Excerpts from Books and Wikipedia
"Parisians read that the assembly had been dissolved and that martial law was in operation, but also that universal suffrage was restored and that they would soon vote on a new constitution. The mastermind behind the school on December 2, the anniversary of Napoleon's victory at Austerlitz, was none other than Louis Napoleon, the nephew of Bonaparte. He had been elected president in December 1848, for a period of four years, and he had no intention of standing down. By the time the placards appeared, he had rounded up 78 leading political figures, including royalists, generals, radical leaders, and other undesirables. Soon 500 dissidents were killed. . . . He was now president for 10 years, a position endorsed by 91% of the voters in a referendum. The following year he elevated himself to Emperor Napoleon III. Europe would never be quite the same again, partly because Louis Napoleon's inexpert meddling in foreign affairs helped to unify both Italy and Germany, and undermine France, and partly because his career showed the way to later dictators." [Furtado: 1001 Days]