Napoleon III

Napoleon III
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Name	Napoleon III
Caption	Portrait by Hippolyte Flandrin, c. 1861
Succession	President of the French Republic
Reign	20 December 1848 – 2 December 1852
Predecessor	Louis-Eugène Cavaignac (as Chief of the Executive Power)
Successor	Himself (as Emperor)
Succession1	Emperor of the French
Reign1	2 December 1852 – 4 September 1870
Predecessor1	Himself (as President)
Successor1	Monarchy abolished (Adolphe Thiers as President of France)
Birth date	20 April 1808
Birth place	Paris, First French Empire
Death date	9 January 1873 (aged 64)
Death place	Chislehurst, Kent, England
Burial place	St Michael's Abbey, Farnborough
Spouse	Eugénie de Montijo
Issue	Napoléon, Prince Imperial
House	Bonaparte
Father	Louis Bonaparte
Mother	Hortense de Beauharnais

Napoleon III, born Charles-Louis Napoléon Bonaparte, was the first President of France and the last monarch to rule the country. Elected in 1848, he staged a coup in 1851 and re-established the Empire the following year, reigning as Emperor until his capture during the Franco-Prussian War. His complex reign transformed Paris through Haussmann's renovations and saw significant industrial growth, but ended in military defeat and exile.

Early life and rise to power

Born in Paris as the nephew of Napoleon I, he spent much of his youth in exile after the Bourbon Restoration. His early life was shaped by the Bonapartist cause and revolutionary activities across Europe, including involvement with the Carbonari in Italy. Following the July Revolution of 1830, he authored political pamphlets like Idées napoléoniennes and made two failed attempts to seize power in Strasbourg (1836) and Boulogne-sur-Mer (1840). The latter resulted in his imprisonment at the Fortress of Ham, from which he famously escaped in 1846. The French Revolution of 1848 and the establishment of the French Second Republic created his opportunity; he was elected to the National Assembly and then won a landslide victory in the 1848 French presidential election.

Emperor of the French

Facing constitutional term limits, he orchestrated the 1851 coup d'état, dissolving the Assembly and suppressing resistance, notably in Paris. A national plebiscite ratified his actions, and on 2 December 1852, the Second French Empire was proclaimed. His marriage to Eugénie de Montijo in 1853 solidified his imperial court. The regime, initially an authoritarian state, cultivated a lavish court at the Tuileries Palace and promoted a cult of personality centered on the Napoleonic legend. His reign was marked by grand international exhibitions, most famously the 1855 Exposition and the 1867 Exposition in Paris.

Domestic policies

His domestic agenda, often termed "authoritarian empire" evolving into the "Liberal Empire", focused on modernization. He empowered Baron Haussmann to undertake the vast reconstruction of Paris, creating grand boulevards, parks like the Bois de Boulogne, and new infrastructure including the Les Halles markets. He championed economic development through the Crédit Mobilier bank, major railway expansion, and the growth of industries in Lyon and Lille. Support for the Catholic Church was balanced with policies favoring workers, such as legalizing strikes and supporting mutual aid societies. The Salon des Refusés in 1863 signaled a liberalization in cultural policy.

Foreign policy and wars

His foreign policy was ambitious and often adventurist, aiming to restore French glory and redraw the map of Europe. He allied with Britain in the Crimean War, culminating in the Congress of Paris. He supported Italian unification against the Austrian Empire, fighting the Second Italian War of Independence and securing the annexation of Savoy and Nice. However, the failed intervention in Mexico to install Maximilian I proved a costly disaster. His most fatal miscalculation was his escalating rivalry with Otto von Bismarck's Prussia, which led to the Franco-Prussian War in 1870.

Downfall and exile

The Franco-Prussian War rapidly turned catastrophic for France. Following a series of defeats, the major French army, with Napoleon III in command, was surrounded and decisively defeated at the Battle of Sedan on 1 September 1870. He surrendered to King Wilhelm I of Prussia and was taken as a prisoner. News of the defeat reached Paris, triggering the September 4 Revolution, which proclaimed the French Third Republic and deposed him. After a brief captivity at Wilhelmshöhe castle in Kassel, he was released and went into exile in England in 1871. He settled at Camden Place in Chislehurst, Kent, where he died in 1873 following surgery for bladder stones. He was buried at St Michael's Abbey, Farnborough, which was built by his widow, Eugénie de Montijo.

Category:Napoleon III Category:French emperors Category:Presidents of France