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Emperor of the French 1852-70, known as
Louis-Napoleon. After two attempted coups
(1836 and 1840) he was jailed and went into
exile, returning for the revolution of 1848,
when he became president of the Second
Republic, but soon turned authoritarian. In
1870 he was manoeuvred by the German
chancellor Bismarck into war with Prussia; he
was forced to surrender at Sedan, NE France,
and the empire collapsed. The son of Louis
Bonaparte and Hortense de Beauharnais,
brother and step-daughter respectively of
Napoleon I, he led two unsuccessful revolts
against the French king Louis Philippe, at
Strasbourg 1836 and at Boulogne 1840. After
the latter he was imprisoned. Escaping in
1846, he lived in London until 1848. He was
elected president of the newly established
French republic in Dec, and set himself to
secure a following by posing as the champion
of order and religion against the
revolutionary menace. He secured his
re-election by a military coup d'etat 1851,
and a year later was proclaimed emperor.
Hoping to strengthen his regime by military
triumphs, he joined in the Crimean War
1854-55, waged war with Austria 1859, winning
the Battle of Solferino, annexed Savoy and
Nice 1860, and attempted unsuccessfully to
found a vassal empire in Mexico 1863-67. In
so doing he aroused the mistrust of Europe
and isolated France. At home, his regime was
discredited by its notorious corruption;
republican and socialist opposition grew, in
spite of severe repression, and forced
Napoleon, after 1860, to make concessions in
the direction of parliamentary government.
After losing the war with Prussia he withdrew
to England, where he died. His son by Empress
Eugenie, Eugene Louis Jean Joseph Napoleon,
Prince Imperial (1856-79), was killed
fighting with the British army against the
Zulus in Africa.