Napoleon III Bonaparte, Empereur des Français (1808-1873)

Nephew of Napoleon I, being the son of Louis Bonaparte (the King of Holland) and Hortense the Beauhanais. After the death of his elder brothers he inherited the Bonaparte claim to the throne of France. His coup d'état of 1836 failed and he was put on the ship Andromède that took him to Norfolk. He enjoyed himself for a while in New York, but when his friend Dr. Conneau sent him message that his mother Hortense was dying ('Venez, venez!') he took the ship George Washington to London. Using a Swiss passport he travelled incognito to Arenenberg; the French agents that were put on his track failed to stop him and he reached Hortense in time on August 4th, 1837. She died two months later.

In 1840 his second coup d'état failed too and Louis Napoleon was imprisoned at the Ham fortress. There he taught his parlourmaid Alexandrine orthography and she gave him two children in return. On May 20th, 1846 he sent her away and six days later he escaped. By the time it was noticed he was already on a ship to London. After the revolution of 1848 he came to Paris and the National Assembly granted him permission to stay. Soon he was elected in parliament and in December he was elected president with a huge majority over Cavaignac. When he visited his old prison at Ham in 1849 it was inhabited by Bou-Maza, an Arabian who had fought against the French. Louis ordered his release.

On December 2nd of 1851 he imprisoned many of his opponents and this third coup d'état succeeded. 'His' Senate asked him to become emperor and a in a referendum his plan was confirmed with an enormous majority. On December 2nd of 1852 the empire was restored and he took the name Napoleon III, with due respect to the first Napoleon's son who never ruled France at all. On January 30th of 1853 he married Eugénie de Montijo, who provided him with an heir in 1856.

Allthough he was by no means a brilliant military strategist like his famous uncle, he enjoyed some military successes in the Crimean War as well as against the Austrians. Perhaps more important, under his reign France was modernized in many ways. In 1862 Maximilian of Austria became emperor of Austria under protection of French troops. When Louis Napoleon wouldn't continue the french military presence in Mexico in 1867, Maximilian refused to give up his throne and was soon afterwards executed by his rebellious opponents. For Louis Napoleon this was the beginning of the end. His health started to fail and he tried to liberalize his empire in order to preserve it for his son. But in 1870 he was outwitted by Bismarck's secret diplomacy and under pressure of the public opinion he had to declare war on Germany. Unfortunately he was completely misinformed about the strenght of his army and defeat soon became inevitable.

Louis Napoleon joined the troops, but his personal courage was to no avail. He surrendered at Sédan on September 1st, 1870 and was taken to Germany as a prisoner of war. The French refused to accept his capitulation and overthrew his empire. This resulted in the disastrous defeat of 1871 and the loss of Elsace-Lorraine.

As a prisoner of war, Louis Napoleon lived for a while at Wilhelmhöhe (near Kassel). Ater his release in March 1871 he spent his last few years in England.

Family
• Mother: Beauharnais, Hortense de
• Brother: Morny, Charles Auguste Louis Joseph, hertog de

Related persons
• was a friend of Blessington, Margaret Gardiner, countess of
• was the lover of Castiglione, Virginia Oldoini, countess Verasis de
• was opponent of Cavaignac, Eugène Louis
• employed Couture, Thomas
• was pupil to Dufour, Guillaume Henri
• met Dunant, Henry
• was advised by Fould, Achille
• employed Haussmann, Georges Eugène, Baron
• attended a performance by Home, Daniel Dunglas
• was advised by Jomini, Antoine Henri, baron
• was a friend of Kastner, Léonie
• knew Lind, Jenny
• was admired by Liszt, Franz
• was supported by Magnan, Bernard Pierre
• cooperated with Morny, Charles Auguste Louis Joseph, hertog de
• was the lover of Ozy, Alice
• knew Rossetti, Gabriele Pasquale Giuseppe
• knew Taglioni, Marie
• was opponent of Thiers, Adolphe
• employed Viollet-le-Duc, Eugène Emanuel
• was painted by Winterhalter, Franz Xaver

Events
1855/11/15: Ingres receives a honourable medal from Napoleon III personally
Ingres was disappointed that he had to share the medal of the Exposition Universelle with nine others. Because it was feared that he wouldn't show up at the ceremony he was made grand officer of the Légio d'Honneur on 14 Nov 1855. The next day he received the medal from te emperor himself.
1858/7/21: Secret meeting between Napoleon III and Cavour
It took place at Plombières. Napoleon was there for curing and Cavour had entered the country incognito at Strasbourg. They agreed there would be an uprising in Modena and after Austria would threaten the regio with violence, France would send troops. Their meeting wasn't a secret for long and many guessed what they were up to.
1858/8/4: Napoleon III inaugurates the railroad between Cherbourg and Paris
He had arrived at Cherbourg that day accompanied by empress Eugénie.
1858/8/7: Napoleon III dock inaugurated at the harbour of Cherbourg
Napoleon III and empress Eugénie were there. Queen Victoria and prince Albert had arrived on August 5th as well, but they had left early because they didn't want to witness the unveiling of a statue of Napoleon I that took place on the same day. This statue by Armand de Veel is still there.
1862/5/25: Ingres is awarded a seat in the Senate by Napoleon III
Art critics praised the government because this was a sign theat art was a matter of national interest.

Sources
• Bierman, John, Napoleon III and his Carnival Empire, Sphere Books, London, 1990
• Thompson, J.M., Louis Napoleon and the Second Empire, Norton, New York, 1967
• Historia 454, Tallandier, Paris, 1984
• Ridley, Jasper, Napoleon III and Eugénie, Constable, London, 1979

Images
'Napoléon III' by Franz Xaver Winterhalter (Musée National du Château de Compiégne, Compiégne).	Buste of Napoleon III at the Musée Masséna, Nice. Picture by Androom (03 Dec 2009)