Editing Napoleon III (section)

==Later years==
===Declining health and rise of Prussia===
<!-- [[File:Napoleon III from carte de visite PXA 362.jpg|thumb|Napoleon III, ca. 1869, carte de visite albumen print]] -->
[[File:Napoleon III in uniform.jpg|thumb|Napoleon III {{Circa|1870-1873}}, visibly weakened by his rapidly declining health.]]
Through the 1860s, the health of the Emperor steadily worsened. It had been damaged by his six years in prison at Ham; he had chronic pains in his legs and feet, particularly when it was cold, and as a result, he always lived and worked in overheated rooms and offices. He smoked heavily, distrusted doctors and their advice and attributed any problems simply to "rheumatism", for which he regularly visited the hot springs at [[Vichy]] and other spas.<ref>{{Cite web |last=Beale |first=Lauren |title=Test The Waters At A 19th Century Chateau In The Spa Town Of Vichy, France |url=https://www.forbes.com/sites/forbes-global-properties/2021/09/10/test-the-waters-at-a-19th-century-chateau-in-the-spa-town-of-vichy-france |access-date=10 October 2023 |website=Forbes |language=en}}</ref> It became difficult for him to ride a horse, and he was obliged to walk slowly, often with a cane. From 1869 onwards, the crises of his urinary tract were treated with [[opium]], which made him seem lethargic and apathetic. His writing became hard to read and his voice weak. In the spring of 1870, he was visited by an old friend from England, [[James Harris, 3rd Earl of Malmesbury|Lord Malmesbury]]. Malmesbury found him to be "terribly changed and very ill".{{Sfn|Girard|1986|p=449}}

The health problems of the Emperor were kept secret by the government, which feared that, if his condition became public, the opposition would demand his abdication. One newspaper, the ''Courrier de la Vienne'', was warned by the censors to stop publishing articles which had "a clear and malicious intent to spread, contrary to the truth, alarms about the health of the Emperor".{{Sfn|Séguin|1990|p=338}}

At the end of June 1870, a specialist in the problems of urinary tracts, [[Germain Sée]], was finally summoned to examine him. Sée reported that the Emperor was suffering from a [[gallstone]]. On 2 July, four eminent French doctors, [[Auguste Nélaton]], [[Philippe Ricord]], Fauvel and Corvisart, examined him and confirmed the diagnosis. They were reluctant to operate, however, because of the high risk (gallstone operations did not become relatively safe until the 1880s)<ref>{{Cite web |title=History of Medicine: The Galling Gallbladder {{!}} Columbia Surgery |url=https://columbiasurgery.org/news/2015/06/11/history-medicine-galling-gallbladder |access-date=10 October 2023 |website=columbiasurgery.org}}</ref> and because of the Emperor's weakness. Before anything further could be done, however, France was in the middle of a diplomatic crisis.{{Sfn|Girard|1986|p=450}}

In the 1860s, [[Prussia]] appeared on the horizon as a new rival to French power in Europe. Its Minister President, [[Otto von Bismarck]], had ambitions for Prussia to lead a [[German unification|unified Germany]]. In May 1862, Bismarck came to Paris on a diplomatic mission and met Napoleon III for the first time. They had cordial relations. On 30 September 1862, however, in [[Munich]], Bismarck declared, in a famous speech: "It is not by speeches and votes of the majority that the great questions of our period will be settled, as one believed in 1848, but by [[Blood and Iron (speech)|iron and blood]]." Bismarck saw Austria and France as the main obstacles to his ambitions, and he set out to divide and defeat them.

===Search for allies, and war between Austria and Prussia===

In the winter and spring of 1864, when the [[German Confederation]] [[Second Schleswig War|invaded and occupied]] the German-speaking duchies ruled by [[Denmark]] ([[Duchy of Schleswig|Schleswig]] and [[Duchy of Holstein|Holstein]]), Napoleon III recognized the threat that a unified Germany would pose to France, and he looked for allies to challenge Germany, without success.

