Napoleon III - the first president of the French Republic and the last monarch of France, was the emperor's nephew. From his uncle he inherited the ability to conduct domestic politics and ambitious aspirations to seize territories. However, during the 22 years of his reign - from December 20, 1848 to September 4, 1870 - Napoleon III was never able to win the favor of his compatriots. The 200th anniversary of the birth of the ruler in 2008, the people of France refused to celebrate on a grand scale.
Childhood and youth
Napoleon III, named Charles Louis Napoleon at birth, was born on the night of April 20-21, 1808 in Paris. Father Louis Bonaparte was the younger brother of Napoleon I Bonaparte, and mother Hortense Beauharnais was his stepdaughter. Therefore, Louis (as the relatives called the boy in childhood) was destined to become the godson of the ruler of France. The christening ceremony took place on November 4, 1810.
Charles Louis was the third child in the family of Louis and Hortense. The first, Napoleon Charles, was born in 1802, and Napoleon I, having no children, planned to make him heir to the imperial throne. But the boy, who was destined for a great future, died at the age of 5.
The right to become the next ruler of France passed to the second son in the family - Napoleon Louis, and Charles Louis was next in line for him. But in 1811, the wife of Napoleon I, Marie-Louise of Austria, gave him the long-awaited heir, Napoleon II, and the situation for the children of Louis and Hortense worsened significantly.
Hortense revered Napoleon I as a ruler, so she imposed admiration for her uncle on her sons. Stories of great deeds made a special impression on Charles Louis, who, along with his mother, began to idolize the Emperor of France.
The cloudless childhood life of Louis ended on March 31, 1814, when he saw from the window how the soldiers of the anti-French coalition were entering Paris. The Emperor of All Russia, who led the army, did not wish harm to Josephine Beauharnais, the first wife of Napoleon I and mother of Hortense, her children and grandchildren. Hortense, having learned about this, decided to arrange the financial situation of her sons. The idea was successful, and with the assistance of Alexander I, she was given the title of Duchess de Se-Leu, a pension and an inheritance.
On January 1, 1816, a law was passed providing for the expulsion of the Bonaparte family from France, but Hortense left Paris with her sons a year earlier. In October 1815, Louis "sued" the eldest boy from his wife, and the duchess remained with Charles Louis. They settled in a castle in Switzerland. Here the future Napoleon III spent 17 years.
His mother hired a teacher, Philip Leba, who taught the boy history, talked about the revolution and wars of the French Republic, and then the Empire. The lessons only strengthened Charles Louis's love for his uncle, despite the fact that Napoleon I had already been removed from power.
Napoleon III in military uniform To broaden her horizons, Hortense sent her son to study at Augsburg College. There Louis studied German, Italian and English. In 1827, 19-year-old Charles Louis enrolled in the Military Engineering and Artillery School in Tournai. After completing his education, the young man entered the Swiss army, where in 1834 he received the rank of captain.
Political activity
The Bonapartes were still not allowed to return to France, and Charles Louis decided to pursue politics outside his native country. Together with his older brother Napoleon Louis, he took part in the conspiracy of the revolutionary Ciro Menotti, whose goal was to liberate Rome from the oppression of the papacy. The operation turned out to be a failure. In addition, during the campaign, Napoleon Louis contracted measles, from which he died on March 17, 1831.
In 1836, Charles Louis made the first attempt to seize the French throne, which was unsuccessful. The young man was taken to his native Paris to the ruling. He took pity on the nephew of Napoleon I and exiled to America, where Louis spent less than a year.
On August 6, 1840, the second attempt to seize power failed, and this time Louis-Philippe issued a more severe sentence to Charles Louis - life imprisonment in the fortress of Gam.
After 6 years, the young man fled. An interesting fact is that the reason for this was not the desire for freedom, but the news of the imminent death of his father. Louis died on September 25, 1846, leaving his son real estate in Italy and a million-dollar inheritance.
During the February Revolution of 1848, all prisoners were released, including supporters of Charles Louis. Thanks to their support, the future ruler was able to return to his native country. He was elected to the Constituent Assembly, and in the presidential elections of the French Republic on December 10 of the same year, he received 74% of the vote. The inauguration took place 10 days later. Then Napoleon III was 40 years old.
Governing body
In the election campaign, Charles Louis promised to transfer power to the new president after the expiration of his term, but in June 1951 he made an attempt to amend the Constitution in terms of the time and number of terms of the president. Refused, Napoleon III planned a coup. On December 2 of that year, the French Republic collapsed. The new Constitution of January 14, 1852 gave the president the right to rule for a 10-year term. These were the first steps towards the restoration of the Bonapartist monarchy.
The next political campaign of Charles Louis led to the fact that on November 21, 1852, France was officially recognized as an empire, and on December 2, 1852, he was Emperor Napoleon III.
On January 30, 1853, the ruler of France married the Spanish aristocrat Eugenia Montijo. Three years later, on March 16, 1856, the heir to the imperial throne, Eugene Louis Napoleon, was born, who was affectionately called Prince Lulu at court. In honor of this, Napoleon III released 1,200 prisoners.
The emperor cherished the dream of returning to France the Bonapartist regime, which mixed nationalism, conservatism, liberalism and socialism. One of the main features of Bonapartism is the balance between social classes. Considering everyone equal, Napoleon III proclaimed universal suffrage, forbade working on weekends and church holidays (the law was in effect until 1880).
The ruler sought to make France a liberal country. Under Napoleon III, the Maternal Mercy Society was created to support single and indigent mothers, a shelter for orphans, hospitals for the disabled and those who were injured at work, a pension was established for civil servants who have experience of 30 years. In 1854, the system of "cantonal medicine" was introduced, under which medical care was provided to villagers free of charge. In a word, Napoleon III tried to help all members of society.
