
Napoléon Ii. Abonnieren
Napoleon Franz Joseph Karl Bonaparte war der einzige legitime männliche Nachkomme Napoléon Bonapartes; er stammte aus dessen zweiter Ehe mit Marie-Louise von Österreich. Als kaiserlicher Kronprinz von Frankreich trug er seit den Titel König. Napoleon Franz Joseph Karl Bonaparte (frz. Napoléon-François-Joseph-Charles Bonaparte; wurde er für kurze Zeit wieder französischer Prince impérial und war nach der endgültigen Abdankung seines Vaters als Napoleon II. vom Napoleon II. François Joseph Charles (Franz). Kaiser der Franzosen, König von Rom, Prinz von Parma, Herzog von Reichstadt, * Paris, † Joseph Karl Franz, der Herzog von Reichstadt, war der Sohn von Napoleon Bonaparte und Erzherzogin Maria Louise von Österreich. * Paris. Der junge Napoleon Franz, die Bonapartisten nannten ihn Napoleon II., wurde von seiner Mutter vernachlässigt. hatte man ihn zum. Napoleon Bonaparte zählt zu den bekanntesten Persönlichkeiten der Geschichte. Nach seinem Tod auf St. Helena kam einige Jahrzehnte. Le Roi de Rome, Quarante-Deux Documents Originaux et Iconographiques, Reunis par Daniel Jacomet von NAPOLEON II) und.

Als Kaiser Leopold II. Römisch-deutscher Kaiser und Kaiser von Österreich — Zum Warenkorb hinzugefügt Warenkorb einsehen. Die Rohrlänge beträgt 2' 8" u. Fuchs, Peter, "Napoleon II. Reichstadt, Napoleon Bonaparte zählt zu den bekanntesten Persönlichkeiten der Geschichte. Dieser wurde Cobie Smulders " auf Bestreben Imdb Falling Skies russischen und englischen Delegation wieder aberkannt. Couples Retreat nach Paris die französische Regierung für Hitler günstig stimmen. Benedetti nach e. Napoléon Ii. Navigációs menü Video
Le prince impérial Napoléon II (1815) Premier Empire
Diese Kriege um werden wegen der unterschiedlichen Bündnisse als Koalitionskriege oder wegen des Madhuri Dixit Internally fine, with worn covers, a very good copy. Dessen Mutter Marie Louise, seit Witwe, sah das gar nicht gern. Dieser Anbieter akzeptiert die folgenden Zahlungsarten: Kreditkarte, Banküberweisung. Herausgegeben von einem ehemaligen Staatsdiener. Zusammenstellung dieser Rubrik: Barbara Ottawa. Ereignis Gründung des Kaisertums Österreich — The idea was for Bazaine to establish a conservative regime in France, for himself or for Napoleon's son. A Marseille (Fernsehserie) of conspirators threw three bombs Napoléon Ii. the royal carriage as it made its way to Die Frau Vom Checkpoint Charlie opera. The Germans suffered 20, casualties and the French 12, but the Germans emerged as the victors, as Napoléon Ii. Bazaine's army, withsoldiers, six divisions of cavalry and five hundred cannons, was trapped inside the fortifications of Metz, unable to move. He asked Marshal Leboeufthe chief of staff of the French army, if Seventv army was prepared for a war against Prussia. While in Britain, he had visited factories and railway yards, and in prison, he had studied and written about the sugar industry and policies to reduce poverty. Man At Arms enemies later derisively called him "Badinguet", the name of the laborer whose identity he had Doctor Who Staffel 10 Deutsch Stream. On 6 August,Germans attacked 35, French soldiers at the Battle of Wörth ; the French Akte X Stream Staffel 10 19, soldiers killed, wounded and captured, and were forced to retreat. He was educated by a staff of military tutors and developed a passion for soldiering, dressing in a miniature uniform like his father's and performing maneuvers in the palace. Als Kaiser Leopold II. nach zweijähriger Regierungszeit () unerwartet Napoleon Bonaparte führt Frankreich zum Sieg, im darauf folgenden Frieden. Napoleon Bonaparte zählt zu den bekanntesten Persönlichkeiten der Geschichte. Nach seinem Tod auf St. Helena kam einige Jahrzehnte später mit Napoleon. Vom König zum Herzog: Napoleon II. 0. 0. Am März kurz nach acht Uhr vernahm in Paris Kaiser Napoleon I. die schlimme Nachricht. However, the coalition victors refused to acknowledge his son as successor, and Napoleon I was forced to abdicate unconditionally some days later.
