The next president was Louis Napoleon Bonaparte (1808–1873), the great emperor's nephew. He had spent the majority of his life as an adventurer living outside of France. He had attempted to conduct a coup against the July Monarchy twice before. The 1848 uprising provided him with a fresh opportunity to enter French politics.

Following Louis Philippe's corruption and the upheaval of the early months of the Second Republic, people looked to the name of Bonaparte as a source of stability and glory.

The election of "Little Napoleon" effectively ended the Second Republic. Louis Napoleon was more concerned with his personal renown than with republican institutions. He was the first contemporary tyrant to exploit fragile political and social conditions.

The gathering was dispersed by troops, and the president called for new elections. More than 200 individuals were killed in the resistance to the coup, and more than 26,000 people were detained around the country. Almost 10,000 opponents of the coup were deported to Algeria.

Nonetheless, on December 21, 1851, more than 7.5 million people accepted Louis Napoleon's actions and ratified a new constitution that strengthened his power. Only 600,000 people risked to vote against him. A year later, in December 1852, an empire was declared, and Louis Napoleon was elevated to the throne as Emperor Napoleon III. A vote was held once more to endorse the measure. France had shifted from republicanism to Caesarism for the second time in less than fifty years.

Some of these clubs focused on women's rights. Some women even attempted, but failed, to vote in the 1848 elections.

These activities drew both middle-class and working-class women. The most extreme group of women dubbed themselves the Vesuvians, after Italy's Vesuvius volcano. They said that it was time for women's demands to erupt like pent-up lava. They wanted full domestic household equality for men and women, the right of women to serve in the military, and gender equality in attire. They also held protests on the streets. Because of the extreme nature of their demands and activities, they lost the support of more moderate women.

Certain Parisian women rushed to seize the newly accessible liberal liberties for their own purposes.

They collaborated with male political parties and advocated for family integrity and marital fidelity. They also passionately welcomed the maternal role for women, but attempted to use it to elevate the status of women in society.

They believed that because maternity and childrearing are so vital to a community, women should be given higher education, economic stability, equal civil rights, property rights, and the freedom to work and vote. Although some members of the assembly backed the women's groups, the temporary administration made no action to legislate these rights.

The focus on family and motherhood was, in part, a defensive measure to keep conservative women and men from accusing women's rights proponents of attempting to destroy the family and traditional values.

In 1848, the destiny of French feminists was identical to that of radical workers. They were completely vanquished, and their efforts were completely futile. After the elections that spring, the new administration showed little sympathy for their causes.

The closure of the national workshops harmed both men and women employees, and it closed one channel through which women could express their concerns. Another venue in which women had engaged was closed down by the conservative assault on political groups.

Women were soon explicitly barred from joining political clubs, either alone or with males. These coercive efforts were similar to what happened in 1793 to politically engaged Frenchwomen and their organizations.

The events of February 1848 in Paris sent shockwaves across the Habsburg realms. On every level, the empire was vulnerable to revolutionary attack. Its regime was hostile to liberal institutions. Its bounds span national boundaries.

Its society was based on serfdom. During the 1840s, even Metternich advocated for reform, but none came. The regime faced rebellions in Vienna, Prague, Hungary, and Italy in 1848. The uprisings that erupted in Germany also posed a danger to the Habsburg hegemony.

The Hungarians had gained confidence as a result of the Vienna uprising. The Magyar leaders of the Hungarian March Revolution were mostly liberals backed by aristocrats seeking to protect their aristocratic freedoms from the central authority in Vienna. The Hungarian diet approved the March Laws, which required religious equality, jury trials, election of the lower chamber of the diet, a reasonably free press, and taxation of the aristocracy. Emperor Ferdinand supported these measures since he had little else to do in the spring of 1848.

In addition, the Magyars sought to form a distinct Hungarian kingdom inside the Habsburg borders. While Ferdinand remained emperor, they would enjoy local autonomy. As part of their plan for a semi-independent state, the Hungarians tried to acquire Transylvania, Croatia, and Serbia.

The Hungarians aspired to conquer Transylvania, Croatia, and other eastern Habsburg Empire regions as part of this proposal for a largely autonomous state. This annexation would have subjected Romanians, Croatians, and Serbs to Magyar rule.

These national groups opposed the push for Magyarization, particularly the imposition of the Hungarian language on them for government and administration reasons.

The national groups that the Hungarians were now oppressing thought that the Habsburgs provided them with a greater opportunity to retain their national or ethnic identity, languages, and economic self-interest.