Savoy is a cultural-historical region in the Western Alps. Situated on the cultural boundary between Occitania and Piedmont, the area extends from Lake Geneva in the north to the Dauphiné in the south and west and to the Aosta Valley in the east.
The Duchy of Savoy was a territorial entity of the Savoyard state that existed from 1416 until 1847 and was a possession of the House of Savoy.
Villefranche-sur-Mer is a resort town in the Alpes-Maritimes department in the Provence-Alpes-Côte d'Azur region on the French Riviera and is located south-west of the Principality of Monaco, which is just west of the French-Italian border.
Mont-Blanc was a department of the First French Empire. It was named after Mont Blanc, the highest mountain in Western Europe, which marks the border between France and Piedmont. It was formed in 1792, when the Savoy region was occupied by the French. The department ceased to exist following Napoleon's defeat at Waterloo; the territory was restored to its former rulers. Its prefecture was Chambéry.
The Second Italian War of Independence, also called the Sardinian War, the Austro-Sardinian War, the Franco-Austrian War, or the Italian War of 1859, was fought by the Second French Empire and the Kingdom of Sardinia against the Austrian Empire in 1859 and played a crucial part in the process of Italian Unification.
The siege of Villafranca took place between 14 and 27 April 1744, during the War of the Austrian Succession. The armies of Spain and France advancing towards the Kingdom of Sardinia and attacked the entrenched positions in the Villafranca pass, defended by Anglo-Sardinian forces. The Franco-Spanish attacks were not very successful, but the defenders, due to the high losses suffered during the attacks, were forced to abandon the port of Villafranca with a large part of their forces. The small garrison that remained in the place surrendered on 27 April.
The arrondissement of Nice is an arrondissement of France in the Alpes-Maritimes department in the Provence-Alpes-Côte d'Azur region. It has 101 communes. Its population is 522,637 (2016), and its area is 3,067.4 km2 (1,184.3 sq mi).
The Treaty of Paris of 15 May 1796 was a treaty between the French Republic and the Kingdom of Piedmont-Sardinia during the War of the First Coalition.
Belvédère is a commune in the Vésubie valley north of Nice in the Alpes-Maritimes department in southeastern France. The village of Belvédère is located at the entrance of the Gordolasque valley on the edge of the Mercantour National Park.
Saorge is a commune in the Alpes-Maritimes department in southeastern France. It is a member of Les Plus Beaux Villages de France Association. Highway E74 which runs north from Menton, passes through Saorge on its way to the Col de Tende where it crosses into Italy.
The Army of the Alps was one of the French Revolutionary armies. It existed from 1792–1797 and from July to August 1799, and the name was also used on and off until 1939 for France's army on its border with Italy.
Jacques Bernard Modeste d'Anselme was a French general of the French Revolutionary Army, notable as the first commander of the Army of the Var which soon became the Army of Italy. He fell under suspicion, was removed from command and placed under arrest, but he survived the Reign of Terror. ANSELME is one of the names inscribed under the Arc de Triomphe, on Column 23.
The Treaty of Turin concluded between France and Piedmont-Sardinia on 24 March 1860 is the instrument by which the Duchy of Savoy and the County of Nice were annexed to France, ending the centuries-old Italian rule of the region.
The Second Battle of Saorgio was fought from 24 to 28 April 1794 between a French First Republic army commanded by Pierre Jadart Dumerbion and the armies of the Kingdom of Sardinia-Piedmont and the Habsburg monarchy led by Joseph Nikolaus De Vins. It was part of a successful French offensive designed to capture strategic positions in the Maritime Alps and Ligurian Alps, and on the Mediterranean coast. Tactical control of the battle was exercised by André Masséna for the French and Michelangelo Alessandro Colli-Marchi for the Coalition. Saorge is located in France, about 70 kilometres (43 mi) northeast of Nice. At the time of the battle, the town was named Saorgio and belonged to Piedmont.
The First Battle of Saorgio saw a French army commanded by Gaspard Jean-Baptiste Brunet attack the armies of the Sardinia-Piedmont and Austria led by Joseph Nikolaus De Vins. The local Sardinian commander in the Maritime Alps was Charles-François Thaon, Count of Saint-André. Though the French were initially successful in this War of the First Coalition action, their main assaults against the strong defensive positions on the Massif de l'Authion and the Col de Raus failed with serious losses. Saorge is now located in France about 70 kilometres (43 mi) northeast of Nice, but in 1793 Saorgio belonged to Piedmont. In April 1794 the French seized the positions from the Austro-Sardinians in the Second Battle of Saorgio.
