Headline:
This is the tale that descends from a warm motherly embrace and ends in the cold arms of exile. It tells the story of Napoleon the Third who, through trial and error sprinkled with luck, managed to break free from his legendary uncle’s shadow and how he turned from the founder of France’s prosperity into the architect of its inevitable destruction
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In the period between 1789 and 1799, The people of France successfully revolted against the Monarchist
regime they deemed unjust and attempted to find solace under the shade of a new system of government, one from which emerges a champion of liberty and equality. However, it would take over half a century of bloody conflicts and abdecations before they celebrate the fruits of their glorious revolution, the first of said fruits would be known as Louis-Napoleon.Despite being the actual nephew of the infamous Napoleon Bonaparte, his journey to the élysée Palace was not as comfortable as he had anticipated for no sane European at that time believed that a weird looking man with very short legs wondering the streets of London would rise above the rank of a court’s jester. Regardless, the son of Bonapartes managed to prove his doubters wrong and ruled over France as its first president and then later as its last emperor. Seeking to restore his nation’s prestige, he oversaw many reforms in various fields, conducted many construction projects in multiple french cities(especially in the capital city Paris), and involved France in several military campaigns. Louis-Napoleon’s desire to eclipse his relative had led him to work tirelessly to increase French influence on forgein affairs. But that same desire would ultimately reveal his matchless arrogance and his diplomatic incompetence, two deadly attributes that would drive the emperor and his army to crash straight into a concrete wall made of pure Prusssian discipline. This is the life of Napoleon the Third, the Forgotten Emperor.
Motherly Love:
On April 20th, 1808, Count Jean-Baptiste de Belloy, accompanied by the imperial guards, was hastening through the streets of Paris. As shown by their fearful eyes and distressed movements,The thought of displeasing the Imperial family was enough of an incentive for them to ignore the whispers of curiosity filling the recently evacuated road.
Upon reaching the entrance of Tuileries Palace, the cotholic count was greeted with the sound of cannons firing in the distance and with the distinguishable cry of a newborn muffling the royal household’s joyful cheers. As the French emperor Napoleon Bonaparte welcomed the revenant, the mother, Queen Hortense de Beauharnis, was staring deeply into her baby’s gray blue pupils.
To say that Queen Hortense just influenced Napoleon the Third would be the understatement of the century. In fact, she devoted all of her efforts to groom the newly christened “Charles-Louis-Napoleon Bonaparte” to become future emperor. She would privately tutor the prince and convince his impressionable mind with his own cleverness and greatness while at the same time keep an eye on the events happening around her and conceal any that can potentially jeopardize her investment. Her strategy surprisingly proved to be successful as she managed to hide the news of her separation from her husband Louis Bonaparte in 1810 and the news of Emperor Napoleon having a son of his own in 1811 away from her precious gem. However in 1812,the Queen’s ears would be deafened to the sound of her days in Paris as they became numbered, to the laughter of her brother-in-law inside his tent as he and his generals raised their glasses filled with wine that was distilled from their underestimation of their enemy, and to the patriotic songs sung by the soldiers as they marched unwittingly into a snowy frozen trap. The Queen needn’t to eavesdrop anymore for Louis Napoleon had already heard his uncle from afar declaring the beginning of the catastrophe: the invasion of the Russian Empire had commenced.
The Decline of the Bonapartes:
After his horrendous invasion of Russia that had snatched the lives of nearly half a million French soldiers in 1812 followed by his humiliating defeat in the Battle of Nations against the Sixth Coalition two years later, Napoleon Bonaparte found himself in an unenviable position. Outside the Turliere Palace’s windows, he couldn’t help but watch as his enemies were unleashing their fury on the French capital,wreaking havoc throughout its alleyways and decimating its exhausted populace.
Desperate to save his dynasty and the remnants of his fallen empire, he coerced Queen Hortense to flee the country with her younger child and abdicated the throne in favor of his 3-year-old son who was immediately crowned Napoleon the Second.
Little did he know, both of his demands would be promptly rejected by the parties involved. Instead, Queen Hortense opted to remain in France along with Louis-Napoleon and resettle with her mother, Josephine de Beauharnais, whilst the victorious allies found it fair that father and son should share the same fate, exiling the former to the island of Elba, located near the Italian Peninsula, and the latter to the heart of the Austrian Empire.
