Making Peasants into Citizens
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| Napoleon III led the Second Empire of France from 1852 until 1870. During his rule, he attempted to reshape French economic life by promoting trade and industrialization. |
It's All in a Name
Louis Napoleon Bonaparte, the nephew of Naopleon I, became the first elected president of the Second Republic of France in December 1848, just after the June Days of the 1848 revolution. His mythic name spurred his overwhelming victory against his opponents. He quickly secured support among the army, the Catholic Church, and the bourgeoisie. But in 1851 a crisis brewed when monarchist forces prevented him from seeking a second term.
On December 2, 1851, the anniversary of his uncle's coronation as emperor, Louis Bonaparte staged a bloody coup d'état. He dissolved the Assembly and declared universal suffrage for all adult men. One hundred fifty people were killed in Paris during his coup, but a national vote offered him resounding support as president for another 10 years. A year later, Louis Napoleon expanded his powers as President for life and became Napoleon III.
Life in the Empire
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| During the Paris Commune, the column commemorating Napoleon I's victory at Austerlitz was toppled at the order of the Commune, the provisional government of Paris after the Franco-Prussian War. The Commune proved to be an efficient government that enacted numerous reforms before being brutally crushed by Thiers during the "Week of Blood." |
Napoleon strove to improve the industrial and economic bases of France and sought to expand France's overseas empire. He initiated the urban renewal of Paris, clearing slums to make room for new parks as well as new sewer and water systems. Tax incentives and investment funds supported entrepreneurs, who had typically been shunned in France (but welcomed in Britain).
France's involvement in the Crimean War (1854-1856) and in Italian schemes to create a war with Austria in order to liberate the region of Piedmont for Italy (1859) kept France at the center of European diplomacy. But Napoleon's blunders in the 1860s destabilized his regime.
Free-trade policies allowed Britain to flood France with cheaper goods, angering conservative economic sectors, and the Catholic Church resented the state's involvement in charity work. Napoleon III was soon criticized for his foreign policy as the formation of a united Italy and a united Germany threatened France's dominant position on the continent.
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| "J'accuse" (French for "I accuse") was a brilliant piece of modern journalism. In it, author Émile Zola blamed the French army for accusing Captain Dreyfus of spying simply because he was Jewish. This site is in French only, but the pictures illustrate the brewing crisis in France. |
Commune Sense
As if this wasn't enough, the Franco-Prussian war also led to a short but bitter civil war over France's identity in the wake of the collapse of the Second Empire. After waging a fierce campaign to keep Paris from falling to Prussian forces, Parisians of various political stripes — republicans, socialists, and anarchists — formed the Paris Commune, an elected city council that rejected both Prussian demands and the French provisional government of Versailles that agreed to them.
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| The Dreyfus Affair sent France into yet another crisis. Writers everywhere began to speak out against the wrongful conviction of the Jewish captain and divided France into two political camps: Dreyfusards and Anti-Dreyfusards. |
A Secure Republic?
Although political conflict continued, republicans prevailed over monarchist forces to establish the Third Republic in 1875, which centered government authority in a bicameral parliament rather than in a powerful chief executive. In 1879, republicans won control of both houses, thus solidifying their victory. The system proved unstable, because competing political parties were forced to scramble to form coalition cabinets. But democracy had won out over dictatorship and monarchy.In 1894, France was beset with a divisive conflict that split the country into two main political camps. Captain Alfred Dreyfus was convicted of leaking French military secrets to their German archrivals. Evidence was presented that brought Dreyfus's guilt into doubt.
Many writers and intellectuals believed that Dreyfus was falsely accused because of his Jewish background. Novelist Émile Zola published a letter called "J'accuse" that blamed the army for the entire matter. All of France soon categorized themselves politically as either Dreyfusards (those on the left) or Anti-Dreyfusards (those on the right). Eventually, Dreyfus was cleared of all charges in 1906.
The French political identity took shape in the 1870s, but the problem of French cultural identity remained, especially because France now faced a stronger Germany and a reunified Italy. France in the early and mid-1800s was, in some ways, a bipolar world. At one extreme were the nationalist residents of Paris; at the other extreme were rural peasants, who embraced regional identities and languages. Under Louis Napoleon, France had begun a process of incorporating France's rural provinces into the new nation, in part by conscripting peasants into the French army.
France became a modern nation in the 1870s and 1880s as state bureaucratic efforts to produce cultural assimilation succeeded in raising the level of awareness of French culture in rural areas of the country. Railway construction and road building in outlying regions was accelerated to create new economic opportunities. The rapid spread of schools in the 1880s helped indoctrinate a new generation of peasant children into the ways of the French.
Nationalism was thus a philosophy as well as a process conceived and directed by leaders of a political state wishing to expand territorial and demographic sovereignty. Moreover, nationalism made peasants want to fight for France and learn the French language, thus transforming them into citizens of a republic.
Review: Fill in the missing words.
1. On December 2, 1851, the anniversary of his uncle's coronation as emperor,
______________ staged a bloody coup d'état. He dissolved the Assembly
and declared universal suffrage for all adult men.
2. [Napoleon III] censored the ______, controlled the _______, and prohibited
____________. At the same time, he implemented social welfare
programs and public works initiatives.
3. Napoleon (III) strove to improve the _______ and _______ bases of France
and sought to expand France's _______ empire.
4. France's disastrous defeat in the _____________ of 1870 finally
ended the Second Empire... France lost the border region of ___________ to Germany and was forced to pay the Germans stiff war
reparations.
5. Parisians of various political stripes —
republicans, socialists, and anarchists — formed the ____________, an
elected city council that rejected both Prussian demands and the French
provisional government of Versailles that agreed to them.
6. Although political conflict continued, republicans prevailed over
monarchist forces to establish the _____________ in 1875, which centered
government authority in a bicameral parliament rather than in a powerful
chief executive.
7. Captain _______________ was
convicted of leaking French military secrets to their German archrivals.
Evidence was presented that brought Dreyfus's guilt into doubt.
8. Many writers and intellectuals believed that Dreyfus was falsely
accused because of his _______ background.
9. Novelist Émile Zola published a
letter called ________ that blamed the army for the entire
matter.
10. France in the early and
mid-1800s was, in some ways, a bipolar world. At one extreme were the
_____________ of Paris; at the other extreme were _____________,
who embraced regional identities and languages.
Did You Know?
When Napoleon Bonaparte's son died in 1832 at the age of 21, Louis-Napoleon took the title Napoleon III as a gesture to this family. What happened to Napoleon III? He was exiled, just like his famous uncle. But Napoleon III was sent to Great Britain, where he died shortly afterward.