THE AMBITION OF LOUIS NAPOLEON
The Final Overthrow of Napoleonism
The Coup-d’état of 1851—From President to Emperor—The Empire is
Peace—War With Austria—The Austrians Advance—The Battle of
Magenta—Possession of Lombardy—French Victory at Solferino—Treaty of
Peace—Invasion of Mexico—End of Napoleon’s Career
The name of Napoleon is a name to conjure with in France. Two
generations after the fall of Napoleon the Great the people of that
country had practically forgotten the misery he had brought them, and
remembered only the glory with which he had crowned the name of France.
When, then, a man who has been designated as Napoleon the Little
offered himself for their suffrages, they cast their votes almost
unanimously in his favor.
Charles Louis Napoleon Bonaparte, to give this personage his full name,
was a son of Louis Bonaparte, once king of Holland, and Hortense de
Beauharnais, and had been recognized by Napoleon as, after his father,
the direct successor to the throne. This he made strenuous efforts to
obtain, hoping to dethrone Louis Philippe and install himself in his
place. In 1836, with a few followers, he made an attempt to capture
Strasbourg. His effort failed and he was arrested and transported to
the United States. In 1839 he published a work entitled “Napoleonic
Ideas,” which was an apology for the ambitious acts of the first
Napoleon.
The growing unpopularity of Louis Philippe tempted Louis Napoleon to
make a second attempt to invade France. He did it in a rash way almost
certain to end in failure. Followed by about fifty men, and bringing
with him a tame eagle, which was expected to perch upon his banner as
the harbinger of victory, he sailed from England in August, 1840, and
landed at Boulogne. This desperate and foolish enterprise proved a
complete failure. The soldiers whom the would-be sovereign expected to
join his standard arrested him, and he was tried for treason by the
House of Peers. This time he was not dealt with so leniently as before,
but was sentenced to imprisonment for life and was confined in the
Castle of Ham. From this fortress he escaped in disguise in May, 1846,
and made his way to England.
The revolution of 1848 gave the restless and ambitious claimant a more
promising opportunity. He returned to France, was elected to the
National Assembly, and on the adoption of the republican constitution
offered himself as a candidate for the presidency of the new republic.
And now the magic of the name of Napoleon told. General Cavaignac, his
chief competitor, was supported by the solid men of the country, who
distrusted his opponent; but the people rose almost solidly in his
support, and he was elected president for four years by 5,562,834
votes, against 1,469,166 for Cavaignac.
The new President of France soon showed his ambition. He became engaged
in a contest with the Assembly and aroused the distrust of the
Republicans by his autocratic remarks. In 1849 he still further
offended the democratic party by sending an army to Rome, which put an
end to the republic in that city. He sought to make his cabinet
officers the pliant instruments of his will, and thus caused De
Tocqueville, the celebrated author, who was minister for foreign
affairs, to resign. “We were not the men to serve him on those terms,”
said De Tocqueville, at a later time.
The new-made president was feeling his way to imperial dignity. He
could not forget that his illustrious uncle had made himself emperor,
and his ambition instigated him to the same course. A violent
controversy arose between him and the Assembly, which body had passed a
law restricting universal suffrage, thus reducing the popular support
of the president. In June, 1850, it increased his salary at his
request, but granted the increase only for one year—an act of distrust
which proved a new source of discord.
THE “COUP D’ETAT” OF 1851
Louis Napoleon meanwhile was preparing for a daring act. He secretly
obtained the support of the army leaders and prepared covertly for the
boldest stroke of his life. On the 2d of December 1851—the anniversary
of the establishment of the first empire and of the battle of
Austerlitz—he got rid of his opponents by means of the memorable COUP
D’ETAT, and seized the supreme power of the state.
The most influential members of the Assembly had been arrested during
the preceding night, and when the hour for the session of the House
came the men most strongly opposed to the President were in prison.
Most of them were afterwards exiled, some for life, some for shorter
terms. This act of outrage and alleged violation of plighted faith by
their ruler roused the socialists and republicans to the defense of
their threatened liberties, insurrections broke out in Paris, Lyons,
and other towns, street barricades were built, and severe fighting took
place. But Napoleon had secured the army, and the revolt was suppressed
with blood and slaughter. Baudin, one of the deposed deputies, was shot
on the barricade in the Faubourg St. Antoine, while waving in his hand
the decree of the constitution. He was afterwards honored as a martyr
to the cause of republicanism in France.
