1 Louis Napoleon Before 1848

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Introduction

Louis Napoleon (1808-1873), also known as Napoleon III or Charles-Louis Napoleon Bonaparte,

was the nephew ofNapoleon Bonapartewho also ruled France; President of the French Second Republic

1848-1851 and Emperor Napoleon III of France 1851-1870. Napoleon III, also called (until 1852) Louis-

Napolon, in full Charles-Louis-Napolon Bonaparte (born April 20, 1808, Parisdied Jan. 9,

1873, Chislehurst, Kent, Eng.), nephew of Napoleon I, president of the Second Republic of France (1850

52), and then emperor of the French (185270). He gave his country two decades of prosperity under a

stable, authoritarian government but finally led it to defeat in the Franco-German War (187071).

The origins of the Second Empire have to be searched for in the ruins of

the first. The creation of a dynasty and foundation of a legend were two of the

achievements of Napolon I. Louis-Napolon Bonapartes major asset was

undoubtedly his name, associating him with a Napoleonic cult kept alive

throughout the intervening years by an outpouring of almanacs, pamphlets and

lithographs promoting a legend of prosperity and glory. It had especial appeal in the

countryside in which, it ought to be remembered, over 70 per cent of the population

still lived. National pride had been incarnated in the historical memory of

Napolon. The July Monarchy (183048) had attempted to benefit by association.

In 1833, the statue of the great Emperor had been replaced on top of the Vendmecolumn in the centre of Paris. In 1836, the Arc de Triomphe, celebrating the

glorious achievements of the imperial armies, had finally been completed.

Family Background

Napoleon III, known as "Louis-Napolon" prior to becoming Emperor,

was the nephew of Napoleon I by his brotherLouis Bonaparte,

who married Hortense de Beauharnais,

the daughter by the first marriage of Napoleon's wife Josphine de Beauharnais.

NAPOLEON III., Charles Louis Napoleon Bonaparte, emperor of France, born in Paris, April 20, 1808;

died at Chiselhurst, England, Jan. 9, 1873. He was the nephew ofNapoleon I.,
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being the youngest son of Louis Bonaparte, king of Holland,

who was a brother of the former.

Hortense Beauharnais was his mother,

under whose charge he was carefully trained in early childhood,

but most of his early life was spent in Germany and Switzerland.

Louis-Napolon was brought up in Switzerland, living with his mother in Arenenberg Castle in the canton of

Thurgau, and in Germany, receiving his education at the gymnasium school at Augsburg, Bavaria.

The Empress Josphine

proposed the marriage as a way to produce an heir for the Emperor,

who agreed, as Josphine was by then infertile.[3]

~ 1821: death of Napoleon I. The "Law of Succession" Napoleon I established on becoming

Emperor in 1804 provided that the Bonapartist claim to the throne should pass firstly to Napoleon's own

legitimate male descendants through the male line. At that time he had no legitimate sons, and it seemed

unlikely he would have any due to the age of his wife Josphine. His eventual response was the unacceptable

one, in Catholic eyes, of engineering a dubious annulment, without Papal approval, of his marriage to

Josephine and undertaking a second marriage to the younger Marie Louise, with whom he had one son. The

law of succession provided that if Napoleon's own direct line died out, the claim passed first to his olderbrother Joseph and his legitimate male descendants through the male line, then to his younger brother Louis

and his legitimate male descendants through the male line. His other brothers, Lucien and Jerome, and their

descendants, were omitted from the succession (even though Lucien was older than Louis) because they had

either politically opposed the Emperor or made marriages of which he disapproved. By Marie Louise

Napoleon had one son, in whose favour he abdicated after his final defeat in 1815. Although the Bonapartes

were now deposed and the old Bourbon monarchy restored, Bonapartists recognized this child as Napoleon

II. However, he was sickly, virtually imprisoned in Austria, and died young and unmarried, without leaving

any further direct descendants of Napoleon I. When the Bonaparte Empire was restored to power in France in1852, the Emperor was Napoleon III, Louis Bonaparte's only living legitimate son (Joseph having died in

1844 without ever having had a legitimate son, only daughters).

