WI: Napoleon III restablishes Ancien Regime?

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What if Nappy 3 uses his political capital on seizing power (as he did IOTL) but instead of then declaring himself emperor, looks to the Ancien Regime and "cultural opulence" of Versailles as something to bring back to 1800s France. (His name was Louis after all :biggrin:)

1) Can he feasibly do this with out loosing his support subsequently his head

2) If he can, what does a Neo-Ancien(lol) Regime France look like in the 19th century?
 
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ASB lol.The Bonapartes are special because they are meant to offer a different kind of monarchy to the Bourbons,not to emulate them.
 
Napoleon III was a modernizer. Promoting a brilliant imperial court, yes, that was something he would do. Going on to restore the ancien régime--how much of it?--does not follow.
 
Napoleon III was a modernizer. Promoting a brilliant imperial court, yes, that was something he would do. Going on to restore the ancien régime--how much of it?--does not follow.

Reforms could easily follow said reestablishment considering that the hardest lesson was already learned from its first incarnation.
And given the fact that Paris, let alone France, was the heart of Romanicist movement in Europe, I think it's plausible that Louis could sell a Modern Kingship to the people.
 
What does that mean?

Two previous Bourbon monarchs had fallen on account of their failure to be sufficiently attractive constitutional monarchs. Napoleon III could make it a third, I suppose, but why?
 
What if Nappy 3 uses his political capital on seizing power (as he did IOTL) but instead of then declaring himself emperor, looks to the Ancien Regime and "cultural opulence" of Versailles as something to bring back to 1800s France. (His name was Louis after all :biggrin:)

Did you ever read anything about Bonapartist ideology and politics under Napoleon III? Frankly, you don't seem to.
 
It doesn't make sense. The argument for him being Emperor is that he is the rightful successor of Napoleon I, who was unjustly forced to abdicate in favor of the treacherous Bourbons. And Napoleon I had proclaimed himself the guardian of the new order created by the Revolution.

In order for Napoleon III to be a legitimate monarch, the Ancien régime has to be discredited. Otherwise, the Comte de Chambord should be on the throne.
 
There was no restoring a great deal of the Ancien Regime by Napoleon III time. Once you get actual clerics in bishops seats, wearing Cardinals hat's, no one would go back to the "old days". Restoring the AR would also have been a betrayal of the very people who elected Napoleon III in the first place. It also would restore exactly the wrong kind of economic policy for the time, France needed to industrialize to support its population.
 
The topic if completely ASB.
The Bonapartist ideology is a total contradiction of Ancien Regime (and in fact, the ideology was codified by Napoléon III on the base of his uncle practices as part of the creation of a coherent political platform upon which he could stand); actually, the Bonapartist ideology was founded on the principles of 1789; the popular legitimacy of the leader is a constitutive element of the Bonapartist dogma (direct election of 1848, referendums of 51, 52 and 70) where the ancient regime was a regime of dynastic and divine legitimacy: this is more the 'first citizen' mood in the way of Augustus than the 'dominus' form of the late roman empire and medieval monarchies.
 
This is like asking WI: Hitler declared himself Kaiser of the German Empire?

In short, it is an anachronism which destroys the very reason people supported him.
 
What if Nappy 3 uses his political capital on seizing power (as he did IOTL) but instead of then declaring himself emperor, looks to the Ancien Regime and "cultural opulence" of Versailles as something to bring back to 1800s France. (His name was Louis after all :biggrin:)

1) Can he feasibly do this with out loosing his support subsequently his head

2) If he can, what does a Neo-Ancien(lol) Regime France look like in the 19th century?
Since the Ancien Régime is, by definition, Bourbon you're asking Napoleon to seize power - and then hand it over to the Bourbons.

Right. Sure.
 

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No, since the ancien regime fans would see him as a usurper.
 
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