transformed into the Second French Empire, established by a referendum on 7 November 1852. President Bonaparte, who had been elected as such by the French people, officially became Napoleon III, Emperor of the French, from 2 December 1852. This date was chosen for its symbolic and historical importance: on 2 December, 48 years earlier, his uncle had been crowned as the first emperor of the first empire.

Napoleon III's rule would de facto end on 28 July 1870, when his power