French coup of 1851
Encyclopedia
Coup d'état
A coup d'état state, literally: strike/blow of state)—also known as a coup, putsch, and overthrow—is the sudden, extrajudicial deposition of a government, usually by a small group of the existing state establishment—typically the military—to replace the deposed government with another body; either...
on 2 December 1851, staged by Prince Louis-Napoléon Bonaparte
Napoleon III of France
Louis-Napoléon Bonaparte was the President of the French Second Republic and as Napoleon III, the ruler of the Second French Empire. He was the nephew and heir of Napoleon I, christened as Charles Louis Napoléon Bonaparte...
(at the time President of the French Second Republic
French Second Republic
The French Second Republic was the republican government of France between the 1848 Revolution and the coup by Louis-Napoléon Bonaparte which initiated the Second Empire. It officially adopted the motto Liberté, Égalité, Fraternité...
), ended in the successful dissolution of the French National Assembly
French National Assembly
The French National Assembly is the lower house of the bicameral Parliament of France under the Fifth Republic. The upper house is the Senate ....
, as well as the subsequent re-establishment of the French Empire
Second French Empire
The Second French Empire or French Empire was the Imperial Bonapartist regime of Napoleon III from 1852 to 1870, between the Second Republic and the Third Republic, in France.-Rule of Napoleon III:...
the next year. Louis-Napoléon, nephew of Napoléon Bonaparte, reclaimed his uncle's throne as Emperor of the French (taking the regnal name
Regnal name
A regnal name, or reign name, is a formal name used by some monarchs and popes during their reigns. Since medieval times, monarchs have frequently chosen to use a name different from their own personal name when they inherit a throne....
Napoléon III) and reestablished universal suffrage
Universal suffrage
Universal suffrage consists of the extension of the right to vote to adult citizens as a whole, though it may also mean extending said right to minors and non-citizens...
(previously abolished by the Assembly). His decisions and the extension of his mandate for 10 years were popularly endorsed by referendum
Referendum
A referendum is a direct vote in which an entire electorate is asked to either accept or reject a particular proposal. This may result in the adoption of a new constitution, a constitutional amendment, a law, the recall of an elected official or simply a specific government policy. It is a form of...
.
Causes
In 1848, Louis-Napoleon Bonaparte was elected President of France through universal suffrage, taking 74% of the vote. He did this with the support of the Parti de l'OrdreParti de l'Ordre
The Parti de l'Ordre was a French Orleanist and Legitimist conservative political party that existed during the Second Republic....
after running against Louis Eugène Cavaignac
Louis Eugène Cavaignac
Louis-Eugène-John-Jacob-Cavaignac , French general, second son of Jean-Baptiste Cavaignac and brother of Éléonore Louis Godefroi Cavaignac, was born at Paris.- Military career :...
. Subsequently, he was in constant conflict with the members (députés) of the Assemblée Nationale.
Contrary to the Party's expectations that Louis-Napoleon would be easy to manipulate (Adolphe Thiers
Adolphe Thiers
Marie Joseph Louis Adolphe Thiers was a French politician and historian. was a prime minister under King Louis-Philippe of France. Following the overthrow of the Second Empire he again came to prominence as the French leader who suppressed the revolutionary Paris Commune of 1871...
had called him a "cretin whom we will lead [by the nose]"), he proved himself an agile and cunning politician. He succeeded in imposing his choices and decisions on the Assemblée, which had once again become conservative in the aftermath of the June Days Uprising
June Days Uprising
The June Days Uprising was a revolution staged by the citizens of France, whose only source of income was the National Workshops, from 23 June to 26 June 1848. The Workshops were created by the Second Republic in order to provide work and a source of income for the unemployed, however only...
in 1848. He broke away from the control of the Parti de l'Ordre and created the Ministère des Commis, appointing General Hautpoul
Jean-Joseph Ange d'Hautpoul
Jean-Joseph Ange d'Hautpoul was a French cavalry general of the Napoleonic wars. He came from an old noble family of France whose military tradition extended for several centuries....
as its head, in 1849. On 3 January 1850, he dismissed Changarnier
Nicolas Anne Théodule Changarnier
Nicolas Anne Theodule Changarnier , French general, was born at Autun, Saône-et-Loire.Educated at St Cyr, he served for a short time in the bodyguard of Louis XVIII, and entered the line as a lieutenant in January 1815. He achieved distinction in the Spanish campaign of 1823, and became captain in...
