(1808-1873) Emperor of the French 1852–70, known as Louis-Napoleon. After two attempted coups (1836 and 1840) he was jailed, then went into exile, returning for the revolution of 1848, when he became president of the Second Republic but proclaimed himself emperor 1852. In 1870 he was maneuvered by the German chancellor Bismarck into war with Prussia (see Franco-Prussian war); he was forced to surrender at Sedan, NE France, and the empire collapsed.
He fled to England.