Louis Bonaparte, whose full name is Luigi Buonaparte, was born in Corsica, in Ajaccio, in 1778, and died in Italy, in Livorno, in 1846. He was brought by his younger brother to the French emperor Napoleon I. His titles: Count de Saint-Le, King of Holland, France’s connable. His son was another French emperor - Napoleon III.
A family
The ancestors of Louis Bonaparte lived in Corsica since 1529, being immigrants from Florence. His family belonged to the small aristocrats. The father of the family, Carlo Buonaparte, was a lay judge and had a small income. He tried to increase it and for this purpose led litigation with neighbors regarding disputed real estate.
Louis's mother was Maria Letizia Ramolino, a strong-willed and very attractive woman. Her family union with Carlo was organized by their parents. Leticia's father, by the time the deceased, held a solid position and had a great fortune, so she was able to bring with her money and position in society.
Louis was the fifth of thirteen children, of whom, apart from him, three sisters and four brothers survived until adulthood, and five died very early.
The beginning of a military career
In 1795, the Bonaparte family came to France, settling in Marseille. Then the following events occurred:
- 1796. Louis becomes an adjutant to his brother, Napoleon, and takes part in the Italian campaign with him. In August, he was promoted to captain.
- 1798. He again follows his brother on a distant expedition to Egypt.
- 1799. Since July, Louis Bonaparte - squadron commander of the fifth hussar regiment.
- 1800, January, production in colonels.
Marriage by the will of the emperor
In January 1802, Louis combined family ties with Hortense Bogarne. She was the daughter of Empress Josephine, who was born in her first marriage, and the stepdaughter of Napoleon I. This union was not concluded for love, but at the direction of the emperor, while the spouses did not feel any tender feelings for each other.
There is evidence of Constant, the valet of Napoleon I, about this event. In his memoirs, he wrote that during the religious wedding ceremony, Louis, like his bride, looked very sad. Hydrangea shed bitter tears, and her face remained tearful throughout the whole wedding.
She made no attempt to cause a favor on the part of her husband. He, in turn, felt insulted in his soul and was too proud to harass Hortense with his courtship.
King of holland
In 1803, Louis became a brigadier general, and in 1806 - the king of the Netherlands - Louis I. At that time, the country was a vassal of France. Finding her very cold, Hortense returned to her mother in Paris. The acts of the king were:
- Introduction of the Civil Code.
- Establishment of the Royal Institute of Science, Literature, Fine Arts and the library.
- Conducting important administrative reforms.
Louis I was popular with the Dutch, popularly nicknamed Good Louis.
Conflict with the Emperor
In 1809, there was a conflict between Louis Bonaparte and his great brother. This was due to the fact that the first of them put the interests of Holland above the French. Although he abided by the Continental blockade, he refused to carry out additional sets of soldiers for France in his small country and reduced the presence of her troops here, unable to protect the Dutch from the British.
In 1810, the emperor called him to Paris, where he proposed to take the Spanish throne, to which Louis refused. When he returned to Holland, he discovered that it was actually under the control of France. This was followed by his abandonment of the throne in favor of Napoleon Louis, his infant son. However, after this, the Dutch kingdom was annexed by France.
Louis took refuge in Vienna, with Emperor Franz II. Hydrangea broke up with her husband completely. Then he lived in Graz, wrote poetry and historical works. After Austria took the side of Russia, he moved to Switzerland, to Lausanne. A further change in the political situation made him seek refuge again, this time at Pope Pius VIII. After the death of Napoleon, he moved to Florence. When Hortense died, Louis Bonaparte was 60 years old and he married the Marquis Julia di Strozzi, a sixteen-year-old beauty.
From Hydrangea Beauharnais , he had four sons, one of whom became emperor. We will discuss it below.
Charles Louis Napoleon Bonaparte
The years of his life - 1808-1873. After a series of conspiracies aimed at seizing power, as a result he achieved it peacefully. In 1848 he became president of the republic. In 1851, a coup was made and the legislative branch was eliminated. Through an plebiscite (“direct democracy”) an authoritarian police regime was established. A year later, Napoleon was proclaimed emperor of France.
For ten years, the Second Empire was under his tight control. She became the embodiment of the ideology of Bonapartism. In the 1860s, there was some democratization of government. This was accompanied by the growth of industry and the French economy as a whole. Under Charles Louis, Baron Osman carried out a large-scale reconstruction of Paris.
In 1870, a liberal constitution was adopted, which returned the rights to parliament. And a few months later, the reign of Napoleon the Third came to an end. The reason for this was the Franco-Prussian war. During it, the emperor was captured by the Germans and never returned to France.