Napoléon III

Third son of Louis Bonaparte, brother of Napoléon I and King of Holland (1806-1810), and Hortense de Beauharnais, stepdaughter of Napoléon I; left France with his family in 1815; attended a grammar school at Augsburg, Germany (1821–1823); was taught by private tutors; took part in an unsuccessful plot against the papal government in Rome (1830) and in the rebellion in central Italy (1831); attempted to win over the Strasbourg garrison for a coup d'état (30 Oct 1836); exiled to the United States (1837); returned to Europe (1837); expelled from Switzerland (1838), settled in England (1838-1840); landed near Boulogne with a group of supporters (6 Aug 1840), arrested and condemned to "permanent imprisonment" (6 Oct 1840); escaped from the fortress of Ham (25 May 1846); after the revolution of 1848 elected to the Assemblée nationale constituante (Constituent National Assembly); initially refused to take seat, but accepted second election (17 Sep 1848) and joined the Assembly (1848-1849); won the presidential election (10 Dec 1848) and was inaugurated (20 Dec 1848) as President of the Republic for the term ending on 9 May 1852; carried out a coup d'état of 2 Dec 1851; dissolved the Assemblée nationale législative (Legislative National Assembly) and held a plebiscite on the new constitution (20 Dec 1851 - 21 Dec 1851); promulgated constitution (14 Jan 1852) restoring universal suffrage and giving the president dictatorial powers; Sénat passed a sénatus-consulte (7 Nov 1852), proposing restoration of imperial dignity and proclamation of Louis-Napoléon Bonaparte as emperor under the name of Napoléon III; ensuing plebiscite (21 Nov 1852 - 22 Nov 1852) returned overwhelming majority of votes in favor of restoration of the Empire; accepted the imperial dignity at a meeting in the Palais de Saint-Cloud (1 Dec 1852); set up authoritarian regime relying on wide public support, which lasted until early 1860s when some liberal reforms were introduced; promulgated (21 May 1870) a constitution establishing liberal empire; surrendered and was taken prisoner (2 Sep 1870) in the course of war with Prussia; republic proclaimed in Paris (4 Sep 1870) by the Gouvernement de la défense nationale (Government of National Defense); National Assembly passed a resolution confirming the deposition of the emperor (1 Mar 1871); died in exile in England. Biography source: [4]