View source for Second French Empire

{{Short description|Empire in France from 1852 to 1870}}
{{Distinguish|French colonial empire}}
{{Infobox country
| native_name            = {{native name|fr|Empire français}}
| conventional_long_name = French Empire
| common_name            = France
| coordinates            = {{Coord|48|51|23|N|02|21|08|E|type:country|display=title}}
| image_flag             = Flag of France.svg
| flag_type              = [[Flag of France|Flag]]
| symbol                 = Coat of arms of France
| symbol_type            = Coat of arms
| image_coat             = File:Coat of Arms Second French Empire (1852–1870)-2.svg
| image_map              = French Empire (1861).svg
| image_map_caption      = The Second French Empire in 1861
| image_map2             = Second_French_Empire_(1852–1870).png
| map_caption2           = Colonies and territories held by the Second French Empire in 1867, highlighted in blue
| capital                = [[Paris]]
| national_anthem        = "{{Lang|fr|[[Partant pour la Syrie]]}}"<ref>{{Cite book |last=White |first=Richard Grant |author-link=Richard Grant White |date=1861 |title=National Hymns. How They are Written and how They are Not Written: A Lyric and National Study for the Times |location=New York City, New York |publisher=Rudd & Carleton |page=59}}</ref> {{Small|(de facto)}}<ref>{{Cite book |last=Sousa |first=John Philip |author-link=John Philip Sousa |date=1890 |title=National, Patriotic and Typical: Airs of All Lands |location=Philadelphia, Pennsylvania |publisher=H. Coleman |pages=vii,100}}</ref><ref>{{Cite journal |last=Martens |first=Frederick H. |title=Music Mirrors of the Second Empire: Part 1 |journal=The Musical Quarterly |date=1930 |volume=16 |issue=3 |page=426 |jstor=738378 |doi=10.1093/mq/XVI.3.415}}</ref><br/>{{small|"Departing for Syria"}}{{center|[[File:Partant pour la Syrie.ogg]]}}
| empire                 = 
| government_type        = [[Unitary state|Unitary]] [[absolute monarchy]]<br />{{small|(1852–1869)}}
* under a [[military dictatorship]]<br />{{small|(1852–1858)}}
[[Unitary state|Unitary]] [[parliamentary system|parliamentary]] [[semi-constitutional monarchy]]<br />{{small|(1869–1870)}}
| year_start             = 1852
| year_end               = 1870
| life_span              = 1852–1870
| era                    = [[New Imperialism]]
| event_pre              = [[French coup of 1851|Coup of 1851]]
| date_pre               = 2 December 1851
| event_start            = [[French Constitution of 1852|Constitution adopted]]
| date_start             = 14 January
| event1                 = Empire proclaimed
| date_event1            = 2 December 1852
| event2                 = [[Franco-Prussian War]]
| date_event2            = 19 July 1870
| event3                 = [[Battle of Sedan (1870)|Battle of Sedan]]
| date_event3            = 1 September 1870
| event4                 = [[Proclamation of the French Republic (September 4, 1870)|Republic proclaimed]]
| date_event4            = 4 September 1870
| event_end              = End of the [[Siege of Metz (1870)|Siege of Metz]]
| date_end               = 27 October
| p1                     = French Second Republic
| flag_p1                = Flag of France.svg
| p2                     = Kingdom of Sardinia (1720–1861) {{!}} Kingdom of Sardinia
| flag_p2                = Flag of Italy (1861-1946).svg
| s1                     = French Third Republic
| flag_s1                = Flag of France.svg
| title_leader           = [[Emperor of the French|Emperor]]
| leader1                = [[Napoleon III]]
| year_leader1           = 1852–1870
| title_deputy           = [[List of Prime Ministers of France#Second French Empire (1852–1870)|Cabinet Chief]]
| deputy1                = [[Émile Ollivier]]
| year_deputy1           = 1869–1870
| deputy2                = [[Charles Cousin-Montauban, Comte de Palikao|Charles de Palikao]]
| year_deputy2           = 1870
| legislature            = [[Parliament of France|Parliament]]
| house1                 = [[Senate of France|Senate]] (after 1867)
| house2                 = [[Corps législatif]]
| official_languages     = [[French language|French]]
| currency               = [[French franc]]
| religion               = {{Plainlist|
*[[Roman Catholicism]] ([[state religion]])<ref>{{Cite journal |first=Anthony |last=Steinhoff |title=The Administration of Protestant Affairs in France During the Second Empire |journal=[[Proceedings of the Western Society for French History]] |date=1999 |volume=26 |pages=192–203}}</ref>
*[[Calvinism]]
*[[Lutheranism]]
*[[Judaism]]
*[[Sunni Islam]] (in Algeria)
*[[Ibadi Islam]] (in Algeria)}}
| iso3166code            = omit
| demonym                = [[French people|French]]
| today                  = [[France]]<br/>[[Algeria]]
}}
The '''Second French Empire''',{{efn|{{Langx|fr|Second Empire français}}}} officially the '''French Empire''',{{efn|{{Langx|fr|Empire français|links=no}}}} was the government of France from 1852 to 1870. It was established on 2 December 1852 by [[Napoleon III|Louis-Napoléon Bonaparte]], [[president of France]] under the [[French Second Republic]], who proclaimed himself [[Emperor of the French]] as Napoleon III. The period was one of significant achievements in infrastructure and economy, while France reasserted itself as the dominant power in mainland [[Europe]]. 

Historians in the 1930s and 1940s disparaged the Second Empire as a [[Proto-fascism|precursor of fascism]],{{Sfnp|Price|2015|page=272}} but by the late 20th century it was re-evaluated as an example of a [[Modernization|modernizing]] regime.{{Sfnp|Price|1996|pages=4–10}}{{Sfnp|Spitzer|1962|pages=308–329}} Historians have generally given the Second Empire negative evaluations on its foreign policy, and somewhat more positive assessments of domestic policies, especially after Napoleon III liberalised his rule after 1858. He promoted French business and exports. The greatest achievements included a [[History of rail transport in France#Success under the Second Empire|railway network]] that facilitated commerce and tied the nation together with [[Paris]] as its hub. This stimulated economic growth and brought prosperity to most regions of the country. The Second Empire is credited with [[Haussmann's renovation of Paris|renovating Paris]] with broad [[Boulevards of Paris|boulevards]], striking public buildings, and elegant residential districts for wealthier Parisians.

