‘Hegel says somewhere that all great historic facts and personages recur twice. He forgot to add: “Once as tragedy, and again as farce.”’
On December 2, 1851, Louis-Napoleon Bonaparte staged a coup d’état and dissolved the National Assembly, paving the way for his coronation as emperor. Marx was rather unimpressed with Louis-Napoleon, and considered him a grotesque mediocrity compared to his world conquering uncle Napoleon I. The Eighteenth Brumaire of Louis Bonaparte discusses the 1851 coup d’état and treats the events of history from the standpoint of Marx’s materialistic conception of history. Marx’s ability as a historian and a social critic along with his views on class struggles and historical materialism are fully expounded in this essay.
Karl Marx was a German-born philosopher, economist, political theorist, historian, and revolutionary. He was one of the most influential intellectual in the 19th and 20th century and his influence continues to this day.