During the Second French Empire, the reign of Emperor Napoleon III, Paris was the largest city in continental Europe and a leading center of finance, commerce, fashion, and the arts. The population of
Music in the Tuileries Gardens by Édouard Manet (1862)
Napoleon III by Alexandre Cabanel (about 1865)
The new boulevards and parks built by Haussmann during the Second Empire
An editorial cartoon of 1858 illustrates the opposition of many residents of the Paris suburbs to Napoleon III's plan to make them part of the city.
Second French Empire
Videos
The Second French Empire, officially the French Empire, was the government of France from 1852 to 1870. It was established on 2 December 1852 by Louis-Napoléon Bonaparte, president of France under the
Paris during the Second Empire
…During the Second French Empire, the reign of Emperor Napoleon III (1852–1870), Paris was the largest city in continental Europe and a leading center of finance, commerce, fashion…
The official declaration of the Second Empire, at the Hôtel de Ville, Paris 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