• Charles Louis Napoleon Bonaparte was born on April 20, 1808 in Paris.
• Napoleon III's father is Louis Bonaparte, younger brother of Napoleon I, King of Holland.
• Mother of Napoleon III - Hortense de Beauharnais, stepdaughter of Napoleon I, daughter of Empress Josephine from her first marriage.
• 1815 - the troops of the anti-French coalition removed the young emperor Napoleon II from power. The Bonaparte family is expelled from France. Charles Louis lives with his mother in several European cities - Geneva, Aix, Augsburg. Receives a home education corresponding to his origin under the guidance of the best teachers in Switzerland, Italy, Germany.
• 1824 - Hortense and her son settle in the castle of Arenenberg (Switzerland).
• The matured Louis Napoleon is traditionally trained in military affairs. His military training takes place in the Swiss army, where the future emperor manages to make a career and rise to the rank of artillery captain.
• February - March 1831 - in Romagna (Italy) a rebellion against papal authority was organized. Louis Napoleon takes an active part in the riots. The rebellion ends in nothing.
• Summer 1832 - Joseph Francois Charles Bonaparte (aka the deposed Emperor Napoleon II) dies. Now Charles Louis Napoleon is the head of the Bonaparte family. Supporters of his famous uncle-grandfather see him as the future ruler of France and do not hide their hopes. A staunch Bonapartist, under the influence of his entourage, Louis Napoleon decides to devote himself to conquering the French throne.
• 1830s - Charles Louis Napoleon's first treatise "Political Dreams" is published, which outlines his project for a democratic empire.
• October 30, 1836 - the ambitious heir organizes an uprising of artillery regiments against the regime of King Louis Philippe I in Strasbourg. The putsch fails. Louis Napoleon is arrested and expelled from the country after a trial.
• 1836 - 1837 - exile in the USA.
• 1838 - Louis Napoleon publishes his second treatise Napoleonic Ideas in London. In it, the author presents his vision of optimal power: a combination of socialism and liberalism against the backdrop of universal economic prosperity. Particular emphasis in the work was placed on the fact that the Bonapartes do not seek tyranny and conquest.
• August 6, 1840 - the second attempt by Charles Louis Napoleon to overthrow the monarchy. This time, the organizer of the rebellion was sentenced to life imprisonment.
• 1840 - 1846 - Bonaparte is serving his sentence in the Gam fortress. The conditions of his detention were not too strict. In prison, he writes his third work, Overcoming Pauperism.
• May 1846 - Louis Napoleon escapes prison disguised as a bricklayer. After escaping, he takes refuge in England.
• 1848 Revolution in France. The July Monarchy is overthrown. Louis Napoleon returns home.
• September of the same year - Bonaparte was elected to the Constituent Assembly. It was not easy to get a seat in the assembly, and he had to participate in the elections twice, since after the first victory his election was cassed.
• December 10 of the same year - Charles Louis Napoleon Bonaparte becomes President of the French Republic.
• As president, Louis Napoleon directs all his efforts to create a strong Bonapartist party, called the "December 10 Society". Bonaparte seeks to rule independently, reshuffles the government, even tries to influence Pope Pius IX and demands that he carry out liberal reforms in the Papal State ... As a result, by the end of 1849, a circle of “his” people formed around the president. But there is still the ruling "party of order" and the Legislative Assembly, which are dissatisfied with Bonaparte and reject many of his initiatives.
• December 2, 1851 - Charles Louis Napoleon launches a coup d'état. He is supported by the army, with its help the opposition is severely suppressed. In the same month, Bonaparte adopts a new constitution.
• November 1852 - at the initiative of the President, a referendum was organized in France; as a result, the imperial form of government was restored.
• December 2, 1852 - Bonaparte proclaims himself Emperor of the Second Empire Napoleon III. He is supported by the majority of the country's population - from the peasantry and the army to representatives of the Catholic Church.
• 1852 - early 1860s - the heyday of the Second Empire. France, under the rule of Napoleon III, pursues an active foreign policy: the island of New Caledonia is captured, colonies are founded, a concession for the construction of the Suez Canal is obtained, the Russian Empire is defeated in the Crimean War of 1853-1856, the war won with Austria (1859) brings Savoy and Nice to France, also carried out successful military campaigns in the East. Industry is actively developing inside the country, railways are being built. Paris is being reconstructed, and the imperial court is regaining its former splendor. France is gaining prestige in the international community.
• 1853 - Napoleon III marries Spaniard Maria Eugenia Augustine Ignacia de Montijo, Countess of Tobsk and the most beautiful woman in the world. She was 18 years younger than Bonaparte. There is a romantic legend about the acquaintance of the emperor with his future wife. Allegedly many years ago, Josephine Beauharnais mysteriously lost her ring. Louis Napoleon saw the family jewel on the finger of a young Spaniard he did not know and immediately made her his chosen one... for him his daughters. I had to marry a beautiful Spanish woman, still known as a girl for her love affairs and intrigues. But perhaps the family legend about the missing ring was not so ridiculous - it is known that Napoleon III loved Eugenia Montijo throughout his life.
• March 16, 1856 - the son of Napoleon III, Prince Eugene Louis Jean Joseph (known as Napoleon IV) is born.
• Winter 1858 - Napoleon III is assassinated in Paris. Dozens of people died from the explosion on the theater square. The imperial couple, heading to the opera, was practically not injured. When the perpetrator of the assassination (an Italian by nationality) was executed, Empress Eugenia Montijo sent all her son's toys to his children.
• 1862 - 1867 - Napoleon III organizes a military campaign in Mexico. The goals of this project were truly Napoleonic - to organize the Mexican Empire, headed by the Austrian Archduke Maximilian of Habsburg.
• The unsuccessful Mexican expedition not only brought huge losses to the state treasury, but also significantly undermined the authority of the existing government. The external and internal transformations carried out create a budget deficit, the country accumulates debts. Against this background, the opposition is growing stronger. The prestige of the Second Empire and its leader is steadily declining.
• The second half of the 1860s - Napoleon III was forced to make concessions to the opposition and return the Legislative Assembly (which previously had virtually no voting rights) the right to initiate legislation.
• May 1870 - A constitutional monarchy is established in France.
• Summer 1870 - France goes to war with Prussia. Despite the weakness (due to kidney disease, he could hardly stay in the saddle), the emperor personally leads the troops. On September 1, the army, in which the headquarters of Napoleon III is located, is surrounded and capitulates the next day. Charles Louis is captured and imprisoned in Wilhelmshehe Castle.
• September 4, 1870 - in Paris, the opposition raises an uprising, as a result of which the Second Empire ceases to exist. Napoleon III deposed by the National Assembly
• March 1, 1871 - the Franco-Prussian peace treaty (Frankfurt Peace) is concluded. Former emperor released. He decides to leave with his wife and son for England. Charles Louis Napoleon spends the rest of his life at the Camden House estate in Chislehurst (a town near London).
• January 9, 1873 - Charles Louis Napoleon Bonaparte dies at Chislehurst. Initially, he was buried there, but a few years later, Eugenia Montijo erected a mausoleum in the imperial crypt of St. Michael's Abbey in Hampshire, where her husband's ashes were transferred.

