civil war , two empires and a domestic dictatorship occurred through the 19th century.
The second French intervention in Mexico -LRB- Segunda intervención francesa en México -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.
Emperor Napoleon III of France was the instigator , justifying military intervention by claiming a broad foreign policy of commitment to free trade.