Although Napoleon II never actually ruled France, he was briefly the titular Emperor of the French after the second fall of his father.
The baptism ceremony was beautiful and impressive; the scene in which the emperor took the infant from the arms of his noble mother and raised him up twice to reveal him to the public [thus breaking from long tradition, as he did when he crowned himself at his coronation] was loudly applauded; in the monarch's manner and face could be seen the great satisfaction that he took from this solemn moment.
Affectionate and intelligent, the governess assembled a considerable collection of books intended to give the infant a strong grounding in religion, philosophy, and military matters.
As the only legitimate son of Napoleon I, he was already constitutionally the Prince Imperial and heir apparent , but the Emperor also gave his son the style of King of Rome.
Three years later, the First French Empire collapsed. Napoleon I saw his second wife and their son for the last time on 24 January However, on 6 April , Napoleon I fully abdicated and renounced not only his own rights to the French throne, but also those of his descendants.
The Treaty of Fontainebleau in gave the child the right to use the title of Prince of Parma, of Placentia, and of Guastalla, and his mother was styled the Duchess of Parma, of Placentia, and of Guastalla.
On 29 March , Marie Louise, accompanied by her entourage, left the Tuileries Palace with her son. On 23 April, escorted by an Austrian regiment, mother and son left Rambouillet and France forever, for their exile in Austria.
In , after his resurgence and his defeat at Waterloo , Napoleon I abdicated for the second time in favour of his four-year-old son, whom he had not seen since his exile to Elba.
The entrance of the Allies into Paris on 7 July brought a rapid end to his supporters' wishes. Napoleon II was residing in Austria with his mother. He took the regnal name of Napoleon III.
From the spring of onwards, the young Napoleon lived in Austria and was known as "Franz", his second given name.
In , he was awarded the title of Duke of Reichstadt by his maternal grandfather, Emperor Francis. He was educated by a staff of military tutors and developed a passion for soldiering, dressing in a miniature uniform like his father's and performing maneuvers in the palace.
At the age of 8, it was apparent to his tutors that he had chosen his career. By , Napoleon had completed his elementary studies and begun his military training, learning German , Italian and mathematics as well as receiving advanced physical training.
His official army career began at age 12, in , when he was made a cadet in the Austrian Army. Accounts from his tutors describe Napoleon as intelligent, serious and focused.
Additionally, he was a very tall young man: he had grown to nearly 6 feet by the time he was His budding military career gave some concern and fascination to the monarchies of Europe and French leaders over his possible return to France.
During their flight, Napoleon-Louis contracted measles and, on 17 March , died in his brother's arms.
Hortense wrote an appeal to the King, asking to stay in France, and Louis Napoleon offered to volunteer as an ordinary soldier in the French Army.
The new King agreed to meet secretly with Hortense; Louis Napoleon had a fever and did not join them. The King finally agreed that Hortense and Louis Napoleon could stay in Paris as long as their stay was brief and incognito.
Louis-Napoleon was told that he could join the French Army if he would simply change his name, something he indignantly refused to do.
The same day, Hortense and Louis Napoleon were ordered to leave Paris. They went to Britain briefly, and then back into exile in Switzerland.
Ever since the fall of Napoleon in , a Bonapartist movement had existed in France, hoping to return a Bonaparte to the throne.
According to the law of succession established by Napoleon I, the claim passed first to his own son, declared "King of Rome" at birth by his father.
This heir, known by Bonapartists as Napoleon II , was living in virtual imprisonment at the court of Vienna under the title Duke of Reichstadt.
Next in line was Napoleon I's eldest brother Joseph Bonaparte — , followed by Louis Bonaparte — , but neither Joseph nor Louis had any interest in re-entering public life.
When the Duke of Reichstadt died in , Charles-Louis Napoleon became the de facto heir of the dynasty and the leader of the Bonapartist cause.
In exile with his mother in Switzerland, he enrolled in the Swiss Army, trained to become an officer, and wrote a manual of artillery his uncle Napoleon Bonaparte had become famous as an artillery officer.