In 1852, Napoleon III, having restored the Bonapartes to power in France, enacted a new decree on

the succession. The claim first went to his own male legitimate descendants in the male line (though at that

time he had none; he would later have one legitimate son, Eugne Bonaparte, who would be recognized by

Bonapartists as "Napoleon IV" before dying young and unmarried).

If his own line died out, the new decree allowed the claim to pass to Jerome, Napoleon's youngest

brother who had previously been excluded, and his male descendants by Princess Catharina of Wrttemberg

in the male line (but not his descendants by his original marriage to the American commoner Elizabeth
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Patterson, which Napoleon I had greatly disapproved). The only remaining Bonapartist claimants since 1879,

and today, have been the descendants of Jerome and Catherine of Wrttemberg in the male line.

In their willingness to ignoreprimogeniture (the exclusion ofLucien Bonaparte and his descendants)

and their cavalier approach to the Catholic belief in the indissolubility of marriage and to the Pope's rights as

final arbiter on the validity of marriages, the Bonapartist laws of succession were far from traditional; but

then, the whole claim of the Bonaparte family to rule France was far from traditional.

AfterNapoleon Is abdication (1814), many of his followers turned to his son, Napoleon II, named as his

successor; and after Napoleon Is exile to St. Helena (1815) and death (1821), they tried vainly to rally

around Napoleon II (by then duke of Reichstadt), who, however, was being held virtual prisoner by the

Austrian Habsburgs and was in ill health (he died in 1832). The Bonapartists, in any case, were poorly

organized; and the memories of Napoleons failures were too recent for them to secure power.

Nevertheless, a cult began to surround Napoleon Bonaparte after his death, and within a few years he was

being promoted as the saviour of the common man and a political genius of the first order. Napoleon Is

tyranny was being forgotten or glossed over as the memory of it grew dimmer, and instead his glory, which

contrasted so strikingly with the timidity and dullness of the bourgeois monarchy of Louis-Philippe, was

lauded nostalgically. This sentiment left the way open for his nephew, Louis-Napolon, an able propagandist,

who gave all his energies to winning the throne of France. The failure of the Orlanists under Louis-Philippe

and of the republicans under the Second Republic to satisfy the needs and demands of the French people

gave Louis-Napolon the opening he needed, and in December 1848 the Bonapartists garnered enough votesto elect him president. Within three years he was able to dissolve the parliament, arrest his enemies, and have

himself voted dictatorial powers. In November 1852 he was elected emperor of the French.

~ paternity. Louis-Napolon's paternity has been brought into question (see Ancestry). Louis-

Napolon also harboured a

lifelong suspicion about his legitimacy,although most historians have concluded that he was conceived by Louis Bonaparte and Hortense.[4]

During Napoleon I's reign,

Louis-Napolon's parents had been made king and queen of a Frenchpuppet state,

the Kingdom of Holland.

After Napoleon I's military defeats and deposition in 1815
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and the restoration of the Bourbonmonarchy in France,

all members of the Bonaparte dynasty were forced into exile.

As a young man, he settled in Italy,

where he and his elder brotherNapolon Louis

espoused liberal politics and became involved with the Carbonari,

an organization fighting Austria's domination of northern Italy.

On 17 March 1831, while fleeing Italy

due to a crackdown on revolutionary activity by Papal and Austrian troops,

Louis-Napolon's brother, suffering from measles, died in his arms.[5]

His experiences in Italy later had a profound effect on his foreign policy. Louis-Napolon travelled on to

France where he was quickly arrested and quietly sent to England.

Monarchy in France

Meanwhile, France had again become a monarchy, both

under the Bourbon Restorationand the July Monarchy.

Under the latter emerged aBonapartistmovement that wanted

to restore a Bonaparte to the throne.

According to the law of succession established by Napoleon I when he was Emperor, the claim passed firstto his son, who, at birth, had been given the title "King of Rome" by his father.

Known by Bonapartists asNapoleon II,

he was living under virtual imprisonment at the court ofVienna

under the name Duke of Reichstadt.