The British government was suspicious that Napoleon wanted to take over [[Belgium]] and [[Luxembourg]], felt secure with its [[Royal Navy|powerful navy]], and did not want any military engagements on the European continent at the side of the French.<ref>{{Cite web |date=19 September 2023 |title=Napoleon III {{!}} Biography, Significance, Death, & Facts {{!}} Britannica |url=https://www.britannica.com/biography/Napoleon-III-emperor-of-France |access-date=10 October 2023 |website=www.britannica.com |language=en}}</ref>

The Russian government was also suspicious of Napoleon, who it believed had encouraged Polish nationalists to [[January Uprising|rebel against Russian rule]] in 1863. Bismarck and Prussia, on the other hand, had offered assistance to Russia to help crush the Polish patriots.{{Sfn|Girard|1986|pp=376–377}}

In October 1865, Napoleon had a cordial meeting with Bismarck at [[Biarritz]]. They discussed [[Veneto|Venetia]], Austria's remaining province in Italy. Bismarck told Napoleon that Prussia had no secret arrangement to give Venetia to Italy, and Napoleon assured him in turn that France had no secret understanding with Austria. Bismarck hinted vaguely that, in the event of a war between Austria and Prussia, French neutrality would be rewarded with some sort of territory as a compensation. Napoleon III had Luxembourg in mind.{{Sfn|Milza|2006|p=649}}

In 1866, relations between Austria and Prussia worsened and Bismarck demanded the expulsion of Austria from the [[German Confederation]]. Napoleon and his foreign minister, [[Drouyn de Lhuys]], expected a long war and an eventual Austrian victory. Napoleon III felt he could extract a price from both Prussia and Austria for French neutrality. On 12 June 1866, France signed a secret treaty with Austria, guaranteeing French neutrality in a Prussian-Austrian war. In exchange, in the event of an Austrian victory, Austria would give Venetia to France and would also create a new independent German state on the [[Rhine]], which would become an ally of France. At the same time, Napoleon proposed a secret treaty with Bismarck, promising that France would remain neutral in a war between Austria and Prussia. In the event of a Prussian victory, France would recognize Prussia's annexation of smaller German states, and France, in exchange, would receive a portion of German territory, the [[Palatinate region]] north of Alsace. Bismarck, rightly confident of success due to the modernization of the [[Prussian Army]], summarily rejected Napoleon's offer.

On 15 June, the Prussian Army invaded [[Kingdom of Saxony|Saxony]], an ally of Austria. On 2 July, Austria asked Napoleon to arrange an armistice between Italy, which had allied itself with Prussia, and Austria, in exchange for which France would receive Venetia. But on 3 July, the Prussian army crushed the Austrian army at the [[Battle of Königgrätz]] in [[Bohemia]]. The way to [[Vienna]] was open for the Prussians, and Austria asked for an armistice. The armistice was signed on 22 July; Prussia annexed the [[Kingdom of Hanover]], the [[Electorate of Hesse]], the [[Duchy of Nassau]] and the [[Free City of Frankfurt]], with a combined population of four million people.{{Sfn|Girard|1986|p=380}}

The Austrian defeat was followed by a new crisis in the health of Napoleon III. [[Marshal Canrobert]], who saw him on 28 July, wrote that the Emperor "was pitiful to see. He could barely sit up in his armchair, and his drawn face expressed at the same time moral anguish and physical pain.{{Sfn|Girard|1986|p=380}}

===Luxembourg Crisis===
{{Main|Luxembourg Crisis}}
Napoleon III still hoped to receive some compensation from Prussia for French neutrality during the war. His foreign minister, Drouyn, asked Bismarck for the Palatinate region on the Rhine, which belonged to [[Kingdom of Bavaria|Bavaria]], and for the demilitarization of Luxembourg, which was the site of a [[Fortress of Luxembourg|formidable fortress]] staffed by a strong Prussian garrison in accordance with international treaties. Napoleon's senior advisor [[Eugène Rouher]] increased the demands, asking that Prussia accept the annexation by France of Belgium and of Luxembourg, sparking the Luxembourg Crisis.

Luxembourg had regained its [[de jure]] independence in 1839 as a [[grand duchy]]. However, it was in [[personal union]] with the Netherlands. King [[William III of the Netherlands]], who was also Grand Duke of Luxembourg, desperately needed money and was prepared to sell the Grand Duchy to France. Bismarck swiftly intervened and showed the British ambassador a copy of Napoleon's demands; as a result, he put pressure on William III to refuse to sell Luxembourg to France. France was forced to renounce any claim to Luxembourg in the [[Treaty of London (1867)]]. Napoleon III gained nothing for his efforts but the demilitarization of the Luxembourg fortress.<ref>{{Harvnb|Markham|1975|p=203}}</ref>

