The easiest way to understand nineteenth-century France is to see it as a repeated struggle among monarchy, republic and empire, with several different versions of each.
| Dates | Regime | Ruler / governing body | Political character | How it ended |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1789–1792 | Constitutional phase of the Revolution | Louis XVI and successive revolutionary assemblies | Absolute monarchy dismantled; privileges abolished; constitutional monarchy attempted | Monarchy overthrown after war, unrest and distrust of the king |
| 1792–1804 | First Republic | Convention, Directory, then Consulate | Republic proclaimed; Terror, reaction, instability; increasing military authority | Napoleon converted the Consulate into an empire |
| 1792–1794 | National Convention | Girondins, then Jacobins | Radical republic; execution of Louis XVI; universal male suffrage proclaimed; Reign of Terror | Fall of Robespierre |
| 1794–1799 | Thermidorian reaction and Directory | Five-man Directory | More conservative republic; restricted suffrage; corruption and instability | Napoleon’s coup of 18 Brumaire |
| 1799–1804 | Consulate | Napoleon Bonaparte, First Consul | Formally republican but increasingly personal and authoritarian | Napoleon proclaimed emperor |
| 1804–1814/15 | First Empire | Napoleon I | Centralised military empire; Civil Code; administrative reform; continental conquest | Military defeat and Allied occupation |
| 1814–1815 | First Bourbon Restoration | Louis XVIII | Bourbon monarchy restored under a constitutional charter | Interrupted by Napoleon’s return |
| March–June 1815 | Hundred Days | Napoleon I | Brief restoration of the Empire | Defeat at Waterloo |
| 1815–1830 | Bourbon Restoration | Louis XVIII, then Charles X | Constitutional monarchy, but with strong royalist, aristocratic and Catholic influence | July Revolution of 1830 |
| 1830–1848 | July Monarchy | Louis-Philippe, “King of the French” | Bourgeois constitutional monarchy; limited electorate; liberal in origin but increasingly conservative | February Revolution of 1848 |
| 1848–1852 | Second Republic | Provisional Government, then President Louis-Napoléon Bonaparte | Universal male suffrage; social reform briefly attempted; conflict between workers and conservatives | Louis-Napoléon’s coup, followed by restoration of empire |
| 1852–1870 | Second Empire | Napoleon III | Initially authoritarian; later more liberal; economic modernisation and imperial ambition | Defeat by Prussia and capture of Napoleon III |
| 1870–1940 | Third Republic | Presidents and parliamentary governments | Parliamentary republic; initially fragile, later entrenched; secular education, colonial expansion, mass politics | Military defeat by Germany in 1940 |
| 1871 | Paris Commune | Revolutionary municipal government in Paris | Radical, socialist and republican experiment | Crushed by the national government during the “Bloody Week” |
| 1940–1944 | Vichy regime | Marshal Pétain | Authoritarian, anti-republican state collaborating with Nazi Germany | Liberation of France |
| 1944–1946 | Provisional Government | De Gaulle and successors | Restoration of republican legality; women enfranchised; post-war reconstruction | New constitution adopted |
| 1946–1958 | Fourth Republic | Parliamentary governments | Democratic and socially reforming, but politically unstable; decolonisation crises | Algerian crisis brought de Gaulle back to power |
| 1958–present | Fifth Republic | Presidents beginning with Charles de Gaulle | Strong presidency combined with parliamentary government; greater executive stability | Still in existence |
The simplest pattern
The sequence can be reduced to:
Absolute monarchy → constitutional monarchy → First Republic → First Empire → restored monarchy → July Monarchy → Second Republic → Second Empire → Third Republic → Vichy interruption → Fourth Republic → Fifth Republic
The nineteenth-century core is particularly symmetrical:
| Revolution | New regime |
|---|---|
| 1789 | Destruction of the old monarchy |
| 1792 | First Republic |
| 1799–1804 | Napoleon’s dictatorship and First Empire |
| 1814–1815 | Bourbon Restoration |
| 1830 | July Monarchy |
| 1848 | Second Republic |
| 1852 | Second Empire |
| 1870 | Third Republic |
| Political tendency | Broad aim |
|---|---|
| Legitimists | Restore the senior Bourbon line and traditional monarchy |
| Orléanists | Constitutional monarchy based on property and the middle classes |
| Bonapartists | Strong national leader legitimised by popular vote |
| Moderate republicans | Parliamentary government, property rights and gradual reform |
| Radical republicans | Wider democracy, secularism and stronger social reform |
| Socialists | Political democracy combined with economic and social equality |
| Catholic conservatives | Defence of Church influence, social hierarchy and order |
The remarkable fact is that France tried almost every imaginable constitutional arrangement between 1789 and 1870. Only after the crisis of the 1870s did republican government become reasonably secure.
A Note on Napoleon and Bonaparte:
| Person | Original name | Usually known as | Role |
|---|---|---|---|
| Napoleon Bonaparte | Napoleone Buonaparte | Napoleon I | Emperor of the French, 1804–1814 and briefly in 1815 |
| Napoleon François Joseph Charles Bonaparte | Son of Napoleon I | Napoleon II | Proclaimed emperor by Bonapartists in 1815, but never actually ruled France |
| Charles-Louis Napoléon Bonaparte | Nephew of Napoleon I | Louis-Napoléon Bonaparte, later Napoleon III | President of the Second Republic, then emperor from 1852 to 1870 |