NAPOLEON III (LOUIS-NAPOLEON BONAPARTE)

President of the French Republic (1848-1852), Emperor of the French (1852-1870). Nephew of Napoleon I. Using the dissatisfaction of the peasants with the regime of the Second Republic, he achieved his election as president (December 1848); With the support of the military, he carried out a coup d'etat on December 2, 1851. Exactly one year later, he was proclaimed emperor. Adhered to the policy of Bonapartism. Under him, France participated in the Crimean War (1853-1856), in the war against Austria (1859), in interventions in Indochina (1858-1862), Syria (1860-1861), Mexico (1862-1867). During the Franco-Prussian War, he surrendered with a 100,000th army as a prisoner near Sedan (1870). Deposed by the September Revolution of 1870.

As far as love is concerned, Louis-Napoleon had no class prejudices: soubrettes, princesses, bourgeois women, shopkeepers, peasant women visited him in his arms ... The youth of the future emperor was rich in love adventures. At the age of thirteen, he could no longer contain his love ardor. He then lived in Switzerland with his mother, in the castle of Arenenberg. One evening, Louis took one of the nannies into his room and showed her his manly prowess.

This piquant episode had the most pleasant consequences for the young women who lived in those days in the vicinity of Lake Constance. He began with shepherdesses who dreamed of being thrown onto the grass by the prince. Then he penetrated the families of the decent Swiss bourgeoisie and indulged in love pleasures in the most disorderly way. Finally, he began dating beautiful foreign aristocrats who came for the holiday season. This amazing amorous activity forced him to leave the castle after breakfast and return only at dinner.

In 1830, Queen Hortense and Louis Napoleon stayed in Florence. There, the prince was introduced to Countess Baraglini, who was distinguished by her striking beauty. To get into the countess's house, the prince dressed up as a woman, powdered and put on a wig. Taking a basket with bouquets of flowers, he, under the guise of a flower girl, appeared at the house of his adored lady. As soon as the maid left, Louis Bonaparte threw himself on his knees before the countess and began to beg her to yield to the flame of his soul. The signora, frightened to death, rang the bell. The servants and the husband came running, and the lover barely swept away.

