Napoleon III

Born Charles-Louis-Napoleon Bonaparte in Paris. Nephew of Napoleon Bonaparte. His mother was Hortense de Beauharnais, Napoleon's stepdaughter. He grew up in exile after Waterloo, drifting between Switzerland, Italy, and England.

Attempts a coup in Strasbourg, hoping the garrison will rally to the Bonaparte name. It doesn't. He's arrested, then exiled to America. He tries again in Boulogne in 1840. Arrested again. This time he gets six years in a fortress. He escapes dressed as a laborer named 'Badinguet.'

Elected President of France by a landslide. He wins 74% of the vote. The Bonaparte name does the work. He's the first French president elected by universal male suffrage. He immediately starts dismantling the republic that elected him.

Stages a coup. Dissolves the National Assembly. Arrests opposition leaders at dawn. Within a year he declares himself Emperor Napoleon III. Victor Hugo goes into exile and writes a pamphlet calling him 'Napoleon the Little.'

Hires Baron Haussmann to demolish medieval Paris and rebuild it with wide boulevards, parks, and sewers. The wide streets also make it harder to build barricades. Over 20,000 buildings are torn down. The Paris tourists visit today is his creation.

Surrenders to Prussia at the Battle of Sedan. He's captured with 100,000 French troops. The empire collapses in two days. He'd started a war he couldn't win because Bismarck goaded him into it with a doctored telegram.

Dies in exile in Chislehurst, England, at 64. Kidney stones. He'd been planning a return to France. His only son will be killed fighting Zulus in South Africa six years later. The Bonaparte line ends there.