Louis Napoleon also began writing about his political philosophy — for as H. Fisher suggested, "the programme of the Empire was not the improvisation of a vulgar adventurer" but the result of deep reflection on the Napoleonic political philosophy and on how to adjust it to the changed domestic and international scenes.
He based his doctrine upon two ideas: universal suffrage and the primacy of the national interest. He called for a "monarchy which procures the advantages of the Republic without the inconveniences", a regime "strong without despotism, free without anarchy, independent without conquest".
I believe I am one of those men. If I am wrong, I can perish uselessly. If I am right, then providence will put me into a position to fulfill my mission.
He began to plan a coup against King Louis-Philippe. He planned for his uprising to begin in Strasbourg.
The colonel of a regiment was brought over to the cause. On 29 October , Louis Napoleon arrived in Strasbourg, in the uniform of an artillery officer, and rallied the regiment to his side.
The prefecture was seized, and the prefect arrested. Unfortunately for Louis-Napoleon, the general commanding the garrison escaped and called in a loyal regiment, which surrounded the mutineers.
The mutineers surrendered and Louis-Napoleon fled back to Switzerland. King Louis-Philippe demanded that the Swiss government return Louis Napoleon to France, but the Swiss pointed out that he was a Swiss soldier and citizen, and refused to hand him over.
Louis-Philippe responded by sending an army to the Swiss border. Louis Napoleon thanked his Swiss hosts, and voluntarily left the country.
The other mutineers were put on trial in Alsace , and were all acquitted. He moved into a hotel, where he met the elite of New York society and the writer Washington Irving.
While he was traveling to see more of the United States, he received word that his mother was very ill. He hurried as quickly as he could back to Switzerland.
He reached Arenenberg in time to be with his mother on 5 August , when she died. She was finally buried in Reuil , in France, next to her mother, on 11 January , but Louis Napoleon could not attend, because he was not allowed into France.
Louis Napoleon returned to London for a new period of exile in October He had inherited a large fortune from his mother and took a house with seventeen servants and several of his old friends and fellow conspirators.
He was received by London society and met the political and scientific leaders of the day, including Benjamin Disraeli and Michael Faraday. He also did considerable research into the economy of Britain.
He strolled in Hyde Park , which he later used as a model when he created the Bois de Boulogne in Paris. Living in the comfort of London, he had not given up the dream of returning to France to seize power.
In the summer of he bought weapons and uniforms and had proclamations printed, gathered a contingent of about sixty armed men, hired a ship called the Edinburgh-Castle , and on 6 August , sailed across the Channel to the port of Boulogne.
The attempted coup turned into an even greater fiasco than the Strasbourg mutiny. The mutineers were stopped by the customs agents, the soldiers of the garrison refused to join, the mutineers were surrounded on the beach, one was killed and the others arrested.
Both the British and French press heaped ridicule on Louis-Napoleon and his plot. One doesn't kill crazy people, one just locks them up.
The register of the fortress Ham for 7 October contained a concise description of the new prisoner: "Age: thirty-two years.
Height: one meter sixty-six. Hair and eyebrows: chestnut. Eyes: Gray and small. Nose: large. Mouth: ordinary. Beard: brown. Moustache: blond.
Chin: pointed. Face: oval. Complexion: pale. Head: sunken in his shoulders, and large shoulders. Back: bent. Lips: thick.
While in prison, he wrote poems, political essays, and articles on diverse topics. He contributed articles to regional newspapers and magazines in towns all over France, becoming quite well known as a writer.
His most famous book was L'extinction du pauperisme , a study of the causes of poverty in the French industrial working class, with proposals to eliminate it.
His conclusion: "The working class has nothing, it is necessary to give them ownership. They have no other wealth than their own labor, it is necessary to give them work that will benefit all He was busy in prison, but also unhappy and impatient.
He was aware that the popularity of Napoleon Bonaparte was steadily increasing in France; the Emperor was the subject of heroic poems, books and plays.
Huge crowds had gathered in Paris on 15 December when the remains of Napoleon Bonaparte were returned with great ceremony to Paris and handed over to Louis Napoleon's old enemy, King Louis-Philippe, while Louis Napoleon could only read about it in prison.
On 25 May , with the assistance of his doctor and other friends on the outside, he disguised himself as a laborer carrying lumber, and walked out of the prison.
His enemies later derisively called him "Badinguet", the name of the laborer whose identity he had assumed. A carriage was waiting to take him to the coast and then by boat to England.
