Was Napoleon III the world's first populist leader?
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What makes Napoleon III’s family background a “mafioso soap opera” and how did it shape his early life?
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Napoleon III's family was, in the words of historian Edward Shawcross, the most cutthroat mafioso soap opera in the world. Exiled to Switzerland as a boy and disowned by his own father, he spent years as a laughingstock of French politics, twice arrested trying to seize power. Here, in conversation with Danny Bird for this episode of the History Extra podcast, Edward traces Louis-Napoleon's strange path from mocked pretender in exile to Emperor of the French.
Edward, welcome to the podcast. Thank you so much for having me. We're talking today about Napoleon III, a figure who was born into one of the most extraordinary families in European history, but also into a France that seemed incapable of political stability. And before we meet Napoleon, the emperor, could you tell me what sort of country he was born into and how much did growing up in the shadow of his formidable uncle and namesake, the Napoleon Bonaparte, shape his ambitions?
Well, it's absolutely political stability is the question that defines 19th century France. After the revolution, he's born into, as you say, the most cutthroat mafioso soap opera in the world at the time, the Bonapartes. And he is the nephew of the more famous Napoleon, who everyone would have heard of, who, of course, became dictator of France in 1799 and then emperor in 1804. Napoleon Bonaparte had a problem. He wanted to found a dynasty, but his wife, Josephine, couldn't have children. So luckily for him, Josephine had already had two children by a first marriage, and Napoleon Bonaparte delighted on the innovative solution of marrying his younger brother, Louis Bonaparte, to his stepdaughter, Hortense de Beauharnais, thereby promoting her to sister-in-law in a slightly bizarre family relationship, but this is the Bonapartes.
And they have three children. The first dies quite young, age five, but the last two, they grow up into adulthood. And the youngest there is little Louis Napoleon, who will become Napoleon III. And as you say, it's his uncle's empire that he's completely obsessed with. He's an imperial prince within it. He's, you know, the next generation of Bonapartes, he's high up in the order of succession. But of course, in 1815, for the second time, his uncle's empire is no more. And he grows up in exile with his mother in Switzerland. And that is incredibly formative of for his education and his political views and what he wants to do should he ever come to power.
So this is a period of enormous political volatility and as you mentioned he was in exile with his mother. It does beg the question, did he actually have any relationship with his famous uncle?
Right, yeah, I mean, a largely imaginary one. So in the first few years, so he's eight years old, or rather seven years old, I think it is, in 1815, where Waterloo finally puts a nail in Napoleon's coffin in terms of his political career. And so he'd been really at the centre of the empire, he'd been at the part of the pageantry, the pomp and the circumstances. But as a seven-year-old, his memories of his uncle are... are not that vivid. And in fact, when his uncle dies in 1821, he's devastated because he's brought up to worship his uncle. His mother, Hortense, also worshipped his uncle. But he says that, you know, I only wish that I had got to know him because the memories I have are very faint. So he can't remember what Napoleon Bonaparte was actually like, which is probably just as well because he developed his own fairly unique interpretation of Napoleon Bonaparte that's going to become essential to his political philosophy.
And we will, of
course, come on to that a little bit later in this episode. But before we do, could you tell me a bit about his relationship with his mother? And I'm guessing the family's fortunes were on the backslide after the downfall of Napoleon Bonaparte as well.
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Chapters
7 chapters
1
What makes Napoleon III’s family background a “mafioso soap opera” and how did it shape his early life?
0:00–6:25
2
How did exile in Switzerland and his relationship with his mother Hortense influence Louis‑Napoleon’s political ambitions?
6:25–13:23
3
Why was 19th‑century France described as politically unstable and how did that environment affect Napoleon III’s rise?
13:23–20:15
4
What were the key steps that turned the mocked pretender Louis‑Napoleon into the President of the Second Republic?
20:15–27:05
5
How did Napoleon III reinterpret Bonapartism as a populist, people‑centred ideology?
27:05–33:04
6
What foreign‑policy adventures (Italy, Mexico, etc.) revealed the limits of Napoleon III’s imperial ambitions?
33:04–45:42
7
How did the Franco‑Prussian War unfold and why did it lead to Napoleon III’s capture and the fall of the Second Empire?
45:42–51:56