===Failure to increase the size of the French Army===
Despite his failing health, Napoleon III could see that the Prussian Army, combined with the armies of Bavaria and the other German states, would be a formidable enemy. In 1866, Prussia, with a population of 22&nbsp;million, had been able to mobilize an army of 700,000 men, while France, with a population of 38 million, had an army of only 385,000 men, of whom 140,000 were in Algeria, Mexico, and Rome.{{Sfn|Séguin|1990|p=387}} In the autumn of 1867, Napoleon III proposed a form of universal military service similar to the Prussian system to increase the size of the French Army, if needed, to 1&nbsp;million. His proposal was opposed by many French officers, such as [[Marshal Randon]], who preferred a smaller, more professional army; he said: "This proposal will only give us recruits; it's soldiers we need."{{Sfn|Séguin|1990|p=389}} It was also strongly opposed by the republican opposition in the French parliament, who denounced the proposal as a militarization of French society. The republican deputy, [[Émile Ollivier]], who later became Napoleon's prime minister, declared: "The armies of France, which I always considered too large, are now going to be increased to an exorbitant size. Why? What is the necessity? Where is the danger? Who is threatening us? ...If France were to disarm, the Germans would know how to convince their governments to do the same."{{Sfn|Séguin|1990|p=392}} Facing almost certain defeat in the parliament, Napoleon III withdrew the proposal. It was replaced in January 1868 by a much more modest project to create a ''garde mobile'', or reserve force, to support the army.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Michael Howard |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=h2wEeRuei6AC |title=The Franco-Prussian War: The German Invasion of France 1870–1871 |date=1981 |publisher=Taylor & Francis |isbn=978-0-2039-9305-7 |pages=30, 38–39}}</ref>

===A last search for allies===
Napoleon III was overconfident in his military strength and went into war even after he failed to find any allies who would support a war to stop German unification.<ref>{{Cite journal |last=Morrow |first=James D. |date=1993 |title=Arms versus Allies: Trade-offs in the Search for Security |journal=International Organization |volume=47 |issue=2 |pages=207–233 |doi=10.1017/S0020818300027922 |jstor=2706889 |s2cid=154407327}}</ref>

Following the defeat of Austria, Napoleon resumed his search for allies against Prussia. In April 1867, he proposed an alliance, defensive and offensive, with Austria. If Austria joined France in a victorious war against Prussia, Napoleon promised that Austria could form a new confederation with the southern states of Germany and could annex [[Silesia]], while France took for its part the left bank of the [[Rhine River]]. But the timing of Napoleon's offer was poorly chosen; Austria was in the process of a [[Ausgleich|major internal reform]], creating the new Dual Monarchy of [[Austria-Hungary]].

Napoleon's attempt to install the Archduke Maximilian, the brother of the Austrian Emperor, in Mexico was just coming to its disastrous conclusion; the French troops had just been withdrawn from Mexico in February 1867, and the unfortunate Maximilian would be captured, judged and shot by a firing squad on 19 June. Napoleon III made these offers again in August 1867, on a visit to offer condolences for the death of Maximilian, but the proposal was not received with enthusiasm.{{Sfn|Milza|2006|loc=pp. 45–46 (2009 ed.)}}

[[File:Adolphe Yvon - Portrait of Napoleon III - Walters 3795.jpg|thumb|Portrait of Napoleon III in 1868 by [[Adolphe Yvon]]]]
Napoleon III also made one last attempt to persuade Italy to be his ally against Prussia. Italian King Victor Emmanuel was personally favorable to a better relationship with France, remembering the role that Napoleon III had played in achieving Italian unification, but Italian public opinion was largely hostile to France; on 3 November 1867, French and Papal soldiers had fired upon the Italian patriots of Garibaldi, when he tried to capture Rome. Napoleon presented a proposed treaty of alliance on 4 June 1869, the anniversary of the joint French-Italian victory at Magenta. The Italians responded by demanding that France withdraw its troops who were protecting the Pope in Rome. Given the opinion of fervent French Catholics, this was a condition Napoleon III could not accept.{{Sfn|Milza|2006|loc=pp. 46–47 (2009 ed.)}}

While Napoleon III was having no success finding allies, Bismarck signed secret military treaties with the southern German states, who promised to provide troops in the event of a war between Prussia and France. In 1868, Bismarck signed an accord with Russia that gave Russia liberty of action in the Balkans in exchange for neutrality in the event of a war between France and Prussia. This treaty put additional pressure on Austria-Hungary, which also had interests in the Balkans, not to ally itself with France.

