The Garde mobile ("Mobile Guard"; also called Garde nationale mobile though it had nothing to do with the Garde nationale ) was intended to be a reserve force of all able-bodied men previously not drafted (such as single men and childless widowers), trained yearly, during the time of Napoleon III .
136-458: Length of service was intended to be five years, with a draft of 116,000 men per year. Napoleon III took up the idea and announced on 12 December 1866 that the Garde Mobile would eventually attain a strength of 400,000 troops, thus reaching the ruler's target of one million French troops. Adolphe Niel , Minister of War for France under Emperor Napoleon III , was in charge of implementing
272-607: A French explorer of Egypt, became chief engineer of Egypt's Public Works . In addition to his normal duties, he surveyed the Isthmus of Suez and made plans for the Suez Canal. French Saint-Simonianists showed an interest in the canal and in 1833, Barthélemy Prosper Enfantin tried to draw Muhammad Ali's attention to the canal but was unsuccessful. Alois Negrelli , the Italian - Austrian railroad pioneer, became interested in
408-510: A banking and savings system that would provide credit to the working class, and to establish agricultural colonies similar to the kibbutzim later founded in Israel. This book was widely reprinted and circulated in France, and played an important part in his future electoral success. Louis Napoleon was busy in prison, but also unhappy and impatient. He was aware that the popularity of his uncle
544-453: A broad popular mandate, so on 20–21 December a national plebiscite was held asking if voters agreed to the coup. Mayors in many regions threatened to publish the names of any electors who refused to vote. When asked if they agreed to the coup, 7,439,216 voters said yes, 641,737 voted no, and 1.7 million voters abstained. The fairness and legality of the referendum was immediately questioned by Louis Napoleon's critics, but Louis Napoleon
680-409: A canal might disrupt their commercial and maritime supremacy. Lord Palmerston , the project's most unwavering foe, confessed in the mid-1850s the real motive behind his opposition: that Britain's commercial and maritime relations would be overthrown by the opening of a new route, open to all nations, and thus deprive his country of its present exclusive advantages. As one of the diplomatic moves against
816-497: A clear majority, enough to block any initiatives of Louis Napoleon. On 11 June 1849, the socialists and radical republicans made an attempt to seize power. Ledru-Rollin , from his headquarters in the Conservatory of Arts and Professions , declared that Louis Napoleon was no longer President and called for a general uprising. A few barricades appeared in the working-class neighborhoods of Paris. Louis Napoleon acted swiftly, and
952-491: A compendium of his political ideas which was published in three editions and eventually translated into six languages. He based his doctrine upon two ideas: universal suffrage and the primacy of the national interest. He called for a "monarchy which procures the advantages of the Republic without the inconveniences", a regime "strong without despotism, free without anarchy, independent without conquest". He also intended to build
1088-579: A contingent of about sixty armed men, hired a ship called the Edinburgh-Castle , and on 6 August 1840, sailed across the Channel to the port of Boulogne . The attempted coup turned into an even greater fiasco than the Strasbourg mutiny. The mutineers were stopped by the customs agents, the soldiers of the garrison refused to join, the mutineers were surrounded on the beach, one was killed and
1224-671: A conversation with another monk, Fidelis, who had sailed on the canal from the Nile to the Red Sea during a pilgrimage to the Holy Land in the first half of the 8th century. The Abbasid caliph al-Mansur is said to have ordered this canal closed in 767 to prevent supplies from reaching Arabian detractors. The remaining section of the canal near the Nile, known as the Khalij , continued to serve as part of Cairo's water infrastructure until
1360-567: A detailed description of the canal complete with plans and profiles. The Suez Canal Company ( Compagnie universelle du canal maritime de Suez ) came into being on 15 December 1858. The British government had opposed the project from the outset to its completion. The British, who controlled both the Cape route and the Overland route to India and the Far East, favored the status quo , given that
1496-752: A dream. Despite entering negotiations with Egypt's ruling Mamelukes , the Venetian plan to build the canal was quickly put to rest by the Ottoman conquest of Egypt in 1517 , led by Sultan Selim I . During the 16th century, the Ottoman Grand Vizier Sokollu Mehmed Pasha attempted to construct a canal connecting the Red Sea and the Mediterranean . This was motivated by a desire to connect Constantinople to
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#17327655736521632-470: A gifted orator; he spoke slowly, in a monotone, with a slight German accent from his Swiss education. His opponents sometimes ridiculed him, one comparing him to "a turkey who believes he's an eagle". Louis Napoleon's campaign appealed to both the left and right. His election manifesto proclaimed his support for "religion, family, property, the eternal basis of all social order". But it also announced his intent "to give work to those unoccupied; to look out for
1768-586: A laborer carrying lumber, and walked out of the prison. His enemies later derisively called him "Badinguet", the name of the laborer whose identity he had assumed. A carriage was waiting to take him to the coast and then by boat to England. A month after his escape, his father Louis died, making Charles Napoleon the clear heir to the Bonaparte dynasty. Louis Napoleon quickly resumed his place in British society. He lived on King Street, St James's , London, went to
1904-472: A mandate to amend the constitution. Work began on the new document in 1852. It was officially prepared by a committee of eighty experts but was actually drafted by a small group of the Prince-President's inner circle. Under the new constitution, Louis Napoleon was automatically reelected as president. Under Article Two, the president could now serve an unlimited number of 10-year terms. He was given
2040-683: A number of granite stelae that he set up on the Nile bank, including one near Kabret, and a further one a few kilometres north of Suez. Darius the Great's Suez Inscriptions read: King Darius says: I am a Persian; setting out from Persia I conquered Egypt. I ordered to dig this canal from the river that is called Nile and flows in Egypt, to the sea that begins in Persia. Therefore, when this canal had been dug as I had ordered, ships went from Egypt through this canal to Persia, as I had intended The canal left
2176-636: A portion of the first, was constructed under the reign of Necho II (610–595 BCE), but the only fully functional canal was engineered and completed by Darius I (522–486 BCE). James Henry Breasted attributes the earliest-known attempt to construct a canal to the first cataract , near Aswan, to the Sixth Dynasty of Egypt and its completion to Senusret III (1878–1839 BCE) of the Twelfth Dynasty of Egypt . The legendary Sesostris (likely either Pharaoh Senusret II or Senusret III of