In terms of economic development, France became the second world power after England: the volume of industrial production and agriculture increased, and trade increased due to the construction of railways.
Napoleon III, like his uncle Napoleon I, pursued the goal of expanding the territory of the state, but did not want to fight against Russia and England. In 1858, France and England started the Second Opium War with the Qing Empire, in 1859 Napoleon III decided to conquer Vietnam, and in 1863 he decided to put his protege at the head of Mexico. The last operation failed, causing the country's reputation to deteriorate.
Documentary film about Napoleon III from the series "History of morals"On July 19, 1870, Napoleon III took a rash step - he declared war on Prussia without proper preparation. The troops of France were defeated, and the ruler of the country was taken prisoner. There he learned about the September Revolution, as a result of which Empress Eugenie Montijo fled with her son from Paris, and Napoleon III himself was removed from power.
France declared surrender, a peace treaty was signed. On March 20, 1871, the now former ruler of France was released, and he left for his wife and son in England. About the events of those days in 2015, a documentary film "The History of Morals" was filmed.
Personal life
Napoleon III had the only legal wife - Eugenia Montijo. Alexandre Dumas son called their union "a triumph of love over prejudice, beauty over tradition, feelings over politics." The couple got married in Notre Dame Cathedral in 1853, three years later the heir to the French throne Napoleon IV Eugene Louis Jean Joseph Bonaparte was born, who never became emperor - he died in the Anglo-Zulu War in 1879.
Napoleon III had other children. Mistress Alexandrine-Eleanor Vergeot bore him Eugene (born 1843) and Alexandre Bure (born 1845). She raised her sons Elizabeth Ann Harriet Howard - another passion of the emperor. They dated until 1853, when Napoleon III got married. They are said to have continued to keep in touch until 1855.
Death
Even before the time of imprisonment in the fortress of Gam, Napoleon III suffered from rheumatism and hemorrhoids, and from the mid-1860s, pains in the lower abdomen and lower back were added. In 1872, the ruler was diagnosed with advanced urolithiasis. She required immediate surgery.
In January 1873, he underwent three operations, and on the eve of the fourth, on January 8, 1873, Napoleon III died - his weakened body could not withstand the stress. The tomb of the Emperor of France is located in the crypt of St Michael's Abbey, Farnborough.
In 1895 he wrote in one of the Parisian newspapers:
“I grew up under the influence of . His "Napoleon the Lesser" was for me a historical book in which the absolute truth was stated. At the age of 20, in the era of the dawn of the Empire, I considered the nephew of the great Napoleon a bandit, a "night robber." But I have since changed my mind about him. Napoleon III, represented in "Napoleon the Lesser", is a monster born solely of the imagination of Victor Hugo. In fact, there is nothing less like the original than a painted portrait ... ".
Napoleon III wrote scientific and literary articles on history, individual rulers, and reforms. His first works were published in 1831 - "Textbook of Artillery" and "Political and Military Reflections on Switzerland". A year later, he published Political Dreams, and in Napoleonic Ideas (1839) he talks about an ideally arranged state.
“The people have the right to elect and make decisions, the legislature to discuss laws, and the emperor to exercise executive power,” wrote Napoleon III.
He tried to implement these ideas during the 22 years of his reign.
During his life sentence in Gam prison, Napoleon III, as the nephew of Napoleon I, was granted privileges. Every day, two hours a day, his mistress Eleanor Vergeot spent with him. Guests were allowed to see the prisoner, among whom were journalist Louis Blanc, writers Francois Rene de Chateaubriand and Alexandre Dumas son, Duchess of Hamilton. In addition, Napoleon III was allowed to organize a library in the cell.
Napoleon III had a rich personal life. Even in marriage, he made mistresses, among them the wife of the Minister of Foreign Affairs - Countess Marianna Walevskaya, the daughter of the prefect of the Seine Department - Baroness Valentina Haussmann, Countess Louise de Mercy-Argento. Some of the mistresses had children from the emperor.
In the biography of Napoleon III, there were three attempts on his life - April 26 and September 8, 1855, January 14, 1858. During the last operation, 8 people were killed, 156 were injured - then a bomb was thrown into the imperial carriage.
Awards
- 1848 - Order of the Legion of Honor
- 1849 - Order of Pius IX
- 1850 - Order of the Golden Fleece
- 1853 - Order of St. Hubert
- 1854 - Triple Order
- 1855 - Order of the Garter
- 1856 - Order of the Holy Apostle Andrew the First-Called
- 1859 - Gold medal "For military valor"
- 1863 - Order of the Savior
Charles Louis Napoleon Bonaparte(fr. Charles Louis Napoleon Bonaparte), called Louis Napoleon Bonaparte (Louis-Napoleon Bonaparte e), later Napoleon III (Napoleon III; April 20, 1808 - January 9, 1873) - the first president of the French Republic from December 20, 1848 to December 1, 1852, Emperor of the French from December 1, 1852 to September 4, 1870 (he was in captivity from September 2, 1870).
The nephew of Napoleon I, after a series of conspiracies to seize power, came to her peacefully as President of the Republic (1848). Having made a coup (1851) and eliminating the legislature, by means of "direct democracy" (plebiscite) he established an authoritarian police regime and a year later proclaimed himself emperor of the Second Empire. After ten years of rather tight control, the Second Empire, which became the embodiment of the ideology of Bonapartism, moved to some democratization (1860s), which was accompanied by the development of the French economy and industry. A few months after the adoption of the liberal constitution of 1870, which returned the rights to parliament, the Franco-Prussian war put an end to Napoleon's rule, during which the emperor was captured by the Germans and never returned to France.
Napoleon III was the last monarch of France.