With the Bonapartes seemingly out of the picture, the coalition members began the process of cleansing the French culture from any imperial stains and through the support of Napoleon’s former foreign minister Maurice de Talleyrand, they managed to restore the crown of the kingdom of France on the head of the oldest surviving Bourbon, crowning him Louis the XVIII. This announcement not only broke the pen over the hopeful French eldery who shed blood for the sake of liberty and justice but also sparked mixed reactions in the souls of the youth of French society: those who were born with a golden spoon in their mouths welcomed the news with open arms. To the liberals it was a forced return to the days of shackles ,and as far as the Bonapartists were concerned, a death sentence was now looming over their heads. The only exceptions were Louis-Napoleon and his mother who remained completely indifferent and unbothered during their residence at the Malmaison Palace. The reason behind this reaction and what happened next can be best described as a game of cards. With the pair of the army and bloodline overt on his side of the table, Louis felt confident about winning the political gamble against Hortense but that confidence would turn into indignation as the Queen played her most powerful card on the table: the King of Hearts, also known as Tsar Alexander the First. Fearing for her own and her son’s life, the Queen and her mother developed a close relationship with the Russian Tsar and succeeded in cajoling him into defending them against any royal aggression. However, this pledge would prove its fragility as soon as Hotense made the mistake of placing the card of Napoleon Bonaparte alongside him and the other European kings, revealing where her loyalty truly was standing. In March 1815, the French emperor triumphantly escaped from Elba and thanks to his faithful followers led by his sister in law, he returned to his throne, reasserting his control over the armed forces in the process. The coalition, who at this point grew tired of Napoleon’s shenanigans, reunited for the seventh time and won the decisive battle of Waterloo on June the 18th 1815, relieving with it the European continent of the Napoleonic curse.
As for King Louis the XVIII, that loss had provided the perfect opening for him to inflict the harshest of punishments on any suspected bonapartist in what is known as “The White Terror”. Upon realizing the king’s dreadful intentions, Hortense and her son found themselves vulnerable and were left with no choice but to run away and seek refuge in the recently-formed confederation of Switzerland. Much to her dismay, the Queen had to bear the laughter of mockery coming from her royal rival as he held in the palm of his hand the burnt fragments that were once the card of the King of Hearts.
Youth in Exile:
The moment they arrived in Switzerland in 1817, Louis Napoleon and his mother were cordially greeted by the inhabitants as though they were the nobility they used to represent and not mere political refugees hiding in a cheap carriage. As a show of gratitude, Queen Hortense used the remaining of her wealth to serve the Swiss people, funding the construction of schools and donating to churches regardless of the branches they preach. Meanwhile, the little prince showed his appreciation by serving in the Swiss army and demonstrated extraordinary social skills and fantastic linguistic talent as he quickly learnt the local dialect without straying away from his French roots, so much so that it was said that he spoke French with a distinct Swiss German accent. Concerning their private life however, nothing has changed from the days they were living in France for the tutoring would continue and the river of motherly tenderness would resume in its familiar flow.
As years went by, the boy would grow out of his tiny shoes to become a gentleman and awaken a nightmare that would haunt his mother. For quite a while, she was afraid of the day her birdy would soar out of the safe haven, rendering himself an easy prey for foreign predators. Luckily for her, fate would be merciful, granting a safe passage for her child, but as a price for crossing the drawn frontiers, a soul must pass through the borders of life and cross into the land of Death.