Napoleon had previously sought to gain the approval of the people by
liberal and charitable acts, and to win the good will of the civic
authorities by numerous progresses through the interior. He now stood
as a protector and promoter of national prosperity and the rights of
the people, and sought to lay upon the Assembly all the defects of his
administration. By these means, which aided to awaken the Napoleonic
fervor in the state, he was enabled safely to submit his acts of
violence and bloodshed to the approval of the people. The new
constitution offered by the president was put to vote, and was adopted
by the enormous majority of more than seven million votes. By its terms
Louis Napoleon was to be president of France for ten years, with power
equal to that of a monarch, and the Parliament was to consist of two
bodies, a Senate and a Legislative House, which were given only nominal
power.
FROM PRESIDENT TO EMPEROR
This was as far as Napoleon dared to venture at that time. A year
later, on December 1, 1852, having meanwhile firmly cemented his
position in the state, he passed from president to emperor, again by a
vote of the people, of whom, according to the official report,
7,824,189 cast their votes in his favor. That this report told the
truth, many denied, but it served the President’s purpose.
Thus ended the second French republic, by an act of usurpation of the
strongest and yet most popular character. The partisans of the new
emperor were rewarded with the chief offices of the state; the leading
republicans languished in prison or in exile for the crime of doing
their duty to their constituents; and Armand Marrast, the most zealous
champion of the republic, died of a broken heart from the overthrow of
all his efforts and aspirations. The honest soldier and earnest
patriot, Cavaignac, in a few years followed him to the grave. The cause
of liberty in France seemed lost.
The crowning of a new emperor of the Napoleonic family in France
naturally filled Europe with apprehensions. But Napoleon III, as he
styled himself, was an older man than Napoleon I, and seemingly less
likely to be carried away by ambition. His favorite motto, “The Empire
is peace,” aided to restore quietude, and gradually the nations began
to trust in his words: “France wishes for peace; and when France is
satisfied the world is quiet.”
Warned by one of the errors of his uncle, he avoided seeking a wife in
the royal families of Europe, but allied himself with a Spanish lady of
noble rank, the young and beautiful Eugenie de Montijo, dutchess of
Teba. At the same time he proclaimed that, “A sovereign raised to the
throne by a new principle should remain faithful to that principle, and
in the face of Europe frankly accept the position of a parvenu, which
is an honorable title when it is obtained by the public suffrage of a
great people. For seventy years all princes’ daughters married to
rulers of France have been unfortunate; only one, Josephine, was
remembered with affection by the French people, and she was not born of
a royal house.”
The new emperor continued his efforts as president to win the approval
of the people by public works. He recognized the necessity of aiding
the working classes as far as possible, and protecting them from
poverty and wretchedness. During a dearth in 1853 a “baking fund” was
organized in Paris, the city contributing funds to enable bread to be
sold at a low price. Dams and embankments were built along the rivers
to overcome the effects of floods. New streets were opened, bridges
built, railways constructed, to increase internal traffic. Splendid
buildings were erected for municipal and government purposes. Paris was
given a new aspect by pulling down its narrow lanes, and building wide
streets and magnificent boulevards—the latter, as was charged, for the
purpose of depriving insurrection of its lurking places. The great
exhibition of arts and industries in London was followed in 1854 by one
in France, the largest and finest seen up to that time. Trade and
industry were fostered by a reduction of tariff charges, joint stock
companies and credit associations were favored, and in many ways
Napoleon III worked wisely and well for the prosperity of France, the
growth of its industries, and the improvement of the condition of its
people.
THE EMPIRE IS PEACE
But the new emperor, while thus actively engaged in labors of peace
means lived up to the spirit of his motto, “The Empire is peace.” An
empire founded upon the army needs to give employment to that army. A
monarchy sustained by the votes of a people athirst for glory needs to
do something to appease that thirst. A throne filled by a Napoleon
could not safely ignore the “Napoleonic Ideas,” and the first of these
might be stated as “The Empire is war.” And the new emperor was by no
means satisfied to pose simply as the “nephew of his uncle.” He
possessed a large share of the Napoleonic ambition, and hoped by
military glory to surround his throne with some of the luster of that
of Napoleon the First.
Whatever his private views, it is certain that France under his reign
became the most aggressive nation of Europe, and the overweening
ambition and self-confidence of the new emperor led him to the same end
as his great uncle, that of disaster and overthrow. He was evidently
bent on playing a leading part in European politics, showing the world
that one worthy to bear the name of Napoleon was on the throne.
