Charles-Louis Napoléon Bonaparte was the nephew of France’s legendary first emperor, Napoleon I, and shared his uncle’s imperialist tendencies. He made several attempts to seize power before the ousting of Louis Philippe finally gave him a legitimate opportunity. By evoking the Napoleonic legacy and positioning himself as a unifying figure, he was elected President of the French Second Republic in 1848.

When constitutional limits prevented him from seeking a second term, he orchestrated a coup d’état in 1851. A year later, after a referendum, he declared himself Napoleon III, Emperor of the French, marking the beginning of the Second French Empire.

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