Prussia kneecapped; What happens in France when Nappy III dies?

Rush Tarquin

Gone Fishin'
What happens when Napoleon III dies if Prussia is decisively defeated by Austria and France earlier in his reign? Let's say he still dies in the early 1870s. Napoleon IV is too young to reign and the Orleanists, Legitimists, Republicans, Bonapartists, and Communards all have their own plans.

Would the Paris Commune still be able to happen? Who would end up gaining power? Is France too stable for a civil war?
 
Well you could see the Bonapartist line stagger on for a lot of the same reasons as the Third Republic did: opposition too fragmented to come up with a good alternative.
 

Rush Tarquin

Gone Fishin'
Well you could see the Bonapartist line stagger on for a lot of the same reasons as the Third Republic did: opposition too fragmented to come up with a good alternative.

So parliamentary rule with Nappy IV as a figurehead? Who would be the head of government? Or a regent? Who would that be?
 
Why is Napoleon IV too young? IOTL Louis-Napoléon planned to abdicate on his son's 18th birthday. If he still dies in 1873 then the difference from his death date to Prince Napoléon's 18th birthday is only a few days over two months.

Real power in the Second Empire had been in the hands of the monarchist-controlled Sénat since at least 1867 IMHO, if not earlier, as Louis-Napoléon had grown weaker in his old age, and his desire for importing British parliamentarianism to France. The outcome of his passing will depend on how the monarchist and Napoléon IV handle the situation and react to each other.
 
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