, a dissident in the Parti de l'Ordre, thereby provoking an open conflict within the party. He also actively encouraged the creation of numerous anti-parliament newspapers and acquired the support of 150 members of Parliament, the "Parti de l'Elysée".
The provisions of the constitutions that prohibited an incumbent president from seeking re-election appeared to force the end of Louis-Napoleon's rule in December 1852. Not one to admit defeat, Louis-Napoleon spent the first half of 1851 trying to force changes to the constitution through Parliament so he could be re-elected. Bonaparte travelled through the provinces and organised petitions to rally popular support. Two-thirds of General Council supported Louis-Napoleon's cause, but in the Assembly, supporters of the Duke of Orléans, led by Thiers, concluded an alliance with the far left to oppose Louis-Napoleon's plans. In January 1851, the Parliament voted no confidence in the Ministère des Commis. On 19 July, it refused the constitutional reform proposed by Louis-Napoleon, also scrapping universal suffrage in an effort to break popular support for Bonaparte.
Preparations for the coup
The coup d'état was meticulously planned from 20 August 1851. Preparations and planning for this coup took place at Saint Cloud. Among the conspirators were Persigny, a loyal companion of Louis-Napoleon, the Duke of Morny, and General Saint-Arnaud. On 14 October, Louis-Napoleon asked the Parliament to restore universal suffrage but the request was turned down. His request for a reconsideration of the constitutional reform proposal was also turned down on 13 November. Prepared to strike, Louis-Napoleon appointed General Saint-Arnaud as the Minister of War and a circular was issued reminding soldiers of their pledge of "passive obedience". Followers of the President were appointed to various important positions: General Magnan as the Commander of the Troops of Paris, and Maupas, Prefect of Haut-Garonne as Prefect of Police of ParisParis
Paris is the capital and largest city in France, situated on the river Seine, in northern France, at the heart of the Île-de-France region...
. Convinced that the coup was now inevitable after the latest refusal, Louis-Napoleon fixed the anniversary of the coronation of Napoleon in 1804, and the victory of Austerlitz
Battle of Austerlitz
The Battle of Austerlitz, also known as the Battle of the Three Emperors, was one of Napoleon's greatest victories, where the French Empire effectively crushed the Third Coalition...
in 1805, as the day for the coup. The operation was christened Rubicon
Rubicon
The Rubicon is a shallow river in northeastern Italy, about 80 kilometres long, running from the Apennine Mountains to the Adriatic Sea through the southern Emilia-Romagna region, between the towns of Rimini and Cesena. The Latin word rubico comes from the adjective "rubeus", meaning "red"...
, alluding to Julius Caesar
Julius Caesar
Gaius Julius Caesar was a Roman general and statesman and a distinguished writer of Latin prose. He played a critical role in the gradual transformation of the Roman Republic into the Roman Empire....
.
The coup of 2 December 1851
On the morning of 2 December, troops led by Saint-ArnaudJacques Leroy de Saint Arnaud
Armand-Jacques Leroy de Saint-Arnaud was a French soldier and Marshal of France during the 19th century...
occupied strategic points in Paris, from the Champs-Élysées
Champs-Élysées
The Avenue des Champs-Élysées is a prestigious avenue in Paris, France. With its cinemas, cafés, luxury specialty shops and clipped horse-chestnut trees, the Avenue des Champs-Élysées is one of the most famous streets and one of the most expensive strip of real estate in the world. The name is...
to the Tuileries. Top opposition leaders were arrested and six edicts promulgated to establish the rule of Louis-Napoleon. The Assemblée Nationale was dissolved, and universal suffrage restored. Louis-Napoleon declared that a new constitution was being framed and said he intended to restore a "system established by the First Consul".
Reacting to this coup, parliamentarians took refuge in the mayor's office of the 20th arrondissement of Paris and 220 of them voted to oust Louis-Napoleon from power. Most prominent among these were liberals like Remusat and moderates like Pascal Duprat, who were arrested soon after. A Parisian insurrection led by the likes of Victor Hugo
Victor Hugo
Victor-Marie Hugo was a Frenchpoet, playwright, novelist, essayist, visual artist, statesman, human rights activist and exponent of the Romantic movement in France....
and Victor Schoelcher erupted despite tight control by the Army. The insurgents were soon defeated. On 3 December, parliamentarian Alphonse Baudin was killed and on 4 December, 200 more people fell victim to the revolution. By evening, the revolt of Paris was suppressed and the city returned to normal.