2312-624: A president elected by popular vote through universal male suffrage, rather than chosen by the National Assembly. The elections were scheduled for 10–11 December 1848. Louis Napoleon promptly announced his candidacy. There were four other candidates for the post: General Cavaignac, who had led the suppression of the June uprisings in Paris; Lamartine, the poet-philosopher and leader of the provisional government; Alexandre Auguste Ledru-Rollin ,
2448-462: A slight but noticeable German accent. His tutor at home was Philippe Le Bas , an ardent republican and the son of a revolutionary and close friend of Robespierre . Le Bas taught him French history and radical politics. When Louis Napoleon was 15, his mother Hortense moved to Rome , where the Bonapartes had a villa. He passed his time learning Italian , exploring the ancient ruins and learning
2584-562: A three-year residency requirement. This new law excluded 3.5 of 9 million French voters, the voters that the leader of the Party of Order, Adolphe Thiers, scornfully called "the vile multitude". This new election law was passed in May 1850 by a majority of 433 to 241, putting the National Assembly on a direct collision course with the Prince-President. Louis Napoleon broke with the Assembly and
2720-569: A way to produce an heir for the Emperor, who agreed, as Joséphine was by then infertile. Louis and Hortense had a difficult relationship and only lived together for brief periods. Their first son, Napoléon Charles Bonaparte , died in 1807 and—though separated and parents of a healthy second son, Napoléon Louis —they decided to have a third child. They resumed their marriage for a brief time in Toulouse starting from 12 August 1807 and Louis Napoleon
2856-435: A wider European community of nations. "I believe", wrote Louis Napoleon, "that from time to time, men are created whom I call volunteers of providence, in whose hands are placed the destiny of their countries. I believe I am one of those men. If I am wrong, I can perish uselessly. If I am right, then providence will put me into a position to fulfill my mission." He had seen the popular enthusiasm for Napoleon Bonaparte when he
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#17327655736522992-569: A young woman from the town of Ham, who gave birth to two of his children. While in prison, Louis Napoleon wrote poems, political essays, and articles on diverse topics. He contributed articles to regional newspapers and magazines in towns all over France, becoming quite well known as a writer. His most famous book was L'extinction du pauperisme (1844), a study of the causes of poverty in the French industrial working class, with proposals to eliminate it. His conclusion: "The working class has nothing, it
3128-828: A youth he had joined in the patriotic uprising against the Austrians. The previous government had sent an expeditionary force, which had been tasked and funded by the National Assembly to support the republican forces in Italy against the Austrians and against the Pope. Instead the force was secretly ordered to do the opposite, namely to enter Rome to help restore the temporal authority of Pope Pius IX , who had been overthrown by Italian republicans including Mazzini and Garibaldi . The French troops came under fire from Garibaldi's soldiers. The Prince-President, without consulting his ministers, ordered his soldiers to fight if needed in support of
3264-413: Is necessary to give them ownership. They have no other wealth than their own labor, it is necessary to give them work that will benefit all....they are without organization and without connections, without rights and without a future; it is necessary to give them rights and a future and to raise them in their own eyes by association, education, and discipline." He proposed various practical ideas for creating
3400-460: Is operated and maintained by the state-owned Suez Canal Authority (SCA) of Egypt. Under the Convention of Constantinople , it may be used "in time of war as in time of peace, by every vessel of commerce or of war, without distinction of flag." Nevertheless, the canal has played an important military strategic role as a naval short-cut and choke point . Navies with coastlines and bases on both
3536-488: The Bitter Lakes and Lake Timsah ). In his Meteorology , Aristotle (384–322 BCE) wrote: One of their kings tried to make a canal to it (for it would have been of no little advantage to them for the whole region to have become navigable; Sesostris is said to have been the first of the ancient kings to try), but he found that the sea was higher than the land. So he first, and Darius afterwards, stopped making
3672-626: The Institution of Civil Engineers in London, and again Negrelli, to examine the plans developed by Linant de Bellefonds , and to advise on the feasibility of and the best route for the canal. After surveys and analyses in Egypt and discussions in Paris on various aspects of the canal, where many of Negrelli's ideas prevailed, the commission produced a unanimous report in December 1856 containing
3808-606: The Mediterranenan , Ismailia (1862) near the middle and north of Lake Timsah , and Port Twefik (1867) at the canal's southern entrance on the Red Sea. The canal opened under French control in November 1869. The opening ceremonies began at Port Said on the evening of 15 November, with illuminations, fireworks, and a banquet on the yacht of the Khedive Isma'il Pasha of Egypt and Sudan . The royal guests arrived
3944-529: The National Assembly on 13–14 May 1849 , only a few months after Louis Napoleon had become president, and were largely won by a coalition of conservative republicans—which Catholics and monarchists called "The Party of Order "—led by Thiers. The socialists and "red" republicans, led by Ledru-Rollin and Raspail, also did well, winning two hundred seats. The moderate republicans, in the middle, did very badly, taking just 70–80 seats. The Party of Order had
4080-684: The North Atlantic and northern Indian oceans via the Mediterranean Sea and the Red Sea, avoiding the South Atlantic and southern Indian oceans and reducing the journey distance from the Arabian Sea to London by approximately 8,900 kilometres (5,500 mi), to 10 days at 20 knots (37 km/h; 23 mph) or 8 days at 24 knots (44 km/h; 28 mph). The canal extends from the northern terminus of Port Said to
4216-537: The Sinai Peninsula from the rest of Egypt). The 193.30-kilometre-long (120.11 mi) canal is a key trade route between Europe and Asia. In 1858, French diplomat Ferdinand de Lesseps formed the Compagnie de Suez for the express purpose of building the canal . Construction of the canal lasted from 1859 to 1869. The canal officially opened on 17 November 1869. It offers vessels a direct route between
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4352-550: The Spice Islands , and forever changed the balance of Mediterranean trade. One of the most prominent losers in the new order, as former middlemen, was the former spice trading center of Venice . Venetian leaders, driven to desperation, contemplated digging a waterway between the Red Sea and the Nile—anticipating the Suez Canal by almost 400 years—to bring the luxury trade flooding to their doors again. But this remained
4488-517: The Swiss Army , trained to become an officer, and wrote a manual of artillery (his uncle Napoleon had become famous as an artillery officer). Louis Napoleon also began writing about his political philosophy—for as the early twentieth century English historian H. A. L. Fisher suggested, "the programme of the Empire was not the improvisation of a vulgar adventurer" but the result of deep reflection on
