Polity · 1853 CE – 1929 CE
Second French Empire
Second Empire
- Peak recorded area
- 671,751 km²
- 1863 CE
- Rulers on record
- 1
- from 1852 CE
- Data series
- 47
- 1853 CE–1910 CE
Overview
The Second French Empire, officially the French Empire, was the government of France from 1852 to 1870. It was established on 2 December 1852 by Louis-Napoléon Bonaparte, president of France under the French Second Republic, who proclaimed himself Emperor of the French as Napoleon III. The period was one of significant achievements in infrastructure and economy, while France reasserted itself as a dominant power in Europe.
Lead section from Wikipedia, reused under CC BY-SA 4.0. Read the article.
Territory
11 dated territorial extents on record from Cliopatria. Areas are measured off the recorded polygons; the line steps because each extent holds until the next one is recorded — nothing is interpolated. CShapes 2.0 holds 1 further extent, measured on a different basis and deliberately not merged into this series.
The record
The best-attested series in each category; where several projects publish the same quantity, the one with the most observations is shown. Each row is the most recent value the record holds at or before 1929 CE, shown with the year that value belongs to. Some statistical series also publish forward projections — the year column is the honest guide. Nothing on this page is interpolated or estimated by us.
People
6 of 12 series| Series | Value · year · source |
|---|---|
| Life Expectancy17 obs · 1853 CE–1869 CE | 41.13years1869 CE · Clio-Infra |
| Population17 obs · 1853 CE–1869 CE | 38.9Mpersons1869 CE · Maddison Project Database 2023 |
| Urban Population17 obs · 1853 CE–1869 CE | 3.3Mpersons1869 CE · Correlates of War NMC v6.0 |
| Social Conflict Events9 obs · 1852 CE–1866 CE | 1events1866 CE · HiSCoD (Historical Social Conflict Database) |
| Conflict Participants8 obs · 1852 CE–1859 CE | 310persons1859 CE · HiSCoD (Historical Social Conflict Database) |
| City Pop La Rochelle | 14.2Kpersons1856 CE · Chandler/Modelski Historical Urban Population |
Economy
6 of 10 series| Series | Value · year · source |
|---|---|
| GDP per capita17 obs · 1853 CE–1869 CE | 3,1982011 int'l $1869 CE · Maddison Project Database 2023 |
| GDP per capita PPP17 obs · 1853 CE–1869 CE | 3,609int'l $ (inflation adj.)1869 CE · Gapminder |
| Real Wage17 obs · 1853 CE–1869 CE | 15.74index (1500=1)1869 CE · Clio-Infra |
| Agriculture Intensity2 obs · 1860 CE–1910 CE | 4ordinal1910 CE · D-PLACE Ethnographic Atlas (Murdock) |
| Subsistence Agriculture2 obs · 1860 CE–1910 CE | 5ordinal1910 CE · D-PLACE Ethnographic Atlas (Murdock) |
| Subsistence Fishing2 obs · 1860 CE–1910 CE | 3ordinal1910 CE · D-PLACE Ethnographic Atlas (Murdock) |
Military
6 of 8 series| Series | Value · year · source |
|---|---|
| CINC Score17 obs · 1853 CE–1869 CE | 0.1133CINC (share of world capability)1869 CE · Correlates of War NMC v6.0 |
| Energy Consumption17 obs · 1853 CE–1869 CE | 21.4Mcoal-ton equivalents1869 CE · Correlates of War NMC v6.0 |
| Iron Steel Production17 obs · 1853 CE–1869 CE | 1.4Mtons1869 CE · Correlates of War NMC v6.0 |
| Military Expenditure GBP17 obs · 1853 CE–1869 CE | 23.9Mcurrent GBP1869 CE · Correlates of War NMC v6.0 |
| Military Personnel17 obs · 1853 CE–1869 CE | 474Kpersons1869 CE · Correlates of War NMC v6.0 |
| Battle Count | 1battles1862 CE · Historical Conflict Events Dataset (HCED v3) |
Governance
6 of 7 series| Series | Value · year · source |
|---|---|
| Electoral Democracy Index17 obs · 1853 CE–1869 CE | 0.203index (0-1)1869 CE · V-Dem v15 |
| Liberal Democracy Index17 obs · 1853 CE–1869 CE | 0.175index (0-1)1869 CE · V-Dem v15 |
| Participatory Democracy Index17 obs · 1853 CE–1869 CE | 0.128index (0-1)1869 CE · V-Dem v15 |
| Polity217 obs · 1853 CE–1869 CE | -3index (-10 to 10)1869 CE · Clio-Infra |
| Rule Of Law Index17 obs · 1853 CE–1869 CE | 0.727index (0-1)1869 CE · V-Dem v15 |
| Jurisdictional Hierarchy2 obs · 1860 CE–1910 CE | 2ordinal1910 CE · D-PLACE Ethnographic Atlas (Murdock) |
Development
6 of 10 series| Series | Value · year · source |
|---|---|
| Freedom Of Expression Index17 obs · 1853 CE–1869 CE | 0.375index (0-1)1869 CE · V-Dem v15 |
| Tech Mail Items17 obs · 1853 CE–1869 CE | 814items1869 CE · CHAT (Comin-Hobijn) |
| Tech Merchant Shipping Tonnage17 obs · 1853 CE–1869 CE | 1,075gross tons1869 CE · CHAT (Comin-Hobijn) |
| Tech Radios17 obs · 1853 CE–1869 CE | 0count1869 CE · CHAT (Comin-Hobijn) |
| Tech Railway Freight Tkm17 obs · 1853 CE–1869 CE | 6,271tonne-km1869 CE · CHAT (Comin-Hobijn) |
| Tech Railway Line Km17 obs · 1853 CE–1869 CE | 16.5Kkm1869 CE · CHAT (Comin-Hobijn) |
Rulers
1 on record with dated reigns. Reign years follow the house convention: BCE years are negative.
