The Rise and Fall of the Second Empire, 1852-1871 Book

	Chronology	ix
	Foreword	xvii
1	The regime of Napoleon III	1
1.	Late 1852	1
	A restoration?
	New times
	The unity of the Second Empire
2.	Napoleon III
	The sphinx
	The antithesis of the 'men of stature'
	'Napoleonic ideas'
3.	The spirit of the regime	11
4.	Institutions: authoritarian features	15
	The suspension of liberties
	The emperor's powers
	The constitutional role of ministers
	The assemblies (the Senate, the Conseil d'Etat, the Legislative Body)
5.	Democratic features	21
	The means of expression of universal suffrage
	Official candidacies
2	The political personnel and political life of the Second Empire	25
1.	The governing personnel	25
	The position of ministers
	The key men of the regime
2.	The membership of the assemblies	34
	The senators
	The conseillers d'Etat
	The deputies
3.	The role of the three assemblies	38
	The Senate's lethargy
	The myth of the Conseil d'Etat
	The revenge of the Legislative Body
4.	The administration	42
	Civil servants
	The prefects
	The conseillers generaux and local notables
5.	Conclusions	53
	Political weaknesses
	Winning over the affluent classes
3	Economic progress and change	58
1.	Prosperity and expansion	58
	A stable population
	The role of the State
	A favourable economic cycle
	The various facets of imperial prosperity
2.	Money	71
	The stock exchange
	Company financing
	The banking revolution
	Capitalist concentration
	Capital exports
3.	The railway revolution	83
4.	Industrial growth	88
	The rise of big industry
	The evolution of traditional sectors
	General assessment
5.	The limits of economic change	95
4	Living standards, life styles and attitudes	98
1.	Average living standards and disparities	98
	A better-fed and sturdier population
	The decline of illiteracy
	Disparities
2.	The rural world	104
	Agricultural progress and backwardness
	Was the peasantry 'deproletarianized'?
	Attitudes and ways of life
3.	Workers and towns	113
	The working-class standard of living
	Social repression
	The transformation of the big cities; Paris
4.	Bourgeoisie and civilization	125
	The varied world of the bourgeoisie
	Artists and writers
	Literary and artistic renewal
5	The good years, 1852-61	132
1.	The first legislature (1852-7)	132
	The seizure of the country
	The alliance of throne and altar
	Weaknesses of the oppositions
	The regime's policy course and the Crimean War
2.	The phase of initiative	143
	The elections of 1857
	Orsini's assassination attempt and the law of general security
	Intervention in Italy to 1860: the break
	The customs coup d'etat
	Foreign ventures
	Towards a more liberal regime
6	Decline and fall	152
1.	Deterioration (1858-63)	152
	Causes
	Facing the rising tide of opposition
	The elections of 1863
2.	The regime's failures	158
	An uncertain policy
	The failure of social policy
	The failure of reform (1867-8)
	The elections of 1869
3.	The 'liberal Empire'	165
4.	Collapse	168
5.	The Commune	170
	Notes	175
	Bibliography	181
	Index of names	191