Biography
early years
He was born Charles Louis Napoleon. Baptized November 4, 1810 in the chapel of the Saint-Cloud Palace. He almost did not know his father, since the forced marriage of his parents was unhappy and his mother lived in constant separation from her husband; three years after the birth of Louis Napoleon, she had an illegitimate son, Charles de Morny (whose father was the natural son of Talleyrand). Louis Napoleon himself was recognized as the father, although later in the literature hostile to him (by the way, V. Hugo) doubts were expressed about the legality of his birth, and not without factual grounds. Growing up in the splendor of the court of Napoleon I, under the influence of his mother, Louis, Napoleon from childhood showed an equally passionate and equally romantic devotion to his uncle. By nature, he was a kind, gentle and meek person, although occasionally and quick-tempered; was generous. All his instincts and feelings were outweighed by a fanatical faith in his star and devotion to "Napoleonic ideas", the former guiding ideas of his life. A passionate man and at the same time full of self-control (according to V. Hugo, the Dutchman curbed the Corsican in him), from his youth he strove for one cherished goal, confidently and firmly clearing the way to it and not embarrassed at the same time in choosing means.
Throughout his youth, starting in 1814, Louis Napoleon spent in wandering, which, however, was not associated with material deprivation, since his mother managed to accumulate a huge fortune. Queen Hortense could not stay in France after the fall of the emperor, despite Alexander I's personal sympathy for her. She was also expelled from the German states, and therefore, having changed several places of residence, she bought herself the castle of Arenenberg in the Swiss canton of Thurgau, on the shores of Lake Constance, where she settled with her two sons. Louis Napoleon during these wanderings could not receive a systematic school education, he did not attend the gymnasium in Augsburg for long. His personal tutors (except for his mother) were Abbé Bertrand and Leba, the son of a terrorist. In Switzerland, Louis Napoleon entered the military service and was a captain of artillery. The result of his study of military affairs was his pamphlet: "Considérations politiques et militaires sur la Suisse" (P., 1833) and the book: "Manuel d'artillerie" (P., 1836; both works are reprinted in the collection of his works).
In 1830-31. Louis Napoleon, together with his older brother Napoleon-Louis, took part in the conspiracy of the Modena revolutionary Ciro Menotti and on an expedition to Romagna; the purpose of the expedition was the liberation of Rome from the secular power of the popes. After the failure of the expedition, during which his older brother died, Louis Napoleon managed to escape with an English passport through all of Italy to France, from where he was immediately expelled.
First steps into power
In 1832, the Duke of Reichstadt died, and the role of representative of Napoleonic ideas and claims passed to Louis Napoleon. In 1832, he declared this with the pamphlet Rêveries politiques, which, like the pamphlet: Des idées Napoléoniennes (P., 1839), best expresses the ideals and aspirations of the young Napoleon. “If the Rhine,” he says, “were the sea, if virtue were the only stimulus to human activity, if only merit paved the way to power, I would strive for a republic.” In fact, this is not so - and therefore Louis Napoleon prefers a monarchical form, which, at the same time, would implement republican principles. The people, the legislative body, the emperor - these are the three powers that must exist in the state. “The people have the right to elect and the right to sanction, the legislature has the right to discuss laws, the emperor has the executive power. The country will be happy when harmony prevails between these three authorities... Harmony between the government and the people exists in two cases: either the people govern by the will of one, or one governs by the will of the people. In the first case it is despotism, in the second it is freedom.” The government of Louis Philippe I did not attach serious importance to the young contender for power, but the enemies of the government, both from the republican (Armand Carrel, later George Sand) and from the legitimist camp (Chateaubriand), believing in the personal honesty and patriotism of Louis Napoleon or hoping to take advantage of them to overthrow the existing government, inflate its importance and spread its glory.
Strasbourg conspiracy
In 1836, Louis Napoleon made a romantic and reckless attempt to seize power. With the help of his loyal supporter, the former officer Persigny, he plotted in Strasbourg, in which he attracted several officers, including Colonel Vaudret, who commanded one of the artillery regiments of the Strasbourg garrison. On October 30, Louis Napoleon, who had arrived in Strasbourg the day before, appeared at the barracks of the regiment in a suit reminiscent of that of Napoleon I, with a historical cocked hat on his head; he was accompanied by a retinue consisting of conspirators who carried the imperial eagle. Vaudret was waiting for him at the head of the soldiers to whom he had just distributed money. Seeing Louis Napoleon, Vaudret exclaimed that a revolution had broken out in France, Louis Philippe I had been deposed and power should pass to the heir of the great emperor, whom Vaudret called Napoleon II. The soldiers greeted the applicant with exclamations: "Long live the emperor!" In another regiment, soldiers insufficiently trained by the conspirators arrested Louis Napoleon and his supporters. Louis Philippe I released him from prison, limiting himself to deporting him to America. The participants in the conspiracy were put on trial, but, in view of the release of the main culprit, as well as in view of the humiliated letter read at the trial, in which Louis Napoleon repented of his crime, praised the generosity and mercy of the king and asked for mercy for his supporters, the court could only justify them all.
In 1837, Louis Napoleon returned from America to Europe and settled in Switzerland, which he, at the request of the French government, was soon forced to leave, and moved to England.