On May 5th, 1821, Napoleon Bonaparte proved that he was mortal all along and died on Saint Helena due to stomach cancer, ending his long years of exile. Now, one might think that the European powers heaved a sigh of relief after receiving such news, yet this couldn’t be further from the truth. What had actually happened was that the death of the former Emperor sent shivers up and down their spines and made them worried about a new threat in the form of young Napoleon II. Indeed, the great powers of Europe were nervous about him carrying his father’s mantle and reclaiming the French throne, undoing the peace they established on the continent in the process. So to combat such scenario, they shifted their full attention to the 10-year-old heir, keeping him under constant supervision, and while they succeeded in literally stalking a child, they failed to notice his cousin Louis freely roaming Europe: the Austrains were too busy watching the kid innocently playing from behind shrubs to notice Louis-Napoleon as he and his older brother relocated to Italy’s Papel States in 1826, the Prussians were too occupied with subjecting their neighbours to be aware of the brothers joining a Carbonari lodge and receiving a training in revolutionary and guerrilla warfare, and the Russians were in the midst of a fierce staring contest against the Ottomans to even take him seriously. Truth be told, the European leaders at that time regarded Louis-Napoleon as a joke and not even the death of his brother Napoleon-Louis in 1831 and Napoleon II the next year managed to convince them otherwise. Little did anyone realize, behind the extravagant makeup and the ridiculous outfit lies a resourceful revolutionary and as they were blinded by the tears of hilarity, that same revolutionary, already devising his first coup d’état, was fixing his gaze on his first target.
A History in Coups
Here’s a quick lesson in common sense: declaring yourself French Emperor out of nowhere doesn’t really make you the French Emperor and for that you may end up in a prison cell if not worse. Louis-Napoleon apparently didn’t get the memo as he kept believing that, unlike us, his claim was not entirely empty and that he was entitled to the french throne. Although he was partly correct, Louis-Napoleon suffered a hard time communicating these ideas and beliefs to his entourage and had to endure their harsh remarks about him being just another delusional drunk. To be fair to them, he kind of was a delusional clown, one who allocated all of his military cleverness to reinforce that attitude rather than debunk it. For instance, on October 30th, 1836, he thought that simply entering a military garrison in Strasburg and preaching his cause was enough to convince the soldiers present there to join his uprising. Unsurprisingly, the mildly-confused commander had all the mutineers prosecuted and shipped the uniformed stranger to the Americas. There, he traveled briefly to Brazil and visited New York ,meeting some of America’s elites, most notably a writer named Washington Irving. But his journey would be cut short as he was informed that his mother’s health was severely deteriorating sohe wasted no time in sailing back to Europe. Thankfully, he reached his home just in time to see his beloved one last time and remained by her bedside until she passed away on October 5th, 1837. Sadly, his pain would prolong with King Louis-Philippe seizing every opportunity to remind the sorrowful Louis-Napoleon that he still was a wanted fugitive. Indeed, Louis-Phillipe prohibited him from attending the funeral of Hortense and went even further by demanding the Swiss government to extradite him back to France. The Swiss, who argued that Louis-Napoleon is by law a Swiss citizen, refused to comply and nearly broke their neutrality for his sake. Touched by their act of bold defiance, he decided to spare his hosts the wrath of the tyrant and voluntarily left for the realm of the British Isles.
Upon his arrival in London, he got to witness one of Queen Victoria’s parades. While the crowds were cheering their sovereign, Louis-Napoleon couldn’t help but break into tears as he remembered his late mother, who showed him nothing short of wholehearted affection, and how he turned traitor by standing on the pavement among a bunch of obedient subjects. Vowing to reclaim what’s rightfully his, he gathered his wits and began planning his second coup.
By 1840, the French King and his cabinet were getting increasingly unpopular. In order to avoid upsetting the people even more, Louis-Philipe did what none of his ancestors would ever do and arranged to have the corpse of Napoleon Bonaparte brought back to France in a glorious celebration. Given the knowledge that he still was regarded as the pinnacle of patriotism and chivalry by the french people, Louis-Phillipe managed to keep his royal title for another day. Meanwhile on the other side of the English channel, Louis-Napoleon mistook the “Bonaparte” chants for a sign that the public were begging him to return. So, he gathered up a group of 56 mercenaries and eagerly landed at Boulogne-sur-mer. He was expecting that the mere sight of his shadow on the ground would lift the populace spirit and inspire them to hoist their awaited emperor up on their shoulders. His wish came true, though the only problem was that the shoulders carrying him were those of uniformed police officers who had immediately arrested and thrown the self-proclaimed savior in a cell in Ham fortress near Reims. Although the name sounded intimidating, the fortress actually couldn’t live up to its reputation. During his days of imprisonment, Louis-Napoleon was permitted to read any book he wanted and write at leisure and he took full advantage of that privilege as he not only wrote poems, political texts, and articles but also published a book called “L’Extinction du paupérisme”, which treated the issue of poverty from a near marxist point of vue, from behind bars. This turned out to be a good approach since his book became a bestseller in France, which in turn helped him gain more popularity from the workers and lower class than the King could ever dream of. Growing bored of his current predicament, Louis-Napoleon decided to end his sentence earlier than intended and escaped on May 25th, 1846, in an anticlimactic fashion: he disgusted himself as a laborer and just walked through the front gates into the open plains. A few days later, he reappeared in the streets of London and resumed his daily habit of plotting revolutions and uprisings. In an unusual twist, he seemed to learn from his previous misfortunes while carefully concocting what was to be his magnum opus.
