Background and Bonapartist Ideas

France – Napoleon III and Domestic Policy, 1848-70

In this course, Dr Michael Rapport (University of Glasgow) explores the reign of Napoleon III, focusing in particular on his domestic policies. We begin by thinking about Louis-Napoleon's background and his preparation for power from his birth in 1808 to his time in prison in 1840-46. After that, we consider the period 1848-51, which saw Louis-Napoleon become first the President of France and then Emperor Napoleon III. In the third module, we think about the institutions of the Second Empire, before turning in the fourth module to Napoleon III's social and economic policies. In the fifth module, we think one of the longest-lasting of Napoleon's reforms – his transformation of the city of Paris itself – before moving on in the sixth and final module to consider the creation of Napoleon's so-called Liberal Empire in the 1860s and the end of the regime after the Franco-Prussian War in 1870.

Background and Bonapartist Ideas

In this module, we think about Louis-Napoleon's background and his preparation for power, focusing in particular on his early life and upbringing, his interest and involvement in the Revolutions of 1830, his attempted coups d'état in 1836 and 1840, and the development of his political philosophy while in prison between 1840-46.