Part 7/10:
The post-Napoleonic period ushered in the Bourbon Restoration but was characterized by political instability. The revolutionary fervor resurfaced in 1848, leading to the establishment of the Second Republic under Louis Napoleon Bonaparte, who later declared himself Emperor Napoleon III. The collapse of his regime in 1870 after the Franco-Prussian War paved the way for the Third Republic.
Throughout the late 19th century, the Third Republic expanded colonial territories, asserting France's role as the second-largest colonial empire by the 20th century.