Napoleon III Dies in Exile: Second Empire Ends
He was captured at Sedan in 1870 and never governed France again. Napoleon III — Louis-Napoleon Bonaparte, nephew of Napoleon I — had been president of France, then emperor, modernizing Paris and expanding French influence for eighteen years. He died in exile in Chislehurst, Kent, in 1873. Before his capture, his government had commissioned Georges-Eugene Haussmann to rebuild Paris — the wide boulevards, the grand facades, the sewers. That Paris is still there. Napoleon III is almost forgotten.
January 9, 1873
153 years ago
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