Napoleon III

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Lore & Background

Napoleon III was born at the height of the First French Empire in the Tuileries Palace in Paris, the son of Louis Bonaparte, King of Holland (r. 1806–1810), and Hortense de Beauharnais. He was the paternal nephew of the reigning Emperor Napoleon I. As a young man, he led two failed coups against the July Monarchy, for which he was imprisoned in 1840. In 1848, after the overthrow of the July Monarchy in the February Revolution, he was elected president of the French Second Republic. He seized power by force in 1851 when he could not constitutionally be re-elected. He later proclaimed himself Emperor of the French and founded the Second Empire, reigning until the defeat of the French Army and his capture by Prussia and its allies at the Battle of Sedan in 1870. Napoleon III commissioned a grand reconstruction of Paris carried out by the prefect of the Seine, Georges-Eugène Haussmann. He expanded and consolidated the railway system throughout the nation and modernized the banking system in France. Napoleon promoted the building of the Suez Canal in Egypt and established modern agriculture, which ended famines in France and made the country an agricultural exporter. He negotiated the 1860 Cobden–Chevalier Treaty with Britain and similar agreements with France's other European trading partners. Social reforms were enacted giving workers the right to organize and the right to strike, and women the right to be admitted to universities. In foreign policy, Napoleon III aimed to reassert French influence in Europe and elsewhere. In Europe, he allied the French with Britain and defeated Russia in the Crimean War (1853–1856). His regime assisted Italian unification by defeating the Austrian Empire in the Second Italian War of Independence and later annexed Savoy and Nice through the Treaty of Turin as its deferred reward. At the same time, his forces defended the Papal States against annexation by Italy. He was also favourable towards the 1859 union of the Danubian Principalities, which resulted in the establishment of the United Principalities of Moldavia and Wallachia. Napoleon III doubled the area of the French colonial empire with acquisitions in Asia, Africa, and the Pacific. On the other hand, the intervention in Mexico, which aimed to create a Second Mexican Empire under French protection, ended up in total failure. From 1866, Napoleon III had to face the aggressive mounting power of Prussia as its minister president Otto von Bismarck sought German unification under Prussian leadership. In July 1870, Napoleon III reluctantly declared war on Prussia after pressure from the general public. The French Army was rapidly defeated, and Napoleon III was captured at Sedan. He was swiftly dethroned and the French Third Republic was proclaimed in Paris. After he was released from German custody, he went into exile in the United Kingdom, where he died in 1873.

Reader's Guide

Napoleon III's significance lies in his role as the first elected president and last monarch of France, presiding over a 22-year reign that marked the longest tenure of any French head of state since the end of the ancien régime. His domestic policies transformed France through the Haussmann reconstruction of Paris, expansion of railways, modernization of banking, and agricultural reforms that ended famines and made France an agricultural exporter. Social reforms gave workers the right to organize and strike, and women the right to attend universities. Internationally, he reasserted French influence by winning the Crimean War, assisting Italian unification, and doubling the French colonial empire. However, his failed Mexican intervention and eventual defeat by Prussia in the Franco-Prussian War led to his deposition and the end of monarchical rule in France. His legacy is a mix of modernization and imperial overreach, with his capture at Sedan symbolizing the collapse of the Second Empire.

Did You Know?

• Napoleon III was born prematurely on the night of 19–20 April 1808, at least three weeks short of nine months.
• He was the first Bonaparte prince born after the proclamation of the First French Empire.
• As a young man, he led two failed coups against the July Monarchy and was imprisoned in 1840.
• He negotiated the 1860 Cobden–Chevalier Treaty with Britain and similar agreements with other European trading partners.
• After his capture at the Battle of Sedan in 1870, he went into exile in the United Kingdom, where he died in 1873.