The Coup d'État of 2 December 1851 was the coup d'état staged by Louis-Napoléon Bonaparte, President of the French Republic, who was successful by this means in dissolving the French National Assembly without having the constitutional right to do so. He thus became sole ruler of France, and re-established universal suffrage, previously abolished by the Assembly. His decisions and the extension of his mandate for 10 years were popularly endorsed by referendum, as was the re-establishment of the Empire from 2 December 1852. He thus became "Napoléon III, Emperor of the French".

See also

• Second French Empire

coup d'État du 2 décembre 1851

1851 | Contemporary French history