The Second Republic

On the 2nd of December 1851, on the anniversary of Napoleon Bonaparte's victory at the Battle of Austerlitz, Louis Napoleon's supporters launched a coup. Soldiers occupied strategic parts of Paris and arrested anti-bonapartists. This was a disastrous move as it meant that when Louis Napoleon attempted to seize power, he could claim that he was acting as a liberator fighting for the rights of the politically oppressed. On the 7th of November 1852, Louis Napoleon held another referendum asking the French people if they wanted the Second Republic dissolved in favor of an empire with himself as its head. The vote came back with almost 97% supporting the measure, at which point