Internationally, Napoleon III tried to emulate his uncle [[Napoleon Bonaparte]], engaging in numerous [[French colonial empire|imperial ventures around the world]] as well as [[List of conflicts in Europe#19th century|several wars in Europe]]. He began his reign with French victories [[Crimean War|in Crimea]] and [[Second Italian War of Independence|in Italy]], gaining [[Savoy]] and [[Arrondissement of Nice|Nice]], and very briefly, [[Third Italian War of Independence|Venetia]] (before in turn ceding to [[Kingdom of Italy#Unification process (1848-1870)|Italy]]). Using very harsh methods, he built up the [[French North Africa|French Empire in North Africa]], in [[Obock Territory|East Africa]] and in [[French Indochina]]. Napoleon III also launched an [[Second French intervention in Mexico|intervention in Mexico]] seeking to erect the [[Second Mexican Empire]] and bring it into the French orbit, but this ended in a fiasco. He mishandled the [[Kingdom of Prussia|Prussian]] threat, and by the end of his reign, the French emperor found himself without allies in the face of overwhelming German forces.{{Sfnp|Wolf|1963|page=275}} The Second Empire came to an end during the [[Franco-Prussian War]], following Napoleon III's capture at the [[Battle of Sedan]] and the [[Proclamation of the French Republic (September 4, 1870)|proclamation]] of the [[Third French Republic]] on 4 September 1870.

==History==
{{History of France}} {{single-source|section based throughout on the [[Encyclopædia Britannica Eleventh Edition]]|date=December 2023}}

===Coup of 1851===
{{Main|1851 French coup d'état}}

On 2 December 1851, [[Napoleon III|Louis-Napoléon Bonaparte]], who had been elected President of the Republic in 1848, [[French coup d'état of 1851|staged a coup d'état]] by dissolving the [[French National Assembly|National Assembly]] without having the constitutional right to do so. He thus became sole ruler of France, and re-established universal suffrage, previously abolished by the Assembly. His decisions were popularly endorsed by [[1851 French constitutional referendum|a referendum]] later that month that attracted 92 percent support.<ref>{{Cite book |author-link=Dieter Nohlen |first1=Dieter |last1=Nohlen |first2=Philip |last2=Stöver |date=2010 |title=Elections in Europe: A data handbook |pages=673–683 |publisher=Nomos |isbn=9783832956097}}</ref>

At that same referendum, a [[French Constitution of 1852|new constitution]] was approved. Formally enacted in January 1852, the new document made Louis-Napoléon president for 10 years, with no restrictions on re-election. It concentrated virtually all governing power in his hands. However, Louis-Napoléon was not content with merely being an authoritarian president. Almost as soon as he signed the new document into law, he set about restoring the empire. In response to officially inspired requests for the return of the empire, the Senate scheduled a [[1852 French Second Empire referendum|second referendum in November]], which passed with 97 percent support. As with the December 1851 referendum, most of the "yes" votes were manufactured out of thin air.<ref name="Milza">{{Cite book |last=Milza |first=Pierre |title=Napoléon III |location=Paris |publisher=Tempus |date=2006 |isbn=9782262026073 |pages=277–279 |language=fr}}</ref>

The empire was formally re-established by the [[Senate (France)|Senate]] on 2 December 1852, and the Prince-President became "Napoléon III, Emperor of the French". The constitution had already concentrated so much power in his hands that the only substantive changes were to replace the word "president" with the word "emperor" and to make the post hereditary. The popular referendum became a distinct sign of [[Bonapartism]], which [[Charles de Gaulle]] would later use.<ref name="Milza"/>

===Early reign===
[[File:Proclamation de l'Empire, à l'Hôtel de ville, le 2 décembre 1852.jpg|thumb|The official declaration of the Second Empire, at the {{Lang|fr|[[Union Cycliste Internationale]]|italic=no}} on 2 December 1852]]

With dictatorial powers, Napoleon III made building a good railway system a high priority. He consolidated three dozen small, incomplete lines into six major companies using Paris as a hub. Paris grew dramatically in terms of population, industry, finance, commercial activity and tourism. Working with [[Haussmann's renovation of Paris|Georges-Eugène Haussmann]], Napoleon spent lavishly to rebuild the city into a world-class showpiece.<ref>{{Cite journal |last=Pinkney |first=David H. |year=1957 |title=Money and Politics in the Rebuilding of Paris, 1860–1870 |journal=The Journal of Economic History |volume=17 |issue=1 |pages=45–61 |doi=10.1017/S0022050700059866 |jstor=2114706 |s2cid=154122582}}</ref> The financial soundness for all six companies was solidified by government guarantees. Although France had started late, by 1870 it had an excellent railway system, supported as well by good roads, canals and ports.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Clapham |first=J. H. |title=Economic development of France and Germany 1815–1914 |date=1936 |pages=147–150}}</ref>

Napoleon, in order to restore the prestige of the Empire before the newly awakened hostility of public opinion, tried to gain the support from the Left that he had lost from the Right. After the return from Italy, the general amnesty of 16 August 1859 had marked the evolution of the absolutist or authoritarian empire towards the liberal, and later parliamentary empire, which was to last for ten years.

