Napoleon III, the Second Empire and the Third Republic (1852–1914) (History HL)

The big idea: Napoleon III ruled France from 1852 to 1870 as emperor — the longest stable government France had seen since 1815.

His empire had two distinct phases: an authoritarian empire (1852–1859) in which he controlled the press and elections tightly, and a liberal empire (1860–1870) in which he gradually relaxed controls under pressure from opposition. Both phases were underpinned by real economic modernisation — but ended in military catastrophe.

Louis-Napoleon Bonaparte had been elected president of the Second Republic in December 1848, riding a wave of conservative rural votes. When the constitution prevented him standing for a second term, he staged a coup d'état on 2 December 1851 (the anniversary of Austerlitz), crushed republican resistance and asked the French people to approve his action in a plebiscite — which they did by a huge margin. A year later, another plebiscite approved the creation of the Second Empire (December 1852).

Domestic policies: the authoritarian phase (1852–1859)

Economic modernisation — a genuine achievement: The 1850s were a decade of real prosperity. Napoleon promoted railways (the network tripled), encouraged banking (Crédit Mobilier, Crédit Foncier), signed a free-trade treaty and oversaw industrial growth.

This mattered politically: a growing urban middle class and a better-off peasantry gave Napoleon a genuine base of support, not just fear.

The liberal empire (1860–1870)

Defeats in foreign policy (see §2) weakened Napoleon's prestige and emboldened opposition. From around 1860 he made a series of concessions:

Parliament was given the right to debate and publish speeches (1860); workers were allowed to strike (1864); press censorship eased; the Corps Législatif gained real power to amend budgets. By 1870 a new constitution approved by plebiscite made France something close to a parliamentary monarchy — but it came too late. War destroyed the Empire before the liberal experiment could take root.

Opposition under the Empire: Even in the authoritarian years a republican minority existed in Paris. By the elections of 1869 the opposition won over three million votes and 90 seats. Key republican figures — Léon Gambetta, Jules Ferry, Jules Favre — built their careers attacking the Empire and would go on to found and run the Third Republic after 1870.

Ambition, prestige and failure: Napoleon III believed France had to be seen as the leading power in Europe and the world. He won some gains early on, but his foreign policy became increasingly reckless — ending in the military catastrophe of 1870–1871 that destroyed the Empire entirely.

Why did the Empire fall?: The immediate cause was military defeat at Sedan, but historians point to deeper problems:

- Napoleon's health (severe kidney stones) clouded his judgement after 1865. - The army had not been modernised fast enough after Prussia's rapid victory over Austria at Sadowa (1866). - The liberal concessions of the 1860s opened up public debate — but also opposition — just as foreign policy was failing. - The plebiscite of May 1870 showed 7.3 million still supported the Empire, so the collapse came from external military defeat, not internal revolution.

Paper 3 — evaluating Napoleon III: A top answer balances achievement against failure. The domestic record (growth, public works, railways, the liberal empire) is genuinely positive. The foreign policy record is mixed-to-disastrous. Don't reduce him to either a tyrant or a moderniser — weigh both, with specific evidence.

The Republic that almost wasn't: The Third Republic (1870–1940) lasted longer than any French regime since 1789, but it was nearly strangled at birth. In its first two decades it survived monarchist pressure, the trauma of the Commune, a near-coup by General Boulanger, and then the shattering Dreyfus Affair — emerging from each crisis more deeply rooted, but also more bitterly divided.

Founding the Republic (1871–1879): fragile beginnings

After Sedan, a Government of National Defence (including Gambetta) declared a republic and fought on until January 1871. The peace terms were harsh: France ceded Alsace-Lorraine to the new German Empire and paid 5 billion francs in reparations.

Just weeks later, in March 1871, the radical working-class government of Paris — the Paris Commune — rose in revolt and was crushed by French government troops under Marshal MacMahon. The Commune left a lasting scar: the left remembered it as a massacre; the right feared it as proof of socialist revolution.

Boulangisme (1886–1889): the near-coup

General Boulanger and the threat to the Republic: General Georges Boulanger was made war minister in 1886, popular for his anti-German rhetoric and military dash. He became a rallying point for all those who hated the Republic — nationalists, monarchists, disaffected Catholics, and ordinary voters angry at corruption.

In January 1889 Boulanger won a by-election in Paris by a massive margin. His supporters urged him to march on the Elysée Palace and seize power. He hesitated — and the moment passed. The government charged him with treason; Boulanger fled to Brussels, where he later shot himself on his mistress's grave (1891).

The significance was huge: the Republic survived, but the episode showed how easily a charismatic figure could mobilise anti-republican sentiment. It also triggered anti-clerical republicans to push harder against Church influence in education.

The Dreyfus Affair (1894–1906): France divided

In 1894 Captain Alfred Dreyfus, a Jewish army officer, was convicted of passing secrets to Germany and deported to Devil's Island. The evidence was forged and the real spy was Major Esterhazy — but the army covered up the truth to protect its honour.

The affair tore France in two:

Long-term effects of the Dreyfus Affair: The Dreyfus crisis had major consequences for the Third Republic:

- Anticlerical legislation: the victorious republicans blamed the Church for backing the anti-Dreyfusards; the Loi de séparation ended the Concordat and stripped the Church of its remaining official role in education and public life — one of the Republic's most lasting reforms. - Growth of the extreme right: the Action Française (Charles Maurras), anti-Semitic leagues and nationalist movements grew out of the anti-Dreyfus camp — a forerunner of interwar French fascism. - Labour and the left: the shared fight for Dreyfus helped create a broader left-wing alliance; Jean Jaurès and the socialist movement grew rapidly after 1900.

Corruption and political instability: The Third Republic was notorious for government instability — 50+ prime ministers between 1871 and 1914 — and financial scandals:

- Panama Scandal (1892): the Panama Canal company collapsed; ministers and deputies were found to have been bribed; public trust collapsed. - Constant ministerial musical chairs made coherent long-term policy difficult.

Yet underneath this instability, core institutions held: the civil service, the judiciary, the army and local government continued to function regardless of which coalition was in power.