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During the Second French Empire, or the reign of Emperor Napoleon III (1852–1870), Paris was the largest city in continental Europe, and a center of finance, fashion, and the arts. The population of the city grew from one million to two million. The city was enlarged by annexing eleven surrounding Communes, creating eight new arrondissements, and bringing the city to its present boundaries. Beginning in 1853, Napoleon III and his prefect of the Seine, Georges-Eugene Haussmann, over the course of seventeen years, completely rebuilt the heart of the city, creating new boulevards and its famous parks, giving the city its present distinctive appearance. Napoleon III's projects were still unfinished when he was drawn into the Franco-Prussian War in July 1870. The outnumbered and outdated French army was defeated; Napoleon III was captured and was swiftly deposed by the French parliament, which proclaimed the French Third Republic. ==The Paris of Napoleon III== (詳細はNapoleon III, nephew of Napoleon Bonaparte, had been born in Paris, but had spent very little of his life there. He lived most of his life in exile in Switzerland, Italy, the United States and England. When he was elected the first President of the French Republic in 1848, he had to ask Victor Hugo where the Place des Vosges was located. He was greatly influenced by London, where he had spent years in exile; he admired its squares, wide streets and sidewalks, and especially Hyde Park with its lake and winding paths. In 1852 Paris had many beautiful buildings, but it was not a beautiful city; the monuments, such as the Hôtel de Ville and the Cathedral of Notre Dame, were surrounded and hidden by slums. He wanted to make them visible and accessible.〔De Moncan, Patrice, ''Le Paris d'Haussmann'', p. 33.〕 Napoleon III was fond of quoting the utopian philosopher Charles Fourier: "A century which does not know how to provide luxurious buildings can make no progress in the framework of social well-being... A barbarian city is one composed of buildings thrown together by hazard, without any evident plan, and grouped in confusion between twisting, narrow, badly-made and unhealthy streets." As Prince-President in 1850, he had declared: "Let us make every effort to embellish this great city. Let us open new streets, make healthy the crowded arrondissements which are lacking air and daylight, and let the healthy sunlight penetrate every corner within our walls."〔De Moncan, Patrice, ''Le Paris d'Haussmann'', p. 28.〕 When he staged a coup and became Emperor in December 1852, he saw Paris as it could be; he decided to remake it into a more open, healthier, and more beautiful city. He immediately attacked the major flaws of the city; overcrowded and unhealthy slums, particularly the Ile de la Cité, the shortage of drinking water, sewers which emptied directly into the Seine, the absence of parks and green spaces, especially in the outer parts of the city, the congestion in the narrow streets, and the need for easier travel between the new train stations. 抄文引用元・出典: フリー百科事典『 ウィキペディア（Wikipedia）』 ■ウィキペディアで「Paris during the Second Empire」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
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