4624-779: The Treaty of Turin as its deferred reward. At the same time, his forces defended the Papal States against annexation by Italy. He was also favourable towards the 1859 union of the Danubian Principalities , which resulted in the establishment of the United Principalities of Moldavia and Wallachia . Napoleon doubled the area of the French colonial empire with expansions in Asia, the Pacific, and Africa. On
4760-736: The pilgrimage and trade routes of the Indian Ocean , as well as by strategic concerns—as the European presence in the Indian Ocean was growing, Ottoman mercantile and strategic interests were increasingly challenged , and the Sublime Porte was increasingly pressed to assert its position . A navigable canal would allow the Ottoman Navy to connect its Red Sea , Black Sea , and Mediterranean fleets. However, this project
4896-635: The Élysée Palace at the end of December 1848 and immediately hung a portrait of his mother in the boudoir and a portrait of Napoleon I, in his coronation robes, in the grand salon. Adolphe Thiers recommended that he wear clothing of "democratic simplicity", but following the model of his uncle, he chose instead the uniform of the General-in-Chief of the National Guard , and chose the title of "Prince-President". Louis Napoleon also made his first venture into foreign policy, in Italy, where as
5032-517: The 13th century BCE during the time of Ramesses II . Remnants of an ancient west–east canal through the ancient Egyptian cities of Bubastis , Pi-Ramesses , and Pithom were discovered by Napoleon Bonaparte and his engineers and cartographers in 1799. According to the Histories of the Greek historian Herodotus , about 600 BCE, Necho II undertook to dig a west–east canal through
5168-473: The 19th century. In later periods, the canal was closed with a dike for much of the year and reopened during the flood season. The Fatimid caliph al-Hakim is claimed to have repaired the Cairo to Red Sea passageway, but only briefly, circa 1000 CE, as it soon "became choked with sand". The successful 1488 navigation of southern Africa by Bartolomeu Dias opened a direct maritime trading route to India and
5304-438: The Bonaparte family, Jérôme Napoléon Bonaparte , Pierre Napoléon Bonaparte , and Lucien Murat were elected; the name Bonaparte still had political power. In the next elections, on 4 June, where candidates could run in multiple departments, he was elected in four different departments; in Paris, he was among the top five candidates, just after the conservative leader Adolphe Thiers and Victor Hugo . His followers were mostly on
5440-647: The Bonaparte legend and increased his publicity. King Louis Philippe had demanded that the Swiss government return Louis Napoleon to France, but the Swiss pointed out that he was a Swiss soldier and citizen and refused to hand him over. The King responded by sending an army to the Swiss border. Louis Napoleon thanked his Swiss hosts, and voluntarily left the country. The other mutineers were put on trial in Alsace , and were all acquitted. Louis Napoleon traveled first to London, then to Brazil , and then to New York City. He met
5576-541: The Cattaui banking family, and their relationship with James de Rothschild of the French House of Rothschild bonds and shares were successfully promoted in France and other parts of Europe. All French shares were quickly sold in France. A contemporary British skeptic claimed "One thing is sure... our local merchant community doesn't pay practical attention at all to this grand work, and it is legitimate to doubt that
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5712-710: The French and founded the Second Empire , reigning until the defeat of the French Army and his capture by Prussia and its allies at the Battle of Sedan in 1870. Napoleon III was a popular monarch who oversaw the modernization of the French economy and filled Paris with new boulevards and parks. He expanded the French colonial empire , made the French merchant navy the second largest in the world, and personally engaged in two wars. Maintaining leadership for 22 years, he
5848-518: The French border. Hortense and Louis Napoleon traveled incognito to Paris, where the old regime of King Charles X had just fallen and been replaced by the more liberal regime of Louis Philippe I , the sole monarch of the July Monarchy . They arrived in Paris on 23 April 1831, and took up residence under the name "Hamilton" in the Hotel du Holland on Place Vendôme . Hortense wrote an appeal to
5984-662: The Heroopolite Gulf and the Red Sea in the vicinity of the Egyptian town of Shaluf (alt. Chalouf or Shaloof ), located just south of the Great Bitter Lake, had become so blocked with silt that Darius needed to clear it out so as to allow navigation once again. According to Herodotus, Darius's canal was wide enough that two triremes could pass each other with oars extended, and required four days to traverse. Darius commemorated his achievement with
6120-650: The King, asking to stay in France, and Louis Napoleon offered to volunteer as an ordinary soldier in the French Army . The new king agreed to meet secretly with Hortense; Louis Napoleon had a fever and did not join them. The King finally agreed that Hortense and Louis Napoleon could stay in Paris as long as their stay was brief and incognito. Louis-Napoleon was told that he could join the French Army if he would simply change his name, something he indignantly refused to do. Hortense and Louis Napoleon remained in Paris until 5 May,
6256-586: The Mediterranean Sea and the Red Sea ( Egypt and Israel ) have a particular interest in the Suez Canal. After Egypt closed the Suez Canal at the beginning of the Six-Day War on 5 June 1967, the canal remained closed for eight years, reopening on 5 June 1975. The Egyptian government launched construction in 2014 to expand and widen the Ballah Bypass for 35 km (22 mi) to speed up the canal's transit time. The expansion intended to nearly double
6392-666: The Napoleonic political philosophy and on how to adjust it to the changed domestic and international scenes. As early as 1832 he presented a reconciliation between Bonapartism and republicanism through the principle of popular sovereignty. He believed a strong emperor existed to execute the will of the people. He published his Rêveries politiques or "political dreams" in 1833 at the age of 25, followed in 1834 by Considérations politiques et militaires sur la Suisse ("Political and military considerations about Switzerland"), followed in 1839 by Les Idées napoléoniennes ("Napoleonic Ideas"),
6528-418: The National Assembly were arrested in their homes. When about 220 deputies of the moderate right gathered at the city hall of the 10th arrondissement , they were also arrested. On 3 December, writer Victor Hugo and a few other republicans tried to organize an opposition to the coup. A few barricades appeared, and about 1,000 insurgents came out in the streets, but the army moved in force with 30,000 troops and
6664-426: The National Assembly, where Cavaignac was certain to win. The elections were held on 10–11 December. Results were announced on 20 December. Louis Napoleon was widely expected to win, but the size of his victory surprised almost everyone. He won 5,572,834 votes, or 74.2 percent of votes cast, compared with 1,469,156 for Cavaignac. The socialist Ledru-Rollin received 376,834; the extreme left candidate Raspail 37,106, and
6800-538: The National Assembly. In seven months, he had gone from a political exile in London to a highly visible place in the National Assembly, as the government finished the new constitution and prepared for the first election ever of a president of the French Republic. The new constitution of the Second Republic , drafted by a commission including Alexis de Tocqueville , called for a strong executive and
