Saint-Jean-de-Maurienne

... A LITTLE BIT OF HISTORY



Both current Savoyard departments and county of Nice, before their annexation in France in 1860, were a part of a State consisted of diverse provinces on both sides of the Alps: the Kingdom of Piemont-Sardinia. With different cultures and languages, these provinces found their link only through the ruling family : the House of Savoy.



On July 21st, 1858, Napoleon III meets secretly in Plombières, Camille Benso, Count of Cavour and President of council of the Kingdom of Piemont-Sardinia. Cavour negotiates with Napoleon III the French military aid in the Kingdom in his fight against the Austrian Empire, in exchange with territories of Savoy and of Nice. In 1859, several tens of thousand men, embarked on French rail stations, arrived on the Savoy ground in the rail station of Saint-Jean-de-Maurienne, terminus of the line. This enormous troop transportation by rail is a world premiere.

March 24th, 1860 : the Treaty of Turin is signed and it specifies the conditions of the Annexation, in particular the appeal to the approval of the Savoyards and the organization of a plebiscite on the next April 22nd and 23rd. This vote is the object of a r propaganda spreading the advantages in the entrance in the Empire (reduction of the duration of the military service, the abolition of the customs duties). On April 29th are proclaimed the official results of the plebiscite by the Court of Appeal of Savoy: 130 533 YES for 130 839 valid votes.



2010  marks the hundred-fiftieth anniversary of this Annexation, determining event of the history of Savoy.

Written with the help of M. Pierre DOMPNIER

Holder member of the Savoy Academy

President of the Maurienne Society of Archaeology and History

To know all the events in Savoie and Haute-Savoie : www.150ans-paysdesavoie.fr

In download, the complete program of all animations in the valley of Maurienne : cliquez ici