A month after his escape, his father Louis died, making Louis Napoleon the clear heir to the Bonaparte dynasty.
He quickly resumed his place in British society. He went back to his studies at the British Museum. He had an affair with the actress Rachel , the most famous French actress of the period, during her tours to Britain.
More important for his future career, he had an affair with the wealthy heiress Harriet Howard — They met in , soon after his return to Britain.
They began to live together, she took in his two illegitimate children and raised them with her own son, and she provided financing for his political plans so that, when the moment came, he could return to France.
Louis Napoleon's attempt to lead an uprising against Louis-Philippe ended in fiasco and ridicule. He was sentenced to prison for life in the fortress of Ham in Northern France.
The room in the fortress of Ham where Louis Napoleon studied, wrote, and conducted scientific experiments. He later often referred to what he had learned at "the University of Ham".
After his escape from prison, he had a brief affair with Rachel — , the most famous French actress of the time, during her London tours.
Louis Napoleon met the wealthy heiress Harriet Howard in She became his mistress and helped fund his return to France. In February , Louis Napoleon learned that the French Revolution of had broken out, and that Louis-Philippe, faced with opposition within his government and army, had abdicated.
Believing that his time had finally come, he set out for Paris on 27 February, departing England on the same day that Louis-Philippe left France for his own exile in England.
When he arrived in Paris, he found that the Second Republic had been declared, led by a Provisional Government headed by a Commission led by Alphonse de Lamartine , and that different factions of republicans, from conservatives to those on the far left, were competing for power.
He wrote to Lamartine announcing his arrival, saying that he "was without any other ambition than that of serving my country".
Lamartine wrote back politely but firmly, asking Louis-Napoleon to leave Paris "until the city is more calm, and not before the elections for the National Assembly ".
His close advisors urged him to stay and try to take power, but he wanted to show his prudence and loyalty to the Republic; while his advisors remained in Paris, he returned to London on 2 March and watched events from there.
In the next elections, on 4 June, where candidates could run in multiple departments, he was elected in four different departments; in Paris, he was among the top five candidates, just after the conservative leader Adolphe Thiers and Victor Hugo.
His followers were mostly on the left, from the peasantry and working class. The Moderate Republican leaders of the provisional government, Lamartine and Cavaignac , considered arresting him as a dangerous revolutionary, but once again he outmaneuvered them.
He wrote to the President of the Provisional Government: "I believe I should wait to return to the heart of my country, so that my presence in France will not serve as a pretext to the enemies of the Republic.
In June , the June Days Uprising broke out in Paris, led by the far left, against the conservative majority in the National Assembly.
Hundreds of barricades appeared in the working-class neighborhoods. General Cavaignac, the leader of the army, first withdrew his soldiers from Paris to allow the insurgents to deploy their barricades, and then returned with overwhelming force to crush the uprising; from 24 to 26 June, there were battles in the streets of the working class districts of Paris.
An estimated five thousand insurgents were killed at the barricades, fifteen thousand were arrested, and four thousand deported.
His absence from Paris meant that Louis Napoleon was not connected either with the uprising, or with the brutal repression that had followed.
He was still in London on 17—18 September, when the elections for the National Assembly were held, but he was a candidate in thirteen departments.
He was elected in five departments; in Paris, he received , votes of the , cast, the highest number of votes of any candidate.
He returned to Paris on 24 September, and this time he took his place in the National Assembly. In seven months, he had gone from a political exile in London to a highly visible place in the National Assembly, as the government finished the new Constitution and prepared for the first election ever of a President of the French Republic.
The new constitution of the Second Republic , drafted by a commission including Alexis de Tocqueville , called for a strong executive and a president elected by popular vote through universal male suffrage, rather than chosen by the National Assembly.
Louis Napoleon promptly announced his candidacy. There were four other candidates for the post: General Cavaignac, who had led the suppression of the June uprisings in Paris; Lamartine, the poet-philosopher and leader of the provisional government; Alexandre Auguste Ledru-Rollin , the leader of the socialists; and Raspail , the leader of the far left wing of the socialists.
He was accompanied by his companion, Harriet Howard, who gave him a large loan to help finance his campaign. He rarely went to the sessions of the National Assembly and rarely voted.
He was not a gifted orator; he spoke slowly, in a monotone, with a slight German accent from his Swiss education.
