Download or read book The Rise and Fall of the Second Empire, 1852-1871 written by Alain Plessis and published by Cambridge University Press. This book was released on 1985 with total page 216 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The Second Empire lasted longer than any French regime since 1789, yet most historical accounts of the government of Napoleon III have been overshadowed by the knowledge of its disastrous and tragic end. As Professor Plessis shows in this detailed thermatic study, such an approach ignores the major social, economic, and political developments of a period that witnessed the gradual acceptance of univeral suffrage, the establishment of large-scale industrial capitalism, a massive improvement in communications, and the birth of impressionism in art.