The Western Beachhead, also called the American Beachhead or the French Beachhead, was an unofficial geopolitical term for the series of French allies and client states that emerged post-1862 in the Americas, and is generally regarded to have included the Confederate States of America, Mexico, Brazil, Venezuela and Peru in addition to direct French colonies in the Caribbean such as Martinique, Haiti (post-1879) and French Guyana. The term referred to the strong French influence in these countries and the economic dependence of these states on trade with France, along with the regular posting of French Foreign Legion soldiers in these client states. The Beachhead ceased to exist as an entity after World War I, with the end of the Mexican and Brazilian Empires, the defeat of France in Europe