Geneva is a Swiss city located at the southwestern end of Lake Geneva. It is the second most populous city in Switzerland after Zurich. Geneva is also the second largest financial center in the country after Zurich. It is considered the most important in the world in terms of trans-national private wealth management. Because of its role, both political and economic, it is one of the “world cities”. Geneva is coming (with Zurich and Basel) among the top ten metropolises offering the best quality of life in the world. The city is also known as one of the most expensive, each year competing for first place in the ranking of the most expensive cities in the world with Zurich.
The City of Geneva is a hotbed of multilateral cooperation around the world. Host of many international organizations (IOs), diplomatic missions and non-governmental organizations (NGOs), it promotes humanist and universal values. With 23 international organizations and 759 non-governmental organizations (NGOs), Geneva is the city that hosts the most international organizations in the world. The European headquarters of the United Nations, the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC), the World Trade Organization (WTO), the World Health Organization (WHO), are part of these international organizations.
The history of Geneva unfolds over a period of two thousand years. Mentioned for the first time in the Comments on the Gallic Wars of Julius Caesar, the city came under Roman rule and the Burgundians and Franks before becoming an independent bishopric during the Middle Ages. With the arrival of Jean Calvin, the city adopted the Protestant Reformation and became an important center for the dissemination of Calvinism on a European scale. Its economic fabric is gradually diversifying with the development of the watchmaking sectors.and the bank. It was not until the French Revolution that the aristocratic regime collapsed after several attempts at an uprising. After fifteen years under the domination of Napoleonic France, the Ancien Régime was partially restored. In 1846, the Fazist revolution profoundly transformed Geneva in a context of industrialization. The xx th century saw the establishment of young international organizations and the city acquires an international reputation.
Antiquity
The Roman submission of the land of the Allobroges (Vienna) took place in 121 BC. AD Geneva then becomes an outpost in the north of the province of transalpine Gaul which will take the name of Narbonne Gaul from the reign of Augustus. The development of a port takes place in 123 – 105 BC. AD The city is then made up of a modest agglomeration where the houses are built of wood and mud.
In 58 BC. AD, Caesar prevents the passage of the Rhône, at the height of what will become Geneva, by the Helvetians who for this purpose “try either to join boats to make a raft (ratis) or to ford at shallower places ”. When he moved in temporarily with his troops, the oppidum grew. Geneva therefore becomes a Roman “town” (vicus), which it will however remain for a long time, before moving to the status of “city” (civitas), not before the end of the third century. Indeed, Nyon (Colonia Iulia Equestris) then Avenches (Aventicum) occupy a more important place in the regional urban network, and Geneva depends mainly on Vienna, the administrative capital of the region. After a fire in the middle of the I century, urban planning is modified and the constructions stone replace the buildings with lightweight materials. In the Lower Empire, an enclosure was raised and enclosed a small area of 5 ha.
The migration Germanic cause the destruction of all built in the last quarter of the III century. The first Christian sanctuary was established around 350. At the end of the IV century, the complex was completed: it consists of a church of more than thirty meters long bordered by an access portal to the baptistery and its Annex. In the upper town, the Saint-Germain represents the V century a second focal point of the early Christian times. The installation of the Burgundians in 443 and the choice of Geneva as capital reinforced the political role of the city. The center of the Burgundian kingdom moving towards 467 in Lyon, Geneva undergoes the fratricidal wars between Godégisile and Gondebaud which burns the city.
Until the end of the High Middle Ages, there is a continuity of occupation, the best example of which is the episcopal group. The city limits are maintained within the enclosure of the Lower Empire but the suburbs close to the large cemeteries are developing. The landslide of the mountain of Tauredunum in 563 caused a tidal wave that destroyed the port and caused many deaths. At the beginning of the Middle Ages, the horizontal development of the Roman era then the reduction of the urban space imposed by the adopted fortification system was replaced by a medieval town built in height.
Middle Ages
The power structure between the arrival of the Burgundians and the Seyssel agreement of 1124 is the subject of debates which are not closed today. In front of the Burgundian king, the bishop has spiritual and temporal authority. But the dynastic quarrels weaken the Burgundian monarchy which disappears in 534 in favor of the Franks. Geneva then becomes the center of a pagus, the county of Geneva or pagus Genevensis, which depends on the king reigning in Orleans or the king of Neustria.
