In international policy, Napoleon III tried to emulate his uncle , engaging in numerous imperial ventures around the world as well as several wars in Europe. The beginning of his reign saw French victories in Crimea and in Italy, gaining Savoy and Nice in the process. Using very harsh methods, he built up the French Empire in North Africa and in Southeast Asia. Napoleon III also sought to impose the Second Mexican Empire and bring it into the French orbit, but this ended in a fiasco. He badly mishandled the threat from Prussia, and by the end of his reign, Napoleon III found himself without allies in the face of overwhelming German force. His rule came to an end during the Franco-Prussian War, captured by the Prussian army at Sedan in 1870, dethroned by French republicans, and later died in exile in 1873 while living in the United Kingdom.