 Napoleon III has often been seen as an authoritarian but ineffectual leader who brought France into dubious, and ultimately disastrous, foreign military adventures.20th century historians by the 1930s saw the Second Empire as a precursor of fascism, but by the 1950s were celebrating it as leading example of a modernizing regime.However, historians have generally given Napoleon negative evaluations on his foreign policy, and somewhat more positive evaluations of his domestic policies, especially after he liberalized his rule after 1858.