拿破仑三世(1808～1873年)

Napoleon III，亦称路易－拿破仑（Louis-Napoléon）。，原名Charles-Louis-Napoléan Bonaparte。

法国皇帝（1852～1870）。他是拿破仑的侄子，年轻时流亡在瑞士和德国（1815～1830）。1832年拿破仑的儿子拿破仑二世死後，他认为有权继承皇位。政变流产後，他被国王路易－腓力放逐到美国。1840年再次企图发动政变，他被捕、受审并入狱。1846年逃往英国，1848年回到巴黎，被选入议会。他利用关於拿破仑神话般的传说赢得选票，当选第二共和国的总统。试图扩展他的权力，1851年又上演了一场政变，使他成为独裁者。1852年他成为第二帝国的皇帝拿破仑三世。寻求重建法国的势力，他将法国带入克里米亚战争，并参与巴黎会议（1856）的条约谈判。1859年他与西西里一起反对奥地利，在索尔费里诺战役中取得了胜利。他帮助义大利实现统一，1860年兼并了萨伏依和尼斯。他在法国国内倡导自由化的政策，在他统治的大部分时间里，法国因此而繁荣昌盛。1860年代，他逐渐引入政治自由。他期望得到他的「拉丁帝国」的物质奖励，拥立马克西米连为墨西哥的皇帝（1864～1867），但未能如愿。在1866年的奥－普战争中，他让法国保持中立，但1870年俾斯麦却让法国卷入了灾难性的普法战争。拿破仑三世带领的军队在色当战役中失败，他被迫投降，然後被废黜。

English version：

1808～1873年

Napoleon III

Emperor of France (1852-70). The nephew of Napoleon, he spent his youth in exile in Switzerland and Germany (1815-30). With the death in 1832 of Napoleon's son, Napoleon II, he became the claimant to the French throne. After an abortive coup d'état, he was exiled by King Louis-Philippe to the U.S. After another attempted coup (1840), he was arrested, tried, and imprisoned. He escaped to England in 1846 and returned to Paris in 1848, where he was elected to the national assembly. He evoked the legend of Napoleon to win the popular vote as president of the Second Republic. Attempting to expand his power, he staged a coup in 1851 and made himself dictator; in 1852, as Napoleon III, he became emperor of the Second Empire. Seeking to reestablish French power, he led France into the Crimean War and helped negotiate the treaty at the Congress of Paris (1856). He sided with Sicily against Austria (1859) and was victorious at the Battle of Solferino. He aided Italy in achieving unity and annexed Savoy and Nice (1860). He promoted liberalized policies within France, which enjoyed prosperity during much of his reign. In the 1860s he gradually introduced political liberalization. He expected material rewards from his “Latin empire” by installing Maximilian as emperor of Mexico (1864-67), but was disappointed. He kept France neutral in the Austro-Prussian War (1866), but in 1870 Otto von Bismarck contrived to involve France in the disastrous Franco-Prussian War. After leading his troops to defeat in the Battle of Sedan, he surrendered and was deposed as emperor.