6936-399: The Nile at Bubastis. An inscription on a pillar at Pithom records that in 270 or 269 BCE, it was again reopened, by Ptolemy II Philadelphus . In Arsinoe , Ptolemy constructed a navigable lock , with sluices , at the Heroopolite Gulf of the Red Sea, which allowed the passage of vessels but prevented salt water from the Red Sea from mingling with the fresh water in the canal. In
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#17327655736527072-410: The Persian king Darius had the same idea, and yet again Ptolemy II , who made a trench 100 feet (30 m) wide, 30 feet (9 m) deep and about 35 miles (55 km) long, as far as the Bitter Lakes. In the 20th century, the northward extension of the later Darius I canal was discovered, extending from Lake Timsah to the Ballah Lakes. This was dated to the Middle Kingdom of Egypt by extrapolating
7208-448: The Pope. This was very popular with French Catholics, but infuriated the republicans, who supported the Roman Republic . To please the radical republicans, he asked the Pope to introduce liberal reforms and the Code Napoleon to the Papal States . To gain support from the Catholics, he approved the Loi Falloux in 1851, which restored a greater role for the Catholic Church in the French educational system. Elections were held for
7344-426: The Red Sea when it once extended north to Lake Timsah. ) The Red Sea is believed by some historians to have gradually receded over the centuries, its coastline slowly moving southward away from Lake Timsah and the Great Bitter Lake. Coupled with persistent accumulations of Nile silt , maintenance and repair of Ptolemy's canal became increasingly cumbersome over each passing century. Two hundred years after
7480-453: The Second Republic had been declared, led by a Provisional Government headed by a Commission led by Alphonse de Lamartine , and that different factions of republicans, from conservatives to those on the far left, were competing for power. He wrote to Lamartine announcing his arrival, saying that he "was without any other ambition than that of serving my country". Lamartine wrote back politely but firmly, asking Louis-Napoleon to leave Paris "until
7616-413: The Twelfth Dynasty of Egypt ) may have constructed the ancient canal, the Canal of the Pharaohs , joining the Nile with the Red Sea (1897–1839 BCE), when an irrigation channel was constructed around 1848 BCE that was navigable during the flood season , leading into a dry river valley east of the Nile River Delta named Wadi Tumilat . (It is said that in ancient times the Red Sea reached northward to
7752-420: The Wadi Tumilat between Bubastis and Heroopolis , and perhaps continued it to the Heroopolite Gulf and the Red Sea. Regardless, Necho is reported as having never completed his project. Herodotus was told that 120,000 men perished in this undertaking, but this figure is doubtless exaggerated. According to Pliny the Elder , Necho's extension to the canal was about 92 kilometres (57 statute miles), equal to
7888-527: The absolute authority to declare war, sign treaties, form alliances and initiate laws. The Constitution re-established universal male suffrage , and also retained a National Assembly, albeit one with reduced authority. Louis Napoleon's government imposed new authoritarian measures to control dissent and reduce the power of the opposition. One of his first acts was to settle scores with his old enemy, King Louis Philippe, who had sent him to prison for life and who had died in 1850. A decree on 23 January 1852 forbade
8024-400: The age of seven, Louis Napoleon visited his uncle at the Tuileries Palace in Paris. Napoleon held him up to the window to see the soldiers parading in the Place du Carrousel below. Louis Napoleon last saw his uncle with the family at the Château de Malmaison , shortly before Napoleon departed for the Battle of Waterloo . All members of the Bonaparte dynasty were forced into exile after
8160-460: The arts of seduction and romantic affairs, which he used often in his later life. He became friends with the French Ambassador, François-René, Vicomte de Chateaubriand , the father of romanticism in French literature , with whom he remained in contact for many years. He was reunited with his older brother Napoléon-Louis; together they became involved with the Carbonari , secret revolutionary societies fighting Austria's domination of Northern Italy. In
8296-425: The banking system. Napoleon promoted the building of the Suez Canal and established modern agriculture, which ended famines in France and made the country an agricultural exporter. He negotiated the 1860 Cobden–Chevalier Free Trade Agreement with Britain and similar agreements with France's other European trading partners. Social reforms included giving French workers the right to strike, the right to organize, and
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#17327655736528432-412: The beach. In the evening there were more illuminations and fireworks. On the morning of 17 November, a procession of ships entered the canal, headed by the L'Aigle . Among the ships following was HMS Newport , captained by George Nares , which surveyed the canal on behalf of the Admiralty a few months later. The Newport was involved in an incident that demonstrated some of the problems with
8568-453: The canal north of the Bitter Lakes flows north in winter and south in summer. South of the lakes, the current changes with the tide at Suez. The canal was the property of the Egyptian government, but European shareholders, mostly British and French, owned the concessionary company which operated it until July 1956, when President Gamal Abdel Nasser nationalised it—an event which led to the Suez Crisis of October–November 1956. The canal
8704-615: The canal's receipts... could ever be sufficient to recover its maintenance fee. It will never become a large ship's accessible way in any case." Work started on the shore of the future Port Said on 25 April 1859. The excavation took some 10 years, with forced labour ( corvée ) being employed until 1864 to dig out the canal. Some sources estimate that over 30,000 people were working on the canal at any given period, that more than 1.5 million people from various countries were employed, and that tens of thousands of labourers died, many of them from cholera and similar epidemics. Estimates of
8840-421: The canal, lest the sea should mix with the river water and spoil it. Strabo wrote that Sesostris started to build a canal, and Pliny the Elder (23/24–79 CE) wrote: 165. Next comes the Tyro tribe and, the harbour of the Daneoi , from which Sesostris, king of Egypt, intended to carry a ship-canal to where the Nile flows into what is known as the Delta; this is a distance of over 60 miles (100 km). Later
8976-421: The canal. There were suggestions that the depth of parts of the canal at the time of the inauguration were not as great as promised, and that the deepest part of the channel was not always clear, leading to a risk of grounding. The first day of the passage ended at Lake Timsah , 76 kilometres (41 nmi) south of Port Said. The French ship Péluse anchored close to the entrance, then swung around and grounded,
9112-456: The capacity of the Suez Canal, from 49 to 97 ships per day. At a cost of LE 59.4 billion (US$ 9 billion), this project was funded with interest-bearing investment certificates issued exclusively to Egyptian entities and individuals. The Suez Canal Authority officially opened the new side channel in 2016. This side channel, at the northern side of the east extension of the Suez Canal, serves the East Terminal for berthing and unberthing vessels from