===Religion===
The idea of [[Italian unification]], which would inevitably end the [[Temporal power of the Holy See|temporal power of the popes]], outraged French Catholics, who had been the leading supporters of the Empire. A keen Catholic opposition sprang up, voiced in [[Louis Veuillot]]'s paper the ''Univers'', and was not silenced even by the Syrian expedition (1860) in favour of the [[Maronite Catholic]] side of the [[1860 civil conflict in Mount Lebanon and Damascus]].<ref name=EB1911/>

[[Ultramontanism|Ultramontane]] Catholicism, longing for close links to the Pope in Rome, played a pivotal role in the democratisation of culture. The pamphlet campaign led by Mgr Gaston de Ségur, at the height of the Italian question in February 1860, made the most of the freedom of expression enjoyed by the Catholic Church in France. The goal was to mobilise Catholic opinion and encourage the government to support the Pope. A major result of the Catholic ultramontane campaign was to trigger reforms in the cultural sphere, which also granted freedoms to their political enemies the Republicans and freethinkers.<ref>{{Cite journal |last=Heywood |first=Sophie |title='The Apostolate of the Pen': MGR De Ségur and the Mobilization of Catholic Opinion in Second Empire France |journal=[[French History (journal)|French History]] |volume=26 |issue=2 |date=2012 |pages=203–221 |doi=10.1093/fh/crs010|doi-access=free }}</ref>

Although the Second Empire strongly favoured Catholicism, the official state religion, it tolerated Protestants and Jews, with no persecutions or pogroms. The state dealt with the small Protestant community of Calvinist and Lutheran churches, whose members included many prominent businessmen who supported the regime. The emperor's Decree Law of 26 March 1852 led to greater government interference in Protestant church affairs, thus reducing self-regulation in favor of Catholic bureaucrats who misunderstood and mistrusted Protestant doctrine. Their administration affected not only church-state relations but also the internal lives of Protestant communities.<ref>{{Cite journal |first=Anthony |last=Steinhoff |title=The Administration of Protestant Affairs in France During the Second Empire |journal=[[Proceedings of the Western Society for French History]] |date=1999 |volume=26 |pages=192–203}}</ref>

===Police===
Napoleon III manipulated a range of politicised police powers to censor the media and suppress opposition. Legally he had broad powers but in practice he was limited by legal, customary and moral deterrents. By 1851 political police had a centralised administrative hierarchy and were largely immune from public control. The Second Empire continued the system; proposed innovations were stalled by officials. Typically political roles were part of routine administrative duties. Although police forces were indeed strengthened, opponents exaggerated the increase of secret police activity and the imperial police lacked the omnipotence seen in later totalitarian states.<ref>{{Cite journal |first=Howard C. |last=Payne |title=Theory and Practice of Political Police during the Second Empire in France |journal=[[Journal of Modern History]] |volume=30 |issue=1 |date=1958 |pages=14–23 |doi=10.1086/238159 |jstor=1871914 |s2cid=154226182 |url=https://www.jstor.org/stable/1871914 |access-date=21 December 2018 |archive-date=21 December 2018 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20181221230532/https://www.jstor.org/stable/1871914 |url-status=live |url-access=subscription }}</ref>

===Freedom of the press===
Napoleon began by removing the gag which was keeping the country in silence. On 24 November 1860, he granted to the Chambers the right to vote an address annually in answer to the speech from the throne, and to the press the right of reporting parliamentary debates. He counted on the latter concession to hold in check the growing Catholic opposition, which was becoming more and more alarmed by the policy of ''[[laissez-faire]]'' practiced by the emperor in Italy. The government majority already showed some signs of independence. The right of voting on the budget by sections, granted by the emperor in 1861, was a new weapon given to his adversaries. Everything conspired in their favour: the anxiety of those candid friends who were calling attention to the defective budget, the commercial crisis and foreign troubles.<ref name=EB1911/>

===The ''Union libérale''===
[[File:PISSARRO Camille L'Avenue de l'Opéra Huile sur toile.jpg|thumb|right|The [[Avenue de l'Opéra]], one of the new boulevards created by Napoleon III and [[Georges-Eugène Haussmann|Baron Haussmann]]]]
Napoleon again disappointed the hopes of Italy, allowed [[January Uprising|Poland to be crushed]], and allowed [[Prussia]] to triumph over [[Denmark]] regarding the [[Schleswig-Holstein Question|Schleswig-Holstein question]]. These inconsistencies led opposition leaders to form the ''Union libérale'', a coalition of the Legitimist, Liberal and Republican parties. The Opposition gained forty seats in the elections of May–June 1863, and [[Adolphe Thiers]] urgently gave voice to the opposition parties' demands for "necessary liberties".

It would have been difficult for the emperor to mistake the importance of this manifestation of French opinion, and in view of his international failures, impossible to repress it. The sacrifice of minister [[Persigny]] of the interior, who was responsible for the elections, the substitution for the ministers without portfolio of a sort of presidency of the council filled by [[Eugène Rouher]], the "Vice-Emperor", and the nomination of [[Jean Victor Duruy]], an anti-clerical, as minister of public instruction, in reply to those attacks of the Church which were to culminate in the Syllabus of 1864, all indicated a distinct ''rapprochement'' between the emperor and the Left.<ref name=EB1911/>

But though the opposition represented by Thiers was rather constitutional than dynastic, there was another and irreconcilable opposition, that of the amnestied or voluntarily exiled republicans, of whom [[Victor Hugo]] was the eloquent mouthpiece. Thus those who had formerly constituted the governing classes were again showing signs of their ambition to govern. There appeared to be some risk that this movement among the [[bourgeoisie]] might spread to the people. Napoleon believed that he would consolidate his menaced power by again turning to the labouring masses, by whom that power had been established.<ref name=EB1911/>

Assured of support, the emperor, through Rouher, a supporter of the absolutist ''régime'', refused all fresh claims on the part of the Liberals. He was aided by international events such as the reopening of cotton supplies when the [[American Civil War]] ended in 1865, by the apparent closing of the Roman question by the [[September Convention|convention of 15 September]], which guaranteed to the [[Papal States]] the protection of [[Kingdom of Italy|Italy]], and finally by the [[Treaty of Vienna (1864)|treaty of 30 October 1864]], which temporarily put an end to the [[Second Schleswig War]].<ref name=EB1911/>

===Social mobility===
France was primarily a rural society, in which social class depended on family reputation and land ownership. A limited amount of upward mobility was feasible through the steadily improving educational system. Students from all levels of society were granted admission to public secondary schools, opening a ladder to sons of peasants and artisans. However, whether through jealousy of or distrust for the higher classes, few working-class families took advantage of education or wished to see their sons move up and out: very few sought admission to the 'grandes écoles.' The elite maintained their position while allowing social ascent through the professions for ambitious sons of wealthy farmers and small-town merchants.<ref>{{Cite journal |first=Patrick J. |last=Harrigan |title=Secondary education and the professions in France during the Second Empire |journal=[[Comparative Studies in Society and History]] |volume=17 |issue=3 |date=1975 |pages=349–371 |doi=10.1017/S0010417500007891 |s2cid=144555736}}</ref>