The next day, all of Florence laughed at the future emperor. He challenged the countess's husband to a duel, but he himself fled from Florence without appearing for a duel.

The queen took Louis to Arenenberg, and then sent him to a military school, where he studied for five years, while proving to the local girls that the reputation that gunners enjoy everywhere is well deserved. In 1836, the Queen decided to marry the Prince to Princess Mathilde. Louis fell in love with the fifteen-year-old daughter of King Jerome, but his father soon recalled Matilda from Arenenberg ...

After the departure of the bride, Louis-Napoleon decided to carry out a coup d'état in Strasbourg and undertake a campaign against Paris with the army. He decided to win over to his side Colonel Vaudret, whose weakness was women. Soon they found a suitable candidate - smart, beautiful, cunning, sensual Bonapartist, singer Mrs. Gordon. But at first, the prince himself decided to convert this woman to his faith and came to her concert. At midnight he was in her living room. After a love affair with a singer, Louis was convinced that Gordon was the right woman who could persuade the colonel to participate in the coup, and he was not mistaken. Mrs. Gordon has taken possession of Vodray.

Alas, the plot failed. Despite the seriousness of the crime, the king of France did not dare to bring Louis Napoleon to an open trial, but simply exiled him to New York. There the prince lived for his pleasure. Only one piece of news upset him - King Jerome, Matilda's father, refused him the hand of his daughter.

Dejected, Louis-Napoleon indulged in real revelry. To begin with, he visited brothels and behaved in them so actively that even the regulars of these institutions were horrified at each of his next appearances. Then he began to look for girls right on the panel and began to arrange very funny gatherings in his apartment. They even said that the prince had sunk to the point that he lived on the content of several girls of easy virtue and played the role of a pimp.

In June 1837, Louis-Napoleon received word of his mother's illness. On August 4, he was at the bedside of Hortense, who soon died.

The prince now thought only of seizing power and was waiting for a new opportunity. But the second coup attempt ended with the fact that Louis Napoleon was sentenced to life imprisonment and imprisoned in the fortress of Am. The hardest thing for him was forced abstinence. But, fortunately for him, the charming 22-year-old Eleanor Vergeot, a person with elastic breasts and other attractive roundness, was hired to the post of ironer of the prison. The prince decided to take up the education of the weaver's daughter and, after the first history lesson, invited her to continue her education at night. She came, and in the morning Louis-Napoleon did not let her out of the cell. So the girl became the "prison wife" of the prince. She cared for him and loved him, giving him two sons while she shared the hardships of captivity with him. Finally, the prince conceived an escape, which he successfully accomplished, and disappeared into England.

In London, the prince met Miss Howard, whose real name is Elizabeth Ann Herriet, who lived on the content of the son of a wealthy horse merchant, then a major of the royal guard, from whom she had an illegitimate son. The prince was thirty-eight years old. He was never an attractive man, but by that time his face bore the distinct stamp of a turbulent life: flabby cheeks sagged, dark circles under his eyes, his mustache yellowed from smoking. Miss Howard, as a professional courtesan, mastered her craft to perfection, and Louis Napoleon was subdued. He moved to live in her luxurious dwelling and began to lead a comfortable life, arranging receptions, going hunting and visiting theaters.

Meanwhile, in Paris, one court scandal was followed by another. The "old rotten world" in a series of these scandals was disappearing into oblivion. Soon, Louis-Philippe signed a renunciation and fled the country. A provisional government was established in France and a republic was proclaimed. The election campaign of candidates for seats in parliament has begun. Miss Howard invited Napoleon to put forward her candidacy and actively set about organizing the prince's election campaign. It was planned to hire journalists, cartoonists, songwriters and arrange with peddlers so that brochures with the biography of Louis Napoleon would be distributed in all provinces.

Miss Howard "sold" her lands to the prince, who took out a loan against them, the rest of the money the woman in love received by selling her jewelry. Hundreds of thousands of leaflets literally filled the French huts, and Louis entered the parliament in four departments at once.

Soon the heir to the Emperor Napoleon arrived in Paris. The expulsion law was repealed. Now his goal was to become President of the Republic. For three months, thanks to the funds of Miss Howard, who sold the furniture, the house, and some other jewelry, vigorous propaganda was carried on. The victory of the prince in the elections was more than convincing. Louis Napoleon was proclaimed President of the Republic in the name of the people.