Boulogne landing and imprisonment
In 1840, when the government of Louis Philippe I, by its decision to transport the body of Napoleon I to France, itself gave a new impetus to the spread of the Napoleonic cult, Louis Napoleon considered it timely to repeat his attempt to seize power. He hired a steamer, organized an expedition in London and, having attracted several officers of the Boulogne garrison to his side, on August 6, 1840, he landed in Boulogne. Proclamations were circulated around the city, in which the government was accused of a sharp increase in taxes, of the ruin of the people, of an absurd African war, of despotism, and a promise was made that Louis Napoleon would “rely solely on the will and interests of the people and create an unshakable building; without exposing France to the accidents of war, he will give her a lasting peace." Not limited to a suit, a hat and the usual signs of imperial dignity, Louis Napoleon had a tamed eagle with him, which, released at a certain moment, was supposed to soar above his head. But this moment did not come, since the second attempt ended even more deplorably than the first. The soldiers of the first regiment, who introduced himself to Louis Napoleon, arrested him and his supporters, and Louis Napoleon, during the scuffle, shot at one of the soldiers. The conspirators were put on trial in the House of Peers; Berrier, Marie, Jules Favre were among the defenders. The peers, extremely harsh towards ordinary revolutionaries, were very lenient towards Louis Napoleon and his supporters and sentenced Louis Napoleon to a punishment that did not exist in the French code, namely, to life imprisonment without restriction of rights.
Louis Napoleon was imprisoned in the Gam fortress ( Forteress de Ham where he spent 6 years. He enjoyed very considerable freedom there: he received friends, wrote articles, published books. Inflated by obliging journalists, the suffering of the Gama prisoner attracted many friends to his side; at this time, several press organs arose with the special purpose of propagating his ideas. He was rendered the greatest service by the Progrès du Pas-de-Calais, whose editor, the sincere republican De Georges, believed that Louis Napoleon's mistakes were redeemed by his sufferings and that "he is no longer a pretender, but a member of our party, a fighter for our banner" .
Louis Napoleon himself wrote a lot in this journal. During his imprisonment, Louis Napoleon significantly expanded his insufficiently systematic education. His main works published during this time are the treatise "Analyse de la question des sucres" (Paris, 1842) and the brochure "Extinction du paupérisme" (P., 1844). This latter contains a critique of economic relations that is not without seriousness, leading to the fact that “remuneration for labor depends on chance and arbitrariness ... The working class owns nothing; he should be made the owner." To this end, Louis Napoleon proposes a rather fantastic, albeit supported by statistical tables, plan for the organization, at the expense of the state, of numerous farms on which the proletarians would be settled. The brochure, compiled under the undoubted influence of Louis Blanc, aroused sympathy for N. in many socialists. In 1846, Louis Napoleon, disguised as a bricklayer, with a board on his shoulder, managed, with the help of friends, to escape from the fortress and move to England.
Revolution of 1848 and rise to power
After the revolution on February 24, 1848, Louis Napoleon hurried to Paris, but the provisional government ordered him to leave France. In May 1848 he was elected a deputy in four departments, including the department of the Seine; but resigned. In September, re-elected in five departments, he joined the constituent assembly. In his speeches and messages of this period, he declared that he could put forward his claims as the heir to the empire only in the presence of the king; but in view of the republic, based on the will of the whole French people, he renounces these pretensions, and, as a faithful servant of the people, is a sincere and ardent republican. He abstained from voting on practical matters.
In November 1848 he was a candidate for the presidency of the republic. His electoral manifesto, without giving a single definite promise, tried by vague phrases to arouse hope and sympathy in all parties; he promised “after four years to transfer to his successor the power - firm, freedom - inviolable, progress - realized in practice”, spoke about the patronage of religion, family, property, freedom of religion and teaching, about economy, about measures in favor of the workers. On December 10, the vote took place; Louis Napoleon received 5,430,000 votes (75%), against 1,450,000 received by General Cavaignac and 440,000 by other candidates. These were the first direct (although not universal, due to the electoral qualification and lack of voting rights for women) elections of the head of the French state. The next direct presidential elections were held only in 1965.
President of the French Republic
On December 20, he took an oath of allegiance to the republic and the constitution and took power into his own hands. The first president of France, Bonaparte is still the youngest of all elected to this post: he took office at the age of 40.
In his speech at the inauguration, full of vague phrases, he made one clear and definite promise: "to consider as enemies of the fatherland all those who will attempt to change by illegal means established by all of France." This statement was far from the only one of its kind. In a message to the Chamber of Deputies on November 12, 1850, Napoleon declared his intention to be unwaveringly faithful to the constitution. In various speeches and messages, he insisted that he never gave and never will give a reason not to believe his word. In a ministerial council, he once stated bluntly that a representative of power who would dare to violate the constitution would be "a dishonorable person." In a speech delivered by him in Gama, he expressed regret that once
committed a crime, violating the laws of the motherland. In conversations with deputies and ministers, he went even further and called the 18th brumaire a crime, the desire to imitate him was madness. By such statements, he succeeded to a large extent in calming the suspicions of his enemies. In fact, however, preparations for a coup d'état began quite early. During the review on October 10, 1850 in Satori, the cavalry shouted: "Long live Napoleon, long live the emperor!" The infantry, warned by General Nijmeyer that, according to military regulations, silence is mandatory in the ranks, paraded before the president in silence. A few days later, General Nijmeyer was fired. The commander-in-chief of the Parisian army, General Changarnier, by daytime order, read to the troops, forbade the soldiers to make any kind of exclamation in the ranks. A few months later, Changarnier was also fired. During the debate on this issue in the House, Thiers said: "the empire has already been created" (l'empire est fait). However, the House did not take any measures to prevent a coup d'état. The composition of the legislative assembly, elected in May 1849, was reactionary. At first, it rather energetically supported the president, who was walking along the same road. The expedition launched by the President in April, 1849, to destroy the Roman Republic and restore papal authority, met with the fullest approval in the House.
On May 1, 1850, the electoral law was changed; as a result of the new registration procedure, three million citizens lost the right to vote. This law was drafted by the government and submitted to the House with the approval of the President; nevertheless, in the eyes of the people, the responsibility for it fell to one house. Shortly thereafter, the agreement between the president and the monarchist (Orleanist and Legitimist) majority of the chamber broke down, and the chamber began to slow down the activities of the president. In favor of the revision of the 1848 constitution he desired, the necessary two-thirds majority was not obtained, and thus the legal possibility of his re-election as president for a new four-year term was eliminated. His term of office expired in May 1852. This was one of the motives that forced the president to hurry.
