News of the founding of the Greater French Empire spread, and all of France erupted in fervor. At that moment, Napoleon III's prestige reached its zenith, and he seemed poised to surpass even his uncle, Napoleon.
From this day onward, Napoleon III was no longer a second-generation heir who had risen to power on his uncle's legacy, but a great ruler of France in his own right.
Yet this "great ruler" was not in a very good mood. The reactions of the European nations had been even fiercer than Napoleon III had imagined. The Italy he had just swallowed might not be so easy to digest.
Quite a few people in the French Foreign Ministry had already worked themselves to collapse. Though they had given it their all, the reports sent back remained far from encouraging.
As of now, not a single European country had recognized the legitimacy of the "Greater French Empire."
Napoleon III truly could not find any legal basis for it. When the Bonaparte Family had been in Italy, they had merely been ordinary nobles; it was only because of his uncle Napoleon that they had risen so swiftly.
Never mind the lack of legitimacy for the throne—an election could still be used to make do and barely patch things over. But there was no legitimacy for the empire either. No, it was not a matter of insufficient legal grounds; there were simply none at all.
Opening the history books, one found that Italy and France had once belonged to the same country during the Roman era. No matter how shameless Napoleon III might be, he could not bring himself to claim that he was the heir of the Roman Empire.
Further on, the once-mighty Frankish Kingdom had also unified most of the territories of both countries,