Napoleon III

(Napoleon III of France)

1808–1873

NAPOLEON THE THIRD

Napoleon III holds the interesting distinction of being both the first president and the last emperor of France. Born Louis-Napoleon Bonaparte, he was the nephew of Napoleon. He was elected to the French presidency in 1848, but when his requests to serve a second term were refused by the National Assembly, he organized a coup d'etat in 1851 and took control as dictator. Despite his unorthodox methods of gaining power, however, he proved to be a temperate and just emperor, even asking the people later to justify his ascension to power, to which the majority agreed. Hoping to be remembered as a socially-concerned reformer, he is most well-known for his renovation of Paris, particularly the widening of once-narrow alleys that allowed for easier transportation and a higher degree of sanitation in the city. Throughout his reign as monarch, he improved the economy through investment banking as well as railroad construction, and he appealed to the lower classes by advocating the formation of labor unions. In 1870, he created a new constitution that established a parliamentary regime with a monarchial head-of-state, a system closely similar to democracy.

He also led the French in several major wars and battles, notably the Crimean War, the Taiping Rebellion, and the Franco Prussian War. His greatest mistake came in attacking the German states. Alarmed by newly united Prussia’s exponential growth in power under the clever leadership of Otto von Bismarck, the emperor made the rash decision to plunge into a war with his eastern neighbors. Under the pretense of a struggle over the Spanish throne, France heartily went to battle against Prussia, but the enemy was well-equipped and the French decisively defeated. Napoleon’s army was crushed at Sedan and he himself publicly humiliated. Additionally, the French territory of Alsace-Lorraine was ceded to the German Empire. While the war was not yet over, all hope of a French victory was lost from that point onward. Napoleon spent his last years in exile in England with his wife, Eugenie, and their only son. After his death, presidential elections were once again instituted under the establishment of the Third Republic

Key events during the life of Napoleon III:

Year	Event
1808	Born
1848	Elected President of France by universal male suffrage under the Second Republic
1851	Initiated coup d'etat before taking control as Emperor
1860s	Granted working class right to form unions and to strike
1870	Alarmed by growth of Germany, decided to attack them and cut off their power
1870	Created new French constitution with a government structure similar to democracy
1870	Captured during the Franco-Prussian War
1873	Died in England with many regrets over the terrible loss at Sedan

Other Resources

Story Links	Book Links
The Birth of Louis Napoleon  in	Hortense  by  John S. C. Abbott
Letter from Louis Napoleon  in	Hortense  by  John S. C. Abbott
Napoleon Bonaparte  in	Stories from French History  by  Lena Dalkeith
Later Days  in	France: Peeps at History  by  John Finnemore
Brave Archbishop  in	The Story of France  by  Mary Macgregor
The Man of Sedan  in	The Story of France  by  Mary Macgregor
Prussian War and the Paris Commune  in	Historical Tales: French  by  Charles Morris
Ambition of Louis Napoleon  in	Nations of Europe and the Great War  by  Charles Morris
The Franco-Prussian War  in	Nations of Europe and the Great War  by  Charles Morris
Franco-German War  in	Growth of the British Empire  by  M. B. Synge
Solferino  in	The Boy's Book of Battles  by  Eric Wood
France Invaded  in	The History of Prussia  by  John S.C. Abbott

Image Links
The Little Prince Charles Napoleon  in Hortense	Hortense and her Children  in Hortense	The Study of Louis Napoleon.  in Hortense
The Arrest  in Hortense	After the Battle of Sedan; First meeting of Napoleon III and Bismarck  in Boys' Book of Battles	Napoleon III and Bismarck at Sedan  in Famous Men of Modern Times
Napoleon III and Bismarck on the morning after the battle of Sedan  in Bismarck and the Foundation of the German Empire	Chairs were brought that Napoleon and the minister might sit out of doors  in The Story of France	Napoleon the Third  in Eugenie, Empress of the French
The two Emperors.  in  Emperor William First

Contemporary	Short Biography
Empress Eugenie	Wife of Napoleon III and Empress of France. Influential figure in society and fashion as well as politics.
Victor Emmanuel II	Became first king of a United Italy after Garibaldi handed over control of Naples. Previously Savoyard King of Sardinia.
Otto von Bismarck	Prussian statesman and mastermind of German Unification. Strategically provoked wars against Austria and France.