The French Second Empire: an Anatomy of Political Power

Military Review, May-June, 2004 by Arley H. McCormick

THE FRENCH SECOND EMPIRE: An Anatomy of Political Power, Roger Price, Cambridge University Press, New York, 2001, 507 pages, $75.00.

The French mucked up every step of the way while losing the Franco-Prussian War. Roger Price provides a compelling historical analysis of the French Second Empire that is a useful tool to military and government planners today. While the book is a political portrait of Napoleon III, the calamities Price describes are similar to the economic, political, and military balance that America is struggling to achieve today in Afghanistan and Iraq.

Department of Defense officials might find that the chapters titled "The Rise of Louis-Napoleon Bonaparte" and "State and Society" provide valuable insight for nationbuilding; military planners will certainly note the similarities in "The Rise of Opposition" and "War and Revolution" that are relevant to current operations. Price uses an impressive list of documents, unpublished papers, and published sources from the French National Achieves for his analysis, which is well worth reading.

COL Arley H. McCormick, USA, Retired, Huntsville, Alabama