Napoléon IV (Napoleonic Age)

Napoléon IV (born Napoléon Charles Jacques Henri Bonaparte; 1 June 1858 – ?? ?? ????) was Emperor of the French from 4 June 1879, the date of the abdication of his older cousin Louis, to 30 January 1907, the date of his death. The fifth Emperor of the French, he reigned for over 27 and a half years, making him the longest-reigning French monarch since his great-grandfather Napoléon I (who reigned for almost 35 and a half years). Though strikingly more conservative than his elder cousin and predecessor, he was, in the grand scheme of French politics, a center-right moderate. By the end of his reign, a few powers – though relatively minor – had been transferred to the French Parliament, beginning a period of liberalization of French Imperial politics that would continue throughout the 20th century. He was the last French monarch, and one of the last in the world, to personally lead his soldiers in battle during the ???? War in ????. A moderating force on the then-increasingly polarized French left and right, he is considered a strong ruler in French history that served as a stable rallying point after the autocratic tendencies of his uncle, Napoléon III, and the disastrously destabilizing liberal beliefs of his cousin. Historians have also considered him an able diplomat and, while lacking administrative skill, being adept at weighing the counsel of his advisors and choosing the best path for the Empire. His reign saw the peak of the Second Industrial Revolution, the Scramble for Africa, and the first decades of New Imperialism that gripped the Great Powers of the world.