French Second Republic

The French Second Republic (Deuxième République Française or La IIe République), officially the French Republic (République française), was the second republican government of France. It existed from 1848 until its dissolution in 1852. Following the final defeat of Napoleon Bonaparte at the Battle of Waterloo, France was reconstituted into a monarchy known as the Bourbon Restoration. After a brief period of revolutionary turmoil in 1830, royal power was once again secured and the July Monarchy was established. The July Monarchy governed under principles of moderate conservatism, and improved relations with the UK. In 1848, Europe erupted into a mass revolutionary wave in which many citizens challenged their royal leaders. Caught up in the revolutionary wave, France underwent the February Revolution that overthrew the July Monarchy of King Louis-Phillipe, Radical and liberal factions of the population convened the French Second Republic in 1848. Attempting to restore the First French Republic's values on human rights and constitutional government, they adopted the motto of the First Republic; Liberté, Égalité, Fraternité. The republic was plagued with tribalist tendencies of its leading factions: royalists, proto-socialists, liberals, and conservatives. In this environment, the nephew of Napoleon, Louis-Napoléon Bonaparte, established himself as a popular anti-establishment figure. He was elected as president in 1848. Under the Second Republic's constitution, the president was restricted to a single term. Louis-Napoléon overthrew the republic in an 1851 coup d'état, proclaimed himself Emperor Napoleon III, and created the Second French Empire. French Revolution of 1848 The French Revolution of 1848, also known as the February Revolution, was the first of the Revolutions of 1848. The events of the revolution led to the end of the 1830–1848 Orleans Monarchy and led to the creation of the Second Republic.