In the final years of the 1840’s, the stars would align and give him the break he longed for.With his legs crossed, the now 40-year-old Louis-Napoleon was calmly sipping tea on his English balcony, biding his time. He didn’t have to wait too long though for loyalty to the July Monarchy was dissolving faster than the sugar in his tea and tensions in France were rising quicker than the leafs in his cup. All it took right now is some monarch to drop the burning matchstick and drag continental Europe into the blazing flames of upheaval and chaos.
Third Time’s a Charm 
If you thought that the glorious revolution of 1830 with its 800 casualties was terrible, then you didn’t see its 1848 counterpart. To put it mildly, a governmental ban on people meeting for banquets has spiraled into violent protests that coerced King Louis-Phillipe to abdicate the throne. With the kingdom of France now being a chapter of the past, a new provisional government was installed and a second republic was declared on February 26th, 1848. Not two days later, a familiar oval face with a brown beard would resurface in Paris and offer his services to the government who once again kicked him out of France and back into England. Afterall, the enraged mob weren’t looking to restore the empire nor to hand a bumbling hoodwinker any form of authority, rather they were seeking liberal reforms and social justice. Unfortunately, all they got was squat as the provisional government kept filling their aching stomachs with lies and empty promises. As a response to this treachery, the workers engaged in June Days, a 3-day massacre that left 1500 Parisians killed in its wake. Witnessing events unfolding, Louis-Napoleon was convinced that now was the perfect time to fulfil his destiny. Deciding to change his strategy, he chose to play by the book. As a first step, he ran for the Constituent Assembly of which he won five departments and with that, the members were forced to lift his exile and allow him to return to France, exactly according to plan.
Then when the presidential elections were announced, Louis-Napoleon was the first one to heed the call and began campaigning heartily. Utilizing the support of the working class and the falling victims of the June Days as stepping stones, Louis-Napoleon won the elections by a landslide, leaving his competitors picking up their jaw in the dust. His efforts and perseverance have finally paid off and the tree of hope that Hortense sawed its seed and louis-Napoleon watered with his tears has finally fruited the success he yearned for. And on December 10th, 1848, Louis-Napoleon officially became the first president of the Second French Republic. Yet, that wasn’t enough for the avaricious president. He wanted more power and influence. He despised the fact that he was bound by a constitution hastily written by an ineffective government and that he was ruling over a republic that resembled in its burst a kettle on a stove. He loathed his opponents as they eased their pain with the knowledge that his presidency won’t last for more than 4 years and that by 1852 the moustached idiot would be gone back to obscurity. Still, all of these sensations couldn’t shake his patience and the self-styled Prince President kept his composure in front of everyone as he secretly put the second phase of his elaborate plan into motion.
By pretending to work with the National Assembly, President Louis made fools out of the people and to throw off any suspicions, he occasionally played on some sensitive strings especially that of religion. On one occasion, he convinced the French public to go to Rome to protect the Pope from Italian revolutionaries.while the people were busy fighting a foreign war on distant lands, Louis-Napoleon was stuffing key positions of government and army with his trusted followers, ensuring that the ministers, high commanding officers, and generals would answer only to him.
In 1851, one year before the end of his term, President Louis decided to reveal his fangs and stormed the National Assembly with his army, requesting an amendment to allow him a second term in office. When the members refused, he didn’t insist nor did he resort to threats. Instead, he stolidly threw them out of the building.