But most importantly, Prussia promised to support Russia in lifting the restrictions of the [[Congress of Paris (1856)|Congress of Paris]]. "Bismarck had bought Tsar Alexander II's complicity by promising to help restore his naval access to the Black Sea and Mediterranean (cut off by the treaties ending the Crimean War), other powers were less biddable".{{Sfn|Wawro|2005|loc=[https://books.google.com/books?id=q1tPB20IMMoC&pg=PA238 pp. 238–239]}} Bismarck also reached out to the liberal government of [[William Ewart Gladstone|William Gladstone]] in London, offering to protect the neutrality of Belgium against a French threat. The British Foreign Office under [[George Villiers, 4th Earl of Clarendon|Lord Clarendon]] mobilized the British fleet, to dissuade France against any aggressive moves against Belgium. In any war between France and Prussia, France would be entirely alone.{{Sfn|Milza|2006|loc=pp. 47–48 (2009 ed.)}}

In 1867, French politician [[Adolphe Thiers]] (who became President of the French Republic in 1871) accused Napoleon III of erroneous foreign policy: "There is no mistake that can be made".<ref>''History of the XIX Century (1848–1871)''. In 5 volumes. Edited by Ernest Lavisse and Alfred Rambaud. 2nd ed., Vol. 5. Part 1. – M. p. 182</ref> Bismarck thought that French vanity would lead to war; he exploited that vanity in the [[Ems Dispatch]] in July 1870. France took the bait and declared war on Prussia, which proved to be a major miscalculation.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Alison Kitson |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=mwyp6RYFNhsC&pg=PA1870 |title=Germany 1858–1990: Hope, Terror and Revival |date=2001 |publisher=Oxford UP |isbn=978-0-1991-3417-5 |page=1870}}</ref> This allowed Bismarck and Prussia to present the war to the world as defensive, although Prussia and Bismarck had aggressive plans, and they soon became known in relation to the annexation of the French provinces of [[Alsace-Lorraine]].

===Hohenzollern candidacy and the Ems telegram===
{{Main|Ems Dispatch}}
In his memoirs, written long after the war, Bismarck wrote, "I always considered that a war with France would naturally follow a war against Austria... I was convinced that the gulf which was created over time between the north and the south of Germany could not be better overcome than by a national war against the neighbouring people who were aggressive against us. I did not doubt that it was necessary to make a French-German war before the general reorganization of Germany could be realized."{{Sfn|Séguin|1990|p=394}} As the summer of 1870 approached, pressure mounted on Bismarck to have a war with France as quickly as possible. In [[Kingdom of Bavaria|Bavaria]], the largest of the southern German states, unification with (mostly Protestant) Prussia was being opposed by the [[Centre Party (Germany)|Patriotic Party]], which favoured a confederacy of (Catholic) Bavaria with (Catholic) Austria. German Protestant public opinion was on the side of unification with Prussia.

In France, patriotic sentiment was also growing. On 8 May 1870, French voters had overwhelmingly supported Napoleon III's program in a [[1870 French constitutional referendum|national plebiscite]], with 7,358,000 votes yes against 1,582,000 votes no, an increase of support of two million votes since the [[1869 French legislative election|legislative elections in 1869]]. The Emperor was less popular in Paris and the big cities, but highly popular in the French countryside. Napoleon had named a new foreign minister, Antoine Agenor, [[Agenor, duc de Gramont|the Duke de Gramont]], who was hostile to Bismarck. The Emperor was weak and ill, but the more extreme Bonapartists were prepared to show their strength against the republicans and monarchists in the parliament.{{Sfn|Milza|2006|loc=pp. 47–50 (2009 ed.)}}

The news of [[Leopold, Prince of Hohenzollern]]'s candidacy for the Spanish crown, published 2 July 1870, aroused fury in the French parliament and press. The government was attacked by both the republicans and monarchist opposition, and by the ultra-Bonapartists, for its weakness against Prussia. On 6 July, Napoleon III held a meeting of his ministers at the château of Saint-Cloud and told them that Prussia must withdraw the Hohenzollern candidacy or there would be a war. He asked Marshal [[Edmond Le Boeuf|Leboeuf]], the chief of staff of the French army, if the army was prepared for a war against Prussia. Leboeuf responded that the French soldiers had a [[Chassepot|rifle]] superior to the Prussian rifle, that the French artillery was commanded by an elite corps of officers, and that the army "would not lack a button on its [[puttees]]". He assured the Emperor that the French army could have four hundred thousand men on the Rhine in less than fifteen days.{{Sfn|Milza|2006|loc=p. 52 (2009 ed.)}}

