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 the sort of parliamentary government that had existed under Louis Philippe, the senate became a proper upper house with the power to delay legislation, the Corps Legislatif became a lower chamber having the power to propose laws. Ministers were now made accountable to the Corps Legislatif and so they had to have a majority in it supporting them. Therefore because of all of this it seemed that Napoleon III had achieved the smooth transition from a dictatorship to a form of government which was very popular amongst the elites as it shared power with them. However although he had managed to gain support he had also reduced his power, so although this liberalisation was successful in getting Napoleon support it did not provide him with complete control, therefore Napoleon was successful in gaining support but unsuccessful in retaining complete power.
Napoleon III achieved some success in his economic and social policy by providing a supply of cheap credit. This was intended to motivate the economy, leading it to increase production and trade as it would provide the middle class pays legal (the businessmen) with money to finance their business and so therefore provide the working classes with jobs and wages. This supply of cheap credit was provided by three new banks, most well known of the three was the Credit Mobilier. This cheap credit was used in several different areas such as the construction of the Suez Canal and the setting up of railways. The setting up of railways meant that there was a high demand of iron and steel which boosted their industries as they were needed for building the tracks. Railways also helped all other industries and business as it meant that transport costs were kept low. As well as this Napoleon also set up huge urban renewal designs run by Baron Haussmann where order and grandeur were the main priorities especially in Paris, Lyon and Marseilles. Consequently because of these economic and social schemes Napoleon did partly manage to fulfil his aims of achieving greater wealth through his supply of cheap credit; however as will be seen he did not manage properly help the poor through his urban renewal schemes.
Again Napoleon III foreign policy in part was successful as through the Crimean war France’s national standing improved and through the unifying of Italy Austria was weakened and the Vienna settlement was broken. In 1854 Napoleon III disagreed with Russia by supporting France’s claim to be protector of Catholics in the Turkish Empire and claimed that the Catholics, not the Greek Orthodox Church (supported by the Russians), should control the Holy Places in Palestine. Napoleon however was out of control, thus when the Sultan provoked Russia into attacking France found herself at war with Russia. However Napoleon III knew that he would not lose as he was supported by the other major powers who did not want to see Russia strengthened further and especially by Britain who did not want Russia threatening India or having access to the Mediterranean. When France won the victory was very popular amongst all French classes as it the treaty was signed in Paris. Russia’s defeat also meant that France was no longer the only revisionist power with Russia also wanting to change their peace settlement. This was when France was at the height of her national standing and was on the verge of becoming a great power again. In 1858 Napoleon because he genuinely supported nationalism, as can be seen in his previous involvement in the nationalist revolutions in the northern states in 1830, he planned to force Austria out of Italy and untie the Italian states under the Pope. In 1858 when Count Orsini tried to assassinate him Napoleon decided to take action and set about trying to force Austria out the Italian states. After Austria was defeated at the battle of Magenta and Solferino France made the Peace of Villafranca where Austria agreed to leave the Italian states apart from Venetia. However again Napoleon found himself out of control as he had been deceived and Garibaldi, an Italian Nationalist, was threatening to move north and take Rome from the Pope, which in response Napoleon had to allow the Piedmontese army to move south to stop him at which point Garibaldi handed over all his conquests to the king of Piedmont instead of the Pope. This was a part success for Napoleon as he had improved France’s national standing and had successfully helped to nationalise Italy and though both of these acts had managed to weaken the Vienna settlement.
However as well as there being a large amount of successes there are also a few failures which need to be considered. Although Napoleon’s supply of cheap credit did help to increase output there was no structural change to the French economy. The supply of cheap credit did not go into improving agriculture of industry but went into the expansion of the industries in order to unlock unused wealth rather than trying to increase productivity through increasing efficiency. Napoleon had also hindered the French economy as he had introduced free trade, which in most cases was a failure as countries such as Britain could produce and sell goods quicker and cheaper than France, due to their advanced and more efficient economy. The Urban renewal scheme was popular amongst the upper middle classes and the rich but was incredibly unpopular amongst the poor as the project was only one street deep which meant that the slums still remained and the previous houses of the poor were torn down in order to make these new houses. Through Napoleon’s economic and social policies he managed to alienate all the classes as the traditional upper class were overly taxed to help the poor and were tired of Napoleon’s favouritism of the ‘nouveaux riches.’ The middle classes had been alienated by the introduction free trade as it was bad for their trade and finally the poor were alienated as Napoleon’s promise had not really been fulfilled as their living standards had improved very little. These failures although they did damage Napoleon’s image and popularity they were not significant enough to make anyone revolutionary as the regime was still stable and France’s national standing was better than it had been since the fall of Napoleon I.
Along with there being failures in Napoleon’s economic and social policy there were also failures in Napoleon’s foreign policy as in every situation, even the Crimean war and the unification of the Italian states (which were successes), Napoleon managed to lose control. In the Crimean war he lost control and ended up being forced into a war, in Italy Napoleon lost control which meant that the king of Piedmont was able to seize power (infuriating the Catholics). In 1864 Napoleon decided to remain in Mexico after Juarez, who had delayed debt re-payments to France, Britain and Spain, had been defeated in order to try to install Maximilian as king. This eventually led to Napoleon losing control and getting involved in a guerrilla war and resulted in the execution of Maximilian in 1867. In 1863 after threatening Russia if she suppressed a revolt in Poland he failed to act when Russia did suppress it, after this in 1864 Napoleon then failed to stop Prussia and Austria defeating Denmark. When in 1866 Prussia defeated Austria, France was easily stopped from taking action by the promise of getting Venetia and Luxembourg and when Luxembourg was not delivered to France Napoleon felt cheated and France was humiliated. This although they were big failures they merely weakened France, however it did show Napoleon in a very bad way as he had been guilty of hubris (which means an arrogant pride inviting disaster) because he had been over confident and so showed him up as an amateur who could not carry out his threats.
Napoleon’s biggest failure was with his foreign policy and the way he handled Prussia, this ultimately led to the collapse of him and his regime. This confrontation with Prussia was caused by Napoleon asking Prussia after it had promised that Leopold of Hohenzollern would not marry into the Spanish throne, to never re-apply Leopold for the Spanish marriage. Although initially the telegraph which was sent was polite it was altered by Bismark to be insulting and provoking. France having been through a stage of little success and having been urged on by the press and the people Napoleon declared war on Prussia. France’s armies mobilised slower than Prussia’s and so instead of marching on Berlin, France ended up defending herself. After a series of defeats Napoleon surrendered at Sedan and was taken prisoner. Thus because France had alienated the other powers such as Britain, Russia, Italy and Austria the Second Empire was ended and the Third Republic was formed to fill the void. This was the biggest and most significant failure which was the cause for the downfall of him and his regime, because he allowed himself to be provoked and defeated by a superior military power.
In conclusion the evidence suggests that Napoleon was sufficiently successful because he did manage to achieve his aims of setting up a stable regime, with power and support as there was no revolution at the time of his capture. Napoleon’s economic and social policies were partly successful as he did manage to obtain greater wealth, however through doing this one of the banks he set up went into bankruptcy and as well as this there ultimately was no structural change or increase in the efficiency of production. Napoleon’s foreign policy was mostly a failure because although he succeeded with the Crimean war and the nationalisation of Italy he had lost control in both situations which was the case in all of his other foreign policies. In the case of the Franco-Prussian war the loss of control was the most significant and only real cause for defeat which in perspective was Napoleon’s only real considerable failure which did cause his downfall.