Revolt in other places
The coup triggered off revolts in other places across France. On 5 December, rebellions were reported in big cities in the south-west of France. The department of Basses-Alpes even declared itself administered by a "Committee of Resistance" but the army, still loyal to the President, succeeded in quelling the rebellion. A total of 32 departments were put under a state of alert from 8 December and the rebellious areas were controlled in a few days. Opponents were arrested and some were forced to flee. Victor Hugo fled to Brussels, then Jersey, and finally settled with his family on the Channel Island of Guernsey at Hauteville House, where he would live in exile until 1870. By the end of the rebellion, 26,000 people were arrested, 9,530 were sent to Algeria and 250 to the prison of CayenneCayenne
Cayenne is the capital of French Guiana, an overseas region and department of France located in South America. The city stands on a former island at the mouth of the Cayenne River on the Atlantic coast. The city's motto is "Ferit Aurum Industria" which means "Work brings wealth"...
.
Peace returns
The Bonapartists were finally assured of a victory. Generals VaillantJean-Baptiste Philibert Vaillant
Jean-Baptiste Philibert Vaillant, 1st Comte Vaillant , born in Dijon, was a Marshal of France.Vaillant entered the French army in 1809 in the corps of engineers. He served in the Russian campaign of 1812 and the next year became a prisoner of war after the Battle of Kulm. During the Hundred Days...
and Harispe
Jean Isidore Harispe
Jean Isidore Harispe, 1st Comte Harispe was a distinguished French soldier of the Revolutionary and Napoleonic Wars, as well as a of the following period. Harispe was created a Marshal of France in 1851.-Early life:...
became Marshal of France
Marshal of France
The Marshal of France is a military distinction in contemporary France, not a military rank. It is granted to generals for exceptional achievements...
on 11 December. A new constitution was being drafted. A referendum was organised to ratify the new order and the coup was portrayed as a security operation.
On 20 and 21 December, the French voted for the acceptance of the new regime by an overwhelming majority of 7,145,000 to 600,000. Louis-Napoléon now had the power to draft a new constitution.
Consequences
The Constitution of FranceConstitution of France
The current Constitution of France was adopted on 4 October 1958. It is typically called the Constitution of the Fifth Republic, and replaced that of the Fourth Republic dating from 1946. Charles de Gaulle was the main driving force in introducing the new constitution and inaugurating the Fifth...
underwent a modification. The new constitution bestowed executive power on a President, elected for a period of 10 years. He was also vested with the power of legislative initiative, thereby reducing the scope of the Parliament. This succeeded in concentrating power in the hands of an authoritarian executive.
In less than a year, the Second Republic
French Second Republic
The French Second Republic was the republican government of France between the 1848 Revolution and the coup by Louis-Napoléon Bonaparte which initiated the Second Empire. It officially adopted the motto Liberté, Égalité, Fraternité...
transformed into the Second Empire
Second French Empire
The Second French Empire or French Empire was the Imperial Bonapartist regime of Napoleon III from 1852 to 1870, between the Second Republic and the Third Republic, in France.-Rule of Napoleon III:...
, established by a referendum
Referendum
A referendum is a direct vote in which an entire electorate is asked to either accept or reject a particular proposal. This may result in the adoption of a new constitution, a constitutional amendment, a law, the recall of an elected official or simply a specific government policy. It is a form of...
on 7 November 1852. President Louis-Napoleon Bonaparte, elected by the French people, officially became Napoleon III, Emperor of the French, from the symbolic and historic date of 2 December 1852.
External links
- Coup d'État du 2 décembre 1851 sur Herodote.net
- Autour de Décembre 1851, Revue d'histoire du XIXe siècle (n° 22)
- L'année 1851 sur www.19e.org
- La résistance au coup d'état du 2 décembre 1851 dans les départements et à Paris
- Wikisource:Coup d'État du 2 décembre 1851 for complete texts (6 Décrets, « Appel au peuple », et « Appel à l'Armée »)