标题: Both France and Italy Share Summit of Mont Blanc [打印本页] 作者: choi 时间: 9-6-2015 15:12 标题: Both France and Italy Share Summit of Mont Blanc (c) “France and Italy have squabbled over Mont Blanc’s summit in the Alps for more than a century.”
(i) The bottomline is Mount Blanc (the summit itself; the slopes are divided, though -- without clear demarcation, see (iii)(D) below) has been jointly owned by France and Italy since 1860.
(ii) Mont Blanc (which is French; Italian: Monte Bianco; both meaning "white mountain" thanks to glaciers and snow) rises 4,810 m (15,781 ft) above sea level and is ranked 11th tallest in the world -- and Europe's highest after excluding mountains in the Caucus.
(iii) For how Mont Blanc and the nearby peaks came to be the demarcation boundary, we turn to history. (Mostly, Wikipedia is not helpful.)
(A) Italian unification https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Italian_unification
("Despite a lack of consensus on the exact dates for the beginning and end of this period, many scholars agree that the process began in 1815 with the Congress of Vienna and the end of Napoleonic rule, and was completed in 1871 when Rome became the capital of the Kingdom of Italy")
(B) Kingdom of Sardinia https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kingdom_of_Sardinia
(1324–1861; was acquired by the House of Savoy in 1720 (afterwards 'often called [Kingdom of Piedmont-Sardinia'))
spearheaded Italian unification.
* House of Savoy was founded in year 1003 in the historical Savoy region (in present-day France; the accent of "Savoy" is in the second syllable, with "a" pronounced like "e" in "squirrel"). Wikipedia
* For the House, Chambéry in Savoy region was the capital (1295 - 1563), followed by Turin (1563-1871; sometimes de facto and some other times de jure -- so when the House was forced to exchange Sicily for Sardinia, the power center of the House did not really shift, remaining at Turin). Turin is the capital of the Piedmont region of Italy.
* "During the War of the Quadruple Alliance, Victor Amadeus II, duke of Savoy and sovereign of Piedmont, had to agree to yield Sicily to the Austrian Habsburgs and receive Sardinia in exchange. The exchange was formally ratified in the Treaty of The Hague of Feb 17, 1720. Because the kingdom of Sardinia had existed since the 14th century, the exchange allowed Victor Amadeus to retain the title of king in spite of the loss of Sicily." Wikipedia
* Both names in Victor Amadeus II are given; Amadeus is not the last or family name.
(C) In 1860, Kingdom of (Piedmont) Sardinia's nemesis, to achieve Italian unification was Austria(-Hungary), so Sardinia made peace with France.
"Emperor Napoleon III of France and the Count of Cavour, Prime Minister of the Kingdom of Sardinia [whose king then was Victor Emmanuel II], met in secret at Plombières-les-Bains on 21 July 1858. They agreed that France would support the unification of Italy by Sardinia, provided that the Pope should retain control of Rome, and Sardinia would cede to France the Duchy of Savoy and County of Nice.
"With Austria vindictive and powerful, and in a threatening strategic position; with the Pope outraged and desperate, and in control of an army which attached to itself a large share of the fanaticism of Europe, there was no hope for struggling Italy but in a firmer alliance with France.
(D) Mont Blanc https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mont_Blanc
("A demarcation agreement, signed on Mar 7, 1861, defines the new border. With the formation of Italy, for the first time Mont Blanc is located on the border of France and Italy")
* Italy https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Italy
("In 1860–61, general Giuseppe Garibaldi led the drive for unification in Naples and Sicily, allowing the Sardinian government led by the Count of Cavour to declare a united Italian kingdom on Mar17, 1861")
* The text of Mar 7, 1861 agreement (in English translation) does not mention the (summit of) Mont Blanc, but did other peaks.
Edward Hertslet, The Map of Europe by Treaty; Showing the various political and territorial changes which have taken place since the general peace of 1814 with numerous maps and notes. Vol II (No 138-356, [years] 1828-1863). London: Butterworths or Harrison 1875 https://books.google.com/books?i ... %201861&f=false
("No 329 -- BOUNDARY TREATY between France and Sardinia. Signed at Turin, 7th March, 1861")
(E) William Deans and Frederick Martin, A History of France; From the earliest times to the present day, Volume 4. Edinburgh: Grange Publishing Wiorks, 1882, at pages 736-737 https://books.google.com/books?i ... %201860&f=false
(Emperor Napoleon III of France desired "natural boundaries' for France. "Mountains and rivers alone, they [publications of French government] explained, could * * * be adopted as true frontiers * * * The Rhine was clearly the boundary of France towards the east, and the river Scheldt to the north, while as to the south-east, there could be no doubt that a part of Savoy, up to the summits of Mont Blanc and Mont Cenis, and from thence down to the Mediterranean shore, with the river Roga as the boundary, belonged to her [France] by right. * * * The imperial government [of France] demanded, with official sternness, that there ought to be, in the first instance, a 'rectification' of frontiers' towards Italy, and that the principality of Savoy, together with the duchy of Nice, with a population of 659,000, should be ceded to France. The demand, officially addressed to the Sardinian government in February 1860, created the greatest sensation throughout Europe. It was the first time in modern history of the ruler of one country asking another, in a time of profound peace, and while professing friendship, to cede territory and subjects, treating them simply as coveted goods and chattels. In Italy the indignation was so great as to burst all bounds, while Savoy and Nice themselves threatened insurrection. To allay the storm, Napoleon [III] found it necessary to enter with his helpless ally, the King of Sardinia, into a convention, by which it was settled that the population of Savoy and Nice should give consent, in a plebiscite, to the annexation with France, and that, at the same time, the people of Tuscany and the Emilia, who had driven away their rulers, should decide, by universal suffrage, whether they would retain their independence or preferred to be incorporated with Sardinia. These stipulations were embodied in a treaty signed at Turin on the 24th of March 1860 * * * In Savoy and Nice it was a mere sham * * * the voting urns being entirely in the possession of agents appointed at Paris, duly instructed as to the number of tickets they were to put in and to draw out. The official announcement, in singular contrast with the previous attitude of the population, was that only a few hundred persons, described as 'agitators,' had voted against becoming subjects of the Emperor Napoleon, and that the immense majority of the population, hastening with alacrity to the polling booths, had declared in favour of annexation with France")