Chapter 9, Napoleon III Takes Power

France

After the Bourgeois Republican Government suppressed the June Revolution, it began to court disaster in various ways.

In an effort to cater to interest groups, the Bourgeois Government chose to compromise with the Monarchists and the Church power faction. First, they abandoned the economic program of the Bourgeois Republicans, and then they reinstated the fiscal system of the July Monarchy.

On July 3, the French government announced the abolition of the state-owned railway plan; on July 11, the French government reinstated the high taxes on newspapers and publishing houses; on August 9, the French government began to restrict the freedom of publication and assembly...

All these were minor issues; to the common people, they weren't terribly painful, and some policies even helped consolidate the regime. But what the French government did next was truly courting death.

On August 30, the French government started to implement an additional tax law of 45 centimes;