The very beginning of Louis Napoleon’s career of ambition, as president
of the French Republic, was signalized by an act of military force, in
sending an army to Rome and putting an end to the attempted Italian
republic. These troops were kept there until 1866, and the aspirations
of the Italian patriots were held in check until that year. Only when
United Italy stood menacingly at the gates of Rome were these foreign
troops withdrawn. They had retarded, perhaps, for a time the inevitable
union of the Italian states into a single kingdom; they certainly
prevented the establishment of a republic.
In 1854 Napoleon allied himself with the British and the Turks against
Russia, and sent an army to the Crimea, which played an effective part
in the great struggle in that peninsula. The troops of France had the
honor of rendering Sebastopol untenable, carrying by storm one of its
two great fortresses and turning its guns upon the city.
WAR WITH AUSTRIA
The next act of war-policy by the French emperor was against Austria.
As the career of conquest of Napoleon had begun with an attack upon the
Austrians in Italy, Napoleon III attempted a similar enterprise, and
with equal success. He was said to have been cautiously preparing for
hostilities with Austria, thus to emulate his great uncle, but lacked a
satisfactory excuse for declaring war. This came in 1858 from an
attempt at assassination. Felice Orsini, a fanatical Italian patriot,
incensed at Napoleon from his failing to come to the aid of Italy,
launched three explosive bombs against his carriage. The effect was
fatal to many of the people in the street, though the intended victim
escaped. Orsini while in prison expressed patriotic sentiments and a
loud-voiced love for his country. “Remember that the Italians shed
their blood for Napoleon the Great,” he wrote to the emperor. “Liberate
my country, and the blessings of twenty-five millions of people will
follow you to posterity.”
Louis Napoleon, it was alleged, had once been a member of a secret
political society of Italy; he had taken the oath of initiation; his
failure to come to the aid of that country when in power constituted
him a traitor to his oath and one doomed to death; the act of Orsini
was apparently the work of the society. That Napoleon was deeply moved
by the attempted assassination is certain, and the result of his
combined fear and ambition was soon to be shown by a movement in favor
of Italian independence.
On New Year’s Day, 1859, while receiving the diplomatic corps at the
Tuileries, Napoleon addressed the following significant words to the
Austrian ambassador: “I regret that our relations are not so cordial as
I could wish, but I beg you to report to the Emperor that my personal
sentiments towards him remain unaltered.” Such is the masked way in
which diplomats announce an intention of war. The meaning of the
threatening words was soon shown, when victor Emmanuel, shortly
afterwards, announced at the opening of the Chambers in Turin that
Sardinia could no longer remain indifferent to the cry for help which
was rising from all Italy. Ten years had passed since the defeat of the
Sardinians by an Austrian army on the plains of Lombardy, and the end
for the time of their hopes of a free and united Italy. During that
time they had cherished a hope of retribution, and the words of
Napoleon and Victor Emmanuel made it evident to them that an alliance
had been made with France and that the hour of vengeance was at hand.
Austria was ready for the contest. Her finances, indeed, were in a
serious state, but she had a large army in Lombardy. This was
increased, Lombardy was declared in a state of siege, and every step
was taken to guard against assault from Sardinia. Delay was
disadvantageous to Austria, as it would permit her enemies to complete
their preparations, and on April 23, 1859, an ultimatum came from
Vienna, demanding that Sardinia should put her army on a peace footing
or war would ensue.
THE AUSTRIANS ADVANCE
A refusal came from Turin. Immediately Field-marshal Gyulai received
orders to cross the Ticino. Thus, after ten years of peace, the
beautiful plains of Northern Italy were once more to endure the ravages
of war. This act of Austria was severely criticized by the neutral
Powers, which had been seeking to allay the trouble. Napoleon took
advantage of it, as an aid to his purposes, and accused Austria of
breaking the peace by invading the territory of his ally, the king of
Sardinia.
The real fault committed by Austria, under the circumstances, was not
in precipitating war, which could not well be avoided in the temper of
her antagonists, but in putting, through court favor and privileges of
rank, an incapable leader at the head of the army. Old Radetzky, the
victor in the last war, was dead, but there were other able leaders who
were thrust aside in favor of the Hungarian noble Franz Gyulai, a man
without experience as commander-in-chief of an army.