===Mobilisation of the working classes===
The ultramontane party grumbled, while the industries formerly protected were dissatisfied with [[free trade]] reform. The working classes had abandoned their political neutrality. Disregarding [[Pierre-Joseph Proudhon]]'s impassioned attack on [[communism]], they had gradually been won over by the [[Collectivism and individualism|collectivist]] theories of [[Karl Marx]] and the revolutionary theories of [[Mikhail Bakunin]], as set forth at the congresses of the [[International Workingmen's Association|International]]. These labour congresses defied official proscriptions, and proclaimed that the social emancipation of the worker was inseparable from his political emancipation. The union between the internationalists and the republican bourgeois became an accomplished fact.<ref name=EB1911/>

The Empire, taken by surprise, sought to curb both the middle classes and the labourers, goading both into revolutionary actions. There were multiple strikes. [[1869 French legislative election|The elections of May 1869]], which took place during these disturbances, inflicted upon the Empire a serious moral defeat. In spite of the government's warning against the "red terror", the conciliatory candidate Ollivier was rejected by Paris, while 40 irreconcilables and 116 members of the Third Party were elected. Concessions had to be made, and by the ''senatus-consulte'' of 8 September 1869, a parliamentary monarchy was substituted for the Emperor's personal government. On 2 January 1870 Ollivier was placed at the head of the first homogeneous, united and responsible ministry.<ref name=EB1911/>

===Plebiscite of 1870===
Although most of the country hailed this reconciliation of liberty and order, the republican party insisted on further reforms and liberties and demanding the overthrow of the Empire. The killing of the journalist [[Victor Noir]] by [[Pierre Bonaparte]], a member of the imperial family, gave the revolutionaries their long desired opportunity (10 January). But the ''émeute'' (uprising) ended in a failure.<ref name=EB1911/>

In a concession to democratic currents, the emperor put his policy to a [[plebiscite]] on 8 May 1870. The result was a substantial success for Bonaparte, with seven and a half million in favour and only one and a half million against. However, the vote also signified divisions in France. Those affirming were found mainly in rural areas, while the opposition prevailed in the big towns.<ref>{{Cite book |last=March |first=Thomas |title=The History of the Paris Commune of 1871 |orig-date=1896 |publisher=[[Swan Sonnenschein]] |isbn=9780526954469 |date=2019 |page=[https://archive.org/stream/historyofparisco00marcrich#page/8/mode/1up 8]}}</ref>

==Foreign policy==
[[File:Debarquement des Français et des Anglais dans la baie de Kalamita le 14 septembre 1854.jpg|thumb|The French landing near [[Yevpatoria]], [[Crimea]], then part of the [[Russian Empire]], 1854]]

The [[Crimean War]] ended in 1856, a victory for Napoleon III and a resulting peace that excluded Russia from the [[Black Sea]]. His son [[Napoléon, Prince Imperial|Louis-Napoléon Bonaparte]] was born the same year, which promised a continuation of the dynasty.<ref name=EB1911/>

In 1859, Napoleon led [[Second Italian War of Independence|France to war with Austria over Italy]]. France was victorious and gained [[Savoy]] and [[Nice]].

[[Cobden–Chevalier Treaty|The commercial treaty]] with [[United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland|Great Britain]] in 1860 ratified the [[free trade]] policy of [[Richard Cobden]] and [[Michel Chevalier]], had brought upon French industry the sudden shock of foreign competition. Thus both Catholics and protectionists discovered that [[authoritarian]] rule could be favourable when it served their ambitions or interests, but not when exercised at their expense.

[[France and the American Civil War|France was officially neutral]] throughout the [[American Civil War]], 1861–1865 and never recognised the [[Confederate States of America]]. The [[Union (American Civil War)|Union]] warned that recognition would mean war. However, the textile industry needed Southern cotton, and Napoleon had imperial ambitions in Mexico, which could be greatly aided by the Confederacy. At the same time, other French political leaders, such as Foreign Minister [[Édouard Thouvenel]], supported the United States. Napoleon helped finance the Confederacy but refused to intervene actively until Britain agreed, and London always rejected intervention. The Emperor realised that a war with the US without allies would spell disaster for France.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Jones |first=Howard |title=Abraham Lincoln and a New Birth of Freedom: The Union and Slavery in the Diplomacy of the Civil War |date=1999 |isbn=0803225822 |page=[https://books.google.com/books?id=gVvZb5oeVtwC&pg=PA183 183]|publisher=U of Nebraska Press }}</ref>

Napoleon dreamed of building a French economic sphere in Latin America, centered on Mexico. He helped to promote rapid economic modernisation, but his army battled diehard insurgents who had American support. By 1863, [[Second French intervention in Mexico|French military intervention in Mexico]] to set up a [[Second Mexican Empire]] headed by Emperor [[Maximilian I of Mexico|Maximilian]], brother of [[Franz Joseph I of Austria]], was a complete fiasco. The Mexicans fought back and after defeating the Confederacy the U.S. demanded the French withdraw from Mexico—sending 50,000 veteran combat troops to the border to ram the point home. The French army went home; the puppet emperor did not leave and was executed.<ref>{{Cite journal |last=Hardy |first=William E. |date=2008 |title=South of the border: Ulysses S. Grant and the French intervention |journal=[[Civil War History]] |volume=54 |issue=1 |pages=63–86 |doi=10.1353/cwh.2008.0008|s2cid=144122281 }}</ref>{{Sfnp|Cunningham|2001}}

