Among other reform acts, Júarez suspended payment of all foreign debts, which led to France, under Napoleon III, occupying México for six years. Invoking the Monroe Doctrine, the US pressured the French to leave. In 1877, Porfirio Díaz seized control of México, ruling as a dictator for most of the following thirty-four years until he was overthrown by a massive revolution that began in 1910. Díaz had opened the country to rampant foreign investment, and by 1910, practically all large businesses were owned by mostly US and British nationals and corporations.42
