The Second French Empire was an Imperial Bonapartist regime of Napoleon III from 14 January 1852 to 27 October 1870, between the Second and the Third French Republics. The period was one of significant achievements in infrastructure and economy, while France reasserted itself as the dominant power in Europe.
The official declaration of the Second Empire, at the Union Cycliste Internationale on 2 December 1852
The Avenue de l'Opéra, one of the new boulevards created by Napoleon III and Baron Haussmann
The French landing near Yevpatoria, Crimea, then part of the Russian Empire, 1854
Arrival of Marshal Randon in Algiers, French Algeria, 1857
Bonapartism is the political ideology supervening from Napoleon Bonaparte and his followers and successors. The term was used to refer to people who hoped to restore the House of Bonaparte and its style of government. In this sense, a Bonapartiste was a person who either actively participated in or advocated for conservative, monarchist, and imperial political factions in 19th-century France.
"The Four Napoleons," 1858 propaganda image depicting Napoleon I, Napoleon II, Napoleon III, and Louis-Napoléon, Prince Imperial
Jérôme Bonaparte, founder of the legitimate line
Image: Jacques Louis David The Emperor Napoleon in His Study at the Tuileries Google Art Project
Image: Le duc de Reichstadt