Next in line was

Napoleon I's eldest brotherJoseph Bonaparte, Joseph had no male children,
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followed by Louis Bonaparte and his sons.

because Louis-Napolon's own elder brother had died in 1831,

the death of the Duke of Reichstadt in 1832 made Louis-Napolon the Bonaparte heir

in the next generation.

Bonapartism came about after Napolean I was exiled to Elba. The Bonapartists helped him regain his power,

leading to the Hundred Daysperiod. Some of his acolytes could not accept his defeat in 1815 at Waterloo or

the Congress of Vienna and continued to push the Bonapart ideology forward. Napoleon I's death in exile on

Saint Helena in 1821 only transferred the allegiance of many of these persons to other members of his

family; however, particularly after the death of Napoleon's son, the Duke of Reichstadt (known to

Bonapartists as Napoleon II), there were several different members of the family on whom the Bonapartisthopes rested.[5]

1830 to 1848

Louis-Philippe had established the July Monarchy in 1830,

and was confronted with opposition from

the Legitimists, the Independents, and the Bonapartists

(he had especially angered the Bonapartists by confiscating

all the remaining family assets in France).[6]

In 1832 he became the heir to the imperial throne of France by the death of Napoleon II,

and until 1836 his life was spent principally as a student and author

His uncle and his father, relatively old men by 1831,

left to him the active leadership of the Bonapartist cause.

First Coup and Exile1836

Louis-Napolon returned to France in October 1836,

trying to emulate the start of the Hundred Days by initiating a Bonapartist coup at Strasbourg,
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calling on the local garrison to join him in restoring the Empire.

The local troops instead arrested him

The

culminating event was undoubtedly the return, in 1840, of the remains of Napolon

I from Saint Helena to their final resting place in the Invalides. Vast crowds had

turned out to watch the procession. Louis-Napolon made every effort to take

advantage of this powerful legend, deliberately conceived by the first Napolon,

diffused by the veterans of the Imperial armies, manufactured by printers,

publishers and the producers of all manner of commemorative objects, and given

respectability by the government of Louis-Philippe. At Strasbourg in 1836 and then

2

Boulogne in 1840, Louis-Napolon had attempted to seize power. He had appeared

in uniform, behind a tricolour capped by an imperial eagle and sought to raise the

local garrisons. Although pathetic failures in themselves, these adventures had at

least helped to establish him in the public mind as the Bonapartist pretender. For

much of the population, the Imperial years stood in marked contrast to the

impoverishment and political strife which seemed to have accompanied its

successor regimes. The misery of interminable war during the First Empire

appeared largely to have been forgotten. Louis-Napolons electoral victory was

evidence of the importance of historical myth but in the particular circumstancescreated by the long mid-century crisis, a complex series of inter-related economic

and political crises with devastating social consequences. It was this situation

which made it possible for Louis-Napolon Bonaparte, previously known for his

two adventurous but essentially mad-cap attempts to seize power through military

coups, to finally succeed.

In the latter year he resolved to make an effort to secure the throne of France by overthrowing Louis

Philippe, and accordingly attempted to come into possession of the garrison at Strasburg. His ambition wasnot only a failure, but he was captured and sent to America. After remaining some time in Brazil and New

York, he returned to Switzerland, where the French government sought his expulsion,

and Louis-Napolon returned to exile in Switzerland. When Louis-Philippe demanded his extradition, the

Swiss refused to hand over a man who was a citizen and a member of their armed forces. In order to avoid a

war, Louis-Napolon left Switzerland of his own accord.

Between 1838 and 1839, Louis-Napolon stayed at No. 6 Clarendon Square, Royal Leamington Spa.
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Second Coup in 1840

He secretly returned to France and attempted yet another coup in August 1840,

sailing with fifty hired soldiers to Boulogne-sur-Mer,taking the train to Lille and repeating the failure of the Strasbourg coup.

This time, he was not exiled but sentenced to life imprisonment, albeit in relative comfort,

in the fortress of the town ofHam in the Sommedpartement.

While in the Ham fortress, his eyesight reportedly became poor.