When the dawn’s sunlight vanquished the night’s darkness, the Parisians awoke to the sound of the heavy boots of 30,000 French soldiers patrolling the empty streets of Paris, and to the posters hung on the walls announcing the effective dissolution of the National Assembly. Despite the opposition shown by some republicans, the Second Republic would join its predecessors on December 4th, 1851, as yet another failed attempt of bringing democracy to the franks. Ten months later, Louis-Napoleon held a referendum on awakening the French Empire from its deep slumber. The public, completely out of their own volition and not because they were held at gunpoint, voted in favor of his proposal.
Therefore, Louis-Napoleon relinquished his presidential title for a more prestigious one whose acquisition would be slightly similar to that of his forefather and with the blessings of the people, he would be crowned Emperor Napoleon the Third on December 4th, 1852, the same day where his uncle, from whom he’s trying to distance himself, was enthroned and where he flawlessly executed his strategic masterpiece in the battle of Austerliz. Whether this was a coincidence or a sick historical irony, the new emperor seemingly didn’t care and went through with the coronation anyways.
Napoleon the Third, having finally achieved his mother’s dying wish and his ultimate dream, put his stringed puppets whom he manipulated in his path to absolute power aside and fixed his gaze on his empire, determined to show those who misjudged his capabilities how wrong they truly were.
The Authoritarian Empire 
In the early years of his reign, Napoleon the Third sought to carve his own legacy and like a child on a sugar rush, he tried accomplishing everything at once. For starters, he set his reformist vision on the place where his great uncle turned a blind eye: the capital city of Paris. At the time, the aforementioned city was associated with filth and diseases with its best tourist attraction being the large rats that roamed the dreadful streets. Forsaken by the previous rulers of France, the city gradually turned into a cesspool that reeked of cholera and crowded slums. In response to such neglect, Louis-Napoleon hired the French architect Baron Haussmann and ordered him to “go forth and bring in air, light, and cleanliness”. With one possessing the physical tools and the other possessing the blueprints in his mind, the two partners began crafting the new identity of Paris. Together they tore down the slums, replacing them with improved homes for the workers, built parks and splendid boulevards, and ameliorated sewage systems. In addition to the many elegant buildings that were first introduced to France in 1853, Hausmann also installed many wrought-iron Victorian streetlights on the pavements and roads, christening Paris its famous nickname: the City of Light.
With his right hand firmly grasping the brush and his left dripping with paint, Napoleon the Third decided to turn his efforts to the aesthetic part of the matter. After contemplating the shiny canvas, he started garcing it with a mixture of historical styles as he redesigned the catholic churches to match the gothic style and the palaces to be the last remnants of the beheaded kingdom. Still, his reforms weren’t just limited to architecture. Louis-Napoleon made education free and accessible to every French citizen, demolished the glass ceiling for women to gain higher education, reformed agricultural practices to prevent any future famines, and invested in railways and steamships building, opening the door for small businesses in the process. Thanks to his reforms, France owes Napoleon the Third the 75% increase in industrial output and the 5% economic growth that the nation had experienced in 1870. It’s also worth noting that the emperor even involved himself in interior design and redecorated the Elysee and Tuileries Palaces according to his image, linking them together with an underground tunnel so that he can meet his mistresses under the nose of his wife Eugénie de Montijo.
However, that prosperity didn’t come cheap as the people of France were forced to exchange their freedoms and rights for that decent standard of living. Censorship was the commodity in imperial France. Mouths were knitted and criticism was silenced by the creaking of the empire’s noose as it kept its victims afloat. From behind every crack watched the eyes of the law and beyond the thin walls eavesdropped the ears of the spies, impatiently awaiting to strike down the conspirators and those who spoke ill of the emperor.
With his position cemented at last, Napoleon the Third tapped into the spirit of his notorious uncle and in order to restore his country’s rank among the great powers, he began plotting his glorious conquest, one that knew neither borders nor waves.
Beyond the Continents and the Seven Seas
In the wake of the First French Empire’s fall, the European powers haven’t known any major conflict and lived in relative peace. So it was natural for a man whose only heirloom is a vaulting ambition like Napoleon the Third to be itching for a fight. Much to everyone’s dismay, his wish would soon become a reality.
