France: Second Empire (1852-1870)

Last modified: 2021-07-03 by ivan sache
Keywords: second empire |
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Flag of the French Empire - Image by Željko Heimer, 23 September 2001

• Historical outline
• National flag
• Naval flags

See also:

• France
• France: Historical flags
• France: Historical chronology since 1792
• France: The bees as Imperial symbol

Historical outline

On 2 December 1851, the President of the French Republic, Prince Louis-Napoléon Bonaparte, dissolved the National Assembly and established a centralized and authoritarian regime.
On 2 December 1852, the Prince was proclaimed Emperor of the French as Napoléon III.
In July 1870, France declared war to Prussia. Captured during the battle of Sedan (2 September 1970), the Emperor was dethroned on 4 September. On 19 March 1871, the dethroned Emperor left Germany for England, where he died in 1873.

Ivan Sache, 16 December 2001

National flag

The national flag used during the Second Empire was the blue-white-red Tricolore flag.

Ivan Sache, 16 December 2001