From 1861 to 1863 France embarked on colonising experiments in [[Cochinchina]] ([[southern Vietnam]]) and [[Annam (French protectorate)|Annam]] ([[central Vietnam]]). The conquest was bloody but successful, and supported by large numbers of French soldiers, missionaries and businessmen, as well as the local Chinese entrepreneurial element.<ref>{{Cite journal |last=Thomson |first=R. Stanley |date=1940 |title=The Diplomacy of Imperialism: France and Spain in Cochin China, 1858–1863 |url=https://www.jstor.org/stable/1874762 |journal=[[Journal of Modern History]] |volume=12 |issue=3 |pages=334–356 |doi=10.1086/236488 |jstor=1874762 |s2cid=145650836 |access-date=20 December 2018 |archive-date=21 December 2018 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20181221182500/https://www.jstor.org/stable/1874762 |url-status=live |url-access=subscription }}</ref>
[[File:Siège de Puebla - 29 mars 1863.PNG|thumb|General [[François Achille Bazaine|Bazaine]] attacks the fort of San Xavier during the [[Siege of Puebla (1863)|siege of Puebla]], [[Mexico]], 29 March 1863.]]
Mixed domestic gains and losses resulted from European policies. The support France gave to the Italian cause had aroused the eager hopes of other nations. The [[proclamation of the Kingdom of Italy]] on 17 March 1861 after the rapid annexation of [[United Provinces of Central Italy|Central Italy]] and the [[Kingdom of the Two Sicilies]] had proved the danger of half-measures. But when a concession, however narrow, had been made to the liberty of one nation, it could hardly be refused to the no less legitimate aspirations of the rest.<ref name=EB1911/>

In 1863, these "new rights" again clamoured loudly for recognition: in [[Congress Poland|Poland]], in [[Schleswig-Holstein Question|Schleswig and Holstein]], in [[Italian unification|Italy]], now united, with neither frontiers nor capital, and in the [[United Principalities|Danubian principalities]]. To extricate himself from the Polish ''impasse'', the emperor again proposed a congress, with no luck. He was again unsuccessful: Great Britain refused even to admit the principle of a congress, while [[Austrian Empire|Austria]], Prussia and [[Russian Empire|Russia]] gave their adhesion only on conditions which rendered it futile, i.e. they reserved the vital questions of Venetia and Poland.<ref name=EB1911/> The Emperor's support of the Polish rebels alienated the Russian leadership. The visit of Tsar [[Alexander II of Russia]] to Paris ended in near-disaster{{Citation needed|date=June 2020}} when he was twice attacked by Polish assassins, but escaped. In Berlin, [[Otto von Bismarck]] saw the opportunity to squeeze out the French by forming closer relationships with the Russians.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Jelavich |first=Barbara |title=St. Petersburg and Moscow: Tsarist and Soviet foreign policy, 1814–1974 |date=1974 |isbn=9780253350503 |pages=145–157|publisher=Indiana University Press }}</ref>

The success of the 1870 plebiscite, which should have consolidated the Empire, determined its downfall. It was thought that a diplomatic success would make the country forget liberty in favour of glory. It was in vain that after the parliamentary revolution of 2 January 1870, [[Napoléon, comte Daru|Comte Daru]] revived, through [[George Villiers, 4th Earl of Clarendon|Lord Clarendon]], [[Count Friedrich Ferdinand von Beust|Count Beust]]'s plan of disarmament after the [[Battle of Königgrätz]]. He met with a refusal from Prussia and from the imperial entourage. The Empress [[Eugénie de Montijo|Eugénie]] was credited with the remark, "If there is no war, my son will never be emperor."<ref name=EB1911/>

===Overseas empire===
{{Main|French colonial empire}}
[[File:Arrival of Marshal Randon in Algier-Ernest-Francis Vacherot mg 5120.jpg|thumb|Arrival of Marshal [[Jacques Louis Randon|Randon]] in [[Algiers]], [[French Algeria]], 1857]]

Napoleon III doubled the area of the French overseas Empire; he established French rule in [[New Caledonia]], and [[Cochinchina]], established a protectorate in [[French protectorate of Cambodia|Cambodia]] (1863); and colonised parts of Africa. He joined Britain in sending an army to China during the [[Second Opium War]] and the [[Taiping Rebellion]] (1860), but French ventures failed to establish influence in [[French military mission to Japan (1867–1868)|Japan]] (1867) and [[French expedition to Korea|Korea]] (1866).

To carry out his new overseas projects, Napoleon III created a new [[Ministry of the Navy (France)|Ministry of the Navy]] and the Colonies, and appointed an energetic minister, [[Prosper de Chasseloup-Laubat|Prosper, Marquis of Chasseloup-Laubat]], to head it. A key part of the enterprise was the modernisation of the [[French Navy]]; he began the construction of fifteen powerful [[screw steamer]]s; and a fleet of steam powered troop transports. The French Navy became the second most powerful in the world, after Britain's. He also created a new force of colonial troops, including elite units of naval infantry, [[Zouaves]], the [[Chasseurs d'Afrique]], and Algerian sharpshooters, and he expanded the [[French Foreign Legion|Foreign Legion]], which had been founded in 1831 and fought well in the Crimea, Italy and Mexico.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Porch |first=Douglas |title=The French Foreign Legion: A Complete History of the Legendary Fighting Force |date=2010 |isbn=9780060166526 |pages=57–168 |publisher=HarperCollins Publishers |orig-date=1991}}</ref> French overseas territories had tripled in area; in 1870 they covered almost a million square kilometres, and controlled nearly five million inhabitants. While soldiers, administrators, businessmen and missionaries came and left, very few Frenchmen permanently settled in the colonies, [[Pied-Noir|except in Algeria]]. The colonial trade reached 600 million francs, but the profits were overwhelmed by the expenses. However, a major goal was the 'Mission civilisatrice', the mission to spread French culture, language and religion, and this proved successful.<ref>{{Cite book |first=Herbert Ingram |last=Priestley |title=France Overseas: A Study of Modern Imperialism |orig-date=1938 |date=2018 |isbn=9781351002417 |page=[https://books.google.com/books?id=W3dZDwAAQBAJ&pg=PT192 192]|publisher=Routledge }}</ref><ref>{{Cite journal |last=Burrows |first=Mathew |date=1986 |title='Mission civilisatrice': French cultural policy in the Middle East, 1860–1914 |journal=[[The Historical Journal]] |volume=29 |issue=1 |pages=109–135 |doi=10.1017/S0018246X00018641 |s2cid=154801621}}</ref>

==Downfall==
{{Main|Franco-Prussian War}}
{{More citations needed section|date=December 2022}}
[[File:Napoleon übergibt seinen Degen.JPG|thumb|Surrender of [[Napoleon III]] after the [[Battle of Sedan]], 1 September 1870]]
[[File:5 francs Napoleon III 1870 BB.png|thumb|[[Silver coin]]: 1870 Five franc coin with the bust of Napoleon III]]