9248-435: The city is more calm, and not before the elections for the National Assembly ". His close advisors urged him to stay and try to take power, but he wanted to show his prudence and loyalty to the Republic; while his advisors remained in Paris, he returned to London on 2 March 1848 and watched events from there. Louis Napoleon did not run in the first elections for the National Assembly , held in April 1848, but three members of
9384-440: The conservative ministers opposing his projects in favour of the dispossessed. He secured the support of the army, toured the country making populist speeches that condemned the Assembly, and presented himself as the protector of universal male suffrage. He demanded that the law be changed, but his proposal was defeated in the Assembly by a vote of 355 to 348. According to the Constitution of 1848, Louis Napoleon had to step down at
9520-523: The construction challenges that could have been the result of the alleged difference in sea levels, the idea of finding a shorter route to the east remained alive. In 1830, General Francis Chesney submitted a report to the British government that stated that there was no difference in elevation and that the Suez Canal was feasible, but his report received no further attention. Lieutenant Waghorn established his "Overland Route", which transported post and passengers to India via Egypt. Linant de Bellefonds ,
9656-433: The construction of Ptolemy's canal, Cleopatra seems to have had no west–east waterway passage, because the Pelusiac branch of the Nile, which fed Ptolemy's west–east canal, had by that time dwindled, being choked with silt. In support of this contention one can note that in 31 BCE, during a reversal of fortune in Mark Antony 's and Cleopatra's war against Octavian , she attempted to escape Egypt with her fleet by raising
9792-430: The country. Strict press censorship was enacted by a decree from 17 February 1852. No newspaper dealing with political or social questions could be published without the permission of the government, fines were increased, and the list of press offenses was expanded. After three warnings, a newspaper or journal could be suspended or even permanently closed. Louis Napoleon wished to demonstrate that his new government had
9928-497: The coup. On the night of 1–2 December, Saint Arnaud's soldiers quietly occupied the national printing office, the Palais Bourbon , newspaper offices, and the strategic points in the city. In the morning, Parisians found posters around the city announcing the dissolution of the National Assembly, the restoration of universal suffrage, new elections, and a state of siege in Paris and the surrounding departments. Sixteen members of
10064-559: The dates of ancient sites along its course. The reliefs of the Punt expedition under Hatshepsut , 1470 BCE, depict seagoing vessels carrying the expeditionary force returning from Punt. This suggests that a navigable link existed between the Red Sea and the Nile. Recent excavations in Wadi Gawasis may indicate that Egypt's maritime trade started from the Red Sea and did not require a canal. Evidence seems to indicate its existence by
10200-579: The defeat of Napoleon at the Battle of Waterloo and the Bourbon Restoration of monarchy in France. Hortense and Louis Napoleon moved from Aix to Bern to Baden , and finally to a lakeside house at Arenenberg in the Swiss canton of Thurgau . He received some of his education in Germany at the gymnasium school at Augsburg , Bavaria . As a result, for the rest of his life, his French had
10336-578: The discovery of an ancient canal extending northward from the Red Sea and then westward toward the Nile. Later, Napoleon, who became the French Emperor in 1804, contemplated the construction of a north–south canal to connect the Mediterranean with the Red Sea. But the plan was abandoned because it incorrectly concluded that the waterway would require locks to operate, the construction of which would be costly and time-consuming. The belief in
10472-643: The economy of Britain. He strolled in Hyde Park , which he later used as a model when he created the Bois de Boulogne in Paris. He spent the winter of 1838-39 in Royal Leamington Spa in Warwickshire . Living in the comfort of London, he had not given up the dream of returning to France to seize power. In the summer of 1840 he bought weapons and uniforms and had proclamations printed, gathered
10608-557: The elite of New York society and the writer Washington Irving . While he was traveling to see more of the United States, he received word that his mother was very ill. He hurried as quickly as he could back to Switzerland. He reached Arenenberg in time to be with his mother on 5 August 1837, when she died. She was finally buried in Rueil , in France, next to her mother, on 11 January 1838, but Louis Napoleon could not attend, because he
10744-451: The end of his term. He sought a constitutional amendment to allow him to succeed himself, arguing that four years were not enough to fully implement his political and economic program. He toured the country and gained support from many of the regional governments and many within the Assembly. The vote in July 1851 was 446 to 278 in favor of changing the law and allowing him to run again, but this
10880-510: The first century AD, who named it Amnis Traianus after himself. He reportedly moved its mouth on the Nile further south, at the site of what is now Old Cairo . By the time of the Arab conquest in 641 AD, this canal had fallen out of use. The commander of the Muslim force, Amr ibn al-As , ordered that it be restored so as to improve connections between Egypt and Medina , the Muslim capital at
11016-738: The following morning: the Emperor Franz Joseph I , the French Empress Eugenie in the Imperial yacht L'Aigle , the Crown Prince of Prussia , and Prince Louis of Hesse . Other international guests included the American natural historian H. W. Harkness . In the afternoon there were blessings of the canal with both Muslim and Christian ceremonies, a temporary mosque and church having been built side by side on
11152-444: The fortress Ham for 7 October 1840 contained a concise description of the new prisoner: "Age: thirty-two years. Height: one meter sixty-six. Hair and eyebrows: chestnut. Eyes: Gray and small. Nose: large. Mouth: ordinary. Beard: brown. Moustache: blond. Chin: pointed. Face: oval. Complexion: pale. Head: sunken in his shoulders, and large shoulders. Back: bent. Lips: thick." He had a mistress named Eléonore Vergeot [ fr ] ,
11288-409: The idea in 1836. In 1846, Prosper Enfantin's Société d'Études du Canal de Suez invited a number of experts, among them Robert Stephenson , Negrelli and Paul-Adrien Bourdaloue to study the feasibility of the Suez Canal (with the assistance of Linant de Bellefonds). Bourdaloue's survey of the isthmus was the first generally accepted evidence that there was no practical difference in elevation between
11424-454: The intended 20 days consecutively. In some cases, the amount of training was even less: in 1869, one battalion trained only for seven days, the sessions lasting three hours each. Additionally, conscripts with any prior knowledge of drill and military education were excused altogether from training. The discipline and equipment of the Garde were regarded as quite bad, especially when compared to
