How successful was Napoleon III?

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Daniel Moore (j)         11/09/2008

History essay:

How successful was Napoleon III?

Louis Napoleon can be seen as both successful and unsuccessful when looking at his actions during his reign but to be able to evaluate how successful he was, we need to look at his aims and whether he achieved his aims. Louis Napoleon’s aims in politics were to achieve a stable regime, with power and a broad amount of support. His economic and social aims were to achieve greater wealth as well as helping the poor and his Foreign policy was to make France a great power again by revising the Vienna settlement and avoiding major wars, as well as this he also supported and wanted to help introduce nationalism. Overall as will be seen below Louis Napoleon though he was successful in many of his policies he ultimately failed through one huge foreign policy and military failure.

It can be seen that Louis Napoleon was successful because he managed to achieve a stable regime with a broad amount of support. Louis Napoleon managed to become president by winning the first presidential election in December 1848 with a staggering 75% of the vote. Louis Napoleon gained this support by exploiting the Napoleonic legend which had a very broad appeal as it promised to the elites (the Bourbon nobles and middle class pays legal) security and an effective government. It promised to the French people and especially the nationalists ‘gloire’ which was glorious military victories and provided them with overseas respect, Louis Napoleon had further exploited his uncles legend by writing a propaganda book called ‘des idée’s Napoleon.’ As well as this propaganda book he had also written ‘L’Extinction du Pauperisme’ which showed his concern for the poor and so in turn he gained support from the working class. In all Louis Napoleon was very popular as he had not be involved in the June days which meant that his image as a man of the people was still intact, he had managed to gain the support of the elites presenting himself as a man of property, law and order and he had achieved popularity with the poor by exploiting the Napoleonic legend which provided a promise of better times ahead and by publishing his propaganda book. This was a big success as he managed to appeal to a broad amount of people and so his regime to begin with was very stable with a great amount of support because of the consolidation of all the classes.

Another way in which Louis Napoleon was successful was because he was able to consolidate his power but still remain popular with the people. Louis Napoleon consolidated his power by touring the country and cultivating both the ordinary French people and the elites. He consolidated his power further by gaining support with the Catholics by sending an expedition to Rome to restore Pope Pius IX and by introducing ‘Loi Falloux’ which increased Catholic influence in schools. Having done all this in October 1849 he felt strong enough to dismiss his chief minister Barrot and replace him with one of his own men. Then in December 1851 he launched his coup where potential opponents were arrested, key buildings were occupied and the army was brought in as a precaution, Louis Napoleon then declared himself President for 10 more years which was then approved by a 90% vote in the subsequent plebiscite. In December 1852 he was confident and strong enough to declare the end of the Second Republic and the establishment of the Second Empire which again was overwhelmingly approved in another plebiscite and so subsequently Louis Napoleon became Napoleon III. In 1851 Napoleon III had started setting up a new constitution which came into effect in January 1852; it consisted of two chambers, the Corps Legislatif and the senate but both had little power as they were only consultative and they were full of government placemen (who were people who had been given jobs in return for their support). Napoleon III also, like his uncle, abhorred political parties as he believed their arguments only made divisions and disagreements so instead of a political party he simply appointed the best men available which was very popular with the French notables. However although he did all of this he also actively courted support by increasing the pay of prefects and army officers, distributing government contracts and promising to support the Catholic Church. Thus within a few months the ‘authoritarian Empire’ had been established and had a large amount of support. This was a big success as it seemed Napoleon III had finally found a stable regime for France as it had strong leadership which wanted to preserve property, law and order as well as looking after the underprivileged. It also allowed those with ability to advance and provided people with the ability to vote which in turn meant that Napoleon III had a very popular and stable regime with him in total control, therefore fulfilling his aim of wanting a stable regime, with power and support. However as will be seen below he did not remain in power.

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A further way in which Napoleon III was successful in politics was because he managed to liberalise the empire. This began in 1860 when the Corps Legislatif was given the right to challenge the government’s intentions and receive a reply. Then in 1867 the Senate and the Corps Legislatif could were given the power to question a minister on government policy whenever they felt it necessary to, this was followed by the relaxation of laws against press censorship and public meetings. In 1869 changes were made which ultimately resulted in a ‘Liberal Empire.’ The changes made meant a return to ...

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