The French Ambassador to Prussia, Count [[Vincent Benedetti]], was sent to the German spa resort of [[Bad Ems]], where the Prussian king was staying. Benedetti met with the king on 13 July in the park of the château. The king told him courteously that he agreed fully with the withdrawal of the [[House of Hohenzollern|Hohenzollern]] candidacy, but that he could not make promises on behalf of the government for the future. He considered that the matter was closed. As he was instructed by Gramont, Benedetti asked for another meeting with the king to repeat the request, but the king politely, yet firmly, refused. Benedetti returned to Paris and the affair seemed finished. However, Bismarck edited the official dispatch of the meeting to make it appear that both sides had been hostile: "His majesty the King," the dispatch read, "refused to meet again with the French ambassador, and let him know, through an aide-de-camp of service, that His Majesty had nothing more to say to the Ambassador." This version was communicated to governments, and the next day was in the French press.{{Sfn|Milza|2006|loc=pp. 55–56 (2009 ed.)}}

The [[Ems telegram]] had exactly the effect that Bismarck had intended. Once again, public opinion in France was inflamed. "This text produced the effect of a red flag to the Gallic bull," Bismarck later wrote. Gramont, the French foreign minister, declared that he felt "he had just received a slap." The leader of the conservatives in parliament, Thiers, spoke for moderation, arguing that France had won the diplomatic battle and there was no reason for war, but he was drowned out by cries that he was a traitor and a Prussian. Napoleon's new prime minister, [[Émile Ollivier]], declared that France had done all that it could humanly and honourably do to prevent the war, and that he accepted the responsibility "with a light heart". A crowd of 15,000–20,000 persons, carrying flags and patriotic banners, marched through the streets of Paris, demanding war. On 19 July 1870, a declaration of war was sent to the Prussian government.{{Sfn|Milza|2006|loc=pp. 57–59 (2009 ed.)}}

===Defeat in the Franco-Prussian War===
When France entered the war, there were patriotic demonstrations in the streets of Paris, with crowds singing ''[[La Marseillaise]]'' and chanting "To Berlin! To Berlin!" But Napoleon was melancholic. He told General Lepic that he expected the war to be "long and difficult", and wondered, "Who knows if we'll come back?" He told Marshal [[Jacques Louis Randon|Randon]] that he felt too old for a military campaign.{{Sfn|Girard|1986|p=473}} Despite his declining health, Napoleon decided to go with the army to the front as commander in chief, as he had done during the successful Italian campaign. On 28 July, he departed Saint-Cloud by train for the front. He was accompanied by the 14-year-old Prince Imperial in the uniform of the army, by his military staff, and by a large contingent of chefs and servants in livery. He was pale and visibly in pain. The Empress remained in Paris as the [[Regent]], as she had done on other occasions when the Emperor was out of the country.

The mobilization of the French army was chaotic. Two hundred thousand soldiers converged on the German frontier, along a front of 250 kilometers, choking all the roads and railways for miles. Officers and their respective units were unable to find one another. General [[Helmuth von Moltke the Elder|Moltke]] and the [[Prussian Army]], having gained experience mobilizing in the war against Austria, were able to efficiently move three armies of 518,000 men to a more concentrated front of just 120 kilometers. In addition, the German soldiers were backed by a substantial reserve of the [[Landwehr]] (Territorial defence), with 340,000 men, and an additional reserve of 400,000 territorial guards. The French army arrived at the frontier equipped with maps of Germany, but without maps of France—where the actual fighting took place—and without a specific plan of what it was going to do.{{Sfn|Milza|2006|loc=pp. 69–70 (2009 ed.)}}

On 2 August, Napoleon and the Prince Imperial accompanied the army as it made a tentative crossing of the German border toward the city of [[Saarbrücken]]. The French won a [[Battle of Saarbrücken|minor skirmish]] and advanced no further. Napoleon III, very ill, was unable to ride his horse and had to support himself by leaning against a tree. In the meantime, the Prussians had assembled a much larger army opposite Alsace and Lorraine than the French had expected or were aware of. On 4 August 1870, the Prussians attacked with overwhelming force against a French division in [[Alsace]] at the [[Battle of Wissembourg (1870)|Battle of Wissembourg]] (German: Weissenburg), forcing it to retreat. On 5 August, the Germans defeated another French army at the [[Battle of Spicheren]] in [[Lorraine]].

