Napoleon III

Napoleon III, born Charles-Louis Napoléon Bonaparte on April 20, 1808, served as France’s first elected president from 1848 to 1852, then as its emperor from 1852 until he was overthrown in 1870. He was both the second emperor and the final monarch of France. By founding the Second French Empire in 1852, he kicked off a stretch of fast industrial growth and major infrastructure projects, while also boosting France’s global influence after a period of political chaos. With 22 years as head of state, he held the record for the longest reign since the old monarchy fell.

He came into the world at the Tuileries Palace in Paris during the peak of the First French Empire. His father was Louis Bonaparte, who had been King of Holland from 1806 to 1810, and his mother was Hortense de Beauharnais. He was also the nephew of Emperor Napoleon I. As a young man, he tried and failed twice to overthrow the July Monarchy, landing in prison in 1840. After the February Revolution toppled that monarchy in 1848, he won the presidency of the Second Republic. When he couldn’t get reelected under the constitution, he grabbed power by force in 1851, then declared himself emperor, ruling until the French army was crushed and he was captured by Prussia and its allies at the Battle of Sedan in 1870.

During his reign, Napoleon III ordered a massive redesign of Paris, overseen by prefect Georges-Eugène Haussmann. He also grew and linked up the national railway network and overhauled France’s banking system. He backed the construction of the Suez Canal in Egypt and pushed for modern farming methods, which wiped out famines in France and turned the country into an agricultural exporter. In 1860, he struck the Cobden–Chevalier trade deal with Britain, plus similar pacts with other European partners. On the social front, he gave workers the right to organize and strike, and opened universities to women.

Abroad, Napoleon III worked to restore French clout across Europe and beyond. He teamed up with Britain to beat Russia in the Crimean War (1853–1856). His regime helped unify Italy by defeating the Austrian Empire in the Second Italian War of Independence, later picking up Savoy and Nice via the Treaty of Turin as a delayed payoff. At the same time, his troops shielded the Papal States from being taken over by Italy. He also supported the 1859 union of the Danubian Principalities, which created the United Principalities of Moldavia and Wallachia. He doubled the size of France’s colonial empire by grabbing territory in Asia, Africa, and the Pacific. But his intervention in Mexico, meant to set up a French-backed Second Mexican Empire, ended in a total flop.

Starting in 1866, Napoleon III had to deal with the rising, aggressive power of Prussia, led by Otto von Bismarck, who was pushing for German unification under Prussian control. In July 1870, after public pressure, he reluctantly declared war on Prussia. The French army was quickly beaten, and he was taken prisoner at Sedan. He was promptly dethroned, and the French Third Republic was declared in Paris. After being freed from German custody, he fled to the United Kingdom, where he died in 1873.

**Childhood and family**

Charles-Louis Napoléon Bonaparte—later called Louis Napoleon and then Napoleon III—was born in Paris on the night of April 19–20, 1808. His father, Louis Bonaparte, was the younger brother of Napoleon Bonaparte, who had made him King of Holland from 1806 to 1810. His mother, Hortense de Beauharnais, was the only daughter of Napoleon’s wife Joséphine de Beauharnais from her first marriage to Alexandre de Beauharnais. He was the first Bonaparte prince born after the First French Empire was proclaimed.

As empress, Joséphine had pushed for Louis and Hortense to marry so the Emperor could have an heir, since she could no longer have children. The Emperor agreed. Louis and Hortense had a rocky relationship and only lived together now and then. Their first son, Napoléon-Charles Bonaparte, died in 1807. Though they were separated and already had a healthy second son, Napoléon Louis, they decided to have a third child. They briefly got back together in Toulouse starting August 12, 1807, and Louis Napoleon was born prematurely, at least three weeks early. Hortense had lovers, and enemies like Victor Hugo spread rumors that Louis Napoleon wasn’t Louis’s son. The idea that he was illegitimate is seen as possible but unproven. A 2014 genetic study suggested Napoleon III had a Y-chromosomal haplogroup different from the Bonaparte male line, but this claim is disputed and not widely accepted.

Louis Napoleon was baptized at the Palace of Fontainebleau on November 5, 1810, with Emperor Napoleon as his godfather and Empress Marie-Louise as his godmother. His father stayed away, once again separated from Hortense. At age seven, Louis Napoleon visited his uncle at the Tuileries Palace in Paris. Napoleon held him up to a window to watch soldiers parade in the Place du Carrousel below. He last saw his uncle with the family at the Château de Malmaison, just before Napoleon left for the Battle of Waterloo.

After Napoleon’s defeat at Waterloo and the Bourbon Restoration, all members of the House of Bonaparte were forced into exile. Hortense and Louis Napoleon moved from Aix-les-Bains to Bern to Baden-Baden.