The name Sapaudia appeared for the first time with Ammien Marcellin, Circa 354 or 370 AD, and designated what is nowadays Savoy and Helvetia. In 485, the Burgondes, coming from the North of the Leman lake, ocucpied the area. In 534, Sapuadia was incorporated in the merovingian kingdom by the sons of Clovis when they annexed the Burgonde kingdom, and the name was reduced to Saboia.
Savoy controlled the cols of Mount-Cenis (crossed by Pépin le Bref in 755 and 756, as well as Charlemagne in 773) and Petit-Saint Bernard.
In 843 the treaty of Verdun, made Savoy a part of Lothaire's land, then in 888 it went to the first kingdom of transjurane Burgondy. But from 888 to 1033, the authority of the Emperor was no more respected than the auhority of the king of Burgondy.
At the beginning of the XIth century, the count of Geneva in the North, and the Humbertiens (the familly of Whit-handed Humbert) in the south became emancipated. The latter hold cities in Savoie, Maurienne and Bugey, parts of Viennois, and in 1044 the gain through marriage marquisate in Italy (Suse and Torino), and also the county of Aoste. Then, their influence in Italy was weakened by the Empire and the Bishops of Torino. Amédée the 3rd was the first to use the title of Count of Savoie, and susbtitute the cross of Savoy to the eagle of the kings of Burgondy in his coat-of-arms.
In 1294, cousins of the Humbertiens fammilly (branch of Savoie-Achaïe), took back the lost territories and the Italian side of the Alps. West of the Alps, Count Pierre II sized part of French Switzerland, and extended his influence in Germanic Swizterland. Philippe the 1rst and Amédée V annexed Bresse, and entered in Geneva.
During this time, the House of Savoy extended its influence all over Europe. People from Savoy were welcome in England during the XIII and XIV centuries, where they acquired honors and responsabilities : a whole district of London was under the partonage of Savoy. Several royal marriages strengthened the influence of the County. This influence extended far to the east : John V Paleologue, monarch of Constantinople, was the son of Jeanne of Savoy, and cousin of Amédée VI (the Count Verd, or Green Count), one of the best counts of Savoy. Otherthrown by the Turks, allied to the Bulgarians, John V was replaced by his wife. But Amédée VI decided to give him back is throne, and in 1366, 17 ships bearing the cross of Savoy, with 2000 knights and soldiers of Savoy, left for Constantinople. After a short campaign, Amédée the 6th managed to beat the Turks and the Bulgarian, but asked the restoration of John the 5th as the unique peace condition.
In 1388, Amédée VII, the Red Count, who fought beside the French against the English, earning his name because of English blood on his sword, sized the county of Nice, and in 1401 Amédée VIII acquired the area around Annecy and Geneva.
The House of Savoy was then one of the wealthiest lands in Europe : the Alps were not seen as an hindrance, but as the backbone of the County. With the controls of the cols between France and Italy, and the corresponding taxes, the court in Chambéry was able to show a extraordinary pomp. In 1416, the emperor Sigismond I, in a trip from Aachen to Avignon, stopped in Chambéry. He was so impressed by the wealth and power of Amédée VIII, that he decided Savoy should not be a mere county, and made it a duchy, on February 19th 1416.
In 1418, the Savoie-Achaïe branch of the house of Savoie disappeared, and count Amédée VIII definitely attached Piemonte to Savoie.
To the general surprise, Amédée VIII, one the most powerful princes of the time, feared by the French as well as by the Italian, suddenly decided to become a monk! His wisdom, which earned him to be called "the Solomon of the century", and the fact his dynasty, ruling in France and Italy, could be a hope of peace, made him elected Pope Felix V, anti pope to counter Rome. But after 9 years, to quell the old dispute, he resigned and recognized the authority of the Roman Pope Nicolas V.
The golden age of Savoie was then finished, and the successors of Amédée VIII were not so brilliant. France, united under Charles VII or Louis XI, was a worthy adversary. The Dukes tried to get closer to Charles the Bold, against the Swiss, but as a result they lost Bas-Valais in 1477.
Emmanuel-Philibert transfered the capitale from Chambéry to Turin, to be more protected from French attacks. The country started then to be divided, the kings became more and more "italians", thus getting farther and farther from the landlords and people of Savoy.
In 1607, the "Academie Florimontane was created, and it will be the model Richelieu used to create the French Academy.
In 1713, Savoy became a kingdom at the treaty of Utrecht, gaining Sicilia. In 1720, it exchanged Sicilia and Sardinia, becoming the kingdom of Piemonte Sardinia. At that time, Savoy had its largest territory, incuding a good part of French alps, from Switzerland down to Nice, the Italian Piemonte and Sardinia.
The actual Savoy (part of the kingdom) had a community of language and culture with France. So in 1792, king Victor-Amédée III sided with Louis XVI, but the people of Savoy choose the Revolutionary side, and threw the king's army out of Chambery. 3 communes voted independance, 77 blank, and 568 for annexion to France. None to go back to Piemonte.
At the Paris treaty in 1796, Victor-Amédée relinquised Savoy and Nice, and Savoy remained with France until 1814.
In 1814, the restored King of Sardinia get back a part of Savoy, but France kept 1/3 of the country.
The Savoie brigade, this "Jewel of an army" (as a French Marshall said) continued to fight with heroism to protect Piemonte against Austria in 1848-1849, even if now everything separated Savoy and Piemonte. "Savoy would abandonned its princes only if they were victorious".
After Magenta and Solferino, where France helped the Italians to get their independance, Victor-Emmanuel had to give back Savoy and Nice to France, as a price for the help.
A referendum was organized. Savoy accepted to get back to France the 22nd of April 1860, with 130533 yes, 235 no, and 71 blank. So Savoy became definitly French after California joined the United Sates!
In 1940, after the infamous Italian backstab to a routing France in the North, French chasseurs alpins, although badly outnumbered, managed to slow then halt the Italians offensive in the Alps. We will never know how long they could have hold, as the armistice was signed before.
Then, their was a very active resistance activity against the occupant, with former chasseurs alpins as a backbone. Finally, the partisans (450 of them) organized a maquis at the Glieres plateau, where they could received allied air dropped supplies. They were finally encircle by more than 4000 German and Vichy France troops, with artillery and aviation support, and after two weeks of fighting had to withdraw, with 150 casualties (a lot were prisonners shot afterward).
This gave a good example to other partisans, this episode was used by both side in the pyschological warfare, and when the allied landed in Normandy, there were about 200 000 men in the Interior French Forces (FFI), that sabotage German supplied end enabled the allied to advance faster than expected.
Haute Savoie, the Northern department of Savoy, was the first to free itself from Axis occupation.