Miss Howard suffered greatly from the fact that she was not received at the Elysee Palace. The prince-president explained this by the fact that his cousin and ex-fiancee Matilda became the actual mistress of the palace, who would not allow a woman with an illegitimate child to appear in her apartment. In fact, Matilda wanted to put an end to this connection between Louis Napoleon, attracting various means for this, including opera dancers.

He turned his attention to the great dramatic actresses of his time: Madeleine Broan, Rachel, Alice Ozi. However, for some time now, Louis-Napoleon decided to deal only with secular women. The Marquise de Belbeuf was his mistress for several months, then Lady Douglas replaced her, then he turned his attention to the Comtesse de Guyon. But it turned out that the latter already had an affair with M. de Morny, the half-brother of the prince.

At the end of the autumn of 1851, Louis Napoleon showed such love activity that even his closest associates were surprised: he demanded two, and sometimes three women a day. In part, this could be explained by the fact that the prince was preparing a coup d'état. Funding for the operation, as always, was provided by Miss Howard. Louis Napoleon, despite his many betrayals, was still affectionately attached to her. After enjoying the day in the company of unfamiliar girls, he went in the evenings to seek rest in Miss Howard's little mansion.

On the evening of December 1, people danced in all the living rooms of the presidential palace. At one point, the prince quietly left the guests and handed over to his friends in his office the texts of the appeals, which were to be printed and pasted around the city before dawn. Then he returned to the drawing rooms, exchanged jokes with the guests, said a few compliments to the ladies, and disappeared again unnoticed to sign sixty arrest warrants in his office.

In the morning, Paris learned about the coup d'état that had taken place. Miss Howard, maddened with joy, thought that the prince now master of France should marry her. But Louis-Napoleon, although he appeared everywhere with his mistress, was in no hurry to share with her his plans for the future regarding marriage. Miss Howard, tired of waiting, herself appeared at the Tuileries for the emperor's gala evening. The prince's entourage was shocked. Those close to him began to tell him about marrying a candidate worthy of his position - some European princess.

Louis Napoleon followed wise advice, but attempts to woo a real princess failed. However, he was not too upset, because he was in love again. The object of his attention was the delightful creation of twenty-seven years. Eugenia Montijo, a Spanish aristocrat, was slender, refined, slightly reddish, with a face the color of a tea rose and blue eyes. She had beautiful shoulders, high breasts, long eyelashes ...

As soon as he saw her, the prince was amazed, with the glowing gaze of a gourmet, he looked with excitement at her charms. Once Louis tried to give free rein to his hands, but received a rather sharp blow with a fan, reminding him that he was not dealing with a dancer. However, Louis-Napoleon decided that he would get his way, and continued persistent courtship.

Eugenia's mother, meanwhile, did not get tired of repeating to her daughter that in no case should she allow the emperor liberties, but the girl herself perfectly understood how to inflame Louis's desire more strongly. Once at dinner, Napoleon picked up a wreath of violets and put it on Eugenie's head. But several more days passed before the emperor made a formal proposal.

The first wedding night deceived the emperor's expectations. He dreamed of a Spaniard, hot and temperamental, but found a woman "no more sexy than a coffee pot." However, in public, Eugenia played the most elegant, most courteous empress, from whose face a charming smile did not leave. The emphasized scrupulousness of Eugenia was by no means always shared by the emperor. In the Tuileries reigned confusion, luxury, beauty, impatience and voluptuousness. From day to day, the modesty of the unfortunate empress was subjected to severe trials.

Napoleon III was faithful to Eugenia for six months, but he did not tolerate monotony. Feeling the hunger for love, the emperor pounced on the charming young blonde, a little eccentric, who was the center of attention of the court. Her name was Madame de la Bedoyer. Once she appeared at the Tuileries in an extremely excited state, "eloquently testifying to the honor that the emperor had done her." Napoleon quickly got tired of her, having managed, however, to make her husband a senator.

Then he rented a mansion on Buck Street, where he spent time with some actress, then with a cocotte, then with a soubrette, then with a secular lady, then with a courtesan ... The Empress did not even suspect her husband's pranks. And suddenly she learned that Napoleon III had resumed relations with Miss Howard. There was a stormy scene, Louis promised to stop all relations with his mistress, but he did not keep his word.

The insidious Miss Howard now and then caught the eye of the imperial couple and with malevolent pleasure greeted the highest persons. Eugenia's eyes were glassy, ​​her nostrils flared, she stood motionless, while Napoleon III responded with emphatic politeness to the greeting. Soon the Empress was informed about the emperor's walk with Miss Howard, and Eugenie declared that she refused to sleep in the same bedroom with her husband. Napoleon III, who dreamed of an heir, persuaded Howard to temporarily retire to England. The woman obeyed his will, taking with her her son and two illegitimate sons of the emperor, adopted by him and Eleanor Vergeot.

