Restoration in France took place between 1814 and 1830. Conflicts of Ultra-loyalists and liberals marked the restoration. The Ultra- loyalists were interested in restoring absolute monarchy system which existed before 1789 while the liberals wanted constitution of the monarchy system strengthened. Similarly, the Second Republic was established in 1848, and it was under Louis- Napoleon as the president. It did not last for a long period (Simonet, 2018). The Second Empire existed between 1852 and 1870. At the beginning of the empire, it was authoritarian though it continued to enjoy economic growth. It also pursued foreign policies which were favorable. The main aim of the paper is to understand the history of the Second Empire, Restoration and the Second Republic.
When Louis XVI became the king, the pre- 1792 boundaries were restored; it was not needed to pay war indemnity and was given peace settlement in a quite generous way. After Louis became the king, he issued a Charter which was a constitution and it had indication preservation of the liberties that had participated and won in the time of French Revolution. The constitution also provided the Chamber of Deputies to the parliament and Chamber of Peers who a king nominee (Kearns, 2017). The constitution advocated that all people are equal before the law, but it denied voting to the people who had huge fines or had not paid tax. When the citizens restored Louis XVIII as the king, Napoleon interrupted and returned to power within a short period. This led to ending of the war which had existed for more than two decades. During this time, peace treaty which was harsher was imposed in France, there was payment of the war indemnity and returned to the boundaries that existed in 1789. Example of the crisis which existed during this period of restoration is a conflict between the liberals and the Ultra-loyalties.
In the Second Republic, the hopes of the liberal Republicans of establishing a democratic regime that would reign for long times were not there and then who scenario was just frustration. In 1848, Napoleon III became the president of France, and most of the people who were elected were monarchists. They made up the legislative assembly that was responsible for taking measures that restricted the rights to vote as well as the freedom to the press. The church was given many authorities such as control over education. Participation to the voting activity was an issue to the people of France and expression to press because all the authority remained to the legislative assembly. Example of crisis during the Second Empire is that demand for reforms by the citizens but the government was against them such as rights for voting even if people had huge debts( Hazareesingh, 2014) This triggered to the birth of the Second Empire. When the Louis-Napoleon noticed that their chances to reelection were limited, the power of the assembly was reduced in the new constitution. This helped in restoring the empire which becomes the Second Empire. During the time of the Second Empire, there was an introduction of the liberal reforms though people through measures such as political liberalization, and low tariff led to more opposition to the government. Example of the crises during the Second Empire is an economic crisis which was due to economic fluctuations.
In conclusion, there were crises during the three periods of the Second Empire, Second Republic, and restoration. Economic crises were a due fluctuation of the economic activities, demand for reforms by the citizens' such rights to vote and conflicts of the liberals and ultra-loyalists. Restoration led to reforms in the monarchy government. Second Republic government almost controlled every activity, and the citizens had been restricted from their rights such as voting Second Empire was accompanied by economic crises and opposition from the citizens due to problems such as low tariffs and political liberalization.
References
Hazareesingh, S. (2014). From subject to citizen: the Second Empire and the emergence of modern French democracy (Vol. 384). Princeton University Press.
Kearns, J. (2017). Theophile Gautier, Orator to the Artists: Art Journalism of the Second Republic. Routledge.
Simonet, D. (2018). Performance health administration and the return of the French second empire. Journal of Public Affairs, 18(2), e1686.
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