Emperor of the French 185270, 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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