The rise of the neighbouring state of [[Kingdom of Prussia|Prussia]] during the 1860s threatened French supremacy in western Europe. Napoleon, growing steadily weaker in body and mind, badly mishandled the situation, and eventually found himself in a war without allies. [[United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland|Britain]] was afraid of French militarism and refused to help. [[Russian Empire|Russia]] was highly annoyed about French interference in supporting [[Congress Poland|Polish]] rebels in the [[January Uprising|1863 uprising]]. Napoleon had given strong support to [[Kingdom of Italy|Italy]], but refused the demand for Rome, and kept [[Pope Pius IX and France|French troops in Rome]] to protect the pope from the new Italian government, thus leading to Italian refusal to help. The [[United States]] remained alienated because of the fiasco in Mexico. Napoleon did not know what he wanted or what to do, but the reverse was true for Prussian [[Minister President of Prussia|Prime Minister]] [[Otto von Bismarck]], who planned to create a great new German nation, based on Prussian power, as well as resurgent German nationalism based on the systematic humiliation of France. After seeing the [[Austro-Prussian War|defeat of Austria]], the Emperor demanded a conscription law. The parliament disagreed, maintaining that professionals would be always the better option, and outvoted, he backed down.{{citation needed|date=December 2022}}

The immediate issue was a trivial controversy regarding control of the [[History of Spain (1810–73)|Spanish]] throne. France was successful in the diplomatic standoff, but Napoleon wanted to humiliate the Prussian king, [[Wilhelm I]]. Bismarck in turn [[Ems Dispatch|manipulated the situation]] such that France declared war against Prussia on 15 July 1870 after major protests in France (however, Napoleon was reluctant as he had become ill as well as being sceptical of the outcome), thus sparking the [[Franco-Prussian War]]. The French empire made the first move, as the Emperor led a charge that crossed the German border. On August 2, the French defeated a Prussian vanguard and occupied the town of [[Battle of Saarbrücken|Saarbrücken]]. Two days later, the Prussians launched an offensive that repulsed the French army. After the first nine days of August, France experienced major losses. The Emperor handed power to the other generals and let them command, then telegrammed his wife, asking if he should return to Paris. His wife refused, and thus he only sent his son home. The French prime minister resigned, being replaced with a more effective military leader, who soldered the disorganised and demoralised French. He forged the [[Army of Châlons]], which, led by Marshal [[Patrice de MacMahon]] and the Emperor, attempted to relieve the [[Siege of Metz (1870)|Siege of Metz]], where the largest French army lay entrapped. The army was repulsed by the Prussians, and retreated to Sedan, where it was surrounded and forced to surrender after the [[Battle of Sedan]]. Napoleon himself became a prisoner and Republican forces quickly took control of Paris.{{citation needed|date=December 2022}}

France, under the leadership of [[Léon Gambetta]], declared the establishment of the [[Third French Republic]]. Napoleon and Eugénie went into exile in England. Victory produced an onrush of German nationalism that Bismarck immediately seized to unite all of the German states ([[German Question|except Austria]]), thereby creating the [[German Empire]], with the Prussian king as its emperor and Bismarck as chancellor. The new Germany was now continental Europe's dominant military force. Additionally, France was forced to give up the two border provinces of [[Alsace-Lorraine|Alsace and Lorraine]], and its humiliation lasted for generations.<ref>{{Cite book |author-link=John Grenville |first=John |last=Grenville |title=Europe reshaped 1848–1868 |date=1976 |isbn=9780801492075 |pages=339–353|publisher=Cornell University Press }}</ref>

==Structure of government==
[[File:Alexandre Cabanel 002.jpg|thumb|upright|Napoléon III by [[Alexandre Cabanel]]]]

The structure of the French government during the Second Empire was little changed from the [[First French Empire|First]]. Emperor Napoleon III stressed his own imperial role as the foundation of the government; if government was to guide the people toward domestic justice and external peace, it was his role as emperor, holding his power by [[universal male suffrage]] and representing all of the people, to function as supreme leader and safeguard the achievements of the revolution.<ref name=Wiriath>{{Cite book |last=Wiriath |first=Paul |title=A Short History of France, Illustrated |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=XTowXn6Zk7sC |location=London |publisher=[[Encyclopaedia britannica]] |date=1914 |page=107 |access-date=27 March 2021 |archive-date=2 September 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220902034203/https://www.google.com/books/edition/_/XTowXn6Zk7sC?hl=en&sa=X&ved=2ahUKEwj106_Vtc_vAhXQGFkFHWZSCFYQ7_IDMA16BAgMEAI |url-status=live }}</ref>

He had so often, while in prison or in exile, chastised previous oligarchical governments for neglecting social questions that it was imperative France now prioritise their solutions. His answer was to organise a system of government based on the principles of the "Napoleonic Idea". This meant that the emperor, the elect of the people as the representative of the democracy, ruled supreme. He himself drew power and legitimacy from his role as representative of the great [[Napoleon I of France]], "who had sprung armed from the French Revolution like [[Minerva]] from the head of [[Jupiter (mythology)|Jove]]".{{Efn|This was a favorite maxim of Napoleon III.<ref name=Wiriath/>}}<ref name=EB1911>{{EB1911 |wstitle=France/History |display=France § ''History'' |volume=10 |pages=869–921 |inline=1 |first=Adhémar |last=Esmein |author-link=Adhémar Esmein}}</ref>

The anti-parliamentary [[French Constitution of 1852]] instituted by Napoleon III on 14 January 1852 was largely a repetition of [[French Constitution of 1848|that of 1848]]. All executive power was entrusted to the emperor, who, as head of state, was solely responsible to the people. The people of the Empire, lacking democratic rights, were to rely on the benevolence of the emperor rather than on the benevolence of politicians. He was to nominate the members of the council of state, whose duty it was to prepare the laws, and of the senate, a body permanently established as a constituent part of the empire.<ref name=EB1911/>

One innovation was made, namely that the [[Corps législatif|legislative body]] was elected by universal suffrage but had no right of initiative, all laws being proposed by the [[executive power]]. This new political change was rapidly followed by the same consequence as had attended that of [[Coup of 18 Brumaire|Brumaire]]. On 2 December 1852, France, still under the effect of Napoleon's legacy, and the fear of anarchy, conferred almost unanimously by a plebiscite the supreme power, with the title of emperor, upon Napoleon III.<ref name=EB1911/>

