Napoleon III of France had taken the…

Napoleon III of France had taken the imperial title in 1852, inaugurating the Second Empire and presiding over an era great industrialization, urbanization (including the massive rebuilding of Paris by Baron Haussmann) and economic growth, but his foreign policies have been less successful.

In 1854, the Second Empire had joined the Crimean War, pitting France and Britain against the Russian Empire, which had been decisively defeated at Sevastopol in 1854-1855 and at Inkerman (1854).

In 1856, France had joined the Second Opium War on the British side against China; a missionary's murder had been used as a pretext to take interests in southwest Asia in the Treaty of Tientsin.

In 1861 Napoleon III, had largely supported Maximilian in his claim to Mexico, a move that was also supported by Britain and Spain but condemned by the U.S.

This had led to the French intervention in Mexico.