History of Savoy from 1815 to 1860

From 1815 to 1860, the history of Savoy began with Napoleon’s defeat at Waterloo and the Treaty of Paris on November 20, 1815, restoring the Duchy of Savoy to the House of Savoy after 23 years of revolutionary and Napoleonic rule. This restoration, however, deepened the divide between the Savoyard population and the authoritarian monarchy, as the House of Savoy’s efforts to unify the Italian Peninsula conflicted with local concerns, making Savoyards feel marginalized within an Italophone entity.

Cultural ties with France grew, particularly through the First Empire’s army (1814), with 18 lieutenant generals, 800 officers, and 25,000 Savoyard soldiers among 300,000 troops. The divide widened in the 1840s as the House of Savoy pursued expansionist policies aligned with the Italian Risorgimento. The separation was finalized by the Treaty of Turin in 1860, ceding Savoy to France in exchange for military support that helped the House of Savoy defeat the Austrian Empire, enabling the creation of the Kingdom of Italy, which it ruled.