The Legislative Body was not allowed to elect its own president or to regulate its own procedure, or to propose a law or an amendment, or to vote on the budget in detail, or to make its deliberations public. Similarly, universal suffrage was supervised and controlled by means of official candidature, by forbidding free speech and action in electoral matters to the Opposition, and by a gerrymandering in such a way as to overwhelm the [[Liberalism|liberal]] vote in the mass of the rural population. The press was subjected to a system of ''cautionnements'' ("caution money", deposited as a guarantee of good behaviour) and ''avertissements'' (requests by the authorities to cease publication of certain articles), under sanction of suspension or suppression. Books were subject to censorship.<ref name=EB1911/>

To counteract the opposition of individuals, a surveillance of suspects was instituted. [[Felice Orsini]]'s attack on the emperor in 1858, though purely Italian in its motive, served as a pretext for increasing the severity of this régime by the law of general security (''sûreté générale'') which authorised the internment, exile or deportation of any suspect without trial. In the same way public instruction was strictly supervised, the teaching of philosophy was suppressed in the ''[[lycée]]s'', and the disciplinary powers of the administration were increased.<ref name=EB1911/>

For seven years France had no democratic life. The Empire governed by a series of plebiscites. Up to 1857 the Opposition did not exist; from then until 1860 it was reduced to five members: Alfred Darimon, [[Émile Ollivier]], [[Jacques-Louis Hénon|Hénon]], [[Jules Favre]], and [[Ernest Picard]]. The royalists waited inactive after the new and unsuccessful attempt made at [[Frohsdorf]] in 1853, by a combination of the [[legitimist]]s and [[Orléanist]]s, to re-create a living monarchy out of the ruin of two royal families.<ref name=EB1911/>

== Memorialisation ==


The Empress Eugenie created a memorial to the Second Empire in England in the 1880s. Exiled in Farnborough, Hampshire, she turned her house at Farnborough Hill into a Bonapartist shrine, filling the interior with the remnants of the imperial collection (returned to her in early 1881) and reconstructing elements of the display at the imperial palaces before 1870. 

On an adjacent hill she created a spectacular Mausoleum, today St Michael's Abbey, where the bodies of Napoleon III and the Prince Imperial were interred  in 1888. The imperial crypt at Farnborough remains the only official monument to Napoleon III and the Second Empire.

==See also==
*[[French colonial empire]]
** [[French Africa]]
**[[List of French possessions and colonies]]
*[[History of France]]
*[[International relations of the Great Powers (1814–1919)]]
*[[Paris during the Second Empire]]
*[[Second Empire (architecture)]]
*[[Fires at the Paris Commune]]
*[[Freemasonry under the Second French Empire]]
*[[History of Savoy from 1860 to 1914]]

== Notes ==
{{Notelist}}

== References ==
{{Reflist}}

=== Works cited ===
{{Refbegin|30em}}
* {{Cite book |last=Cunningham |first=Michele |url=https://digital.library.adelaide.edu.au/dspace/bitstream/2440/21617/2/02whole.pdf |title=Mexico and the Foreign Policy of Napoleon III |date=2001 |publisher=Springer |isbn=9780333992630}}
* {{Cite journal |last=Price |first=Roger |date=1996 |title=Napoleon III and the French Second Empire: A Reassessment of a Controversial Period in French History |journal=[[Historian]] |issue=52 |pages=4–10}}
* {{Cite book |title=Documents on the Second French Empire, 1852–1870 |date=2015 |publisher=Palgrave |isbn=9781137507341 |editor-last=Price |editor-first=Roger |page=[https://books.google.com/books?id=FJpMDwAAQBAJ&pg=PA272 272]}}
* {{Cite journal |last=Spitzer |first=Alan B. |date=1962 |title=The Good Napoleon III |journal=[[French Historical Studies]] |volume=2 |issue=3 |pages=308–329 |doi=10.2307/285884 |jstor=285884}}
* {{Cite book |last=Wolf |first=John B. |title=France: 1815 to the Present |date=1963}}
{{Refend}}

==Further reading==
===Surveys===
{{Refbegin|30em}}
* Aubry, Octave. ''The Second Empire'' (1940), popular survey [https://www.questia.com/read/72407961/the-second-empire online] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20181222034224/https://www.questia.com/read/72407961/the-second-empire |date=22 December 2018 }}{{ISBN?}}
* Bury, J. ''Napoleon III and the Second Empire'' (1964), scholarly survey
* Echard, William E., ed. ''Historical Dictionary of the French Second Empire, 1852–1870'' (1985) [https://www.questia.com/read/26477439/historical-dictionary-of-the-french-second-empire online] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20171011035627/https://www.questia.com/read/26477439/historical-dictionary-of-the-french-second-empire |date=11 October 2017 }}{{ISBN?}}
* Furet, François. ''Revolutionary France 1770–1880'' (1995), pp 438–491. survey of political history by leading scholar
* Plessis, Alain, and Jonathan Mandelbaum. ''The Rise and Fall of the Second Empire, 1852–1871'' (The Cambridge History of Modern France) (1988) [https://www.amazon.com/Rise-Fall-Second-Empire-1852/dp/0521358566/ excerpt and text search]
* Smith, W.H.C. ''Second Empire and Commune: France 1848–71'' (1985) short overview
* Tulard, Jean (ed.), ''Dictionnaire du Second Empire'', Paris, Fayard, (1995)
{{Refend}}