11560-424: The late king's family to own property in France and annulled the inheritance he had given to his children before he became king. The National Guard, whose members had sometimes joined anti-government demonstrations, was re-organized and largely used only in parades. Government officials were required to wear uniforms at official formal occasions. The Minister of Education was given the power to dismiss professors at
11696-456: The leader of the army, first withdrew his soldiers from Paris to allow the insurgents to deploy their barricades, and then returned with overwhelming force to crush the uprising; from 24 to 26 June, there were battles in the streets of the working class districts of Paris. An estimated five thousand insurgents were killed at the barricades, fifteen thousand were arrested, and four thousand deported. Louis Napoleon's absence from Paris meant that he
11832-452: The leader of the socialists; and Raspail , the leader of the far left wing of the socialists. Louis Napoleon established his campaign headquarters and residence at the Hôtel du Rhin on Place Vendôme . He was accompanied by his companion, Harriet Howard, who gave him a large loan to help finance his campaign. He rarely went to the sessions of the National Assembly and rarely voted. He was not
11968-428: The left, from the peasantry and working class. His pamphlet on "The Extinction of Pauperism" was widely circulated in Paris, and his name was cheered with those of the socialist candidates Barbès and Louis Blanc . The Moderate Republican leaders of the provisional government, Lamartine and Cavaignac , considered arresting Louis Napoleon as a dangerous revolutionary, but once again he outmaneuvered them. He wrote to
12104-478: The limited reported data of the time, the number would be fewer than 1,000. From its inauguration, till 1925, the Suez Canal Company built a series of company towns along the canal to serve its operation. They included ports and their facilities as well as housing for employees segregated by race or nationality. These were Port Said (1869) and Port Fuad (1925) at the canal's northern entrance by
12240-558: The moment came, he could return to France. In February 1848, Louis Napoleon learned that the French Revolution of 1848 had broken out; Louis Philippe, faced with opposition within his government and army, abdicated. Believing that his time had finally come, he set out for Paris on 27 February, departing England on the same day that Louis-Philippe left France for his own exile in England. When he arrived in Paris, he found that
12376-418: The most easily controlled; Thiers called him "of all the candidates, the least bad". He won the backing of L'Evenement , the newspaper of Victor Hugo, which declared, "We have confidence in him; he carries a great name." His chief opponent, General Cavaignac, expected that Louis Napoleon would come in first, but that he would receive less than fifty percent of the vote, which would mean the election would go to
12512-413: The need for locks was based on the erroneous belief that the Red Sea was 8.5 m (28 ft) higher than the Mediterranean. This was the result of using fragmentary survey measurements taken in wartime during Napoleon's Egyptian Expedition . As late as 1861, the unnavigable ancient route discovered by Napoleon from Bubastis to the Red Sea still channelled water as far east as Kassassin . Despite
12648-424: The number of deaths vary widely with Gamal Abdel Nasser citing 120,000 deaths upon nationalisation of the canal in a 26 July 1956 speech and the company's chief medical officer reporting no higher than 2.49 deaths per thousand in 1866. Doubling these estimates with a generous assumption of 50,000 working staff per year over 11 years would put a conservative estimate at fewer than 3,000 deaths. More closely relying on
12784-427: The old age of the workers; to introduce in industrial laws those improvements which do not ruin the rich, but which bring about the well-being of each and the prosperity of all". Louis Napoleon's campaign agents, many of them veterans from Napoleon Bonaparte's army, raised support for him around the country. Louis Napoleon won the grudging endorsement of the conservative leader Adolphe Thiers , who believed he could be
12920-477: The other hand, the intervention in Mexico , which aimed to create a Second Mexican Empire under French protection, ended in total failure. From 1866, Napoleon had to face the mounting power of Prussia as its minister president Otto von Bismarck sought German unification under Prussian leadership. In July 1870, Napoleon reluctantly declared war on Prussia after pressure from the general public. The French Army
13056-476: The others arrested. Both the British and French press heaped ridicule on Louis-Napoleon and his plot. The newspaper Le Journal des Débats wrote, "this surpasses comedy. One doesn't kill crazy people, one just locks them up." He was put on trial, where, despite an eloquent defense of his cause, he was sentenced to life in prison in the fortress of Ham in the Somme department of Northern France. The register of
13192-485: The penal colony in Cayenne . 9,530 followers were sent to French Algeria , 1,500 were expelled from France, and another 3,000 were given forced residence away from their homes. Soon afterwards, a commission of revision freed 3,500 of those sentenced. In 1859, the remaining 1,800 prisoners and exiles were amnestied, with the exception of the republican leader Ledru-Rollin, who was released from prison but required to leave
13328-696: The plan. Both the left and the right in the Corps Legislatif took issue with the proposal. Traditionalists wanted an all-professional army; liberals were opposed to Bonapartist militarism. But the law to create the Garde was passed in diluted form in January 1868 by 199 to 60 votes and came into force on February 1st of that year. Given the dilution, the Garde Mobile was not fully implemented as planned. It numbered some 90,000 men in 1870 and trained only 14 days per year, non-consecutively, instead of
13464-418: The poet Lamartine only 17,000 votes. Louis Napoleon won the support of all segments of the population: the peasants unhappy with rising prices and high taxes; unemployed workers; small businessmen who wanted prosperity and order; and intellectuals such as Victor Hugo. He won the votes of 55.6 percent of all registered voters, and won in all but four of France's departments. Louis Napoleon moved his residence to
13600-511: The president of the provisional government: "I believe I should wait to return to the heart of my country, so that my presence in France will not serve as a pretext to the enemies of the Republic." In June 1848, the June Days Uprising broke out in Paris, led by the far left, against the conservative majority in the National Assembly. Hundreds of barricades appeared in the working-class neighborhoods. General Louis-Eugène Cavaignac ,
13736-434: The project when it nevertheless went ahead, it disapproved of the use of "forced labour" for construction of the canal. Involuntary labour on the project ceased, and the viceroy condemned the corvée, halting the project. International opinion was initially skeptical, and shares of the Suez Canal Company did not sell well overseas. Britain, Austria , and Russia did not buy a significant number of shares. With assistance from
13872-451: The regiment to his side. The prefecture was seized, and the prefect arrested. Unfortunately for Louis-Napoleon, the general commanding the garrison escaped and called in a loyal regiment, which surrounded the mutineers. The mutineers surrendered and Louis-Napoleon fled back to Switzerland. Louis Napoleon was widely popular in exile and his popularity in France continuously grew after his failed coup in 1836 as it established him as heir to
