Monarchism vs. Republicanism

Louis Napoleon and the Second French Republic

Louis Napoleon- illustrious name fired the imagination of the French people.

A nephew of Napoleon the Great 1848- elected as a president of

the Second French Republic. Born in 1808 in the palace of the

Tuileries in Paris.

• He was the son of Joseph Bonaparte- the king of Holland and younger brother of Napoleon the Great, and Hortense Beauharnais- the daughter Josephine by her first husband.

• He was well-educated in academic and military studies, and he was trained since boyhood to uphold the Napoleonic glory.

• He spent his youth in Switzerland, Savoy and Germany.

• 1831-He joined Carbonari- a revolutionary society in Italy and participated in the unsuccessful uprising in the papal states.

• 1836- 1840- he was imprisoned in France for his revolutionary activities.

• 1848- he was elected to the National Assembly, which established the Second French Republic.

• He was a clever demagogue and a good actor. He gained the affection of the laborers by mixing with them and raising their wages.

• He won the friendship of the Catholics by restoring the privileges of the clergy.

• Sending a French army to Rome to save the Pope from an uprising.

• Protecting economic interest.

The Second French Empire (1852-72)

• President Louis Napoleon- like his illustrious uncle, coveted power and glory. But he did not possess the Napoleonic talent.

• Victor Hugo- critical contemporary of Louis Napoleon

- a famous writer called him “Napoleon the Little”

December 2, 1851- President Louis Napoleon using the same tactics employed by his great uncle, seized the government by coup d’etat.

Courageous leaders of French Democracy

• Victor Hugo(poet novalist)• Adolphe Thiers (historian-

statesman)

• December 2, 1852- Louis Napoleon was crowned as Napoleon III, Emperor of French.

• 1852-59- the Empire prospered during the early years of his reign.

Achievements

• Commerce and industries expanded• Agricultural production increased.• Railroads, roads, and canals were built.• Prosperity kept both capitalists and laborers

happy.• Paris regained its role as “ the world’s most

beautiful city.”• The magnificent court of the Second Empire was

presided over by Empress Eugene- Spanish wife of Napoleon III.

Decline of the Second French Empire

• 1859- Napoleon deserted the Sardinians in the midst of their war against the Austrian.

• 1865- he also abandoned Archduke Maximillan- the Austrian Prince whom he had helped to overthrow the Mexican Republic and rule Mexico as an emperor.

• He withdraw the French forces from Mexico.

Biggest blunder of Napoleon III

• Rash declaration of war on Prussia in 1870

• His country and armies then were woefully unprepared.

• He was defeated and captured in Sedan on September 3, 1870.

The Third French Republic (1870-1940)

• September 4, 1870- Napoleon III and the main French army had surrendered in Sedan.

• The republicans led by the fiery Leon Gambetta- proclaimed the establishment of the third French Republic.

• Adolphe Theirs- the newly elected provisional president, negotiated the Treaty of Funkfort which ended the Fraco- Prussian War.

• August 1871- the National Assembly of the Third French Republic passed the “ Rivet Law”- authorizing the Assembly to draft a constitution for the Republic and conferring on Adolphe Thiers the title of “President of the French Republic”.

Three Rival Faction

• Bourbons• Orleanists• Bonapartists

1889- monarchists and clerics supported General Boulanger- who became so popular that he could have overthrown the Republic had been more courageous.

• Dreyfus Affair(1894)- a serious threat to republic.

• Alfred Dreyfus- a Jewish captain, although innocent, was convicted by a court-martial and sentenced to life imprisonment on Devil’s Island off the coast of Guaina.

• Emile Zola- ( French novelist) get Dreyfus acquitted.