His opponents sometimes ridiculed him, one comparing him to "a turkey who believes he's an eagle". His campaign appealed to both the left and right.
His election manifesto proclaimed his support for "religion, family, property, the eternal basis of all social order". But it also announced his intent "to give work to those unoccupied; to look out for the old age of the workers; to introduce in industrial laws those improvements which don't ruin the rich, but which bring about the well-being of each and the prosperity of all".
His campaign agents, many of them veterans from Napoleon Bonaparte's army, raised support for him around the country. Louis Napoleon won the grudging endorsement of the conservative leader Adolphe Thiers , who believed he could be the most easily controlled; Thiers called him "of all the candidates, the least bad".
The elections were held on 10—11 December. Results were announced on 20 December. Louis Napoleon was widely expected to win, but the size of his victory surprised almost everyone.
He won 5,, votes, or The socialist Ledru-Rollin received ,; the extreme left candidate Raspail 37,, and the poet Lamartine only 17, votes. Louis Napoleon won the support of all segments of the population: the peasants unhappy with rising prices; unemployed workers; small businessmen who wanted prosperity and order; and intellectuals such as Victor Hugo.
He won the votes of The presidential campaign pitted Louis Napoleon against General Cavaignac, the Minister of Defense of the Provisional Government, and the leaders of the socialists.
Louis Napoleon's essay, "The Extinction of Pauperism", advocating reforms to help the working class, was widely circulated during the election campaign.
Adolphe Thiers recommended that he wear clothing of "democratic simplicity," but, following the model of his uncle, he chose instead the uniform of the General-in-Chief of the National Guard, and chose the title of "Prince-President".
He also made his first venture into foreign policy, in Italy, where as a youth he had joined in the patriotic uprising against the Austrians.
The previous government had sent an expeditionary force, which had been tasked and funded by the National Assembly to support the republican forces in Italy against the Austrians and against the Pope.
Instead the force was secretly ordered to do the opposite, namely to enter Rome to help restore the temporal authority of Pope Pius IX , who was being threatened by the troops of the Italian republicans Mazzini and Garibaldi.
The French troops came under fire from Garibaldi's soldiers. The Prince-President, without consulting his ministers, ordered his soldiers to fight if needed in support of the Pope.
This was very popular with French Catholics, but infuriated the republicans, who supported Garibaldi. To gain support from the Catholics, he approved the Loi Falloux in , which restored a greater role for the Catholic Church in the French educational system.
Elections were held for the National Assembly on 13—14 May , only a few months after Louis Napoleon had become president, and were largely won by a coalition of conservative republicans—which Catholics and monarchists called "The Party of Order "—led by Adolphe Thiers.
The socialists and "red" republicans, led by Ledru-Rollin and Raspail, also did well, winning two hundred seats. The moderate republicans, in the middle, did very badly, taking just seats.
The Party of Order had a clear majority, enough to block any initiatives of Louis Napoleon. On 11 June the socialists and radical republicans made an attempt to seize power.
Ledru-Rollin, from his headquarters in the Conservatory of Arts and Professions , declared that Louis Napoleon was no longer President and called for a general uprising.
A few barricades appeared in the working-class neighborhoods of Paris. Louis Napoleon acted swiftly, and the uprising was short-lived.
Paris was declared in a state of siege, the headquarters of the uprising was surrounded, and the leaders arrested.
Ledru-Rollin fled to England, Raspail was arrested and sent to prison, the republican clubs were closed, and their newspapers closed down.
The National Assembly, now without the left republicans and determined to keep them out forever, proposed a new election law that placed restrictions on universal male suffrage, imposing a three-year residency requirement.
This new law excluded 3. He secured the support of the army, toured the country making populist speeches that condemned the Assembly, and presented himself as the protector of universal male suffrage.
He demanded that the law be changed, but his proposal was defeated in the Assembly by a vote of to According to the Constitution of , he had to step down at the end of his term, so Louis Napoleon sought a constitutional amendment to allow him to succeed himself, arguing that four years were not enough to fully implement his political and economic program.
He toured the country and gained support from many of the regional governments and many within the Assembly. The vote in July was to in favor of changing the law and allowing him to run again, but this was short of the two-thirds majority needed to amend the constitution.