14008-582: The regular army. After Niel's death in 1869, his replacement Edmond Le Leboeuf regarded the Garde with disdain. The Garde Mobile was called up on in July 1870, as part of the Franco-Prussian War , but arrived too late to Eastern France to be useful, presuming they could have been of use at all, considering how badly many senior officers considered their temperament and outfit. Napoleon III Napoleon III (Charles-Louis Napoléon Bonaparte; 20 April 1808 – 9 January 1873)
14144-659: The right for women to be admitted to a French university. In foreign policy, Napoleon III aimed to reassert French influence in Europe and around the world. In Europe, he allied with Britain and defeated Russia in the Crimean War (1853–1856). His regime assisted Italian unification by defeating the Austrian Empire in the Second Italian War of Independence and later annexed Savoy and Nice through
14280-399: The second half of the 19th century, French cartographers discovered the remnants of an ancient north–south canal past the east side of Lake Timsah and ending near the north end of the Great Bitter Lake. This proved to be the canal made by Darius I, as his stele commemorating its construction was found at the site. (This ancient, second canal may have followed a course along the shoreline of
14416-582: The ship and its hawser blocking the way into the lake. The following ships had to anchor in the canal itself until the Péluse was hauled clear the next morning, making it difficult for them to join that night's celebration in Ismailia . Except for the Newport : Nares sent out a boat to carry out soundings, and was able to manoeuver around the Péluse to enter the lake and anchor there for the night. Ismailia
14552-460: The ships out of the Mediterranean and dragging them across the isthmus of Suez to the Red Sea. Then, according to Plutarch , the Arabs of Petra attacked and burned the first wave of these ships and Cleopatra abandoned the effort. (Modern historians, however, maintain that her ships were burned by the enemy forces of Malichus I .) The ancient canal was re-excavated by Roman emperor Trajan in
14688-469: The southern terminus of Port Tewfik at the city of Suez . In 2021, more than 20,600 vessels traversed the canal (an average of 56 per day). The original canal featured a single-lane waterway with passing locations in the Ballah Bypass and the Great Bitter Lake . It contained, according to Alois Negrelli 's plans, no locks , with seawater flowing freely through it. In general, the water in
14824-513: The spring of 1831, when Louis Napoleon was 23, the Austrian and Papal governments launched an offensive against the Carbonari. The two brothers, wanted by the police, were forced to flee. During their flight, Napoléon-Louis contracted measles . He died in his brother's arms on 17 March 1831. Hortense joined Louis Napoleon and together they evaded the police and Austrian army and finally reached
14960-471: The tenth anniversary of the death of Napoleon. The presence of Hortense and Louis Napoleon in the hotel had become known, and a public demonstration of mourning for the Emperor took place on Place Vendôme in front of their hotel. The same day, Hortense and Louis Napoleon were ordered to leave Paris. During their brief stay in Paris Louis Napoleon had become convinced that Bonapartist sentiment
15096-644: The terminal. As the East Container Terminal is located on the Canal itself, before the construction of the new side channel it was not possible to berth or unberth vessels at the terminal while a convoy was running. Ancient west–east canals were built to facilitate travel from the Nile to the Red Sea . One smaller canal is believed to have been constructed under the auspices of Senusret II or Ramesses II . Another canal, probably incorporating
15232-722: The theatre and hunted, renewed his acquaintance with Benjamin Disraeli, and met Charles Dickens . He went back to his studies at the British Museum . He had an affair with the actress Rachel , the most famous French actress of the period, during her tours to Britain. More important for his future career, he had an affair with the wealthy heiress Harriet Howard (1823–1865). They met in 1846, soon after his return to Britain. They began to live together, she took in his two illegitimate children and raised them with her own son, and she provided financing for his political plans so that, when
15368-538: The time. The Muslim canal was excavated further north from Trajan's canal, joining the Nile close to what is now the Sayyida Zaynab neighbourhood of Cairo. This canal reportedly ended near modern Suez . The site of the former Roman channel near the Nile was absorbed into the new city of Fustat . A geography treatise De Mensura Orbis Terrae written by the Irish monk Dicuil (born late 8th century) reports
15504-402: The total distance between Bubastis and the Great Bitter Lake, allowing for winding through valleys . The length that Herodotus tells, of over 1,000 stadia (i.e., over 183 kilometres or 114 miles), must be understood to include the entire distance between the Nile and the Red Sea at that time. With Necho's death, work was discontinued. Herodotus tells that the reason the project was abandoned
15640-485: The two seas. Britain, however, feared that a canal open to everyone might interfere with its India trade and therefore preferred a connection by train from Alexandria via Cairo to Suez, which Stephenson eventually built. In 1854 and 1856, Ferdinand de Lesseps obtained a concession from Sa'id Pasha , the Khedive of Egypt and Sudan , to create a company to construct a canal open to ships of all nations. The company
15776-586: The universities and review the content of their courses. Students at the universities were forbidden to wear beards, seen as a symbol of republicanism. Suez Canal The Suez Canal ( / ˈ s uː . ɛ z / ; Arabic : قَنَاةُ ٱلسُّوَيْسِ , Qanāt as-Suwais ) is an artificial sea-level waterway in Egypt , connecting the Mediterranean Sea to the Red Sea through the Isthmus of Suez and dividing Africa and Asia (and by extension,
15912-472: The uprising was short-lived. Paris was declared in a state of siege, the headquarters of the uprising was surrounded, and the leaders arrested. Ledru-Rollin fled to England, Raspail was arrested and sent to prison, the republican clubs were closed, and their newspapers closed down. The National Assembly, now without the left republicans and determined to keep them out forever, proposed a new election law that placed restrictions on universal male suffrage, imposing
16048-506: The uprisings were swiftly crushed, with the killing of an estimated 300 to 400 opponents of the coup. There were also small uprisings in the more militant red republican towns in the south and center of France, but these were all put down by 10 December. Louis Napoleon followed the self-coup by a period of repression of his opponents, aimed mostly at the red republicans. About 26,000 people were arrested, including 4,000 in Paris alone. The 239 inmates who were judged most severely were sent to
16184-402: The younger brother of Napoleon Bonaparte , who made Louis the king of Holland from 1806 until 1810. His mother was Hortense de Beauharnais , the only daughter of Napoleon's wife Joséphine by her first marriage to Alexandre de Beauharnais . He was the first Bonaparte prince born after the proclamation of the empire . As empress, Joséphine had proposed the marriage of Louis and Hortense as
