Napoleon III

He who increaseth knowledge, increaseth sorrow. This article contains spoilers, meaning it has information and facts concerning Assassin's Creed: The Engine of History – The Resurrection Plot. If you do not want to know about these events, it is recommended to read on with caution, or not at all. This template should be removed from the article 4 October 2023.

Napoleon III (Charles-Louis Napoléon Bonaparte; 1808 – 1873) was the first President of France from 1848 to 1852, and the only Emperor of the Second French Empire from 1852 to 1870. The nephew of Napoleon I, Louis Napoléon seized total power of France via a coup in December 1851.

Biography

In 1853, Napoleon sent a warship into the Black Sea to "politely suggest" that the Ottoman Sultan Abdülmecid I acknowledge French Catholicism as the authority over Christian sites in the Holy Land. This rather annoyed Tsar Nicholas I, since up till that point the Eastern Orthodox Church had controlled those sites, and he responded by sending two corps to the banks of the Danube. Diplomatic relations soured from there, and since the British and French were leery of Russian expansionism and already had troops in the area, they decided to ally with the Ottomans.

The conflict, which became known as the Crimean War, ended in 1856 when the allies took the key Russian city of Sevastopol. Recognising the inevitability of defeat, Nicholas I sued for peace.

On January 14, 1858, both Napoleon III and his wife arrived and went to attend the opera theater of Rue le Peletier. However, a series of bombings towards the Emperor occurred with resulted in multiple casualties and injuries, but nothing fatal towards the emperor and his wife. As a result, the bomber, Felice Orsini, and his accomplices were arrested and ties between France and England grew to be harsher.

During the last few years of his reign, Napoleon III sent French Army officer Jules Brunet to Japan to help the Tokugawa shogunate modernize its military for the inevitable confrontation with the Imperial Court of Kyoto.

Downfall of his empire

During the Franco-Prussian War, on September 4th 1870, Napoleon was forced to surrender and was dethroned as emperor of France. Thus, his empire fell along with him, too.

Appearances

• Assassin's Creed: Syndicate (mentioned in Database entry only)
• Assassin's Creed: Fragments – The Blade of Aizu (mentioned only)
• Assassin's Creed: The Engine of History – The Magus Conspiracy
• Assassin's Creed: The Engine of History – The Resurrection Plot (mentioned only)