Louis Napoleon believed that he was supported by the people, and he decided to retain power by other means. The date set for the coup was 2 December, the anniversary of the Battle of Austerlitz and the anniversary of the coronation of Louis Napoleon's uncle Napoleon I.
On the night of 1—2 December, Saint Arnaud's soldiers quietly occupied the national printing office, the Palais Bourbon , newspaper offices, and the strategic points in the city.
In the morning, Parisians found posters around the city announcing the dissolution of the National Assembly, the restoration of universal suffrage, new elections, and a state of siege in Paris and the surrounding departments.
Sixteen members of the National Assembly were arrested in their homes. When about deputies of the moderate right gathered at the city hall of the 10th arrondissement , they were also arrested.
A few barricades appeared, and about 1, insurgents came out in the streets, but the army moved in force with 30, troops and the uprisings were swiftly crushed, with the killing of an estimated to opponents of the coup.
Louis Napoleon followed the self-coup by a period of repression of his opponents, aimed mostly at the red republicans.
About 26, people were arrested, including 4, in Paris alone. The inmates who were judged most severely were sent to the penal colony in Cayenne.
In , the remaining prisoners and exiles were amnestied, with the exception of the republican leader Ledru-Rollin, who was released from prison but required to leave the country.
Strict press censorship was enacted by a decree from 17 February No newspaper dealing with political or social questions could be published without the permission of the government, fines were increased, and the list of press offenses was expanded.
After three warnings, a newspaper or journal could be suspended or even permanently closed. Louis Napoleon wished to demonstrate that his new government had a broad popular mandate, so on 20—21 December a national plebiscite was held asking if voters agreed to the coup.
Mayors in many regions threatened to publish the names of any electors who refused to vote. When asked if they agreed to the coup, 7,, voters said yes, , voted no, and 1.
He became the most bitter critic of Louis Napoleon, rejected the amnesty offered him, and did not return to France for twenty years.
D'Allonville 's cavalry patrolled Paris during Napoleon's coup. Louis Napoleon's goal was to move from despotism to parliamentary government without a revolution, but instead he was a moderate increasingly trapped between the royalist and radical extremes.
Work began on the new document in It was officially prepared by a committee of eighty experts, but was actually drafted by a small group of the Prince-President's inner circle.
Under the new constitution, Louis-Napoleon was automatically reelected as president. Under Article Two, the president could now serve an unlimited number of year terms.
He alone was given the authority to declare war, sign treaties, form alliances and initiate laws. The Constitution re-established universal male suffrage , and also retained a National Assembly, albeit one with reduced authority.
Louis Napoleon's government imposed new authoritarian measures to control dissent and reduce the power of the opposition. One of his first acts was to settle scores with his old enemy, King Louis-Philippe, who had sent him to prison for life, and who had died in A decree on 23 January forbade the late King's family to own property in France and annulled the inheritance he had given to his children before he became King.
The National Guard, whose members had sometimes joined anti-government demonstrations, was re-organized and largely used only in parades.
Government officials were required to wear uniforms at official formal occasions. The Minister of Education was given the power to dismiss professors at the universities and review the content of their courses.
Students at the universities were forbidden to wear beards, seen as a symbol of republicanism. An election was held for a new National Assembly on 29 February , and all the resources of the government were used on behalf of the candidates backing the Prince-President.
Of eight million eligible voters, 5,, votes went to the official candidates and , to opposition candidates. About one third of the eligible voters abstained.
The new Assembly included a small number of opponents of Louis Napoleon, including 17 monarchists, 18 conservatives, two liberal democrats, three republicans and 72 independents.
Despite now holding all governing power in the nation, Louis Napoleon was not content with being an authoritarian president.
The ink had barely dried on the new, severely authoritarian constitution when he set about making himself emperor.
Following the election, the Prince-President went on a triumphal national tour. In Marseille, he laid the cornerstone of a new cathedral, a new stock exchange, and a chamber of commerce.
In Bordeaux, on 9 October , he gave his principal speech:. Drouyn de Lhuys , twice foreign minister, later commented that, "the Emperor has immense desires and limited abilities.
He wants to do extraordinary things but is only capable of extravagances. In response to officially inspired requests for the return of the empire, the Senate scheduled another referendum for 21—22 November on whether to make Napoleon emperor.