By his uncertain and dilatory movements Gyulai gave the Sardinians time
to concentrate an army of 80,000 men around the fortress of
Alessandria, and lost all the advantage of being the first in the
field. In early May the French army reached Italy, partly by way of the
St. Bernard Pass, partly by sea; and Garibaldi, with his mountaineers,
took up a position that would enable him to attack the right wing of
the Austrians.
Later in the month Napoleon himself appeared, his presence and the name
he bore inspiring the soldiers with new valor, while his first order of
the day, in which he recalled the glorious deeds which their fathers
had done on those plains under his great uncle, roused them to the
highest enthusiasm. While assuming the title of commander-in-chief, he
was wise enough to leave the conduct of the war to his abler
subordinates, MacMahon, Niel, and others.
The Austrian general, having lost the opportunity to attack, was now
put on the defensive, in which his incompetence was equally manifested.
Being quite ignorant of the position of the foe, he sent Count Stadion,
with 12,000 men, on a reconnaissance. An encounter took place at
Montebello on May 20th, in which, after a sharp engagement, Stadion was
forced to retreat. Gyulai directed his attention to that quarter,
leaving Napoleon to march unmolested from Alessandria to the invasion
of Lombardy. Gyulai then, aroused by the danger of Milan, began his
retreat across the Ticino, which he had so uselessly crossed.
The road to Milan crossed both the Ticino River and the Naviglio
Grande, a broad and deep canal, a few miles east of the river. Some
distance farther on lies the village of Magenta, the seat of the first
great battle of the war. Sixty years before, on those Lombard plains,
Napoleon the Great had first lost, and then, by a happy chance, won the
famous battle of Marengo. The Napoleon now in command was a very
different man from the mighty soldier of the year 1800, and the French
escaped a disastrous rout only because the Austrians were led by a
still worse general. Some one has said that victory comes to the army
that makes the fewest blunders. Such seems to have been the case in the
battle of Magenta, where military genius was the one thing wanting.
The French pushed on, crossed the river without finding a man to
dispute the passage—other than a much-surprised customs official—and
reached an undefended bridge across the canal. The high road to Milan
seemed deserted by the Austrians. But Napoleon’s troops were drawn out
in a preposterous line, straddling a river and a canal, both difficult
to cross, and without any defensive positions to hold against an attack
in force. He supposed that the Austrians were stretched out in a
similar long line. This was not the case. Gyulai had all the advantages
of position, and might have concentrated his army and crushed the
advanced corps of the French if he had known his situation and his
business. As it was, between ignorance on the one hand and indecision
on the other, the battle was fought with about equal forces in the
field on either side.
The first contest took place at Buffalora, a village on the canal,
where the French encountered the Austrians in force. Here a bloody
struggle went on for hours, ending in the capture of the place by the
Grenadiers of the Guard, who held on to it afterwards with stubborn
courage.
THE BATTLE OF MAGENTA
General MacMahon, in command of the advance, had his orders to march
forward, whatever happened, to the church-tower of Magenta, and, in
strict obedience to orders, he pushed on, leaving the grenadiers to
hold their own as best they could at Bufflora, and heedless of the fact
that the reserve troops of the army had not yet begun to cross the
river. It was the 5th of June, and the day was well advanced when
MacMahon came in contact with the Austrians at Magenta, and the great
contest of the day began.
It was a battle in which the commanders on both sides, with the
exception of MacMahon, showed lack of military skill and the soldiers
on both sides the staunchest courage. The Austrians seemed devoid of
plan or system, and their several divisions were beaten in detail by
the French. On the other hand, General Camou, in command of the second
division of MacMahon’s corps, acted as Desaix had done at the battle of
Marengo, marched at the sound of the distant cannon. But, unlike
Desaix, he moved so deliberately that it took him six hours to make
less than five miles. He was a tactician of the old school, imbued with
the idea that every march should be made in perfect order.
At half-past four MacMahon, with his uniform in disorder and followed
by a few officers of his staff, dashed back to hurry up this deliberate
reserve. On the way thither he rode into a body of Austrian
sharpshooters. Fortune favored him. Not dreaming of the presence of the
French general, they saluted him as one of their own commanders. On his
way back he made a second narrow escape from capture by the Uhlans.
The drums now beat the charge, and a determined attack was made by the
French, the enemy’s main column being taken between two fires.
