Napoleon III

About Napoleon III

Napoleon III, the nephew of Napoleon Bonaparte, served as the first President of France and later as the Emperor of the French from 1852 to 1870, establishing the Second French Empire. His reign was marked by significant industrial modernization, the rebuilding of Paris under Baron Haussmann, and French intervention in conflicts like the Crimean War. This extensive political and developmental impact secures his position at #421 in MIT's Historical Popularity Index, reflecting substantial global cultural weight.

Despite this historical significance, his online presence in 2025 suggests a significant attention gap. Napoleon III accrued 1.6 million Wikipedia views, which results in a +4x overattention score relative to his historical importance ranking. In contrast, the much more historically crucial Louis XIV (HPI #42) garnered only 213K views, indicating a stark reversal of historical weighting in modern internet searches.

Furthermore, the recent trend shows declining interest, with a year-over-year view change of -16.1% and a minor Q1 vs Q3 momentum drop of -1%. This suggests that while he receives disproportionately high attention compared to his historical rank, the overall volume of modern internet engagement is already in a downward trajectory.