The Other Napoleon | The Life & Times of Napoleon III

Today, we're discussing the famous Frenchman who undid a French Revolution's attempts at democracy by proclaiming himself Emperor, subsequently got involved in a land war with Russia, and ultimately died in exile. The one, the only, Napoleon. No, no, the other one. So the 19th century was a long one for France, that's why it's called the long 19th century. It started in the 18th century when a little thing called the French Revolution happened, hurling the country into chaos. Heads were definitely rolling. Long story short, this handsome devil entered stage right, conquered most of Europe, charged headlong into Russia and got kicked all the way back to Elba, only to have one more go at it and get exiled for real this time to a small island in the Atlantic, where he died under, wait for it, SUSPICIOUS CIRCUMSTANCES. Then there was a constitutional monarchy, and then a noble revolution rose up and instituted a different monarchy, which oversaw that revolution from Les Mis and the cover of Viva La Vida, and then finally a republic. Yikes, that was a lot of backstory. Basically, France went through every kind of government in 50 years. Its ship was in a million different pieces. So in 1848, snape-faced king Louis-Philippe was declining in popularity, as the French public decided that he was definitely a bad guy after all. And so a bunch of guys got together and went, Hey, remember the last time France was a republic? That went well, let's do that again. The king, who thought maybe revolution wasn't so great, hightailed it to England to avoid getting guillotined. Enter Napoleon III. If you're wondering what happened to Napoleon II, this handsome devil served in the Austrian military, but was never allowed any real power, and then he got pneumonia. When the 1848 revolution broke out, Napoleon III was living in England, because the Bonapartes had been banned from France after Napoleon Napoleon died, and because he had botched two attempts to overthrow the government, figuring he could rally local garrisons to his cause like he was some kind of Napoleon. But when the republic got started, he went, Tally-ho! And came to Paris like, Hey, I hear you're looking for a president. Le Maltin, who was sort of in charge at the time, was like, Great, you want to help, but why don't you sit this one out until one of our competing factions takes power? And Napoleon III said, Yeah, that's cool. Ships continued to hit the fan in Paris, and by the time elections rolled around, he rose to the top in a landslide, by virtue of not having the chance to screw anything up. He promised everything to everyone, and his name made everyone think how awesome Napoleon Bonaparte was, and maybe he could make France great again. Come 1851, he realized that the constitution only allowed him one term, so he asked nicely for the National Assembly to rewrite the constitution. Most of them said, sure, why not? But he didn't get his two-thirds majority, so naturally he staged a coup d'etat and made himself an emperor. Should have taken the hint when he decided to call himself Prince Président, instead of, you know, President. Like a lot of folks who establish authoritarian regimes, he was a man with some ideas. He actually didn't do half bad with his early years of rule. He redesigned Paris, spurred a boom in French industry and agriculture, in part by opening French markets, and invested oodles into those darlings of 19th century industry. Railroads. Seriously. Anybody who was anybody had railroads. He also made plenty of social reforms, including giving workers the right to strike, and promoting education for women, and everything was peachy and you weren't allowed to say otherwise. Oh, and he helped inspire margarine. Take that as you will. His Achilles' heel, ultimately, was foreign policy. Again, at first, he didn't do half bad. He brought France into the Crimean War, basically a way to tell Russia that his army isn't as big as he thinks it is, and he can't go sticking it around where it doesn't belong. And France won, with some help. Then he decided to support Italian nationalism, even though Britain, nearly the entire French government, his wife, and the church he had claimed to defend during that whole Crimean War were all against it, because he had fought with an Italian secret society when he was younger. So he led the charge himself, until he realized that generals probably knew more about military stuff, and France won again, successfully giving a firm slap in the face to Habsburg Austria. Yep. Those Habsburgs. Still kickin'. Then Napoleon III went to make good on the whole Empire part of his French Empire, and doubled its holdings abroad, mostly in Africa and Asia. But what comes up must come down. France started an effort to make the Austrian Archduke Ferdinand Maximilian as the Emperor of Mexico, because no hard feelings about that whole Italian War. This, however, ended in spectacular failure. The US got its chip together and ripped out the big stick, and France backed off. The real short straw was given to Maximilian, who was executed by the Mexicans. But anyway, Napoleon needed all the armies he could get, because there was a new rival in town, Prussia. Prussia had already managed to rapidly modernize its army, and give Austria another firm slap in the face. Meanwhile, Napoleon III was terribly sickly, and in no condition to as much as sit up in his armchair, but everyone was afraid to operate, because the doctors didn't wash their hands, and they kind of needed him to not die for a little while. Bismarck, the Prussian Chancellor, then blocked French attempts to annex Luxembourg, and Napoleon III realized, Yo, we... ... We're gonna need a bigger army to deal with this. But then Parliament shot him down, and he was like, If I wanted to put up with this, I wouldn't have made myself President for life. So he started looking for allies, namely Italy and Austria. Gosh, those were simpler times. But he got shot down again. Bismarck, meanwhile, was making treaties left and right, and when he was good and ready, sent a telegram to France saying, Na-na-na-boo-boo. Napoleon declared war, knowing full well Bismarck prefers military victory, and promptly lost. He was sent into exile, his wife shouted, Why didn't he kill himself?! And the French Empire collapsed, and became a republic again. Which would stand the test of time. Until the Nazis happened. Napoleon III died shortly after. So even though he was the longest reigning ruler of France since the French Revolution, and initially very popular, he never got the same reputation that Napoleon-Napoleon did, instead being remembered as Napoleon le Petit. And that's why Napoleon-Napoleon is known as Napoleon, instead of Napoleon I. Seriously, you don't see world-famous poets from enemy states writing odes about Napoleon le Petit. It just goes to show that it's not about how long you reign, but about how you spend your time on the throne. Little bonus fact here. During the Italian campaign, there was this little battle at this little town called Magenta, and that's where Magenta comes from. And now you know. If you've made it this far, I'm assuming you've enjoyed your time here. Why not watch another? And don't forget to like, subscribe, share with your friends, and all that jazz. Thank you, good day.