Louis-Napoléon Bonaparte, born on April 20, 1808, in Paris, was the nephew of Napoleon Bonaparte. He would later become known as Napoleon III, the first President of the French Second Republic and the last monarch of France. His life and political career were marked by significant events that shaped European history.
Louis-Napoléon was the third son of Louis Bonaparte, King of Holland, and Hortense de Beauharnais, stepdaughter of Napoleon I. After the fall of the First French Empire, his family went into exile. Louis-Napoléon spent much of his youth in Switzerland, where he was educated and began to formulate his political ideas influenced by his uncle's legacy.
Inspired by the political ideals of his uncle, Louis-Napoléon attempted several coups to restore the Bonapartist dynasty. His first attempt in 1836 was a failure, leading to his arrest and imprisonment in Fort Ham. He escaped in 1846 and made his way to England, where he continued his political activities.
Following the French Revolution of 1848, Louis-Napoléon returned to France, where he was elected to the National Assembly. He capitalized on his name's popularity, and in December 1848, he was elected the first President of the Second Republic. In 1851, he staged a coup d'état to extend his term, which led to a plebiscite that overwhelmingly approved his rule. In 1852, he proclaimed the Second French Empire and took the title Napoleon III.
As Emperor, Napoleon III initiated significant economic modernization, including the expansion of the French railway system, urban renewal of Paris under Baron Haussmann, and the promotion of industrial and agricultural development. His foreign policy was ambitious but often led to conflicts, most notably the Crimean War, the Italian War of 1859, and the disastrous Franco-Prussian War which ended in his capture at Sedan in 1870.
The defeat in the Franco-Prussian War led to the collapse of the Second Empire. Napoleon III was captured and later exiled to Chislehurst, England, where he died in 1873. His political legacy was mixed, marked by both modernization and authoritarian rule, which influenced French politics for decades.