On 6 August, 140,000 Germans attacked 35,000 French soldiers at the [[Battle of Wörth]]; the French lost 19,200 soldiers killed, wounded and captured, and were forced to retreat. The French soldiers fought bravely, and French cavalry and infantry attacked the German lines repeatedly, but the Germans had superior logistics, communications, and leadership. The decisive weapon was the new German [[C64 (field gun)|Krupp six pound field gun]], which was [[Breechloader|breech-loading]], had a steel barrel, longer range, a higher rate of fire, and was more accurate than the bronze [[Muzzleloader|muzzle-loading]] French cannons. The Krupp guns caused terrible casualties in the French ranks.{{Sfn|Milza|2006|loc=p. 61 (2009 ed.)}}

When news of the French defeats reached Paris on 7 August, it was greeted with disbelief and dismay. Prime Minister Ollivier and the army chief of staff, Marshal [[Edmond Le Boeuf]], both resigned. The Empress Eugénie took it upon herself as the Regent to name a new government. She chose General [[Cousin-Montauban]], better known as the Count of Palikao, seventy-four years old and former commander of the French expeditionary force to China, as her new prime minister. The Count of Palikao named Marshal [[François Achille Bazaine]], the commander of the French forces in Lorraine, as the new military commander. Napoleon III proposed returning to Paris, realizing that he was not doing any good for the army. The Empress, in charge of the government, responded by telegraph, "Don't think of coming back, unless you want to unleash a terrible revolution. They will say you quit the army to flee the danger." The Emperor agreed to remain with the army.{{Sfn|Milza|2006|loc=pp. 80–81 (2009 ed.)}} With the Empress directing the country, and Bazaine commanding the army, the Emperor no longer had any real role to play. At the front, the Emperor told Marshal Leboeuf, "we've both been dismissed."{{Sfn|Milza|2006|loc=p. 81 (2009 ed.)}}

On 18 August 1870, the [[Battle of Gravelotte]], the biggest battle of the war, took place in Lorraine between the Germans and the army of Marshal Bazaine. The Germans suffered 20,000 casualties and the French 12,000, but the Germans emerged as the victors, as Marshal Bazaine's army, with 175,000 soldiers, six divisions of cavalry and five hundred cannons, was [[Siege of Metz (1870)|besieged]] inside the [[fortifications of Metz]], unable to move.{{Sfn|Milza|2006|loc=p. 92 (2009 ed.)}}

Napoleon was at [[Châlons-sur-Marne]] with the army of Marshal [[Patrice de MacMahon]]. MacMahon, Marshal Bazaine, and the count of Palikao, with the Empress in Paris, all had different ideas of what the army should do next, and the Emperor had to act as a referee. The Emperor and MacMahon proposed moving their army closer to Paris to protect the city, but on 17 August Bazaine telegraphed to the Emperor: "I urge you to renounce this idea, which seems to abandon the Army at Metz... Couldn't you make a powerful diversion toward the Prussian corps, which are already exhausted by so many battles? The Empress shares my opinion." Napoleon III wrote back, "I yield to your opinion."{{Sfn|Girard|1986|p=480}} The Emperor sent the Prince Imperial back to Paris for his safety and went with the weary army in the direction of Metz. The Emperor, riding in an open carriage, was jeered, sworn at and insulted by demoralized soldiers.{{Sfn|Milza|2006|loc=p. 92 (2009 ed.)}}

The direction of movement of MacMahon's army was supposed to be secret, but it was published in the French press and thus was quickly known to the [[German General Staff]]. Moltke, the German commander, ordered two Prussian armies marching toward Paris to turn towards MacMahon's army. On 30 August, one corps of MacMahon's army was attacked by the Germans at [[Beaumont, Meurthe-et-Moselle|Beaumont]], losing five hundred men and forty cannons. MacMahon, believing he was ahead of the Germans, decided to stop and reorganize his forces at the fortified city of [[Sedan, Ardennes|Sedan]], in the [[Ardennes]] close to the Belgian border.{{Sfn|Girard|1986|p=482}}

====Battle of Sedan and capitulation====
{{Further|Battle of Sedan}}
[[File:Nap sedan von Wilhelm Camphausen.jpg|thumb|Napoleon III at the [[Battle of Sedan]] (by [[Wilhelm Camphausen]])]]
[[File:Napoleon übergibt seinen Degen.JPG|thumb|Surrender of Napoleon III after the [[Battle of Sedan]], 1 September 1870]]
The Battle of Sedan was a total disaster for the French—the army surrendered to the [[Prussia]]ns and Napoleon III himself was made a prisoner of war.{{Sfn|Strauss-Schom|2018|pp=404–418}} MacMahon arrived at [[Sedan, Ardennes|Sedan]] with one hundred thousand soldiers, not knowing that two German armies were closing in on the city (one from the west and one from the east), blocking any escape. The Germans arrived on 31 August, and by 1 September, occupied the heights around Sedan where they placed artillery batteries, and began shelling the French positions below. At five o'clock in the morning on 1 September, a German shell seriously wounded MacMahon in the hip. Sedan quickly came under bombardment from seven hundred German guns.{{Sfn|Milza|2006|p=708}} MacMahon's replacement, General [[Emmanuel Félix de Wimpffen|Wimpffen]], launched a series of cavalry attacks to try to break the German encirclement, with no success. During the battle and bombardment, the French lost seventeen thousand killed or wounded and twenty-one thousand captured.