But Evgenia had a miscarriage. After some time, the misfortune recurred. Eugenia was inconsolable, the emperor irritated and preoccupied. Evil tongues joked that he was exhausted and incapable of anything. Finally, while visiting Queen Victoria in London, the imperial couple shared their grief. The Queen of England advised putting a small pillow under the empress's lower back. The advice has been helpful.

At this time, Cavour, the first minister of Victor Emmanuel, nurtured the idea of ​​creating a united Italy. He understood that these plans could be carried out only with the help of the most powerful France. It was necessary to convince Napoleon III to help the king of Piedmont, and only a woman could do this, Cavour decided. The choice fell on the most beautiful Countess Virginia of Castile. She arrived in Paris and, together with her husband, appeared before the Parisian world. The emperor, however, did not immediately pay attention to her, but the countess did not lose hope.

The Empress finally gave birth safely to a healthy boy - the heir. Perhaps it was for this reason that for four whole months the emperor did not try to lure Virginia into the bedroom.

The countess took a desperate step, appearing at the next costume ball in the Tuileries in the most extravagant costume - half-naked, like an ancient goddess. Her efforts paid off. Three weeks later, at a picnic, the emperor took the countess for a boat ride, and then took her to the island, where they stayed for about two hours ...

Virginia of Castile tried to convince the emperor to bring French troops into Italy. He was ready to listen to her request, but quite suddenly broke with the countess. The thing is, she was too talkative. Her place was taken by Marie-Ann Walewska. The relationship between Napoleon III and Madame Walewska lasted about two years. All this time, she received luxurious gifts from the emperor and brought her husband an unheard of cash income.

... Once a young courtesan Marguerite Belanger walked along Saint-Cloud on foot, in the pouring rain. The emperor passing by threw a Scottish blanket to the girl, and the next day the young lady decided to take advantage of the situation. She asked for an audience, declaring that she had to deliver a personal message to the emperor. Napoleon agreed to accept her, perhaps anticipating a future romance or affair.

This was the emperor's last serious hobby. Margarita captivated the emperor with her plebeian manners, spontaneity and fantasy, which made him forget about court etiquette. The connection lasted two years. Mocart, the Emperor's personal secretary, bought her a small mansion on the rue des Vignes in Paris. Napoleon often visited there.

Margarita followed her master everywhere. For example, when the court was in Saint-Cloud, she lived in a small house near the fence of the imperial park. Louis-Napoleon could get unnoticed to his mistress through a specially constructed passage.

However, the Empress soon learned that her husband's love affair was more than serious, and decided to spend a few days in Schwalbach, a water resort near Nassau. By the way, a personal doctor ordered her to go to the waters, since constant thoughts about Margaret Belanger deprived the Empress of appetite and sleep.

Margarita, of course, could not influence the actions of the emperor, for the purpose of the courtesan is to satisfy the body, not the soul. Her little landau, made of wicker in the fashion of the time, found herself too often in the path of the emperor's carriage, now in the Bois de Boulogne, now on the Champs-Élysées.

In 1864, Eugenia returned to Paris, and after a while the emperor was brought from the Rue de Vigne in such a terrible state that everyone understood that the relationship with Margarita must be ended, otherwise France could lose the monarch. Eugenia ordered Mokar's brother to take her to the courtesan's house and told her that she was simply killing the emperor. In 1865, Prosper Mérimée wrote: "Caesar no longer dreams of Cleopatra."

However, after some time, the beautiful Margo was forced, at the request of the emperor, to help him out in a very delicate story. The fact is that Louis Napoleon once wanted to seduce a virgin. Soon they found a charming 15-year-old girl who lost her innocence in the arms of the emperor. But soon Valentina - that was her name - realized that she was pregnant.

To avoid scandal, they decided that Margo should simulate pregnancy. So the rumor was spread that the emperor Belanger's mistress had given birth to a child. A year later, this rumor reached the ears of the Empress, who made another huge scandal. The emperor justified himself that the son of Margo was not from him. Evgenia demanded proof. Margo wrote a letter to the emperor, in which she convinced that the child was not the fruit of the emperor's efforts. The letter "accidentally" caught the eye of Evgenia.

Despite the scenes that the Empress arranged, Napoleon III continued to show depressing symptoms of "senile erotomania." He squeezed the maids in the pantries for linen, demanded to supply him with young virgins and experienced prostitutes, burdened with luggage of all kinds of perversions and vices. Day by day his mental faculties were fading away. Sometimes he smoked for hours, falling into a strange stupor. But at the sight of pretty women, he noticeably revived.

