Napoleon III: the other Napoleon and his Empire - Charles Louis Napoleon Bonaparte

Magazine Antiques, Dec, 2002 by Christopher Forbes

Considering Napoleon III's manifest achievements, it is amazing that there has yet to be a general reassessment of his reign. His legacy includes some of the most progressive social legislation of the period--most notably the introduction of universal male suffrage. His military triumphs included successful campaigns in the Crimea (see Pl. X), North Africa, China, and Italy, the latter resulting in the annexation of Nice and part of the old duchy of Savoy (now Savoie). Much of the infrastructure of modern France, ranging from her railroads to her major ports, was created during the Second Empire through Napoleon III's direct involvement and through the innovative financial and credit organizations he fostered. Perhaps the most visible tribute to his eighteen-year reign is Paris as we know it today. Under the guidance of the indefatigable Baron Georges Eugene Haussmann (1809-1891), the Second Empire saw the creation of new avenues and the building of the famous sewers (still functioning today) and of numerous new government buildings (see Pl. IX), along with much public and private housing. Like Berlin and Beijing in the 1990s, Paris in the 1850s and 1860s was one monumental construction site.

Two military disasters completely overshadowed these achievements in the minds of subsequent generations and made Napoleon III a figure of ridicule rather than respect. The first resulted from the decision to install Archduke Maximilian (1832-1867), the younger brother of Emperor Franz Joseph of Austria (r. 1848- 1916), as emperor of Mexico. The plan to impose a monarchy on Mexico was born of three confluent desires: the repayment of debts owed France by the Mexican government (the original excuse for taking military action); the appeasement of French Catholics (upset by the French involvement in curbing the pope's temporal powers during the Italian campaign) by creating a new Catholic empire in the Americas; and taking advantage of the Civil War (1861-1865) in the United States to reestablish a strong European presence in the Western Hemisphere.

At first, the new emperor and his Belgian wife Carlota (1840-1927) were warmly welcomed in Mexico City but five years of guerilla warfare led by Benito Juarez (1806-1872) finally forced the French to abandon their efforts in Mexico, and Maximilian ended up before a firing squad. News of his death on June 19, 1867, reached France as Napoleon III was greeting fellow sovereigns at the Exposition Universelle in Paris. Their subsequent abrupt departures were perceived as a major blow to French prestige.

Even more devastating was a war artfully precipitated by the Prussian minister Otto von Bismarck (1815-1898) in 1870. Anxious to unify the numerous German-speaking states into one nation dominated by Prussia, Bismarck concocted a plan for drawing the French, still reeling from their Mexican debacle, into a conflict. By cleverly editing a dispatch sent by his sovereign, William I of Prussia (r. 1861-1888), from Bad Ems on the subject of a candidate for the vacant Spanish throne, Bismarck created the impression that French interests had been grievously insulted. A sick Napoleon III saw through the charade, but he was unable to contain a wave of war fervor, and on July 19, 1870, France declared war on Prussia. Disaster followed disaster, and by the end of August, Napoleon III found himself and a large portion of the French army surrounded at Sedan. On September 1, 1870, he ordered a white flag raised and sent a moving letter of surrender to William (see Pl. XII).