Editing Napoleon III (section)

===Alliance with Britain and the Crimean War (1853–1856)===
{{Main|Crimean War}}
[[File:Edouard Boutibonne (1816-97) - Napoléon III (1808-73), Emperor of the French - RCIN 406011 - Royal Collection.jpg|thumb|Portrait of Napoleon III in military uniform in 1855, during the Crimean War]]
[[Henry John Temple, 3rd Viscount Palmerston|Lord Palmerston]] as Britain's [[Foreign Secretary (United Kingdom)|Foreign Secretary]] and later [[Prime Minister of the United Kingdom|Prime Minister]] had close personal ties with leading French statesmen, notably Napoleon III himself. Palmerston's goal was to arrange peaceful relations with France in order to free Britain's diplomatic hand elsewhere in the world.<ref>David Brown, "Palmerston and Anglo–French Relations, 1846–1865," ''Diplomacy & Statecraft'' (2006) '''17''' (4): 675–692.</ref> Napoleon at first had a pro-British foreign policy and was eager not to displease the British government, whose friendship he saw as important to France. After a brief threat of an invasion of Britain in 1851, France and Britain cooperated in the 1850s with an alliance in the Crimean War and a [[Cobden–Chevalier Treaty|major trade treaty]] in 1860.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Parry |first=Jonathan Philip |title=Transactions of the Royal Historical Society |date=2003 |publisher=Cambridge University Press |isbn=978-0-5218-1560-4 |volume=11 |series=6th Series |pages=147–175 |chapter=The impact of Napoleon III on British politics, 1851–1880 |chapter-url=https://books.google.com/books?id=LkwBzKThC9EC&pg=PA157}}</ref>

War scares were consistently worked up by the press nonetheless. [[John Thadeus Delane|John Delane]], editor of ''[[The Times]]'', visited France in January 1853 and was impressed by its military preparedness. He expressed his conviction that "Louis-Napoleon was resolved on a forward foreign policy".<ref>{{Cite web |last=Hicks |first=Peter |date=2016 |title='Palmerston's Follies': a reply to the French 'threat' |url=https://www.napoleon.org/en/history-of-the-two-empires/articles/palmerstons-follies-a-reply-to-the-french-threat |access-date=29 August 2019 |website=Napoleon.org – The History Website of the Fondation Napoleon}}</ref> Napoleon III was actually determined to increase the country's naval power. The first purpose-built steam-powered battleship (worryingly christened after [[French battleship Napoléon|Napoleon I]]) was launched in 1850, and the fortification of [[Cherbourg-en-Cotentin|Cherbourg]] was strengthened. This led to the extension of the breakwater of [[Alderney]] and the construction of [[Fort Clonque]].<ref>{{Cite web |date=2018 |title=Fort Clonque Alderney, Channel Islands |url=https://www.landmarktrust.org.uk/search-and-book/properties/fort-clonque-7423/#History |access-date=29 August 2019 |website=The Landmark Trust}}</ref>

From the start of his Empire, Napoleon III sought an alliance with Britain. He had lived there while in exile and saw Britain as a natural partner in the projects he wished to accomplish. An opportunity soon presented itself: In early 1853, Tsar [[Nicholas I of Russia]] put pressure on the weak [[Ottoman Empire|Ottoman]] government, demanding that they give Russia a protectorate over the Christian people of the [[Balkans]] as well as control over [[Constantinople]] and the [[Dardanelles]]. The Ottoman Empire, backed by Britain and France, refused Russia's demands, and a joint British-French fleet was sent to support the Ottoman Empire. When Russia refused to leave the [[Danubian Principalities]] it had occupied, Britain and France declared war on 27 March 1854.{{Sfn|Milza|2006|pp=382–386}}

It took France and Britain six months to organize a full-scale military expedition to the [[Black Sea]]. The Anglo-French fleet landed thirty thousand French and twenty thousand British soldiers in the [[Crimea]] on 14 September and began to [[Siege of Sevastopol (1854–55)|lay siege]] to the major Russian port of [[Sevastopol]]. As the siege dragged on, the French and British armies were reinforced and [[Sardinian expeditionary corps in the Crimean War|troops from the Kingdom of Sardinia]] joined them, reaching a total of 140,000 soldiers, but they suffered terribly from epidemics of [[typhus]], [[dysentery]], and [[cholera]]. During the 332 days of the siege, the French lost 95,000 soldiers, including 75,000 due to disease. The suffering of the army in the Crimea was carefully concealed from the French public by press censorship.{{Sfn|Milza|2006|pp=388–389}}

The death of Tsar Nicholas I on 2 March 1855 and his replacement by [[Alexander II of Russia|Alexander II]] changed the political equation. In September, after a massive bombardment, the Anglo-French army of fifty thousand men stormed the Russian positions, and the Russians were forced to evacuate Sevastopol. Alexander II sought a political solution, and negotiations were held in Paris in the new building of the French [[Ministry for Europe and Foreign Affairs (France)|Foreign Ministry]] on the [[Quai d'Orsay]], from 25 February to 8 April 1856.{{Sfn|Milza|2006|pp=382–386}}

The Crimean War added three new place names to Paris: [[Pont de l'Alma|Alma]], named for the first French victory on the river of that name; [[Boulevard de Sébastopol|Sevastopol]]; and [[Malakoff, Hauts-de-Seine|Malakoff]], named for a tower in the center of the Russian line [[Battle of Malakoff|captured by the French]]. The war had two important diplomatic consequences: Alexander II became an ally of France, and Britain and France were reconciled. In April 1855, Napoleon III and Eugénie went to England and were received by the Queen; in turn, Victoria and Prince [[Albert, Prince Consort|Albert]] visited Paris. Victoria was the first British monarch to do so in centuries.{{Sfn|Milza|2006|pp=392–395}}

The defeat of Russia and the alliance with Britain gave France increased authority and prestige in Europe. This was the first war between European powers since the close of the Napoleonic Wars and the [[Congress of Vienna]], marking a breakdown of the alliance system that had maintained peace for nearly half a century. The war also effectively ended the [[Concert of Europe]] and the [[Quadruple Alliance (1815)|Quadruple Alliance]], or "Waterloo Coalition", that the other four powers (Russia, Prussia, Austria, and Great Britain) had established. The [[Congress of Paris (1856)|Paris Peace Conference of 1856]] represented a high-water mark for Napoleon's regime in foreign affairs.<ref>{{Harvnb|Markham|1975|p=199}}</ref> It encouraged Napoleon III to make an even bolder foreign policy venture in Italy.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Taylor |first=Alan J. P. |url=https://archive.org/details/struggleformaste00ajpt/page/412 |title=The Struggle for Mastery of Europe |date=1954 |publisher=Oxford University |isbn=978-0-1988-1270-8 |location=Oxford |page=[https://archive.org/details/struggleformaste00ajpt/page/412 412]}}</ref>