6. The Liberal Empire and the Fall of the Regime

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About this Lecture

Lecture

In this module, we think about the creation of the Liberal Empire and the fall of Napoleon III's regime in 1870, focusing in particular on the new powers offered to the Parliament (such as the ability to vote on the Budget), the liberalisation of the press, as well as some of the problems associated with the new style of government, before moving on to the outbreak of the Franco-Prussian wars in 1870 and the end of Napoleon III's regime.

Course

In this course, Dr Michael Rapport (University of Glasgow) explores the reign of Napoleon III, focusing in particular on his domestic policies. We begin by thinking about Louis-Napoleon's background and his preparation for power from his birth in 1808 to his time in prison in 1840-46. After that, we consider the period 1848-51, which saw Louis-Napoleon become first the President of France and then Emperor Napoleon III. In the third module, we think about the institutions of the Second Empire, before turning in the fourth module to Napoleon III's social and economic policies. In the fifth module, we think one of the longest-lasting of Napoleon's reforms – his transformation of the city of Paris itself – before moving on in the sixth and final module to consider the creation of Napoleon's so-called Liberal Empire in the 1860s and the end of the regime after the Franco-Prussian War in 1870.

Lecturer

Dr Michael Rapport is a Reader in Modern European History at the University of Glasgow. His research interests include, firstly, the French Revolution (both within France and in pursuit of its wider geographical impact), secondly, the French Revolutionary and Napoleonic Wars and, thirdly, the ‘domino’ revolutions, meaning such revolutionary waves as those of 1848 in Europe.

Michael was born in New York, but studied History at the University of Edinburgh, undertook his PhD thesis on the French Revolution at the University of Bristol (under the supervision of Professor William Doyle) and, after a short spell at the University of Sunderland, taught at the University of Stirling for seventeen years before joining the School of Humanities at Glasgow in February 2013.