Desperately resisting, it was forced back step by step upon Magenta.
Into the town the columns rolled, and the fight became fierce around
the church. High in the tower of this edifice stood the Austrian
general and his staff, watching the fortunes of the fray; and from this
point he caught sight of the four regiments of Camou, advancing as
regularly as if on parade. They were not given the chance to fire a
shot or receive a scratch, eager as they were to take part in the
fight. At sight of them the Austrian general ordered a retreat and the
battle was at an end. The French owed their victory largely to General
Mellinet and his Grenadiers of the Guard, who held their own like
bull-dogs at Buffalora while Camou was advancing with the deliberation
of the old military rules.
MacMahon and Mellinet and the French had won the day. Victor Emmanuel
and the Sardinians did not reach the ground until after the battle was
at an end. For his services on that day of glory for France MacMahon
was made Marshal of France and Duke of Magenta.
POSSESSION OF LOMBARDY
The prize of the victory of Magenta was the possession of Lombardy.
Gyulai, unable to collect his scattered divisions, gave orders for a
general retreat. Milan was evacuated with precipitate haste, and the
garrisons were withdrawn from all the towns, leaving them to be
occupied by the French and Italians. On the 8th of June Napoleon and
Victor Emmanuel rode into Milan side by side, amid the loud
acclamations of the people, who looked upon this victory as an
assurance of Italian freedom and unity. Meanwhile the Austrians
retreated without interruption, not halting until they arrived at the
Mincio, where they were protected by the famous Quadrilateral,
consisting of the four powerful fortresses or Peschiera, Mantua,
Verona, and Leguano, the mainstay of the Austrian power in Italy.
The French and Italians slowly pursued the retreating Austrians, and on
the 23d of June bivouacked on both banks of the Chiese River, about
fifteen miles west of the Mincio. The Emperor Francis Joseph had
recalled the incapable Gyulai, and, in hopes of inspiring his soldiers
with new spirit, himself took command. The two emperors, neither of
them soldiers, were thus pitted against each other, and Francis Joseph,
eager to retrieve the disaster at Magenta, resolved to quit his strong
position of defense in the quadrilateral and assume the offensive.
FRENCH VICTORY AT SOLFERINO
At two o’colck in the morning of the 24th the allied French and Italian
army resumed its march, Napoleon’s orders for the day being based upon
the reports of his reconnoitering parties and spies. These led him to
believe that, although a strong detachment of the enemy might be
encountered west of the Mincio, the main body of the Austrians was
awaiting him on the eastern side of the river. But the French
intelligence department was badly served. The Austrians had stolen a
march upon Napoleon. Undetected by the French scouts, they had
recrossed the Mincio, and by nightfall of the 23rd their leading
columns were occupying the ground on which the French were ordered to
bivouac on the evening of the 24th. The intention of the Austrian
emperor, now commanding his army in person, had been to push forward
rapidly and fall upon the allies before they had completed the passage
of the river Chiese. But this scheme, like that of Napoleon, was based
on defective information. The allies broke up from their bivouacs many
hours before the Austrians expected them to do so, and when the two
armies came in contact early in the morning of the 24th of June the
Austrians were quite as much taken by surprise as the French.
The Austrian army, superior in numbers to its opponents, was posted in
a half-circle between the Mincio and Chiese, with the intention of
pressing forward from these points upon a center. But the line was
extended too far, and the center was comparatively weak and without
reserves. Napoleon, who that morning received complete intelligence of
the position of the Austrian army, accordingly directed his chief
strength against the enemy’s center, which rested upon a height near
the village of Solferino.
Here, on the 24th of June, after a murderous conflict, in which the
French commanders hurled continually renewed masses against the
decisive position, while on the other side the Austrian reinforcements
failed through lack of unity of plan and decision of action, the
heights were at length won by the French troops in spite of heroic
resistance on the part of the Austrian soldiers; the Austrian line of
battle being cut through, and the army thus divided into two separate
masses. A second attack which Napoleon promptly directed against
Cavriano had a similar result; for the commands given by the Austrian
generals were confused and had no general and definite aim.