As the German shells rained down on the French positions, Napoleon III wandered aimlessly in the open around the French positions. One officer of his military escort was killed and two more received wounds. A doctor accompanying him wrote in his notebook, "If this man has not come here to kill himself, I don't know what he has come to do. I have not seen him give an order all morning."{{Sfn|Milza|2006|p=708}}

Finally, at one o'clock in the afternoon, Napoleon III emerged from his [[daydream|reverie]] and ordered a white flag hoisted above the citadel. He then had a message sent to the Prussian king, who was at Sedan with his army: "Monsieur my brother, not being able to die at the head of my troops, nothing remains for me but to place my sword in the hands of Your Majesty."{{Sfn|Milza|2006|p=709}}

After the war, when accused of having made a "shameful surrender" at Sedan, he wrote:

{{Blockquote|Some people believe that, by burying ourselves under the ruins of Sedan, we would have better served my name and my dynasty. It's possible. Nay, to hold in my hand the lives of thousands of men and not to make a sign to save them was something that was beyond my capacity....my heart refused these sinister grandeurs.{{Sfn|Milza|2006|p=79}}}}

At six o'clock in the morning on 2 September, in the uniform of a general and accompanied by four generals from his staff, Napoleon was taken to the German headquarters at [[Donchery]]. He expected to see King [[William I, German Emperor|Wilhelm I]], but instead he was met by [[Otto von Bismarck]] and the German commander, General [[Helmuth von Moltke the Elder|Helmuth von Moltke]]. They dictated the terms of the surrender to Napoleon. Napoleon asked that his army be disarmed and allowed to pass into Belgium, but Bismarck refused. They also asked Napoleon to sign the preliminary documents of a peace treaty, but Napoleon refused, telling them that the French government headed by the Regent, Empress Eugénie, would need to negotiate any peace agreement. The Emperor was then taken to the Château at Bellevue near {{Interlanguage link|Frénois (Ardennes)|fr|Frénois (Ardennes)}}, where the Prussian king visited him. Napoleon told the king that he had not wanted the war, but that public opinion had forced him into it. That evening, from the Château, Napoleon wrote to the Empress Eugénie:

{{Blockquote|It is impossible for me to say what I have suffered and what I am suffering now...I would have preferred death to a capitulation so disastrous, and yet, under the present circumstances, it was the only way to avoid the butchering of sixty thousand people. If only all my torments were concentrated here! I think of you, our son, and our unhappy country.{{Sfn|Milza|2006|p=710}}}}

====Aftermath====
The news of the capitulation reached Paris on 3 September, confirming the rumors that were already circulating in the city. When the Empress heard the news that the Emperor and the army had been taken prisoner, she reacted by shouting at the Emperor's personal aide, "No! An Emperor does not capitulate! He is dead!...They are trying to hide it from me. Why didn't he kill himself! Doesn't he know he has dishonored himself?!"{{Sfn|Milza|2006|p=711}} Later, when hostile crowds formed near the palace and the staff began to flee, the Empress slipped out with one of her entourage and sought sanctuary with her American dentist, Thomas Evans, who took her to [[Deauville]]. From there, on 7 September, she took the yacht of a British official to England.

On 4 September, a group of republican deputies, led by [[Léon Gambetta]], gathered at the [[Hôtel de Ville, Paris|Hôtel de Ville]] in Paris and proclaimed the return of the Republic and the creation of a [[Government of National Defence]]. The Second Empire had come to an end.{{Sfn|Milza|2006|pp=711–712}}

===Captivity, exile and death===
[[File:III. Napóleon (öreg).jpg|thumb|upright|The last photograph of Napoleon III (1872)]]
From 5 September 1870 until 19 March 1871, Napoleon III and his entourage of thirteen aides were held in comfortable captivity at [[Schloss Wilhelmshöhe]] near [[Kassel]], Germany. Eugénie traveled there incognito to visit Napoleon.{{Sfn|Girard|1986|p=488}}

