page_title: Second French intervention in Mexico
section_title: Belgian Voluntary Troops 1864–65
hierarchical_section_title: Second French intervention in Mexico / Divisions and disembarkation of allied troops / Belgian Voluntary Troops 1864–65
caption_attribution_description: Français&#160;: Mexique. — Costumes des officierset soldats du régiment belge: les gardes du corps de l'impératrice Charlotte.
context_page_description: The Second French Intervention in Mexico, also known as the Second Franco-Mexican War and the Mexican Adventure, was an invasion of Mexico, launched in late 1861, by the Second French Empire. Initially supported by the United Kingdom and Spain, the French intervention in Mexico was a consequence of Mexican President Benito Juárez's imposition of a two-year moratorium of loan-interest payments from July 1861 to French, British, and Spanish creditors. To extend the influence of Imperial France, Napoleon III instigated the intervention in Mexico by claiming that the military adventure was a foreign policy commitment to free trade. The establishment of a European-derived monarchy in Mexico would ensure European access to Mexican resources, particularly French access to Mexican silver. To realize his ambitions without interference from other European nations, Napoleon III of France entered into a coalition with the United Kingdom and Spain.
  On 31 October 1861, France, the United Kingdom, and Spain agreed to the Convention of London, a joint effort to ensure that debt repayments from Mexico would be forthcoming.
context_section_description: This corps was officially designated as the "Belgian Volunteers", but generally known as the "Belgian Legion".
  Bataillon de l'Impératrice Charlotte (grenadiers)
  Bataillon Roi des Belges (voltigeurs)
caption: Costumes of officers and soldiers of the Belgian regiment: bodyguards of the Empress Charlotte.
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