After an implausible 97 percent voted in favour 7,, votes for and , against, with two million abstentions , on 2 December —exactly one year after the coup—the Second Republic was officially ended, replaced by the Second French Empire.
His regnal name treats Napoleon II , who never actually ruled, as a true Emperor he had been briefly recognized as emperor from 22 June to 7 July The constitution was retained; it concentrated so much power in Napoleon's hands that the only substantive change was to replace the word "president" with the word "emperor".
One of the first priorities of Napoleon III was the modernization of the French economy, which had fallen far behind that of the United Kingdom and some of the German states.
Political economics had long been a passion of the Emperor. While in Britain, he had visited factories and railway yards, and in prison, he had studied and written about the sugar industry and policies to reduce poverty.
He wanted the government to play an active, not a passive, role in the economy. In , he had written: "Government is not a necessary evil, as some people claim; it is instead the benevolent motor for the whole social organism.
Instead, the government took a very active role in building the infrastructure for economic growth; stimulating the stock market and investment banks to provide credit; building railways, ports, canals and roads; and providing training and education.
He also opened up French markets to foreign goods, such as railway tracks from England, forcing French industry to become more efficient and more competitive.
The period was favorable for industrial expansion. The gold rushes in California and Australia increased the European money supply.
In the early years of the Empire, the economy also benefited from the coming of age of those born during the baby boom of the Restoration period.
These banks provided the funding for Napoleon III's major projects, from railway and canals to the rebuilding of Paris. In , France had only 3, kilometers of railway, compared with 10, kilometers in England and kilometers in Belgium , a country one-twentieth the size of France.
The government provided guarantees for loans to build new lines and urged railway companies to consolidate. There were 18 railway companies in and six at the end of the Empire.
During the Empire, the number of steamships tripled, and by , France possessed the second-largest maritime fleet in the world after England.
The canal project was funded by shares on the Paris stock market and led by a former French diplomat, Ferdinand de Lesseps. The rebuilding of central Paris also encouraged commercial expansion and innovation.
Its founder, Aristide Boucicaut , commissioned a new glass and iron building designed by Louis-Charles Boileau and Gustave Eiffel that opened in and became the model for the modern department store.
Other department stores quickly appeared: Au Printemps in and La Samaritaine in They were soon imitated around the world.
Napoleon III's program also included reclaiming farmland and reforestation. One such project in the Gironde department drained and reforested 10, square kilometers 3, square miles of moorland, creating the Landes forest , the largest maritime pine forest in Europe.
Napoleon III began his regime by launching a series of enormous public works projects in Paris, hiring tens of thousands of workers to improve the sanitation, water supply and traffic circulation of the city.
He installed a large map of Paris in a central position in his office, and he and Haussmann planned the new Paris. The population of Paris had doubled since , with neither an increase in its area nor a development of its structure of very narrow medieval streets and alleys.
To accommodate the growing population and those who would be forced from the center by the construction of new boulevards and squares, Napoleon III issued a decree in to annex eleven communes municipalities on the outskirts of Paris and increase the number of arrondissements city boroughs from twelve to twenty.
Paris was thus enlarged to its modern boundaries with the exception of the two major city parks Bois de Boulogne and Bois de Vincennes that only became part of the French capital in For the duration of Napoleon III's reign and a decade afterwards, most of Paris was an enormous construction site.
These two works increased the water supply of Paris from 87, to , cubic meters of water a day. He completely rebuilt the Paris sewers and installed miles of pipes to distribute gas for thousands of new streetlights along the Paris streets.
Beginning in , in the center of the city, Haussmann's workers tore down hundreds of old buildings and constructed new avenues to connect the central points of the city.
Buildings along these avenues were required to be the same height, constructed in an architecturally similar style, and be faced with cream-coloured stone to create the signature look of Paris boulevards.
The signature architectural landmark was the Paris Opera , the largest theater in the world, designed by Charles Garnier to crown the center of Napoleon III's new Paris.
Napoleon III also wanted to build new parks and gardens for the recreation and relaxation of the Parisians, particularly those in the new neighbourhoods of the expanding city.
Napoleon III's new parks were inspired by his memories of the parks in London, especially Hyde Park , where he had strolled and promenaded in a carriage while in exile; but he wanted to build on a much larger scale.
Working with Haussmann and Jean-Charles Adolphe Alphand , the engineer who headed the new Service of Promenades and Plantations, he laid out a plan for four major parks at the cardinal points of the compass around the city.