Coup d'état December 2, 1851 Main article: Coup d'état December 2, 1851
Napoleon, assuming the office of president, solemnly swore to be faithful to the republic and to protect its laws. In fact, he never for a moment stopped dreaming of abolishing the republic and becoming emperor.
Napoleon plotted against the republic. The conspirators fired officers and generals loyal to the republic. The coup was scheduled for December 2, 1851 (the anniversary of the Battle of Austerlitz in 1805) - one of the most brilliant victories of Napoleon I.
Detachments of troops occupied the buildings of the Legislative Assembly and other government offices. By decree of the President of the Republic, Louis Napoleon Bonaparte, the Assembly was dissolved, most of its deputies were arrested by police commissars and taken to prison. The uprisings raised in Paris and in some other places by the supporters of the republic were mercilessly suppressed. All power was in the hands of Napoleon, who organized this coup d'état, which led to the liquidation of the republic and the establishment of an empire in France.
The Emperor of the French, during the President's tour of France, staged a sufficient number of demonstrations in favor of restoring the empire; the president himself in his speeches repeatedly hinted at its desirability. “They say that the empire will lead the war. Not! The Empire is the world!” he said in Bordeaux. Prompted by these demonstrations, the Senate, on November 7, spoke in favor of the conversion of France into a hereditary empire, and on November 22, a corresponding change in the constitution was sanctioned by a plebiscite; it received 7,800,000 votes. On December 2, 1852, the president was proclaimed emperor of the French under the name of Napoleon III. His civil list was fixed at 25 million francs. The European powers immediately recognized the new empire; only Russia somewhat slowed down with its recognition, and Nicholas I refused the new emperor the usual appeal of the monarch to the monarch "Monsieur mon frère". An attempt to marry a princess from a sovereign house failed, and therefore on January 30, 1853, Napoleon III married Eugenie de Montijo, Countess of Teba.
Until now, Napoleon III succeeded; his abilities proved to be quite sufficient to deftly take advantage of the mistakes of enemies and, based on the brilliance of his name, arrange skillful conspiracies. But these abilities were not enough when it became necessary to govern independently such a state as France.
Napoleon III showed neither the military nor the administrative genius of his uncle; Bismarck, not without reason, later called him "an unrecognized, but major mediocrity." In the first decade, however, external circumstances were extremely favorable for Napoleon III.
Foreign policy
The Crimean War elevated him to a high degree of power and influence. In 1855, he made a trip to London with Empress Eugenia, where he met with a brilliant reception; in the same year, the kings of Sardinia and Portugal and the queen of England visited Paris. The Italian policy of Napoleon III was peculiar. He sought to unite the Apennine peninsula, but with the condition of maintaining the inviolability of the secular power of the popes; at the same time, he needed the unification to be accomplished not by democrats and republicans, but by conservative elements. Since, in fact, these aspirations hampered the progress of unification, the Italian revolutionaries looked at Napoleon III with particular hatred. Three attempts on his life were organized by the Italians: the first - Pianori (April 28, 1855), the second - Bellamare (September 8, 1855), the last - Orsini (January 14, 1858).
In 1859, Napoleon III began a war with Austria, the result of which for France was the annexation of Nice and Savoy. The success placed France in a preeminent position among the European powers. At the same time, French expeditions against China (1857-1860), Japan (1858), Annam (1858-1862) and Syria (1860-1861) were successful.
From the mid-1860s, a period of setbacks began for France. In 1862, Napoleon III undertook an expedition to Mexico, which was an imitation of the Egyptian expedition of Napoleon I and was supposed to decorate the empire with cheap military laurels. But the expedition was a complete fiasco; French troops were to retire from Mexico, leaving the Republicans to sacrifice their revenge on the Mexican throne of Emperor Maximilian. In 1863, an attempt by Napoleon III to organize the intervention of European powers in favor of rebellious Poland failed, and in 1866 he did not understand the significance for France of the war between Prussia and Austria and allowed a brilliant victory for Prussia, which significantly strengthened this dangerous neighbor, without any reward for France.
In 1867, Napoleon III tried to satisfy the offended public opinion of France by buying the Grand Duchy of Luxembourg from the King of the Netherlands and conquering Belgium, but the untimely disclosure of his project and threats from Prussia forced him to abandon this plan. In May 1870, another plebiscite was held, and a third of the French voted against the government. According to Napoleon III's entourage, only a victorious war could save power.
Domestic politics
Failures in foreign policy were reflected in domestic policy. Having gained power thanks to the assistance of clerical and reactionary elements, Napoleon III had to give up all his socialist and democratic dreams from the very beginning. A strictly monarchical constitution in a country that had gone through several revolutions and was familiar with freer orders could only be maintained by relying on severe police oppression: the press was subjected to a regime of warnings, the courts were an instrument of the executive branch, parliamentary elections were held under strong pressure from the administration (see Second Empire ).
Some concession to public opinion had to be made already in 1860, when by a decree on November 12 the right of the address to the throne speech was returned to the legislature and explanations on behalf of the government began to be given to the chambers by ministers (and not just members of the state council). In 1867, the chambers were given the right to interpellate, and in 1868 a new, more liberal press law was passed. The strengthening of the opposition in the elections of 1869 led to new concessions from Napoleon III, and on January 2, 1870, the liberal ministry of Ollivier was formed, which was supposed to reform the constitution, restoring the responsibility of the ministers and expanding the limits of the power of the legislative assembly. In May 1870, the project developed by the ministry was approved by a plebiscite, but it did not have time to enter into force. The policy of maneuvering the head of state between the interests of various social groups received an independent name - "Bonapartism".