During his years of imprisonment, he wrote essays and pamphlets that combined his claim to be

emperor

withprogressive, mildly socialist economic proposals,

published asL'extinction du pauprisme,

which he came to define as Bonapartism.

but in 1840 he made a second attempt to become the imperial ruler of France. This time he landed from

England at Boulogne, where he was placed under arrest, and after formal trial sentenced to life imprisonment

in the fortress of Ham. While there he engaged in literary work, and edited "French Dictionary of

Conversation."

Becomes Heir Apparent

In 1844, his uncle Joseph died, making him the heir apparentto the Bonaparte claim.

He finally escaped in May 1846 by exchanging clothes with a mason working at the fortress.

On May 25, 1846, he disguised himself as a workingman and escaped to England.

His enemies would later derisively nickname him "Badinguet", the name of the mason whose identity he

assumed. He eventually made it to Southport, England. A month later, his father Louis died, making Louis-

Napolon the clear heir to the Bonaparte legacy in France.
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Family and Health

Health

By his late forties, Napoleon started to suffer from numerous medical ailments, including kidney

disease, bladder stones, chronic bladder and prostate infections, arthritis, gout, obesity, and the effects of

chronic smoking. In 1856, Dr. Robert Ferguson, a consultant called from London, diagnosed a "nervous

exhaustion" that had a "debilitating impact upon sexual ... performance" [54] and reported this also to the

British government.[53]

Assassination Attempts

Two assassination attempts were orchestrated against Napoleon III,

one in April 1855 and the other in January 1858.[citation needed]

Marriage (1856) and Dalliances

The emperor, hitherto a bachelor, began quickly to look for a wife to produce a legitimate heir-

apparent. Most of the royal families of Europe were unwilling to marry

into theparvenuBonaparte family, and after rebuffs from Princess Carola of Sweden

and from Queen Victoria's German niece Princess Adelheid of Hohenlohe-Langenburg,

Napoleon decided to lower his sights somewhat and "marry for love",

choosing the Countess of Teba, Eugnie de Montijo,

a Spanish noblewoman of partial Scottish ancestry who had been brought up in Paris.

In 1856, Eugnie gave birth to a legitimate son and heir-apparent, Louis Napolon, thePrince Imprial.

Louis Napoleon has a historical reputation as a womanizer, yet he referred to his behaviour in the following

manner: "It is usually the man who attacks. As for me, I defend myself, and I often capitulate." [52] He had

many mistresses. During his reign, it was the task of Count Felix Bacciochi, his social secretary, to arrange

for trysts and to procure women for the emperor's favours. His affairs were not trivial sideshows: they

distracted him from governing, affected his relationship with the empress, and diminished him in the views

of the other European courts.[53] Among his numerous love affairs and mistresses were:[54]

Mathilde Bonaparte, his cousin and fiancee

Maria Anna Schiess (18121880), of Allensbach (Lake Constance, Germany), mother of his son

Bonaventur Karrer (18391921)[55]
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Alexandrine lonore Vergeot, laundress at the prison at Ham, mother of his sons Alexandre Louis

Eugne and Louis Ernest Alexandre[56]

Elisa Rachel Felix, the "most famous actress in Europe"

Harriet Howard (18231865) wealthy and a major financial backer

Virginia Oldoini, Countess di Castiglione (22 March 1837 28 November 1899) Spy, Artist and

famous beauty, sent byCamillo Cavourto influence the Emperor's politics

Marie-Anne Waleska, a possible mistress, who was the wife of Count Alexandre Joseph Count

Colonna-Walewski, his relative and foreign minister

Justine Marie Le Boeuf, also known as Marguerite Bellanger, actress and acrobatic dancer. Bellanger

was falsely rumoured to be the illegitimate daughter of a hangman, and was the most universally

loathed of the mistresses, though perhaps his favorite[57]

Countess Louise de Mercy-Argenteau(18371890), likely aplatonic relationship, author ofThe LastLove of an Emperor, her reminiscences of her association with the emperor.

His wife, Eugenie, resisted his advances prior to marriage. She was coached by her mother and her friend,

Prosper Mrime. "What is the road to your heart?" Napoleon demanded to know. "Through the chapel,

Sire", she purportedly answered.[52] Yet, after marriage, it took not long for him to stray as Eugenie found

sex with him "disgusting".[52] It is doubtful that she allowed further approaches by her husband once she

had given him an heir.[53]

Louis-Napolon lived in Great Britain

until the revolution of February 1848 in France deposed Louis-Philippe

and established a Republic.