His next hobby was the Countess de Mercy-Argento, to whom he penetrated through an underground secret passage. The Empress found out about her husband's new mistress, and the Tuileries was again filled with reproaches and tears. For a whole week, the lovers did not meet, and when the emperor explained to the countess the reason for the breakup, she decided to take revenge on the empress. Her intrigue was a success - Eugenia left the Council, because the cunning Mercy-Argento managed to convey to her the opinion that her presence in the Council undermines the authority of the emperor. She packed her things and left to open the Suez Canal.

Eugenia returned to France, where the opposition was becoming louder and louder. The Emperor, ill and anxious, seemed to have aged ten years. France was threatened with war, but this was what inspired Eugene. She urged the emperor to take decisive action.

On July 19, 1870, France declared war on Prussia. Napoleon III went to fight accompanied by the crown prince. In early August, the French suffered one defeat after another. At the end of August, not wanting to destroy the entire army, Napoleon III surrendered. Unrest in Paris grew. A huge crowd gathered around the Tuileries and was ready to demolish the barriers, break into the palace and tear the empress to pieces. Evgenia ran. She miraculously managed to slip out of the palace and leave Paris with adventures.

In England, the Empress met with her son, the Crown Prince. She wanted to share the fate of her husband, the emperor, but she was not immediately allowed to see him, and when they met, they felt for each other a hitherto unexperienced tenderness.

In France, the days of the Paris Commune began ...

Napoleon III was sixty-five years old. His health deteriorated markedly. On January 2, 1873, a successful operation was performed. Another one was planned. But on January 9, in the morning, he began to become delirious and died at 10:45. Louis Napoleon was buried at Chislehurst.

Of all the famous favorites of Napoleon III, only Countess Valevskaya arrived at the funeral, and a few days later Marguerite Belanger visited his grave.

The crown prince died in 1879 in a war with the Zulus in South Africa.

After the death of the emperor, his widow Eugenia lived for another forty-seven years, sometimes she came to Paris. Eugenia died in 1920 at the age of ninety-four.

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NAPOLEON I (Napoleon Bonaparte) (Napol?on I (Napol?on Bonaparte), 1769–1821), First Consul of the French Republic in 1799–1804, Emperor in 1804–1814 and 1815. 894 Men of genius are meteors burning to light up their age. “What truths and feelings are more necessary for people to be happy?” (1791),

Napoleon III Bonaparte (fr. Napoleon III Bonaparte, full name Charles Louis Napoleon (fr. Charles Louis Napoleon Bonaparte); April 20, 1808 - January 9, 1873) - President of the French Republic from December 20, 1848 to December 1, 1852, Emperor of the French from 1 December 1852 to September 4, 1870 (from September 2, 1870 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 the coup of 1851 and eliminated 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.

The name of Napoleon is a program in itself!

Napoleon III Bonaparte (Third)

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.

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 literature hostile to him (by the way, in 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 as passionate and as romantic a devotion to his uncle as his mother.

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.

All 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.

NAPOLEON III (Louis Napoleon Bonaparte) (1808-73), French emperor in 1852-70. Nephew of Napoleon I Bonaparte. Using the dissatisfaction of the peasants with the regime of the Second Republic, he achieved his election as president (December 1848); On December 2, 1851, with the support of the military, he carried out a coup d'état. 12/2/1852 proclaimed emperor. Adhered to the policy of Bonapartism. Under him, France participated in the Crimean War of 1853-56, in the war against Austria in 1859, in interventions in Indochina in 1858-62, in Syria in 1860-61, and Mexico in 1862-67. During the Franco-Prussian War of 1870-71, he surrendered in 1870 with a 100,000-strong army captured near Sedan. Deposed by the September Revolution of 1870.

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 (1852-70).

He was the third son in the family of Napoleon I's younger brother Louis Bonaparte and Napoleon I's stepdaughter 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 Philip Leba, the son of one of Maximilian Robespierre's associates. He also studied at the military school in Tuna (Switzerland).

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 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.

From 1846 Louis Napoleon lived in England. The revolution of 1848 allowed him to return to his homeland. He was first elected to the Constituent Assembly (September 1848), and then President of the Republic (December 1848).

December 2, 1851 Louis Napoleon carried out a coup d'état, which led to the establishment of the 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.

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 the Crimean War in 1853-56 on the side of Turkey; in 1859, in alliance with Piedmont, he waged war with Austria; in 1863 he sent an expeditionary force to Mexico; 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 (1859-69), the holding of world exhibitions in the French capital (1855, 1867) led to an increase in business activity and the acceleration of industrialization.

