Napoleon III

[MASHED POTATOES. VOTE!]

Was Napoleon III more of a prototype for modern-day dictators, utilizing personal appeal and the democratic institution to gain and hold onto power, or a late example of enlightened despot (or, in Marx's words, a history repeating itself, but as a farce).

[Antonio the Sixth]

Napoleon III is a really strange figure. There is undoubtedly something comical about his figure, a showboater who throughout his career promised greatness and glory but was only able to deliver the most superficial veneer of it. In fairness, that might have been inevitable for someone with such an illustrious ancestor to live up to. And yet, it's hard to deny that he had real talents as a statesman. First, as a politician, to outmaneuver the entire political class of the Second Republic, playing the left against the right to eventually crush both. And then, it must be said, even as an administrator: his reign is when the industrial revolution truly begins hitting France and saw a considerable rise in standards of living. Of course, his diplomacy was by contrast a succession of disasters for France (although we got a unified Italy out of it, so I won't complain too much) culminating in the crushing 1870 defeat.

Ultimately, I agree more with the "modern" interpretation. It is significant that the Second Empire by the time of its fall had already liberalized significantly and was heading toward becoming a parliamentary regime. If that experiment had been allowed to continue, I would see it develop into something resembling, ironically, the politics of the Kaiserreich - with universal suffrage and parliamentary control but a strong executive.