DBWI: Louis Napoleon didn't die during his presidential campaign?

He was very likely to have won, had it not been for his untimely death. What would a French Republic under him have looked like.
 
He was very likely to have won, had it not been for his untimely death. What would a French Republic under him have looked like.

Given the beliefs and politics of his uncle before him, as well as some of the platforms he was campaigning on, I think there would have been some pretty serious reforms that would have cemented the power of the Republic into the presidential office and come rather close towards establishing more autocratic, if stable, rule. Probably would have seen the civil and political rights of French people eroded due to the stronger authority to the central government, but it may have put an end to the political chaos that had plagued France since the Revolution.

But popular historiography seems to indicate that he would have been willing to restore the Bonapartist Empire with him as the Emperor to continue his uncle's legacy. If he really was going to follow through with such a plan, given the acumen and support he had going into the campaign before his sudden death, I think it would have been really popular, except among the Republicans.

OOC: Shouldn't this be in pre-1900?
 
OOC: It really should be pre-1900

I think that, had he survived the assassin's bullet, Louis Napoleon wouldn't have lasted long as President. I mean, Cavaignac won with an impressive conservative vote in 1848, but ended up embroiled in a series of fire-fighting exercises (particularly Blanqui's bloody and stupid attempt in 1850 to overthrow the Government in Paris). By the next election he was so unpopular that he failed to even secure nomination from his own party.

I mean, it wasn't until the 1860s when you finally saw stability in the Republic under the Moderates. Victor Hugo's championing of first Louis Blanc and then Leon Gambetta was crucial in creating the stable liberal governments of the late 50s and 60s.

To answer the question, I've always suspected that Louis Napoleon would have intervened in Italy. Maybe instead of Cavaignac's hands-off approach that saw the Italian Republic we know today emerge, you would have seen French troops suppress Garibaldi.
 
How would Louis Napoleon have answered the Prussian provocations? The republic dismissed them but would he have reacted to them?
 
He was very likely to have won, had it not been for his untimely death. What would a French Republic under him have looked like.

Well, he would just have been the first of a long series of french presidents elected by universal suffrage. The french constitution allows but one term for president with no possibility of reelection.
 
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