The Bonapartists were a conservative and monarchist faction of French politics that existed from 1815 to 1889. The Bonapartists sought to restore the House of Bonaparte and its style of government in the aftermath of Napoleon I's downfall, advocating for conservatism, monarchism, authoritarian centralism, and anti-elitist populism. The faction's political views were flexible, but they included the ideals of devoted service, self-sacrifice, and social loyalty (symbolized by their honeybee emblem), and they also supported public order, French national glory, and emulation of the Roman Empire; Napoleon adopted the principles of the French Revolution to support his imperial rule. Bonapartists saw the left-right divide as an obstacle to national unity and welfare, and they attracted support from both imperialist aristocrats and militarist generals and commoners who supported the Bonapartists' nationalist and populist policies. Under Napoleon I, his imperial regime found a home for both constitutional monarchists (replacing a King with an Emperor) and enlightened republicans.
During the reign of Napoleon I, the Bonapartists were supported by many in the bourgeoisie who supported his promotion of stability, economic reforms, and opportunities for social mobility. The military class, including many veterans of the Revolutionary Wars, were often staunch Bonapartists, enthusiastic about Napoleon's leadership and military successes. Cities like Paris were hubs of Bonapartist support, where the benefits of Napoleon’s policies were more visible. Support was also strong in regions that had benefited from his administrative reforms and infrastructure projects. Many Bonapartists combined elements of nationalism with a desire for order, viewing Napoleon as a protector of the Revolution’s achievements while also promoting a strong centralized state. During the 1840s, the party was supported by royalists who saw Louis-Napoleon as a bulwark against republicanism and socialism, by most peasants (who formed the majority of the party's voters), and workers who supported the Prince's social proposals.
In 1848, following the revolution which overthrew the July Monarchy and established the French Second Republic, Napoleon's nephew Louis-Napoleon Bonaparte returned to France from his exile in Switzerland. On 10 December 1848, running as the Bonapartist candidate, Louis-Napoleon won the presidential election with 74.3% of the popular vote, and, after the anti-Bonapartist Party of Order won a majority in the 1849 legislative election, Louis-Napoleon launched a self-coup in 1851 and banned the Party of Order. He then proclaimed the creation of the Second French Empire, and, in the February-March 1852 legislative election, the Bonapartists won 253 of the 263 seats in the first imperial legislature. The Bonapartists were the unchallenged party of power until 1869, when they split into Emile Ollivier's Liberal Bonapartists and Adolphe Vuitry's Conservative Bonapartists. The Bonapartists supported the re-establishment of the French colonial empire, including Emperor Napoleon's interventions in the Italian Wars of Independence and in Mexico; they also supported modernization.
In 1871, the Second Empire collapsed during the Franco-Prussian War, but, in 1876, the Bonapartists under Prince Napoleon Bonaparte became the second-largest faction in the Chamber of Deputies after the French Republicans and ahead of the Monarchists. During the 1870s, the party was split between imperialists (supported by the party deputies, and closer to the moderate ideas of Napoleon III) and "Red Bonapartists" (who were close to the bourgeois and anti-clerical far-left). In 1880, Prince Napoleon renounced all dynastic claims. In 1888, the Bonapartists allied with Georges Boulanger's Droite Nationaliste alliance, but Boulanger's fall also weakened the Bonapartists. The rise of radicalism in southwestern France took away former Bonapartist voters, and, by 1900, the monarchist wing of the Bonapartist movement was almost dead. In 1902, only five Bonapartists were elected to the Chamber of Deputies.
The Bonapartists supported Georges Clemenceau's coalition government during World War I, and, in 1919, 20 Bonapartists were elected deputies. However, the victory of the Cartel des Gauches in 1924 was fatal to most of the "Red Bonapartist" deputies. During the 1930s, Bonapartism became popular among many Parisian youths, and Louis, Prince Napoleon became a French Resistance leader during World War II. The occupying Germans dismantled all traces of mainland Bonapartism, while some former Bonapartists such as Pierre Constantini supported Vichy France. Bonapartism remained alive in Corsica, and Corsican Bonapartists were elected to the French Parliament until the 1990s. However, Bonapartism was largely replaced by Gaullism in postwar France, and the movement was mostly defunct during the 21st century.
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