- Napoleon IIIHead of State1852 CE – 1870 CE
Language & currency
- Official & national languages
- French
- Currency
- French franc (FRF)
Memberships
- 4-member Defense Pact (1854)Military alliance · member1854 CE – 1856 CE
- United Kingdom–France–Italy Defense Pact (1854)Military alliance · member1854 CE – 1856 CE
- United Kingdom–France–Austria-Hungary Defense Pact (1854)Military alliance · member1854 CE – 1856 CE
- France–Austria-Hungary Entente (1854)Historical alliance · member1854 CE – 1856 CE
- United Kingdom–France–Sweden Defense Pact (1855)Military alliance · member1855 CE – 1856 CE
- United Kingdom–France–Austria-Hungary Defense Pact (1856)Military alliance · member1856 CE – 1877 CE
- France–Italy Defense Pact (1859)Military alliance · member1859 CE – 1859 CE
- France–Russia Non-Aggression Pact (1859)Historical alliance · member1859 CE – 1859 CE
- United Kingdom–France–Spain Entente (1861)Historical alliance · member1861 CE – 1862 CE
- France–Italy Non-Aggression Pact (1864)Historical alliance · member1864 CE – 1870 CE
- France–Austria-Hungary Non-Aggression Pact (1866)Historical alliance · member1866 CE – 1866 CE
Sources
Every figure above comes from one of these. Nothing on this page is estimated, interpolated or model-generated.
Chandler/Modelski Historical Urban PopulationChandler 1987 / Modelski 2003
Chandler, T. (1987). Four Thousand Years of Urban Growth; Modelski, G. (2003). World Cities: -3000 to 2000.
Compiled from published works (Chandler 1987; Modelski 2003)
CHAT (Comin-Hobijn)2009 (FinalCHAT_72909)
Comin, D. & Hobijn, B. (2009). The CHAT Dataset. NBER Working Paper 15319.
NBER research data, freely downloadable
Clio-Infra2017 datasets
Clio-Infra project (2017). Reconstructions of global inequality and well-being. International Institute of Social History.
Academic use, attribution
Seshat Global History Databank. Cliopatria: a historical basemap of polity borders (cliopatria.geojson).
Correlates of War NMC v6.0v6.0
Singer, J.D. (1987). National Material Capabilities Data (NMC), v6.0. Correlates of War Project.
Free academic use, citation
D-PLACE Ethnographic Atlas (Murdock)Ethnographic Atlas (D-PLACE 2.3)
Kirby, K.R. et al. (2016). D-PLACE: A Global Database of Cultural, Linguistic and Environmental Diversity. PLoS ONE 11(7).
CC BY 4.0
Gapminderv14 / systema globalis
Gapminder Foundation. Gapminder systema globalis dataset.
CC BY 4.0
HiSCoD (Historical Social Conflict Database)2021
Chevalier, J. et al. HiSCoD: Historical Social Conflict Database. Université de Rennes.
Academic use, attribution
Historical Conflict Events Dataset (HCED v3)v3
Brecke, P. Conflict Catalog (Historical Conflict Events Dataset), digitized v3.
Academic use, attribution
Maddison Project Database 20232023
Bolt, J. & van Zanden, J.L. (2024). Maddison Project Database 2023. University of Groningen GGDC.
CC BY 4.0
V-Dem v15v15
Coppedge, M. et al. (2025). V-Dem Country-Year Dataset v15. Varieties of Democracy Project.
Free academic/non-commercial use, attribution
Wikipedia contributors. Article lead sections, reused under CC BY-SA 4.0.
CC BY-SA 4.0
Second French Empire is one of the polities with a sourced record deep enough to publish.