The story
Louis-Napoleon Bonaparte, nephew of Napoleon I, was elected president of the French Second Republic in December 1848 with about 74 percent of the vote. The constitution allowed him a single four-year term, so on December 2, 1851, the anniversary of Austerlitz, he used the army to dissolve the Assembly and arrest opponents. After a plebiscite in November 1852, with about 7.8 million voting yes and 253,000 no, the Second Empire was proclaimed on December 2, 1852.
He won in 1848 because of his famous name and because the revolution had given the vote to all adult men, including millions of peasants who feared radicals and remembered the first Napoleon fondly. The empire began as an authoritarian regime and gradually loosened. It brought rapid growth, railways, banks and the rebuilding of Paris by Baron Haussmann, and French armies fought in the Crimea, Italy and Mexico. Napoleon III misjudged Prussia and was captured at Sedan in September 1870. The empire collapsed, the Third Republic was declared, and he died in exile in England in 1873.
Why it mattered
- Ended the Second Republic and brought back an imperial regime in France for 18 years.
- Rebuilt Paris under Haussmann, creating the wide boulevards the city is known for.
- Led France into the Crimean War, the Italian war of 1859 and the failed Mexican adventure.
- Provoked the Franco-Prussian War of 1870, which brought German unification under Prussia.
- Ended with the founding of the Third Republic, which lasted until 1940.
Sources
- Napoleon III Encyclopedia.com
- Napoleon III summary Britannica
- France: The Second Republic 1848-52 Britannica
Drafted by AI (Claude) from the sources above and checked against them by AI; no historian has reviewed this page. Spot a mistake? Suggest a correction. How pages are made
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