To no one’s surprise, the protracted staring contest between the Russian Empire and the Ottoman Empire had erupted into a full scale war, better known as the Crimean War. Interestingly, what set Louis-Napoleon apart was his understanding of the wants and fears of others and using them to his own advantage. Unlike Napoleon the First who would rush into the battlefield with his trusted artillery, Napoleon the Third incited the fear of Russian dominance in the Balkan Region in the hearts of the Brits and held the dream of Italian unification as a bargaining chip in his negotiations with the Sardinians. As a result, Russia found itself fighting a powerful alliance alone and after three years of fierce combat the Crimean theater ended in an allied victory. Napoleon the Third was satisfied with the outcome of the war as it sent a clear message that he was a leader not to be reckoned with. This confidence boost had led in turn to the emperor getting involved in Italy’s second war of unification in 1859. Indeed, Napoleon the Third sent his professional army to aid the sardinians in their war against the austrians. The result was yet another French victory and Nice and Savoy becoming official provinces of France. With two victories and countless overseas colonies to his name, Napoleon the Third’s eyes began to wander outside of the Old Continent and towards the New World, specifically towards Mexico. When the news of the American Civil War reached Paris, the French government found it the perfect opportunity to defy the Monroe Doctrine and get back the money Mexico owes to its creditors. In 1861, they, alongside the other European powers, invaded Mexico, placing Maximilian Habsburg on the Mexican throne to serve as their puppet. Not only did this prompt a bloody 6-year war but also caused severe tensions between France and the United States. In November 1867, Louis-Napoleon, in response to the Americans glaring at him from above, withdrew his forces from Mexico, having achieved nothing but a reason to dig 6650 new graves.
Still, Napoleon the Third didn’t allow such inconvenience to demoralize his spirit as he was certain that the French people were greatly proud of his successful campaigns. Little did he knew, these achievements would also spark the interest of another particular individual, someone who saw through the character of Louis-Napoleon, someone who was hellbent on unifying the long-divided Germans into one unstoppable nation, even if he had to scorch France to the ground and smear his horses’ hooves with the blood of its unsuspected citizens.
The Imperial Eagle meets The Iron Chancellor:
When the 1860’s rolled around, Napoleon the Third was facing two new opponents. The first of which was Time. By now, the emperor was approaching his sixties and had developed painful bladder stones that snatched his energy away from him. This led in turn to him relying on his entourage more than ever before and giving more power to the French senate to deal with the many loans that he used to fund his construction projects. The other opponent and perhaps the biggest threat to his rule was the State of Prussia, more specifically its chancellor Otto Von Bismarck. Under the guidance of the aforementioned minister, Prussia managed to strengthen its position without getting involved in conflicts with the great powers of Europe as the nation became a military and an industrial powerhouse over the years. As a result, the Prussians scored two major victories at the Second Schleswig War against the Danish in 1864 and the Seven Weeks War against the Austrian Empire two years later. Yet, Napoleon the Third wasn’t impressed and despite witnessing Prussia evolving into the North German Confederation, he still held on to the belief that this was a mere sideshow compared to his military successes. It also didn’t help that the emperor arrogantly thought he had the final say whenever he dealt with Bismarck. In actuality, the Prussian chancellor saw how weak the French Empire was and he wanted to emphasize that. When Bismarck stood in the way of the French invasion of Luxembourg by threatening war, Louis-Napoleon lacked courage to face him and backed away, returning to Paris with his tail between his legs. This cowardly retreat not only made him the laughing stock of all of Europe but also tarnished his image in the minds of the French people. In the 1869 elections, the government lost control of the senate and Napoleon the Third at the end of the same year was coerced to fully liberalize the empire. He lifted the censorship and eased the restrictions on freedom of speech so that he could keep what was left of his shattered ego. Unfortunately for him, his situation would get much worse from there.