=== Secondary sources ===
{{Refbegin|30em}}
* {{Cite book |last=Adriance |first=T. |title=The Last Gaiter Button. A Study of the Mobilization and Concentration of the French Army in the War of 1870 |date=1987}}
* {{Cite book |last=Anderson |first=Robert David |title=Education in France, 1848–1870 |date=1975 |publisher=Clarendon Press |isbn=9780198273110}}
* {{Cite book |last=Baguley, David |title=Napoleon III and His Regime: An Extravaganza |date=2000}}
* {{Cite book |last=Barker |first=Nancy Nichols |title=The French Experience in Mexico, 1821–1861: A History of Constant Misunderstanding |date=1979 |publisher=University of North Carolina Press |isbn=9780807813393}}, relations leading up to the French invasion
* {{Cite book |last=Berenson |first=E. |title=Populist Religion and Left-Wing Politics in France, 1830–1852 |date=1984}}
* {{Cite book |last1=Bertocci |first1=Philip A. |title=Jules Simon: Republican anticlericalism and cultural politics in France, 1848–1886 |last2=Bertocci |first2=Peter Anthony |date=2008 |publisher=University of Missouri Press |isbn=9780826202390 |orig-date=1978}}
* {{Cite journal |last=Brown |first=David |date=2006 |title=Palmerston and Anglo-French Relations, 1846–1865 |journal=[[Diplomacy and Statecraft]] |volume=17 |issue=4 |pages=675–692 |doi=10.1080/09592290600942918 |s2cid=154025726}}
* {{Cite book |last1=Bury |first1=J. |title=Thiers, 1797–1877. A Political Life |last2=Tombs |first2=R. |date=1986}}
* {{Cite book |last=Case |first=Lynn M. |title=French Opinion on War and Diplomacy during the Second Empire |date=1954}}{{ISBN?}}
* {{Cite book |last=Echard |first=W. |title=Napoleon III and the Concert of Europe |date=1983}}
* {{Cite book |last=Elwitt |first=S. |title=The Making of the 3rd Republic: Class and Politics in France 1868–1884 |date=1975}}
Anthony Geraghty, The Empress Eugenie in England: Art, Architecture, Collecting, The Burlington Press, London: 2022
* {{Cite book |last=Gibson |first=R. |title=A Social History of French Catholicism 1789–1914 |date=1989}}
* {{Cite book |last=Gildea |first=R. |title=Education in Provincial France, 1800–1914 |date=1983}}
* {{Cite book |last=Gooch |first=G. P. |title=The Second Empire |date=1960}}
* {{Cite book |last=Guedalla |first=Philip |url=https://archive.org/details/in.ernet.dli.2015.95986/page/n11 |title=The Second Empire |date=1923 |author-link=Philip Guedalla}}
* {{Cite book |last=Hallberg |first=Charles W. |title=Franz Joseph and Napoleon III, 1852–1864: A Study of Austro-French Relations |date=1955}}{{ISBN?}}
* {{Cite book |last=Hanna |first=Alfred J. |title=Napoleon III and Mexico; American triumph over monarchy |date=1971 |publisher=Chapel Hill, University of North Carolina Press |isbn=9780807811719 |ol=5317779M}}
* {{Cite book |last=Holmes |first=R. |title=The Road to Sedan: The French Army 1866–1870 |date=1984}}
* {{Cite book |last=Horvath-Peterson |first=Sandra |title=Victor Duruy and French Education: Liberal Reform in the Second Empire |date=1984}}
* {{Cite book |last=Howard |first=Michael |title=The Franco-Prussian War |date=1967}}, diplomatic and political origins and the conduct of the war 
* {{Cite book |last=McMillan |first=James |title=Napoleon III |date=1991}}
* {{Cite book |last=Payne |first=Howard C. |title=The Police State of Louis-Napoleon Bonaparte, 1851–1860 |date=1966}}
* {{Cite book |last=Pinkney |first=David |title=Napoleon III and the Rebuilding of Paris |date=1958 |publisher=Princeton University Press}}
* {{Cite book |last=Pottinger |first=Evelyn A. |title=Napoleon III and the German crisis |date=1966 |publisher=Harvard University Press |isbn=9780674600508 |ol=26613287M}}
* {{Cite book |last=Price |first=Roger |title=The French Second Republic. A Social History |date=1972}}
* {{Cite book |last=Price |first=Roger |title=Napoleon III and the Second Empire |date=1997}}
* {{Cite book |last=Price |first=Roger |title=The French Second Empire: An Anatomy of Political Power |date=2001}}{{ISBN?}}
*[[Joanna Richardson|Richardson, Joanna]] (1971). ''La Vie Parisienne, 1852-1870''. London: Hamish Hamilton
* {{Cite book |last=Ridley |first=Jasper |title=Napoleon III and Eugenie |date=1980 |publisher=Viking Press |isbn=9780670504282 |ol=4096372M}}, full-scale biography
* {{Cite journal |last=Schnerb |first=Robert |date=1936 |title=Napoleon III and the Second French Empire |journal=[[Journal of Modern History]] |volume=8 |issue=3 |pages=338–355 |doi=10.1086/468454 |jstor=1881540 |s2cid=144162251}}
* {{Cite book |last=Strauss-Schom |first=Alan |title=The Shadow Emperor: A Biography of Napoleon III |date=2018}}, biography
* {{Cite book |last=Thompson |first=J. M. |title=Louis Napoleon and the Second Empire |date=1954 |publisher=Pickle Partners |isbn=9781787206694 |ol=6152211M |author-link=James Matthew Thompson}}
* {{Cite book |last=Todd |first=David |url=https://issforum.org/roundtables/PDF/Roundtable-XXIV-24.pdf |title=A Velvet Empire: French Informal Imperialism in the Nineteenth Century |date=2021 |publisher=Princeton University Press}} scholarly reviews
* {{Cite book |last=Wetzel |first=David |title=A Duel of Giants: Bismarck, Napoleon III, and the Origins of the Franco-Prussian War |date=2003}}
* {{Cite book |last=Zeldin |first=Theodore |title=The Political System of Napoleon III |date=1958}}
{{Refend}}

===Historiography===
{{Refbegin|30em}}
* Campbell, S. ''The Second Empire Revisited: A Study in French Historiography'' (1978)
{{Refend}}

===Primary sources===
{{Refbegin|30em}}
* {{Cite book |last=Anderson |first=F.M. |ol=23386272M |title=The constitutions and other select documents illustrative of the history of France, 1789–1901 |date=1904}}
{{Refend}}

==External links==
{{Commons category|Second French Empire}}
*[http://www.marxists.org/archive/marx/works/1871/civil-war-france/ch05.htm ''The Civil War in France''] [[Karl Marx]]'s 3rd address to the [[Paris Commune]], describes character of Second Empire.

{{France topics}}
{{Former Monarchies}}
{{Authority control}}

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