Napoleon III (1808–1873)
Nephew of Napoleon Bonaparte, Napoleon III, Emperor of the French. Allying himself with Britain during the Crimean War, he secured the Treaty of Paris that brought peace 1856. However, finding himself isolated during the Franco-Prussian War, the emperor was captured and exiled to Britain.
Emperor of the French 1852–70, known as Louis-Napoleon. After two attempted coups (1836 and 1840) he was jailed, then went into exile, returning for the revolution of 1848, when he became president of the Second Republic but proclaimed himself emperor in 1852. In 1870 he was manoeuvred by the German chancellor Bismarck into war with Prussia (see Franco-Prussian war); he was forced to surrender at Sedan, northeastern France, and the empire collapsed.
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