Neutralized Zone of Savoy

[1] Thus a proposal of February 18, 1815 stated: The Savoyard territory situated to the north of the mountain range running from Mont Blanc to Ugine is placed under the protection of Swiss neutrality.

Whenever the government of the Confederation deems it necessary on the occasion of external dangers, it is authorized to have the above-mentioned territory occupied militarily in the same way as if it were an integral part of the States of the federation.

[1] Indeed, Switzerland needed to be able to defend its territory more easily by deploying its army at strategic points such as passes and defiles, as its border around Geneva, located in an open country, was indefensible.

[5] The sovereign only broached this issue when the signatories were considering increasing the cantonal territory of the city of Geneva, which could only be achieved through the cession of communes belonging to the Kingdom of Piedmont-Sardinia.

[5] Furthermore, his Minister of War Saint-Marsan was asked to add to the Swiss proposal that neutrality could be accepted if "whenever the powers neighboring Switzerland were in a state of hostilities, either commenced or imminent, the troops of the King of Sardinia in these provinces could withdraw and, if necessary, take the road to Valais for this purpose, that the troops of armies of any power could neither stay in nor pass through the above-mentioned provinces, with the exception of those which the Helvetic Confederation might deem appropriate to place there".

[2] At the time of the 1815 Treaty of Paris, which was responsible for its implementation, paragraph 2 of article 3 specified that this boundary went from "Ugine, including this town, to the south of Lake Annecy, through Faverges to Lescheraines, and from there to Lac du Bourget to the Rhône",[note 1][6] i.e. a territory comprising the two original provinces, to which was added that of the Genevois, the northern half of the Bauges massif, the Avant-Pays, but also the Lac du Bourget region, including the town of Aix-les-Bains.

[6] Napoleon's abortive return during the Hundred Days campaign led to a stricter policy towards France, which had to relinquish Savoy completely but retain its territorial integrity.

A major political campaign was launched, led by James Fazy and the Genevan radical deputy John Perrier, to win the support of the people.

On August 28, 1914, the Savoy prefecture received a message from the military governor of the 14th region stating: "For diplomatic reasons, please postpone the organization of hospitalization of wounded soldiers in the neutralized Savoy zone", followed three days later by a new dispatch stating: "Hospitalization of wounded soldiers, including Germans, in Aix-les-Bains, neutralized zone, impossible without ministerial instructions".

Finally, on September 4, the same ministry telegraphed the prefecture: "From the point of view of the French interpretation of treaties, Aix-les-Bains should be considered as being outside the neutral zone; consequently, there is no reason not to hospitalize the wounded there.

[13][8] In 1943, an administrative officer for the cantons of Reignier and Annemasse noted: "Certainly, a plebiscite in the free zone of Chablais, Faucigny and part of the Genevois Savoyard would give a strong majority in favor of joining Switzerland; the reasons are simple: neutral country for a long time, more flexible administration than ours, apparently healthier currency and above all the many advantages that the population of the region would find in Geneva, university town (Lyon or Grenoble are too far away [sic]), city of art, center of commerce and industry, etc.

"[13] In 1995, the Ligue Savoisienne (Savoyan League) claimed that France had failed to respect the clauses of the neutral zone by mobilizing the Savoyards during the wars of 1870 and 1914, leading to "genocide".

[14][15] However, the Savoyan League's argument is flawed insofar as the Congress of Vienna stipulated that only Switzerland could deploy troops in the area (which it did not, as no foreign army had ever come close), but it did not prohibit Savoyards from going off to fight, either for their country or, since the annexation in 1860, for France.