Rebellious Savoy: from the “Great Fermentation” to the French occupation. 1791–1792. On materials of the Archive of Russian Empire Foreign Policy
Mitrofanov Andrei
On September 22, 1792, French troops triumphantly entered the Duchy of Savoy under the command of General Montesquiou and subsequently, on September 29, occupied Nice without a real fight. On November 27, the National Convention of France decreed the accession of Savoy, making it a department of Mont-Blanc. Being the consequence of important social disruptions in Savoy and of active revolutionary agitation by the French, this short period of the French “occupation” and later of making the region an official part of France was preceded by some years of social instability. This article is based on such valuable sources as reports that Russian diplomats delivered from Turin to St. Petersburg in 1791–1793. The diplomats Karpov and Prince Beloselsky described there the social crisis and military defeats of the Kingdom of Sardinia, criticized the court of Victor Amadeus III and pointed out that there was unrest throughout towns and villages of both Savoy and Piedmont in 1790–1792, while the enlightened elite and the third estate of Savoy sympathized with the revolution in France.