General [[François Achille Bazaine|Bazaine]], staying in the fortification of [[Metz]] with a large part of the remaining French Army while being besieged, had secret talks with Bismarck's envoys on 23 September. The idea was for Bazaine to establish a conservative regime in France, for himself or for Napoleon's son.{{Sfn|Wawro|2005|loc=[https://books.google.com/books?id=q1tPB20IMMoC&pg=PA244 pp. 244–245]}} Bazaine's envoy, who spoke to Bismarck at Versailles on 14 October, declared that the army in Metz was still loyal to Napoleon. Bazaine was willing to take over power in France after the Germans had defeated the republic in Paris. Because of the weakening of the French position overall, Bismarck lost interest in this option.{{Sfn|Wawro|2005|pp=245–246}}

On 27 November, Napoleon composed a memorandum to Bismarck that raised the possibility that the Prussian king might urge the French people to recall him as Emperor after a peace treaty was signed and Paris surrendered. But by this time, Metz had already fallen, leaving Napoleon without a power base. Bismarck did not see much chance for a restored empire, as the French people would consider Napoleon a mere marionette of the enemy.{{Sfn|Wetzel|2012|pp=174–175}} One last initiative from Eugénie failed in January, because of the late arrival of her envoy from London. Bismarck refused to acknowledge the former empress, as this had caused irritations with Britain and Russia. Shortly afterwards, the Germans signed a truce with the Government of France.{{Sfn|Wetzel|2012|pp=177–179}}

Napoleon continued to write political tracts and letters and dreamed of a return to power. Bonapartist candidates participated in the first elections for the National Assembly on 8 February but won only five seats. On 1 March, the newly elected assembly officially declared the removal of the emperor from power and placed all the blame for the French defeat squarely on him.{{Sfn|Girard|1986|p=488}} When peace was arranged between France and Germany, Bismarck released Napoleon; the emperor decided to go into exile in Great Britain. Having limited funds, Napoleon sold properties and jewels and arrived in England on 20 March 1871.

[[File:Napoleon III after Death - Illustrated London News Jan 25 1873-2.PNG|thumb|Napoleon III after his death, wood-engraving in ''[[The Illustrated London News]]'' of 25 January 1873, after a photograph by Mssrs. Downey]]
[[File:The Sarcophagus of Emperor Napoleon III of France (geograph 3835255).jpg|thumb|Tomb of Napoleon III]]
Napoleon, Eugénie, their son and their entourage, settled at [[Camden Place]],<ref>{{Cite web |title=Camden Place |url=http://www.chislehurst.co.uk/history/camden-place |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160208004158/http://www.chislehurst.co.uk/history/camden-place |archive-date=8 February 2016 |website=chislehurst.co.uk}}</ref> a large three-story country house in the village of [[Chislehurst]] in [[Kent]], a half-hour by train from [[London]]. He was received by [[Queen Victoria]], who also visited him at Chislehurst.{{Sfn|Girard|1986|pp=497–498}}

Louis-Napoleon had a longtime connection with Chislehurst and Camden Place: years earlier, while exiled in Great Britain, he had often visited Emily Rowles, whose father had owned Camden Place in the 1830s. She had assisted his escape from a French prison in 1846.

He had also paid attention to another English girl, Elizabeth Howard, who later gave birth to a son, whose father (not Louis-Napoleon) settled property on her to support the son, via a trust whose trustee was Nathaniel Strode. Strode bought Camden Place in 1860 and spent large sums of money transforming it into a French château. Strode had also received money from the Emperor, possibly to buy Camden Place and maintain it as a [[Retreat (survivalism)|bolt hole]].{{Speculation inline|date=December 2023}}

Napoleon passed his time writing and designing a stove which would be more energy efficient. In the summer of 1872, his health began to worsen. Doctors recommended surgery to remove his gallstones. After two operations, he became very seriously ill. His final defeat in the war would haunt the dying former emperor throughout his last days. His last words were "Isn't it true that we weren't cowards at Sedan?", directed at [[Henri Conneau]], his attendant who fought in the battle alongside him. He was given [[last rites]] and died on 9 January 1873.{{Sfn|Girard|1986|p=500}}

Napoleon was originally buried at [[St Mary's Church, Chislehurst|St Mary's Catholic Church]] in Chislehurst. However, after his son, an officer in the [[British Army]], died in 1879 fighting against the [[Zulu people|Zulus]] in South Africa in the [[Anglo-Zulu War]], Eugénie decided to build a monastery and a chapel for the remains of Napoleon III and their son. In 1888, the bodies were moved to the Imperial Crypt at [[St Michael's Abbey, Farnborough|St Michael's Abbey]], [[Farnborough, Hampshire]], England.<ref>{{Cite web |title=St. Michael's Abbey, Farnborough |url=http://www.napoleon.org/en/magazine/places/st-michaels-abbey-farnborough-2 |website=napoleon.org}}</ref>