Franco-Prussian War, captivity and deposition Main article: Franco-Prussian War
In the summer of 1870 there were complications between France and Prussia. Partly under the influence of the empress, Napoleon III, confident in the military power of France and hoping to make up for all the mistakes of his policy by victory, acted in an extremely defiant manner and brought the matter to war (see Franco-Prussian War). The war revealed all the fragility of the state and social system that was created on December 2. The situation was further complicated by the uprising of the Paris Commune. Near Sedan, Napoleon III himself was forced to surrender to the enemy, after he, in his words, "failed to find death." On September 2, Napoleon III went to the Wilhelmgoge castle assigned to him by William I.
A day after the surrender of Napoleon III, the September Revolution began in Paris, overthrowing the government of the emperor.
Released from captivity after the conclusion of peace, he left for England, in Chizlhurst, publishing a protest against the decision of the Bordeaux National Assembly on his overthrow. In Chislehurst he spent the rest of his life and died after an operation to crush kidney stones. The body was buried in the crypt of St. Michael's Abbey, Farnborough. His son and wife were later buried there. In 1880 Empress Eugenie bought a house in Farnborough. Devastated by the loss of her husband and son, she built St. Michael's Abbey as a convent and Imperial Mausoleum.
From Eugenia, he had one child, Napoleon Eugene, Prince of the Empire, after the death of his father, proclaimed Napoleon IV by the Bonapartists. In 1879, the 23-year-old prince, who was in the British service, died in South Africa in a skirmish with the Zulus.
Compositions
All the writings of Napoleon III, published by him before 1869, as well as many of his speeches, messages and letters, with the exception, of course, of those that could compromise him, are collected by him in Oeuvres de N. III (Paris, 1854-69). This collection did not include only "Histoire de Jules César" (Paris, 1865-66; Russian translation of St. Petersburg, 1865-66), which was directly assisted by Louis Maury. This book testifies to a serious study of Roman history, written in a lively, elegant language, not without some signs of artistic talent, but extremely tendentious; praising Caesar, Napoleon III clearly justified himself. The author aims to "prove that providence creates such people as Julius Caesar, Charlemagne, Napoleon I, in order to pave the way for peoples to follow, imprint them with a new era of genius and complete the work of centuries in a few years." “Caesar, as the head of the people's party, felt that he had a great cause behind him; it pushed him forward and obliged him to win, regardless of legality, the accusations of enemies and the unknown court of posterity. Roman society demanded a ruler, oppressed Italy - a representative of their rights, the world, bent under the yoke - a savior. Of the subsequent writings of Napoleon III, "Forces militaires de la France" (1872) is significant. After the death of Napoleon III, Oeuvres posthumes, autographes inédits de N. III en exil (P., 1873) were published.
Biography
Born Charles Louis Napoleon Bonaparte on April 20, 1808 in Paris. His father Louis Bonaparte is the king of Holland, the younger brother of Napoleon I. His mother is Hortense Beauharnais, daughter from the first marriage of Empress Josephine, the first wife of Napoleon I.
After the expulsion of the Bonapartes from France in 1815, Louis Napoleon - as he was commonly known until 1852 - studied mainly with private tutors in Italy, Switzerland and Germany, and received military training in the Swiss army. In 1831 he took part in the defeated revolution in the Papal States. In 1832, after the death of the Duke of Reichstadt, son of Napoleon I, he became the main contender for the throne of France through the Bonapartes and devoted himself to conquering the throne.
October 31, 1836 in Strasbourg, he attempted a military rebellion against King Louis Philippe, but was arrested and expelled from France. He continued to conduct propaganda from London, where he published the book Napoleonic Ideas (Ides napoloniennes, 1840), in which he argued that the Bonapartes had no desire for conquest and tyranny. "The Napoleonic idea," he wrote, "is not a military idea, but a social, industrial, commercial and humanitarian one," aimed at supporting the material well-being of the population. On August 6, 1840, Louis Napoleon landed in Boulogne, repeating his attempt to seize power, but the troops he counted on refused to support him. He was arrested, convicted and sentenced to life imprisonment in the Gam fortress. Here Napoleon III continued to write, promoting his policies. Of particular fame was his book Overcoming pauperism (Extinction du pauprisme, 1844), which increased the number of his supporters among the people, who were increasingly imbued with the Napoleonic legend. In 1846, with the help of a brilliant disguise, Louis Napoleon escaped from prison and returned to England.
The February Revolution of 1848 in France finally gave him the long-awaited chance. In June 1848, four departments elected him to the Legislative Assembly, and in December, by a majority of votes, he was elected President of the Republic for a term of 4 years. He received 5,434,236 votes, and his rival - 1,498,107. Having played on the growing disillusionment in the parliamentary government and the growing fear of a "red" uprising, on December 2, 1851, he carried out a coup d'état, arrested about 20,000 of his opponents, dissolved the Legislative Assembly and appealed to the people with a request to grant him virtually dictatorial powers. A plebiscite on December 20, 1851 approved him as president for a term of 10 years. A year later, a new plebiscite proclaimed him Napoleon III, Emperor of France. (A son of Napoleon I who never reigned was considered Napoleon II.)
The marriage in 1853 of the new emperor to Eugenia Montijo, a beautiful Spaniard, revived the glory of the French court - wasteful and outwardly extravagant. Napoleon had an only son, Prince Louis-Napoleon, who was born in 1856 and died in 1879 without heirs.
Napoleon III introduced an authoritarian regime, seized all key positions of power, introduced censorship, turned the Legislative Assembly into a registering authority that did not have the right to propose or repeal laws, and unleashed the persecution of the opposition. For a while, this regime held firm enough. The peasants, who provided Napoleon with an overwhelming majority of votes, cared little about Parisian politicians, they were much more concerned about their own material interests. They were said to wear their hearts on the left and their pockets on the right. Napoleon provided them with subsidies and benefits, and they paid him loyalty.
