|
Birth and Early Life
Louis was born the last of three
sons of Louis and Hortense Bonaparte, king and queen of Holland during
the regime of his uncle Napoleon I. With the final Restoration of
the Bourbon monarchy in 1815 he left France for exile. At age 23
he became an artillery officer with the Italian patriots in their (unsuccessful)
effort to establish an Italian national government in 1831.
Early Efforts to Establish Himself
Politically
When in 1836 Napoleon's only
son died, this offered the ambitious Louis the opportunity to claim to
represent the interests of the considerably large and influential Napoleonist
faction in France. In 1836 at Strasbourg and again in 1840 at Boulogne-sur-Mer
he attempted to overthrow the government of French King Louis-Philippe--but
failed in both attempts and was jailed as a result of the latter and sentenced
to life imprisonment in Picardie. But in 1846 he escaped and fled
to England.
The February Revolution (1848)
When the February Revolution
broke out in France, he returned to France to take command of the Napoleonist
faction. He became a member of the Constituent Assembly called together
to draw up a constitution for a Second French Republic. He then announced
his candidacy for President of this Republic. In general elections (with
universal suffrage) in late 1850, he defeated his opponent, Gen. L.E. Cavaignac,
with a large majority of the French votes.
The Establishment of the Empire
(1852)
But soon he was conspiring to
overthrow the Republic--and to make himself another imperial ruler in the
fashion of his uncle, Napoleon I. In late 1851 he conducted a parliamentary
coup d'etat which stripped the French legislature and in early 1852 he
issued a new constitution which made him absolute ruler in France.
Then in late 1852, with the army and the church in full support behind
him (and his opposition nicely silenced in prison), he called for a national
plebiscite in support of the end of the Republic and the creation of the
Second French Empire in its place--with him as its Emperor (with a title
of Louis Napoleon III). He also put down a workers' uprising with
a very heavy hand--further establishing his tight grip over French national
politics.
The Industrial Modernization
of France
As ruler over the Second Empire
he began to push a vision of rapid industrial and urban development in
France--to make it the military equal of Britain to the West and fast-rising
Prussia to the East. He pushed for the development of a national
network of trains needed to unite the country commercially. He redesigned
the banking system to facilitate capital development of the nation's economy.
He redesigned much of Paris (with a number of new boulevards, squares,
parks, bridges) in an effort to make it the most attractive capital city
in Europe.
Foreign Military Ventures
He was aggressive in his diplomacy,
joining with Britain in the Crimean War (1854-56) in an effort to halt
the rapid Russian expansion against the rapidly declining Turkish/Ottoman
Empire (because Britain and France had their own designs on the Turkish
Empire!) Likewise he intervened in Italy (1859) to weaken the grip
of Austria over that country--hoping to serve as a French benefactor of
an independent Italy. And in 1860 he succeeded in attaching Savoy
and Nice (southeastern France) to France proper.
The Liberalizing of His Goverment
His maneuverings in Italy had
been costly in terms of men and supplies to Louis Napoleon--and in terms
of his support at home. In 1860, in an effort to reestablish his
popularity in France, he turned many of his powers over to a strengthened
National Assembly. But this also had the effect of bringing to the
fore such notable political opponents as Jules Favre and Adolphe Thiers.
Diplomatic Catastrophe:
The Franco-Prussian War
He hoped that some successes
in the realm of diplomacy might also restore his popularity. Some,
such as his support of work on the Suez canal, were successful--though
not in such a way that they aided much in restoring his Napoleonic luster.
Another venture, in Mexico where he proposed to establish a French puppet
regime (1861-1867) turned out to be a public relations disaster--when the
United States took exception to his meddling and overthrew Napoleon's Mexican
project.
It was in the area of diplomacy
that Louis Napoleon was finally undone--when the Prussian Chancellor, Bismarck,
out-trumped Napoleon by drawing him into a war (the Franco-Prussian War
of 1870) over the French-German borderlands in Alsace and Lorraine.
In July Napoleon took the bait (Bismarck precipitated the war to draw patriotic
German opinion behind expansionistic Prussia--while making it appear that
it was France that had actually started the war). Worse, in leading
his own army against the Germans at Sedan in early September he was captured
in battle. In short order France was humiliated by Prussia/Germany.
The Last Days
In the meantime back in Paris
his political opponents engineered a parliamentary coup which deposed him
as ruler of France. He was eventually released from Prussian captivity
(1871)--and made his way in exile to England. There he died two years
later (1873)
|
Louis
Napoleon: An Overview
His
Life and Works
Miles
H. Hodges
