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The First Failed Coup
Louis-Napoleon returned to France in October 1836 with an attempt to imitate Napoleon I's Hundred Days, in which Napoleon I escaped his Elba exile and briefly retook France from Louis XVIII. For Louis-Napoleon's effort, he initiated a Bonapartist coup at Strasbourg, calling on the local garrison to help him restore the Napoleonic Empire. -
Publication of the Booklet "Des Idées Napoléoniennes"
Louis-Napoleon tried to transform Bonapartism, to this point essentially an object of reminiscence or romantic legend, into a political ideology. In his booklet, the Napoleonic ideal was put forth as a "social and industrial one, humanitarian and encouraging trade" that would "reconcile order and freedom, the rights of the people and the principles of authority." Louis-Napoleon saw it as his mission to return France to its earlier, Napoleonic, state with his ideals as its new backbone. -
The Second Failed Coup
Louis-Napoleon again (secretly) returned to France in August 1840, sailing with 50 hired soldiers to Boulogne-Sur-Mer, and attempted yet another coup. The town's garrison, yet again, did not join Louis-Napoleon's efforts, and he was arrested. This time, however, Louis-Napoleon was not exiled, but was brought to trial and sentenced to "permanent confinement in a fortress." Confined in the town of Ham (in a castle), he again embarked on studying to prepare himself for his eventual imperial role. -
Louis-Napoleon Escapes Ham
In May 1846, Louis-Napoleon finally escaped and fled to England, where he waited for another chance to seize power. Just two months later, in July 1846, his father died, officially making Louis-Napoleon the clear heir to the Bonaparte legacy in France. -
Louis-Napoleon Returns to France
In February 1848, Louis Napoleon learned that a revolution had broken out in Paris, and that Louis-Philippe, faced with opposition within his government and army, had abdicated. He was then free to return to France, which he did immediately, but was sent right back to England by the provisional government because he was seen by many as a distraction to the settlement of a new government. -
Louis-Napoleon gets Nominated
Some of Louis-Napoleon's supporters, however, organized a small Bonapartist party and nominated him as their candidate for the Constituent Assembly, which was being brought together to draft a new constitution. -
Elected to the Constituent Assembly
Louis-Napoleon won a seat and, in mid-1848, yet again returned to France, where he quickly began hatching a plan to run for the presidency. Because the Bonaparte name carried obvious weight in France, Louis-Napoleon captivated the voters as he evoked Napoleonic memories of national glory, promising to bring back those days with his administration. -
Louis Napoleon is Elected President
Louis Napoleon won the 1848 Presidential Election with three times as many votes as the four other canidates. This was due in part to his relation to his uncle, the infamous Napoleon Bonaparte. As well as his tough ruling style, which the middle-class looked for in a leader. Finally, his political stance, which had been distributed out to the masses some time before the election via pamphlets, making his position known to the general public long before the rest of the candidates. -
Planning for the Coup Begins
Planning took place at Saint-Cloud. Other influencial conspirators included Persigny, the Duke of Morny and General Jacques Leroy de Saint Arnaud. -
The Restoration of Universal Male Suffrage Denied
Louis Napoleon's request for reinstating universal male suffrage is denied by the National Assembly. -
Louis Napoleon Stages a Coup d'etat
After the National Assembly failed to change the French constitution to allow Louis Napoleon to run for another four year term, Louis illegally dimissed the Assembly and seized power. -
The National Assembly Refuses Louis Napoleon's Constitutional Reforms
The National Assembly refuses to change the French Constitution to allow Louis Napoleon to run for a second term as president.