The emperor established banks, supported the development of agriculture by creating model farms and carried out land reclamation, stimulated the construction of railways and communications, encouraged the construction of the Suez Canal, introduced a free trade system for the development and modernization of industry, launched large-scale public works - primarily the restructuring of Paris under the leadership of Baron Georges Haussmann.
However, dissatisfaction with his despotism grew among the middle bourgeoisie and the working class. Napoleon could not fail to see this and, in order to prevent events, made concessions by issuing decrees on November 24, 1860 and January 19, 1867. On January 2, 1870, Napoleon III transferred most of his powers to the ministry under the leadership of the liberal leader Emile Olivier. In the plebiscite of May 8, 1870, this liberal regime received the support of 7,300,000 votes, only 1,500,000 voted against.
In foreign policy, Napoleon III suffered constant defeats. He promised peace after he came to power, but soon became involved in the Crimean War with Russia (1854-1856). The victory in this war raised the prestige of the country. In 1859, in alliance with the kingdom of Sardinia, Napoleon declared war on Austria in order to liberate Italy. In exchange for the support of Sardinia, France received Nice and Savoy. But the unexpected peace with Austria angered the Italians, the annexations displeased the British, and the capture by the Italians of all papal possessions (except Rome) set the Catholics in France against him.
In 1861-1866, Napoleon sent troops to Mexico and placed the Austrian Archduke Maximilian of Habsburg on the throne. This expensive adventure turned into a complete failure, and the Mexicans, captured Maximilian, were executed in 1867. Napoleon's sluggish protest against the suppression of the uprising in Poland (1863-1864) turned both Russians and Poles against him. By the end of Napoleon's reign, France had no reliable allies left.
When French public opinion was worried about the conquests of Prussia and the growth of its power, Napoleon demanded territorial compensation on the borders of the Rhine (1867-1868), then succumbed to the intrigues of Prussia in Spain and, finally, played into the hands of Bismarck, declaring war on Prussia on July 19, 1870. Napoleon finally undermined his reputation by personally leading the army, although the disease did not allow him to even sit in the saddle. On September 2, 1870, he surrendered at Sedan, and two days later was overthrown during the revolution in Paris.
After the conclusion of peace in 1871, Napoleon was released from captivity and left for England with his son and wife. Napoleon died at Chislehurst on January 9, 1873.
Napoleon III(Napoleon III), Louis Bonaparte, full name Charles Louis Napoleon Bonaparte (April 20, 1808, Paris - January 9, 1873, Chislehurst Castle, near London), French emperor (1852-1870).
Nephew of Napoleon. He was the third son in the family of a younger brother Napoleon I Louis Bonaparte and stepdaughter of Napoleon I Hortense, daughter of Josephine Beauharnais from her first marriage to General A. Beauharnais. After the death of his father in 1846, he headed the House of Bonaparte.
The first years of Louis Napoleon's life were spent in Holland, of which his father was king in 1806-1810. He spent his youth in Switzerland (Arenenberg Castle), where he lived with his mother after the collapse of the empire of Napoleon I. He received mainly home education. His mentor was Philippe Leba, the son of one of his associates Maximilian Robespierre. He also studied at the military school in Tuna (Switzerland).
Revolutionary Prince. In 1830-1831, Louis Napoleon took part in the revolutionary movement in Italy against Austrian rule. As a result of repression, he was forced to flee to France, where in 1832 he was received by King Louis Philippe I. In 1836, he tried to raise an armed rebellion in Strasbourg, but was arrested and deported to the United States. In 1840 he secretly returned to France and tried to rebel the garrison of the city of Boulogne, but was arrested and sentenced by the chamber of peers to life imprisonment. Louis Napoleon was serving his sentence in the fortress of Am, from where he escaped in 1846. During his imprisonment, he wrote several essays on socio-political topics, in which he argued that France needed a regime that combined the best qualities of a monarchy and a republic - order and freedom.
Path to power. From 1846, Louis Napoleon lived in England. The revolution of 1848 allowed him to return to his homeland. He was elected first as a deputy of the Constituent Assembly (September 1848), and then as President of the Republic (December 1848).
On December 2, 1851, Louis Napoleon carried out a coup d'état, which led to the establishment of a Bonapartist dictatorship. A year later, the hereditary power of the emperor was restored in France, confirmed by a plebiscite on December 10, 1852 (Second Empire). Louis Napoleon Bonaparte adopted the name of Napoleon III, considering the never-reigning Napoleon II (son of Napoleon I) as his predecessor.
Emperor of the French. With the establishment of the Second Empire, the institutions of parliamentary democracy (legislative chambers, elections of deputies, the political press, etc.) turned into a screen for the unlimited power of Napoleon III. The core of the state was the apparatus of executive power subordinated to the emperor, starting with the cabinet of ministers and ending with the prefects of departments and mayors of cities and communes. Legislative chambers were powerless, police arbitrariness reigned.
The main support of the Bonapartist dictatorship was the top of the French army. In 1854, Napoleon intervened in the conflict between Turkey and Russia - in alliance with Great Britain, France participated in Crimean War 1853-1856 on the side of Turkey; in 1859, in alliance with Piedmont, he waged war with Austria; sent an expeditionary force to Mexico in 1863; in 1867 he sent troops to Italy against the detachments of Garibaldi.
Napoleon III contributed to economic progress. The removal of restrictions on the activity of share capital, the conclusion of a free trade agreement with Great Britain (1860), the reconstruction of Paris, the construction of the Suez Canal (1859-1869), the holding of world exhibitions in the French capital (1855, 1867) led to an increase in business activity and the acceleration of industrialization.