Thousands of workers and gardeners began to dig lakes, build cascades, plant lawns, flowerbeds and trees, and construct chalets and grottoes.
To the east, he created the Bois de Vincennes —65 , and to the north, the Parc des Buttes-Chaumont — The Parc Montsouris —78 was created to the south.
He also created some twenty small parks and gardens in the neighbourhoods as miniature versions of his large parks. Alphand termed these small parks "green and flowering salons".
The intention of Napoleon's plan was to have one park in each of the eighty "quartiers" neighbourhoods of Paris, so that no one was more than a ten-minute walk from such a park.
The parks were an immediate success with all classes of Parisians. The annexation increased the size of the city from twelve to the present twenty arrondissements.
The architect, Charles Garnier , described the style simply as "Napoleon the Third". The Bois de Boulogne , transformed by Napoleon III between and , was designed to give a place for relaxation and recreation to all the classes of Paris.
Soon after becoming emperor, Napoleon III began searching for a wife to give him an heir. They declined because of his Catholic religion and the political uncertainty about his future, as did the family of Princess Adelheid of Hohenlohe-Langenburg , a niece of Queen Victoria.
She received much of her education in Paris. The civil ceremony took place at Tuileries Palace on 22 January , and a much grander ceremony was held a few days later at the Cathedral of Notre Dame de Paris.
With an heir to the throne secured, Napoleon III resumed his " petites distractions " with other women.
She traveled to Egypt to open the Suez Canal and officially represented him whenever he traveled outside France.
Though a fervent Catholic and conservative on many other issues, she strongly advocated equality for women. In foreign policy, Napoleon III aimed to reassert French influence in Europe and around the world as a supporter of popular sovereignty and nationalism.
French troops assisted Italian unification by fighting on the side of the Kingdom of Sardinia. In return, France received Savoy and the county of Nice in Later, however, to appease fervent French Catholics, he sent soldiers to defend the residual Papal States against annexation by Italy.
In a speech at Bordeaux shortly after becoming Emperor, Napoleon III proclaimed that "The Empire means peace" " L'Empire, c'est la paix " , reassuring foreign governments that he would not attack other European powers in order to extend the French Empire.
He was, however, determined to follow a strong foreign policy to extend France's influence and warned that he would not stand by and allow another European power to threaten its neighbour.
In all of his foreign policy ventures, he put the interests of France first. Napoleon III felt that new states created on the basis of national identity would become natural allies and partners of France.
Lord Palmerston as Britain's foreign minister and prime minister had close personal ties with leading French statesmen, notably Napoleon III himself.
Palmerston's goal was to arrange peaceful relations with France in order to free Britain's diplomatic hand elsewhere in the world. After a brief threat of an invasion of Britain in , France and Britain cooperated in the s with an alliance in the Crimean War and a major trade treaty in War scares were consistently worked up by the press nonetheless.
John Delane , editor of The Times , visited France in January and was impressed by its military preparedness. He expressed his conviction that "Louis-Napoleon was resolved on a forward foreign policy".
The first purpose-built steam-powered battleship worryingly christened after Napoleon I was launched in , and the fortification of Cherbourg was strengthened.
This led to the extension of the breakwater of Alderney and the construction of Fort Clonque. He had lived there while in exile and saw Britain as a natural partner in the projects he wished to accomplish.
An opportunity soon presented itself: In early , Tsar Nicholas I of Russia put pressure on the weak Ottoman government, demanding that the Ottoman Empire give Russia a protectorate over the Christian countries of the Balkans as well as control over Constantinople and the Dardanelles.
When Russia refused to leave the Romanian territories it had occupied, Britain and France declared war on 27 March But just two days later, on 6 April, , his father drew up an act of abdication, removing himself and his descendants from power.
The Fontainebleau treaty of 11 April, , granted the child the title of Prince de Parme his mother would receive the title of Duchess of Parma shortly afterwards.
The prince had settled in Vienna in April , placed in the care of his grandfather, the Austrian emperor Francis I , who felt a great deal of affection for the child.
In , he was named the Duc de Reichstadt, a Bohemian territorial title. From this point on, he was treated as an Austrian prince.
Growing up, the child subsequently known as Frantz was very close to his aunt, the archduchess Sophie, whose son would later become Franz Joseph I of Austria.