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Through the
1850s, Napoléon III ran an authoritarian regime whose most
notable achievement was a rapid growth in industrial and economic
power. Foreign trade trebled, the rail system grew enormously, and
the first investment banks were established. In 1858, in the
aftermath of an attempt on his life by an Italian patriot, the
emperor suddenly embarked on a policy of liberalization ,
initially of the economy, which alienated much of the business
class. Reforms included the right to form trade unions and to
strike, an extension of public education, lifting of censorship and
the granting of ministerial "responsibility" under a government
headed by the liberal opposition.
Disaster, however, was approaching in the shape of the
Franco-Prussian war. Involved in a conflict with Bismarck and the
rising power of Germany, Napoléon III declared war. The French army was
quickly defeated and the emperor himself taken prisoner in 1870. The
result at home was a universal demand for the proclamation of a third
republic . The German armistice agreement insisted on the election
of a national assembly to negotiate a proper peace treaty. France lost
Alsace and Lorraine and was obliged to pay hefty war reparations.
Outraged by the monarchist majority re-elected to the new Assembly and
by the attempt of its chief minister, Thiers, to disarm the National
Guard, the people of Paris created their own municipal government known
as the Commune.
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