On January 29, 1853, Napoleon III married the daughter of the noble Spanish aristocrat Count de Montijo - Eugenia, Countess Teba. In 1856, an heir was born to the imperial couple - Prince Napoleon Eugene Louis Jean Joseph.
liberal empire. In the early 1860s, the growth of the budget deficit forced the emperor to enter into a dialogue with the liberal opposition and implement political reforms: to restore freedom of the press and assembly, to introduce control of the chambers over the activities of ministers. In 1869, the chambers acquired all the rights of the legislature - the right to initiate legislation, discuss and vote bills and the state budget. For the first time, the principle of government responsibility to the chambers was proclaimed. The plebiscite on May 8, 1870 showed that the majority of voters supported the government's policies. Nevertheless, a part of society, represented by the left-liberal opposition, still condemned the empire as an illegal regime and demanded a return to republican rule.
Fall of the Second Empire. The collapse of the Second Empire hastened the defeat in Franco-Prussian War 1870-1871. On July 28, 1870, Napoleon III left for the active army, entrusting the regency to Empress Eugenie. Together with a group of troops under the command of Marshal P. McMahon, he was surrounded in the city of Sedan and on September 2 surrendered to the mercy of the winner. Following this, an uprising broke out in Paris, and on September 4, France was proclaimed a republic (Third Republic 1870-1940). Napoleon III was interned at the castle of Wilhelmshehe near Kassel. Empress Eugenie and her son fled to Great Britain.
Napoleon III spent the last years of his life with his family at Chislehurst Castle near London, where he died as a result of an unsuccessful surgical operation. Empress Eugenia outlived her husband by almost half a century and died in 1920. Their only son, Prince Napoleon Eugene Louis, served as an officer in the British colonial troops and died in 1879 in the war with the Zulus in Africa.
A. V. Revyakin
Charles Louis Napoleon Bonaparte(fr. Charles Louis Napolon Bonaparte), called Louis Napoleon Bonaparte(Louis-Napolon Bonaparte), later Napoleon III(Napolon III; April 20, 1808 - January 9, 1873) - the first president of the French Republic from December 20, 1848 to December 1, 1852, Emperor of the French from December 1, 1852 to September 4, 1870 (from September 5, 1870 to March 19, 1871 was in captivity).
The nephew of Napoleon I, after a series of conspiracies to seize power, came to her peacefully as President of the Republic (1848). Having made a coup (1851) and eliminating the legislature, by means of "direct democracy" (plebiscite) he established an authoritarian police regime and a year later proclaimed himself emperor of the Second Empire. After ten years of rather tight control, the Second Empire, which became the embodiment of the ideology of Bonapartism, moved to some democratization (1860s), which was accompanied by the development of the French economy and industry. Under him, Baron Haussmann carried out a large-scale reconstruction of Paris. A few months after the adoption of the liberal constitution of 1870, which returned the rights to parliament, the Franco-Prussian war put an end to Napoleon's rule, during which the emperor was captured by the Germans and never returned to France.
Napoleon III was the last monarch of France.
Biography
early years
He was born Charles Louis Napoleon. Baptized November 4, 1810 in the chapel of the Saint-Cloud Palace. He almost did not know his father, Louis Bonaparte, since the forced marriage of his parents was unhappy, and his mother, Hortense de Beauharnais, lived in constant separation from her husband. Three years after the birth of Louis Napoleon, she had an illegitimate son, Charles de Morny (whose father was the natural son of Talleyrand). Louis Napoleon himself was recognized as the father, although later in the literature hostile to him (by the way, V. Hugo) doubts were expressed about the legality of his birth, and not without factual grounds. Growing up in the splendor of the court of Napoleon I, under the influence of his mother, Louis, Napoleon from childhood showed an equally passionate and equally romantic devotion to his uncle. By nature, he was a kind, gentle and meek person, although occasionally and quick-tempered; He was distinguished by his generosity and loving nature, which he retained until the complete deterioration of his health at the age of 60. All his instincts and feelings were outweighed by a fanatical faith in his star and devotion to "Napoleonic ideas", the former guiding ideas of his life. A passionate man and at the same time full of self-control (according to V. Hugo, the Dutchman curbed the Corsican in him), from his youth he strove for one cherished goal, confidently and firmly clearing the way to it and not embarrassed at the same time in choosing means.
All his youth, starting in 1814, Louis Napoleon spent in wanderings, which, however, were not associated with material deprivation, since his mother managed to accumulate a huge fortune. Queen Hortense could not stay in France after the fall of the emperor, despite Alexander I's personal sympathy for her. She was also expelled from the German states, and therefore, having changed several places of residence, she bought herself the castle of Arenenberg in the Swiss canton of Thurgau, on the shores of Lake Constance, where she settled with her two sons. Louis Napoleon during these wanderings could not receive a systematic school education, he did not attend the gymnasium in Augsburg for long. His personal tutors (except for his mother) were Abbé Bertrand and Philip Leba, the son of a Jacobin. In Switzerland, Louis Napoleon entered the military service and was a captain of artillery. The result of his study of military affairs was his pamphlet "Considrations politiques et militaires sur la Suisse" (P., 1833) and the book "Manuel d'artillerie" (P., 1836; both works are reprinted in the collection of his works).
In 1830-31, Louis Napoleon, together with his older brother Napoleon-Louis, took part in the conspiracy of the Modena revolutionary Ciro Menotti and on an expedition to Romagna; the goal of the expedition was to free Rome from the secular power of the popes (and the goal of the two brothers was to steal the son of Napoleon Bonaparte and proclaim him king of Italy). After the failure of the expedition, during which his older brother died, Louis Napoleon managed to escape with an English passport through all of Italy to France, from where he was immediately expelled.