16320-435: Was because of a warning received from an oracle that others would benefit from its successful completion. Necho's war with Nebuchadnezzar II most probably prevented the canal's continuation. Necho's project was completed by Darius I of Persia , who ruled over Ancient Egypt after it had been conquered by his predecessor Cambyses II . It may be that by Darius's time a natural waterway passage which had existed between
16456-591: Was born prematurely, (at least) three weeks short of nine months. Hortense was known to have lovers and Louis Napoleon's enemies, including Victor Hugo , spread the gossip that he was the child of a different man, but most historians agree today that he was the legitimate son of Louis Bonaparte. Louis Napoleon was baptized at the Palace of Fontainebleau on 5 November 1810, with Emperor Napoleon serving as his godfather and Empress Marie-Louise as his godmother. His father stayed away, once again separated from Hortense. At
16592-502: Was convinced that he had been given a public mandate to rule. Following the returns, many challenged the validity of such an implausibly lopsided result. One such critic was Victor Hugo, who had originally supported Louis Napoleon but had been infuriated by the coup d'état, departed for Brussels on 11 December 1851. He became the most bitter critic of Louis Napoleon, rejected the amnesty offered to him, and did not return to France for twenty years. The 1851 referendum gave Louis Napoleon
16728-472: Was deemed too expensive, and was never completed. During the French campaign in Egypt and Syria in late 1798, Napoleon expressed interest in finding the remnants of an ancient waterway passage. This culminated in a cadre of archaeologists , scientists, cartographers and engineers scouring northern Egypt. Their findings, recorded in the Description de l'Égypte , include detailed maps that depict
16864-560: Was in Paris, and he was convinced that, if he marched to Paris, as Napoleon Bonaparte had done in 1815 during the Hundred Days , France would rise up and join him. He began to plan a coup against King Louis-Philippe . He planned for his uprising to begin in Strasbourg . The colonel of a regiment was brought over to the cause. On 29 October 1836, Louis Napoleon arrived in Strasbourg, in the uniform of an artillery officer; he rallied
17000-648: Was living in virtual imprisonment at the court of Vienna under the title Duke of Reichstadt. Next in line was Louis Napoleon's eldest uncle, Joseph Bonaparte , followed by Louis Bonaparte, but neither Joseph nor Louis had any interest in re-entering public life. When the Duke of Reichstadt died in 1832, Louis Napoleon became the de facto heir of the dynasty and the leader of the Bonapartist cause. In exile with his mother in Switzerland, Louis Napoleon enrolled in
17136-485: Was not allowed into France. Louis Napoleon returned to London for a new period of exile in October 1838. He had inherited a large fortune from his mother and took a house with 17 servants and several of his old friends and fellow conspirators. He was received by London society and met the political and scientific leaders of the day, including Benjamin Disraeli and Michael Faraday . He also did considerable research into
17272-451: Was not connected either with the uprising, or with the brutal repression that had followed. He was still in London on 17–18 September, when the elections for the National Assembly were held, but he was a candidate in thirteen departments. He was elected in five departments; in Paris, he received 110,000 votes of the 247,000 cast, the highest number of votes of any candidate. He returned to Paris on 24 September, and this time he took his place in
17408-469: Was rapidly defeated, and Napoleon was captured at Sedan . He was swiftly dethroned and the Third Republic was proclaimed in Paris. After he was released from German custody, he went into exile in England, where he died in 1873. Charles-Louis Napoleon Bonaparte, later known as Louis Napoleon and then Napoleon III, was born in Paris on the night of 19–20 April 1808. His father was Louis Bonaparte ,
17544-495: Was short of the two-thirds majority needed to amend the constitution. Louis Napoleon believed that he was supported by the people and he chose to retain power by other means. His half-brother Charles, duc de Morny , and a few close advisors quietly began to organize a coup d'état . They included minister of war Jacques Leroy de Saint Arnaud and officers from the French Army in North Africa to provide military backing for
17680-428: Was steadily increasing in France; Napoleon I was the subject of heroic poems, books and plays. Huge crowds had gathered in Paris on 15 December 1840 when the remains of Napoleon were returned with great ceremony to Paris and handed over to King Louis Philippe, while Louis Napoleon could only read about it in prison. On 25 May 1846, with the assistance of his doctor and other friends on the outside, he disguised himself as
17816-462: Was still strong among the French people and the army. They went to Britain briefly, and then back into exile in Switzerland. Ever since the fall of Napoleon in 1815, a Bonapartist movement had existed in France, hoping to return a Bonaparte to the throne. According to the law of succession established by Napoleon I, the claim passed first to his own son, declared "King of Rome" at birth by his father. This heir, known by Bonapartists as Napoleon II ,
17952-581: Was the disputed Napoleon II . It would only be two months following his birth that he, in accordance to Napoleon I's dynastic naming policy, would be bestowed the name of Charles-Louis Napoleon, however, shortly after, Charles was very quick to be removed from his name. Louis Napoleon Bonaparte was the first and only president of the French Second Republic , elected in 1848 . He seized power by force in 1851 when he could not constitutionally be re-elected. He later proclaimed himself Emperor of
18088-443: Was the first president of France from 1848 to 1852, and the last monarch of France as the second Emperor of the French from 1852 until he was deposed on 4 September 1870. Prior to his reign, Napoleon III was known as Louis Napoleon Bonaparte . He was born in Paris as the son of Louis Bonaparte , King of Holland (r. 1806–1810), and Hortense de Beauharnais . Napoleon I was Louis Napoleon's paternal uncle, and one of his cousins
18224-536: Was the longest-reigning French head of state since the fall of the Ancien Régime , although his reign would ultimately end upon his surrender to Otto Von Bismarck and Wilhelm I on 2 September 1870. Napoleon III commissioned a grand reconstruction of Paris carried out by prefect of the Seine, Baron Georges-Eugène Haussmann . He expanded and consolidated the railway system throughout the nation and modernized
18360-519: Was the scene of more celebrations the following day, including a military "march past", illuminations and fireworks, and a ball at the Governor's Palace. The convoy set off again on the morning of 19 November, for the remainder of the trip to Suez. After Suez, many of the participants headed for Cairo, and then to the Pyramids, where a new road had been built for the occasion. An Anchor Line ship,
18496-552: Was to operate the canal for 99 years from its opening. De Lesseps had used his friendly relationship with Sa'id, which he had developed while he was a French diplomat in the 1830s. As stipulated in the concessions, de Lesseps convened the International Commission for the piercing of the isthmus of Suez ( Commission Internationale pour le percement de l'isthme de Suez ) consisting of 13 experts from seven countries, among them John Robinson McClean , later President of
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