A bumbling coup attempt ...


After Napoleon I was chased away in 1815, the daughter of his first wife Josephine, Hortense de Beauharnais, together with her husband Louis Bonaparte, a brother of the emperor, had to wander through Switzerland and France for months - to be arrested by the reinstalled "Ancien Régime" escape.

Through the mediation of Tsar Aleksandr I, they were finally granted exile in eastern Switzerland, the Arenenberg Castle - a pretty building - now a museum - near Lake Constance, which I have already seen. A visit there is really worth it!









Hortenses and Louis' son Charles Louis Napoléon Bonaparte, born in 1808, also grew up there ...:





As the boy gets older and a man ...



... he longs for something higher: In 1829 Louis Napoléon wanted to take part in the Russo-Turkish War on the Russian side in order to reap military merits, but fell on deaf ears with his father!

Instead, he and his brother Napoléon Louis joined the Italian "Carbonari" insurrection and became - mainly because of his name - leader of the siege of the fortress of Civita Castellana. Things turn out badly, the brother dies, the "Carbonari" are cut into small slices by Italian troops and Louis Napoléon has to flee with his mother.

He was accepted into France, which was ruled by the "citizen king" Ludwig Philippe after the final overthrow of the Bourbons. The always restless Paris was forbidden to him, so he settled in Strasbourg.

The returnee thanked the "citizen king" badly! He still has higher goals - and so he becomes a putschist. On the morning of October 29, 1836, he went to the barracks of the 4th Artillery Regiment in Strasbourg, where his uncle (the emperor) had already served, and gave a thunderous speech.



He explains to the soldiers that he has come to restore "France's greatness and honor".

Since the regimental commander, Colonel Vaudrey, an old Bonapartist, declares himself the emperor's nephew, the artillerymen follow him ...:



Their way leads to the barracks of the 46th Infantry Regiment, also barracked in the city, to invite them to participate.

Then they want - according to the plan - to march together to Paris, on the way to attract more troops and take over power!Louis Napoléon probably has something as romantic in mind as his uncle's famous march from Frejus to Paris, which ushered in the "hundred days".

But the soldiers of the 46th Infantry Regiment do not want to participate.

Worse still: Their colonel has the rebelling artillerymen surrounded and arrested, as most of them left their rifles and cannons in the barracks in the excitement ...:



In the early afternoon the bumbling rebellion was crushed without a shot! Louis Napoleon and Colonel Vaudrey are imprisoned.

The "citizen king" Louis Philippe shows unexpectedly lenient with the man who wanted to overthrow him.Instead of putting the emperor's nephew up against the wall, he is pardoned on condition that he goes into exile in the USA.

Very relieved, Louis Napoleon accepts this offer and leaves France on November 21 on board the frigate "Andromeda" ...:



As we know from the history books, he will come back to instigate another coup from England in August 1840, which he also fails ...


... was sentenced to imprisonment in northern France, were able to flee to England under adventurous circumstances, returned to France during the March riots in 1848, were elected President of the Republic on December 20, 1848 ...



... instigated another coup in 1851 (the third!) ...



... which made him Emperor Napoleon III.

For 20 years he will rule France "by the grace of God" until he finally makes the mistake of messing with smarter people (Bismarck) and more competent soldiers (Moltke) ...





What can I say: Apart from the name, the man didn't have the format of his uncle in the slightest and for him (and his time) it would have been decidedly better if he had been born as Mr. Millermeierschulze ...