The history of 19th century Europe centers largely on the name Napoleon Bonaparte. The original bearer of this name, the Corsican “little corporal”, rose from artillery officer to Emperor of France and ruler of most of Europe. He single-handedly extinguished the embers of the French Revolution, ruled the greater part of Europe for more than a decade, and though autocratic by disposition, spread the seeds of freedom to all corners of the continent. But he was not successful in establishing a long-lasting Bonaparte dynasty. His brothers and nephews took advantage of his prowess but mostly failed. His beloved son, at first King of Rome and later Duke of Reichstag, on whom he had placed so much hope, was theoretically Napoleon II for sixteen days. Only one nephew, Louis-Napoleon, achieved success, transient as it was, and became Napoleon III. He was the son of his uncle’s brother Lucien, the transient King of Holland, and his wife Hortense Beauharnais, Empress Josephine’s daughter from her first marriage.

This future emperor of the French was born in Paris on April 20, 1808, two years after his uncle’s spectacular victory over the Prussians at Jena. After the emperor’s fall and exile to St. Helena, Louis-Napoleon lived with his mother Hortense in Switzerland and then in Rome. There he became involved in politics and took part in conspiracies to unify Italy. Following the deaths of the other members of the family, he became the official pretender to the imperial crown. He tried twice to seize power in France through coups, once in 1836 and again in 1840, but both attempts were unsuccessful and he spent the next decade in exile, writing extensively on social and economic reform, and developing ideas of “social imperialism” that aimed to combine authoritarian power with attention to the working classes.

By 1848 the French monarchy had long been overthrown and a republic established. Louis-Napoleon returned to France and was elected president with 74% of votes for a four-year term. But In 1851 he carried out a military coup, dissolved the National Legislative Assembly, held another referendum, and had himself declared Emperor of France. He married the Spanish countess Eugenie de Montejo, reigned mostly as an absolute monarch, and attempted to emulate the deeds of his famous uncle.

Napoleon III was charming and charismatic. He knew how to win over his entourage and was a good listener, genuinely interested in people, down to earth in private, and had a good sense of humor. As emperor his domestic legacy was substantial. He improved sanitation and housing, developed a modern sewage system, promoted railroads and industrial development, and reformed banking, accelerating France’s transformation into a modern capitalist economy. He promoted employment, created credit institutions and pensions for civilians, and reformed welfare workers’ rights in an attempt to marry authoritarianism with progressive social policy. He encouraged trade by signing a free trade commercial treaty with Britain. Notably, he spearheaded the modernization of Paris under Baron Haussmann, creating the broad and famous boulevards of today, erecting imposing buildings, and setting up public gardens open to all. He was passionate about history and archaeology, and established an important National Antiquities Museum.

In the Crimean War (1854–1856), France allied itself with Britain and Turkey to defeat Russia. Napoleon III then supported King Victor Emmanuel II of Piedmont-Sardinia in his campaigns to unify Italy. The allied armies defeated the Austrians in famous battles at Magenta (June 4, 1859) and Solferino (June 24, 1859). In exchange for this help, Italy ceded Savoy and Nice to France (March 1860).

Napoleon III was less successful in installing in Mexico a regime that would be favorable to France. Maximilian, his puppet pretender to the Mexican throne, was famously executed as shown in a series of famous paintings by Édouard Manet. More successful elsewhere, Napoleon III expanded France’s colonial empire in New Caledonia (1853), Senegal (1857), Gabon (1862), and Indochina (1858–1949, now Vietnam). Algeria was annexed in 1848 and divided into three French departments. France also exerted significant influence and control over Tunisia and Morocco through protectorate treaties, establishing a complex relationship that persisted even after independence.

In 1870, France declared war on Prussia. The immediate cause of the war was the candidacy of Prince Leopold of Hohenzollern-Sigmaringen to the Spanish throne. This would have raised the possibility of a future coalition of Prussia and Spain against France. Following diplomatic maneuvers, Leopold withdrew his candidacy, but the French ambassador demanded assurances that no other no other Hohenzollern would be considered for this position. King Wilhelm I, while at the Bad Ems resort, politely but firmly refused the request and sent a copy to Otto von Bismarck, the Prussian chancellor, describing the encounter. Bismarck deliberately shortened and edited the telegram, removing the King’s polite refusal, thus provoking France into declaring war.

Napoleon III, whose health was failing, was the head of a French army that was badly prepared and lacked coordination as well as suffering from outdated military strategies. On September 1, 1870, the Prussians were victorious at Sedan, and Napoleon was taken prisoner. In Paris, the Second Empire was abolished and replaced by the Third Republic.

The emperor was sent to the Wilhelmshöhe Castle in Westphalia, where he remained until March 1871. Exiled to England, he lived with his wife and son in a small country house in Chislehurst near London. He became increasingly ill from kidney and bladder stones, suffering from pain during urination, supervening urinary tract infections, and periods of complete urinary retention that required catheterization. Often in agony, unable to walk or sit comfortably, he rarely had complete relief from pain. Dr. Henry Thompson, one of Victorian England’s most prominent urologists who had pioneered new techniques of removing bladder stones by lithotomy, became his primary physician. Considered to be one of the most skilled practitioners of his era, he initially attempted non-surgical treatments, but when these failed to provide adequate relief, he recommended surgery. In January 1873 he removed a large stone from the bladder, providing temporary relief, but complications arose almost immediately. The surgical site became infected, Napoleon’s kidneys began to fail, his health declined rapidly, and he died on January 9, 1873. His son would later die fighting in the Zulu Wars, marking the definitive end of the Napoleonic dynasty.