which answer best describes how the second empire became the third republic?
When did France's second empire end? The Second Empire ended with the swift and catastrophic defeat of  France in the Franco-Prussian war of 1870. The war was engineered  by Bismarck with the idea that Germany â¦would be united.This  included the capture by the Prussians of the Napoleon III. Then the  proclamation at Versailles of the German Empire, the loss to France  of Alsace and Lorraine, and the proclamation of the Third Republic.