The fate of the battle was already in a great measure decided, when a
tremendous storm broke forth that put an end to the combat at most
points, and gave the Austrians an opportunity to retire in order. Only
Benedek, who had twice beaten back the Sardinians at various points,
continued the struggle for some hours longer. On the French side
Marshal Niel had pre-eminently distinguished himself by acuteness and
bravery. It was a day of bloodshed, on which two great powers had
measured their strength against each other for twelve hours. The
Austrians had to lament the loss of 13,000 dead and wounded, and left
9,000 prisoners in the enemy’s hands; on the side of the French and
Sardinians the number of killed and wounded was even greater, for
repeated attacks had been made upon well-defended heights, but the
number of prisoners was not nearly so great.
TREATY OF PEACE
The victories in Italy filled the French people with the warmest
admiration for their emperor, they thinking, in their enthusiasm, that
a true successor of Napoleon the Great had come to bring glory to their
arms. Italy also was full of enthusiastic hope, fancying that the
freedom and unity of the Italians was at last assured. Both nations
were, therefore, bitterly disappointed in learning that the war was at
an end, and that a hasty peace had been arranged between the emperors
which left the hoped-for work but half achieved.
Napoleon estimated his position better than his people. Despite his
victories, his situation was one of danger and difficulty. The army had
suffered severely in its brief campaign, and the Austrians were still
in possession of the Quadrilateral, a square of powerful fortresses
which he might seek in vain to reduce. And a threat of serious trouble
had arisen in Germany. The victorious career of a new Napoleon in Italy
was alarming. It was not easy to forget the past. The German powers,
though they had declined to come to the aid of Austria, were armed and
ready, and at any moment might begin a hostile movement upon the Rhine.
Napoleon, wise enough to secure what he had won, without hazarding its
loss, arranged a meeting with the Austrian emperor, whom he found quite
as ready for peace. The terms of the truce arranged between them were
that Austria should abandon Lombardy to the line of the Mincio, almost
its eastern boundry, and that Italy should form a confederacy under the
presidency of the pope. In the treaty subsequently made only the first
of these conditions was maintained, Lombardy passing to the king of
Sardinia. Hw received also the small states of Central Italy, whose
tyrants had fled, and ceded to Napoleon, as a reward for his
assistance, the realm of Savoy and the city and territory of Nice.
INVASION OF MEXICO
Napoleon III had now reached the summit of his career. In succeeding
years the French were to learn that whatever his ability Napoleon III
was not a counterpart of the great Napoleon. He gradually lost the
prestige he had gained at Magenta and Solferino. His first serious
mistake was when he yielded to the voice of ambition, and, taking
advantage of the occupation of the Americans in their civil war, sent
an army to invade Mexico.
The ostensible purpose of this invasion was to collect a debt which the
Mexicans had refused to pay, and Great Britain and Spain were induced
to take part in the expedition. But their forces were withdrawn when
they found that Napoleon had other purposes in view, and his army was
left to fight its battles alone. After some sanguinary engagements, the
Mexican army was broken into a series of guerilla bands, incapable of
facing his well-drilled troops, and Napoleon proceeded to reorganize
Mexico into an empire, placing the Archduke Maximilian of Austria on
the throne.
All went well while the people of the United States were fighting for
their national union, but when their war was over the ambitious French
emperor was soon taught that he had committed a serious error. He was
given plainly to understand that the French troops could only be kept
in Mexico at the cost of a war with the United States, and he found it
convenient to withdraw them early in 1867. They had no sooner gone than
the Mexicans were in arms against Maximilian, whose rash acceptance of
the advice of the clerical party and determination to remain quickly
led to his capture and execution as a usurper. Thus ended in utter
failure the most daring effort to ignore the “Monroe Doctrine.”
END OF NAPOLEON’S CAREER
The inaction of Napoleon during the wars which Prussia fought with
Denmark and Austria gave further blows to his prestige in France, and
the opposition to his policy of personal government grew so strong that
he felt himself obliged to submit his policy to a vote of the people.
He was sustained by a large majority, and then loosened somewhat the
reins of personal government, in spite of the fact that the yielding of
increased liberty to the people would diminish his own control.
Finally, finding himself failing in health, confidence and reputation,
he yielded to advisers who convinced him that the only hope for his
dynasty lay in a successful war. As a result he undertook the war of
1870 against Prussia. The story of this war will be given in a
subsequent chapter. All that need be said here is that it proved the
utter incompetence of Napoleon III in military matters, he being
completely deceived in the condition of the French army and
unwarrantably ignorant of that of the Germans. The conditions were such
that victory for France was impossible, France losing its second empire
and Napoleon his throne. He died two years later, an exile in England,
that place of shelter for the royal refugees of France.