Sick of the political turmoil that Princess Isabella caused with her abdication, the Spanish people looked eastward and they called for Leopard from the house of Hohenzollem to become their next monarch. When the news reached the French court, the emperor expressed his disapproval and immediately sent his ambassador to meet the Prussian King Wilhelm the First and knock some sense into him. What was supposed to be a diplomatic meeting turned into a screaming match that ended with the ambassador storming out. Bismarck, capitalizing on the opportunity, masterfully edited a telegram which sounded like the king told the French to shove it and then leaked it to the press who published it under the name of the Ems Dispatch. Unable to bear the insult and under immense pressure from the people, the parliament declared war on Prussia and on July 18th, 1870, the French army, with Napoleon the Third as commander in chief, charged into enemy territory.
Long story short, the war was a disaster for the French as they suffered one defeat after another, each with its own hefty cost of lives. At the battle of Mitz, Napoleon the Third, surrounded by the Prussians from all sides, decided to take a page from his dead uncle’s book and gathered what was left of his soldiers in a ditch attempt to break the siege. Ironically, Napoleon the First would take the same gamble and actually pull it off, unlike his nephew who bravely escaped from the city. On September 1st, 1870, the most notable battle of the war, the Battle of Sedan, took place. Actually, calling it the Defeat of Sedan would be more accurate. The French were decimated with 16,000 casualties and the Prussians wasting no time in encircling and capturing any survivor. Among those arrested was Napoleon the Third himself. In the wake of this loss, the French parliament decided to pull the plug on the Second French Empire and create the Third French Republic as an alternative.
It must have been heartbreaking for the now-deposed emperor to be abandoned by his own people in the time of his greatest need. Although the war dragged on for months, it was lost for Louis-Napoleon as he was rotting in a prison cell in the middle of Germany. After 7 months in captivity, the Germans offered him a generous deal and exiled him back to Britain. As Louis-Napoleon crossed the English Channel, whose waves became familiar to him, one final time, he couldn’t help but turn back: turn back to look at his beloved France as it was reduced to ash, turn back to torture his ears with the agnozing screams of the besieged parisians, turn back to relive the destruction of the empire through the same gray blue eyes that had witnessed the destruction of the first empire. He finally learned that his path and his uncle’s were intertwined all along, even if he persisted in denying it. And while the latter’s arrogance stripped the French flag of the red of liberty and the blue of equality, it was the former’s acts of ignorance and impulsiveness that led to its humiliating displacement by German invaders.
Over in England, Louis-Napoleon resettled with his family in the small village of Chislehurst. Sadly, his retirement would be cut short when his health worsened and eventually he died under the knife on January 9th, 1873.
Napoleon the Third was no more.
Conclusion:
To this day, Napoleon the Third’s place in the hearts of the people is still a convoluted matter as the man himself remained a mystery. After all, this was a man who in his childhood was banned from returning to his homeland and spent most of his life in exile.Yet, through determination and perseverance, he pressed forward in his claim to the throne and managed to conquer the very system that had opposed him. His accomplishments and reforms not only affected the society he ruled over but also greatly shaped world history. On the other hand, he was responsible for dragging France down a road filled with dangerous warfare and devastating defeats that crippled the country up until World War 1. Some regard him as a clown whose luck and jealousy of his famous uncle forged his path to fame and fortune whereas others regarded him as a vengeful tyrant who ruled France with an iron fist. Yet here, Louis-Napoleon displayed himself as an inspiration to those perusing his tale, an inspiration that rose through the darkest of times and stood unshaked in the face of opposition. Nonetheless, history, overlooking our interpretations, would preserve his name in its timeless records as he will always be remembered as Napoleon the Third, The Last Emperor of the French.
Sources:
Napoleon the Third, Written By:Heinrich Gustav Euler,Professor of Modern History
https://www.britannica.com/biography/Napoleon-III-emperor-of-France
Napoleon the Third Biography,Written By: Biography.com Editors
https://www.biography.com/political-figure/napoleon-iii
The Napoleon of Lake Constance
https://www.swissinfo.ch/eng/the-napoleon-of-lake-constance/6597688
This is such a fun and enjoyable read! The storytelling, use of humor, and transitions are brilliant. You did an amazing job with this piece. However, I still believe it’s too long for the typical reader. I think you may have used too much description. There’s nothing wrong with giving context, however, some descriptions sounded repetitive to me. I think they are more suitable for some literary writing. Kindly try to make it shorter. Overall, you did a wonderful job!