The Battle of Epierre was part of a larger War of the First Coalition campaign that pitted a Republican French army led by François Christophe de Kellermann against a numerically stronger Kingdom of Sardinia-Piedmont army commanded by the Prince Maurizio, Duke of Montferrat. Under the overall leadership of the Austrian commander in chief Joseph Nikolaus De Vins, Montferrat launched an offensive in mid-August 1793 to recapture the Duchy of Savoy from the French. Because the French were preoccupied with the Siege of Lyon, the Piedmontese recovered most of the Maurienne and Tarentaise Valleys, but they were stopped just short of Albertville and the reconquest of Savoy. In September, Kellermann launched a counteroffensive in which he adroitly switched his troops between valleys in order to drive back the Piedmontese. At Épierre, the French under Jean-Denis Le Doyen defeated the Marquis of Cordon in a local action. By 8 October the Piedmontese abandoned all their gains and withdrew to the crests of the Graian Alps. In spite of his victory, the suspicious politicians in Paris put Kellermann in arrest and he was imprisoned until November 1794.
The siege of Nice took place between 15 March 1705 and 4 January 1706 as part of the War of the Spanish Succession. It pitched the forces of Louis XIV of France against those of Victor Amadeus II of Savoy – the latter were led by the marquis of Caraglio.
The Kingdom of Sardinia denotes the Savoyard state from 1720 until 1861, which united the island of Sardinia with the mainland possessions of the House of Savoy. Before 1847, only the island of Sardinia proper was part of the Kingdom of Sardinia, while the other mainland possessions were held by the Savoys in their own right, hence forming a composite monarchy and a personal union which was formally referred to as the "States of His Majesty the King of Sardinia". This situation was changed by the Perfect Fusion act of 1847, which created a unitary kingdom. Due to the fact that Piedmont was the seat of power and prominent part of the entity, the state is also referred to as Sardinia-Piedmont or Piedmont-Sardinia and sometimes erroneously as the Kingdom of Piedmont.
Jean-Gaspard Dichat de Toisinge became a general officer in the service of the Kingdom of Sardinia-Piedmont during the War of the First Coalition. Born in the Duchy of Savoy into a distinguished family, he entered the Sardinian army in 1759 and advanced in rank in the peacetime army. After the outbreak of war, he was promoted to lieutenant colonel of the Aosta Infantry Regiment in 1793. That year he became commander of a provisional regiment of grenadiers. In early 1796 he was promoted colonel and later led a division. After another promotion to general officer, he fought against Napoleon Bonaparte's French army at the battles of San Michele and Mondovì and was killed in the latter action.
The Regiment "Cavalleggeri di Sardegna" is an inactive cavalry unit of the Italian Army. In 1726, the Royal Sardinian Army formed the Dragoons of Sardinia, which were tasked with maintaining order on the recently acquired island of Sardinia. In 1776, the unit was renamed Light Dragoons of Sardinia Corps and in 1808, during the exile of King Victor Emmanuel I on the island, the corps was expanded and renamed Regiment "Cavalleggeri di Sardegna". In 1818, the regiment was renamed Musketeers Corps of Sardinia and one year later Royal Hunters Corps of Sardinia. In 1822, the corps was disbanded and its personnel transferred to the Royal Carabinieri Corps of Sardinia. Due to the sharp increase of brigandage on Sardinia, the Regiment "Cavalleggeri di Sardegna" was reformed in 1832. In 1853, the regiment was once more disbanded and its personnel transferred to the Royal Carabinieri Corps of Sardinia. In December 1914, shortly before Italy's entry into World War I, the Royal Italian Army formed the X Sardinian Squadrons Group in Ozieri, which consisted of two squadrons recruited on the island. In October 1915, the X Sardinian Squadrons Group was disbanded and the remaining personnel assigned to the 19th Sardinian Squadron, which was sent to the Albanian front. In April 1916, the 19th Sardinian Squadron was attached to the Regiment "Cavalleggeri di Lodi" (15th), with which the squadron served until the end of the war. After the end of the war, the 19th Sardinian Squadron was disbanded.
First French Republic 
Kingdom of Sardinia