Juarez and Maximilian. History mentions one Maximilian, a Habsburg, appointed Emperor of Mexico by Napoleon Bonaparte; records a successful revolution led by Juarez, the untimely defection of Napoleon's troops, execution of Maximilian. More colorful chronicles relate that Maximilian's proud empress, failing to obtain aid from royal kin in Europe, became insane, another victim of the "curse of the Habsburgs," which has bloodied every generation of that ill-starred line with murder and violence.
Franz Werfel, author of the Goat Song (TIME, Feb. 8), sees in Maximilian the representative of a humane, idealistic principle...
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