January 29, 1853 Napoleon III married the daughter of a 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.

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 legislative power—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 policy of the government. 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.

The collapse of the Second Empire hastened the defeat in the Franco-Prussian War of 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 Eugenie survived 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 against the Zulus in Africa.

(Charles-Louis-Napoleon Bonaparte) (1808–1873), Emperor of France 1852–1870. Son of Louis Bonaparte, brother of Napoleon I and King of Holland (1806–1810), and Hortense Beauharnais, daughter of French Empress Josephine. Born in Paris on April 20, 1808. After the fall of the Empire (1815) and the expulsion of his mother from France, he lived with her in Geneva, in Aix (Savoie), in Augsburg, and from 1824 - in the castle of Arenenberg (Switzerland); received home education. He underwent military training in the Swiss army, rose to the rank of artillery captain. Imbued with leftist views; had connections with the Italian Carbonari. In February-March 1831, he participated in an unsuccessful rebellion in Romagna against papal authority.

After the death of the Duke of Reichstadt (Napoleon II) in 1832 - the head of the House of Bonaparte. He outlined his project of a democratic empire in the work political dreams(Rêveries politiques). On October 30, 1836, he tried to organize a putsch of two artillery regiments in Strasbourg against the regime of Louis Philippe I, but was arrested and deported to the USA. In 1837 he returned to Europe. In 1838 he published a treatise in London Napoleonic ideas(Ideas napoleoniennes), where he presented the theory of Bonapartism - a synthesis of order and revolution, socialism and economic prosperity, liberalism and strong power. August 6, 1840 attempted to mutiny the garrison of Boulogne, but was captured and sentenced to life imprisonment. He served his sentence in Ame (dep. Somme). May 25, 1846, disguised as a bricklayer, escaped from prison and took refuge in England.

After the fall of the July Monarchy (February Revolution of 1848), he returned to his homeland (April 25), but was expelled from the country by the Provisional Government. Nominated in absentia as a candidate for by-elections to the Constituent Assembly on June 4, 1848; won in four departments, but his election was cassated. In September, he returned to Paris and, as a result of by-elections on September 17, became a member of the Constituent Assembly. With the support of the "party of order" (Legitimists, Orleanists, Catholics), he was elected President of the Republic on December 10, receiving approx. 5.5 million votes out of 7.5 million.

In the first period of his presidency (until June 1849) he was a faithful instrument of the "party of order"; fought against the Republican majority of the Constituent Assembly. On December 21, 1848, he appointed Orléanist O. Barro as prime minister; On December 26, he transferred the command of the Parisian National Guard and the troops of the 1st (capital) military district to the monarchist General N.-E. Changarnier. January 29, 1849 disbanded the pro-republican mobile guard. In April 1849, against the will of the Constituent Assembly, he organized a military expedition against the Roman Republic in order to restore papal authority.

After the victory of the clerical-monarchist coalition in the elections to the Legislative Assembly on May 13, 1849, and the suppression of the anti-government protests of the left Republicans on June 13, he set a course for liberation from the tutelage of the "Party of Order" and the creation of a strong Bonapartist party ("December 10 Society"). He tried to pursue an independent foreign policy. In August 1849, he demanded from Pius IX the implementation of liberal reforms in the Papal State, which caused sharp discontent among both the pope and the clerical-monarchist majority of the Assembly. Taking advantage of O. Barro's refusal to submit a number of presidential initiatives for consideration by the Assembly (an increase in the civil list of the president, the return of the Bourbons and Orleans to France, an amnesty for the participants in the June uprising of 1848), on November 1, 1849, he dismissed his government and appointed a cabinet from his personal adherents.

Intending to split the "party of order" and win over the Catholic Church, he began to actively flirt with the clerics. Contributed to the implementation of the A.-P. de Broglie on the restriction of voting rights.

He took the initiative to revise the Constitution of 1848, which prohibited the re-election of the president for a new term. To promote this idea, he made a trip around the country in August-September 1850. In an effort to establish control over the troops stationed in the capital, in January 1851 he replaced General N.-E. Changarnier with his protege, provoking a conflict with the Legislative Assembly. In February 1851, the deputies rejected his demand for an increase in the presidential civil list, and in July - a proposal to change the Constitution.