He was now free to return to France, which he immediately did. The provisional government, however,

judged him an unnecessary distraction and requested his departure.[7] Back in England, he volunteered to be

aspecial constable

in the event ofChartist rioting.[8][9]

In the same month, April, he ran for, and won a seat in the Constituent Assembly elected to draft a new

constitution for France. He did not make a great contribution and,

as a mediocre public orator,

failed to impress his fellow members.

Some even thought that, having lived outside of France almost all his life,
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ham,_Sommehttps://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ham,_Sommehttps://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Napoleon_III#cite_note-56https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rachel_(actress)https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Harriet_Howardhttps://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Virginia_Oldoinihttps://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Camillo_Cavourhttps://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Camillo_Cavourhttps://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Camillo_Cavourhttps://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Marie-Anne_Waleska&action=edit&redlink=1https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alexandre_Joseph_Count_Colonna-Walewskihttps://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alexandre_Joseph_Count_Colonna-Walewskihttps://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Marguerite_Bellanger&action=edit&redlink=1https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Marguerite_Bellanger&action=edit&redlink=1https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Napoleon_III#cite_note-57https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Napoleon_III#cite_note-57https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Louise_de_Mercy-Argenteauhttps://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Louise_de_Mercy-Argenteauhttps://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Platonic_lovehttps://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Prosper_M%C3%A9rim%C3%A9ehttps://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Prosper_M%C3%A9rim%C3%A9ehttps://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Napoleon_III#cite_note-Kelen-52https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Napoleon_III#cite_note-Kelen-52https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Napoleon_III#cite_note-Bierman-53https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Revolutions_of_1848_in_Francehttps://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Louis-Philippe_of_Francehttps://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Napoleon_III#cite_note-7https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Special_Constabularyhttps://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Special_Constabularyhttps://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Special_Constabularyhttps://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chartismhttps://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Napoleon_III#cite_note-8https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Napoleon_III#cite_note-9https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Parliament_of_France#Historyhttps://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ham,_Sommehttps://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Napoleon_III#cite_note-56https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rachel_(actress)https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Harriet_Howardhttps://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Virginia_Oldoinihttps://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Camillo_Cavourhttps://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Marie-Anne_Waleska&action=edit&redlink=1https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alexandre_Joseph_Count_Colonna-Walewskihttps://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alexandre_Joseph_Count_Colonna-Walewskihttps://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Marguerite_Bellanger&action=edit&redlink=1https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Napoleon_III#cite_note-57https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Louise_de_Mercy-Argenteauhttps://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Platonic_lovehttps://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Prosper_M%C3%A9rim%C3%A9ehttps://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Napoleon_III#cite_note-Kelen-52https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Napoleon_III#cite_note-Kelen-52https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Napoleon_III#cite_note-Bierman-53https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Revolutions_of_1848_in_Francehttps://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Louis-Philippe_of_Francehttps://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Napoleon_III#cite_note-7https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Special_Constabularyhttps://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chartismhttps://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Napoleon_III#cite_note-8https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Napoleon_III#cite_note-9https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Parliament_of_France#History


10/10

he spoke French with a slight German accent.[10]

His temporary exile in 1848 proved to be a blessing in disguise for the December presidential election, as it

meant he played no part

in the June Days, and was able to enhance his image as "all things to all men"

against his main opponent, Louis-Eugne Cavaignac,

who had led the repression against the working-class of Paris.[11]
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Napoleon_III#cite_note-10https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/June_Days_Uprisinghttps://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/June_Days_Uprisinghttps://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Louis-Eug%C3%A8ne_Cavaignachttps://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Napoleon_III#cite_note-11https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Napoleon_III#cite_note-10https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/June_Days_Uprisinghttps://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Louis-Eug%C3%A8ne_Cavaignachttps://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Napoleon_III#cite_note-11

Documents

1 Louis Napoleon Before 1848