Napoleon III

Napoleon III was known to be a womaniser. He had been involved with many women by the time he became the emperor. Once coming to power, he started looking for a suitable woman to marry and produce an heir.

After his proposals were rejected by a few royal families, he finally found his bride in Eugénie du Derje de Montijo, 16th Countess of Teba and 15th Marquise of Ardales, who he wed in 1853.

In 1856, his wife gave birth to a son and heir-apparent, Napoleon, Prince Imperial. Napoleon III, however, continued his womanising ways despite being married while his wife performed all her imperial duties faithfully.

Napoleon III was born as Charles-Louis Napoleon Bonaparte on the night of 20–21 April 1808 in Paris, France. He was the third son of Louis Bonaparte, the King of Holland, and Hortense de Beauharnais, the stepdaughter of Napoleon I through his wife Joséphine de Beauharnais.

His parents, whose marriage was primarily a political alliance, had a difficult relationship and often lived separately. He was baptized at the Palace of Fontainebleau on 5 November 1810 where Emperor Napoleon served as his godfather.

Following the defeat of Emperor Napoleon at Waterloo, all members of the Bonaparte family were sent into exile. Thus Charles-Louis spent most of his early years in exile, travelling between Switzerland, Germany, and Italy.

He received some of his education at the gymnasium school at Augsburg, Bavaria, in Germany. He was also tutored by eminent scholars at home. Philippe Le Bas, the son of a revolutionary, taught the young boy French history and radical politics.

In 1831, Louis-Napoleon’s cousin Duke of Reichstadt—Napoleon I’s only son—died. Since neither Louis-Napoleon’s father, Louis, nor his uncle, Joseph, were interested in taking the title, Louis-Napoleon became the heir to the Imperial Crown.

Over the ensuing years, he twice tried to seize power by force but was unsuccessful both the times. In his first attempt in 1836, he faced considerable resistance from King Louis-Philippe I of France who first had him imprisoned and then sent into exile to the United States. He later went to Switzerland, before eventually moving to England. He spent his years in exile plotting how to seize power in France.

Following his second unsuccessful attempt to seize power in 1840, he was arrested and imprisoned in the fortress of Ham in the Somme. However, he managed to escape in 1846 and travelled to England once again. In July the same year, his father died, making Louis-Napoleon the clear heir to the Bonaparte dynasty.

The French Revolution broke out in 1848, and King Louis-Philippe abdicated as a result of growing opposition within his own government and army. On hearing of the revolution, Louis-Napoleon returned to France but was sent back by the provisional government.

By this time, he had built quite a sizeable following in France and was nominated for candidacy by his followers in the French presidential election in 1848. In his election campaigns, he proclaimed his support for "religion, the family, property, the eternal basis of all social order."

Not willing to step down, Louis-Napoleon tried to change the constitution in order to run again in 1851 but the Legislative Assembly refused. Thus on 2 December 1851, Louis Napoleon organized a coup d’état, proclaimed the dissolution of the National Legislative Assembly, and announced new elections.

Later that month, he held a referendum, asking the voters if they approved of the coup or not. A majority—76%--of the voters accepted the coup. A year later, he asked the French citizens to accept the return of the Imperial regime. The response was once again favourable, and thus Louis-Napoleon Bonaparte became Emperor Napoleon III on 2 December 1852, as the ruler of the Second French Empire.

As the emperor, Napoleon III was very much interested in the modernization and development of France. He initiated the process of industrial and trade reforms to boost the economy. As the first step, he launched a series of massive public works projects in Paris in order to improve the transportation, sanitation, water supply, and medical facilities in the city.

He built new railway stations, ports, shipping lines, parks, gardens, theatres, hospitals and educational institutes. He felt strongly about social causes and implemented a series of social reforms aimed at improving the life of the working class. He also gave impetus to girls’ education.

He aimed to make France a very powerful empire in Europe and wanted to expand the territories under his rule. For this he sought to strengthen France’s ties with her allies. The Crimean War started in 1854 and Napoleon III allied France with Britain and the Ottoman Empire against Russia. Their alliance won the war, and as a result, France was able to increase her influence in Europe.