December 2, 1851 made a coup d'état; dissolved the Legislative Assembly, arrested the leaders of the monarchist and republican opposition, and brutally crushed all attempts at resistance. According to the new constitution, approved at the plebiscite on December 20-21, he received extremely wide powers - the fullness of the executive and part of the legislative (exclusive right of legislative initiative) power; he was responsible only to the people, to whom he could appeal directly by means of a plebiscite. In fact, he liquidated the National Guard (January 11, 1852), established strict control over the press and public associations (February 17), and abolished the autonomy of universities (March 10). Having won the referendum (November 1852) on the restoration of the imperial form of government (7.8 million against 250 thousand), he proclaimed himself Emperor Napoleon III (Second Empire) on December 2, 1852.

In 1852-1860, the authoritarian regime of Napoleon III remained quite strong; he relied on the support of the army, the peasantry, business circles and the church. The opposition was weak and had virtually no legal opportunities for political activity. The Parliament (Legislative Corps) had extremely limited competence (simple registration of laws without the right to introduce and discuss them).

In the 1850s, the regime made significant progress in both domestic and foreign policy. The development of industry and banking, the construction of railways were actively encouraged, and financial assistance was provided to large and small landowners. In 1853, under the leadership of the Parisian prefect E.-J. Haussmann, a large-scale reconstruction of the capital began. In 1855, Paris became the venue for the World Exhibition.

In 1853, France captured about. New Caledonia; in 1854 she received a concession for the construction of the Suez Canal (completed in 1869) and began the conquest of Senegal. The victory over Russia in the Crimean War of 1853-1856 raised her authority in Europe. As a result of victory in the Austro-Franco-Sardinian War of 1859, France acquired Savoy and Nice (Treaty of Turin March 24, 1860). After the Second "Opium" War of 1856-1860, she received extensive trading privileges in China (Peking Convention October 25, 1860); in 1858 she began the conquest of South Vietnam (Cochin China), completing it in 1867; in 1860 she undertook a military expedition to Syria (under the pretext of protecting local Christians), significantly strengthening her position in the Eastern Mediterranean.

However, from the beginning of the 1860s, the situation of the Second Empire became more complicated. Large government spending led to a sharp increase in the budget deficit and public debt. The abolition of protectionist duties (the Anglo-French trade treaty of January 23, 1860) aroused the indignation of industrial circles. The alliance with Piedmont, which led the unification of Italy, worsened relations with the papacy and with the influential clerical party in France. In an effort to expand the social base of the regime, on November 24, 1860, Napoleon III granted the Legislative Corps the right to discuss the emperor's speech from the throne, which only served to strengthen the opposition. France's participation in the Mexican adventure of 1862–1867 (an attempt to create a Mexican empire led by the Austrian Archduke Maximilian) also caused dissatisfaction. The united opponents of the regime (clericals, legitimists, orleanists, protectionists, democrats) achieved significant success in the elections to the Legislative Corps on May 31 - June 1, 1863, collecting 2 million votes. In the Legislative Corps, an influential constitutional opposition was formed under the leadership of E. Olivier, who advocated political liberalization.

In 1866–1867, France suffered a series of diplomatic and military setbacks: it was unable to prevent the unification of Germany under the auspices of Prussia, and the Mexican adventure ended in complete failure. The fall in the prestige of the Empire forced Napoleon III to make concessions to the opposition: on January 19, 1867, he granted the deputies the right to interpellate (a request to the government), on May 11, 1868 he abolished preliminary censorship of the press, and on June 6, 1868 partially allowed public meetings. After the great success of the opposition, especially the Republicans, in the elections of May 23-24, 1869 (40% of the votes), he returned the right of legislative initiative to the deputies and restored the principle of the responsibility of ministers to parliament (September 8, 1869); December 28 instructed E. Olivier to form a moderate-liberal government. In a referendum on May 8, 1870, the French approved (7.36 million in favor and 1.57 million against) the establishment of a constitutional monarchy, while retaining the right of direct appeal of the emperor to the people through a plebiscite.

The nomination in June 1870 of the candidacy of the Prussian prince Leopold of Hohenzollern-Sigmaringen for the vacant Spanish throne provoked a war between France and Prussia (July 19, 1870). On July 28, Napoleon III arrived at the theater of operations. After unsuccessful battles for the French near Metz, in mid-August he joined the Chalon army of Marshal M.-E. Mac-Mahon, which on September 1 was surrounded near Sedan and capitulated on September 2. He was captured and imprisoned in Wilhelmshehe Castle. As a result of the uprising in Paris on September 4, 1870, the Second Empire fell; On March 1, 1871, the National Assembly in Bordeaux deposed Napoleon III. After the conclusion of a preliminary Franco-Prussian peace treaty in March 1871, he was released and left for England. He lived in Chislehurst near London, where he died on January 9, 1873.

Ivan Krivushin