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There were several assassination attempts on Napoleon III of France, but probably the best known took place on the 14th of January 1858. Italian pro-unificationists led by Felice Orsini threw bombs at the Emperor's carriage as Napoleon was on his way to the opera. In OTL, although several people were killed and others injured, the Emperor and Empress escaped unharmed.

What makes this particularly interesting is that Orsini's bombs had been made and tested in Britain with the collaboration of a British gunsmith. OTL this soon came out and there was an anti-British craze in France as a result, but Napoleon directly intervened to prevent escalation of the crisis. Now, imagine if Napoleon is killed but this fact is still discovered. There could be an Anglo-French war barely two years after the two countries were allies in the Crimean War. But it also depends on who seizes power in France. Napoleon's son was only two years old and he had only been Emperor for ten years. Would it be a quick transfer of power to a regent, a coup, a revolution, or a civil war?

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