From the time of the Carolingians, the diocese of Genevais the issue of power struggles between the sovereigns of the region and the emperor. If he exercises a certain number of sovereign rights such as that of minting money, the bishop does not receive the county rights in one or the other part of his diocese which are exercised by the count of Geneva who owns a castle in above Bourg-de-Four. This castle was built by Count Aymon I who abused the kindness of his half-brother Bishop Guy Faucigny becoming the advocate of the latter. The successor of Guy de Faucigny, Humbert de Grammont, with the blessing of the Pope of the time meeting the Count Aymon I to sign the Seyssel agreement which recognizes the bishop as being the superior of the count and in return, the bishop will leave the confession in the hands of the county of Geneva.
When Charlemagne’s empire disintegrated, Geneva was part of the second kingdom of Burgundy. In 1032, the last ruler died without issue and bequeathed his possessions, including Geneva, the Holy Roman Empire. However, imperial power remains nominal, the reality of power remaining in the hands of the local lord, the count. With the Gregorian reform to the end of the XI century, starts a reaction against the encroachments of the lord of the property of the Church. Supported by the Pope, Bishop Humbert de Grammont imposes on Count Aymon I of GenevatheSeyssel agreementwhich establishes the complete sovereignty of the bishop over the city. With a diploma of1162, EmperorFrederick Barbarossadefinitively established the independence of the bishop now recognized asimmediate prince of the Empire. He can then extend his property over three rural castles or mandements, the main ones beingPeneyandJussy.
However, the beginning of the XIII century sees the intervention of a third power, that of the House of Savoy, which takes possession of Vaud. Geneva being located in the center of their new domain, the counts of Savoy will therefore covet the rich city to make it their capital. In 1263, the traders and craftsmen of Geneva came together for the first time to fight against the seigneurial power of the bishop. This movement is encouraged by the fairs which bring to the citizens the example of the free communes of Italy and the prosperity which allows them to impose their will on the bishop. From the end of the century, the count relied on this communal movement to attack episcopal power. In 1285, the citizens appointed ten prosecutors or trustees to represent them. The decision was canceled by the bishop on 29 September but the 1 October, Count Amédée V of Savoie their grant letters patent guaranteeing safety merchants proceeding to fairs. He then seized the castle guarding the Rhône and had his new influence recognized by a treaty concluded in Asti (Italy) in 1290.
In 1309, Bishop Aymon de Quart was forced to recognize the legal existence of the municipality on condition that it did not encroach on episcopal jurisdiction. In return, it requires residents to build a market hall at Molard, now necessary for the storage of goods for fairs, and provides them with a third of the revenue. Consequently, the citizens, assembled at the beginning of each year within the General Council – a sort of Landsgemeinde -, elect for one year the four syndics of Geneva. In addition, in 1387, Bishop Adhémar Fabrimust confirm the franchises gradually granted to the citizens and their trustees by a charter which will dominate for 150 years the political life of Geneva.
In 1401, after having conquered Faucigny and the Pays de Gex, the count of Savoy arrogates to himself the inheritance of the last count of Geneva. Robert of Geneva becomes pope and the other counts have no descendants. Even if the citizens try to stand up with the bishop against the common enemy, Amédée VIII of Savoy, elected antipope under the name of Felix V, obtains from Pope Nicolas Vthe right for the princes of his house to appoint the bishops sitting in their territory. The Geneva episcopal seat will therefore be occupied by Savoys or members of vassal families. This was the result of half a century of attempts to obtain the episcopal see of Geneva through the advancement of the incapacity of the bishop and of the cathedral chapter at the request of an alliance with the Prince of Geneva..
The first traces of the communal movement (regrouping of merchants and bourgeois) in Geneva is not clear, but we find in 1263 documents evoking the Savoyard side taken by the municipality of Geneva. The counts of Savoy ensured the safety of the roads leading to Geneva so that the merchants could go without fear to the fairs of Geneva. The bishop was of course opposed to this movement, but in 1309 during an arbitration, he recognized the existence of the municipality in exchange for a tax on the storage of goods in the new hall built on the initiative of the municipality and the right to be represented by 4 trustees. It is with the Franchises of 1387 that the municipality will be given a solid basis by article 23 which deals with the election of trustees.
Engaged by its bishop alongside the Duke of Burgundy in the Burgundy War, Geneva was threatened for a time by the Swiss after their victory and condemned in 1475 to pay a significant fine. Bishop Jean-Louis de Savoie then turned to the victors and concluded, on November 14, 1477, with the cities of Bern and Friborg, a treaty of combourgeoisy for life and which therefore ended with his death in 1482. It is then the first official act between Geneva – perceived by the Swiss as a strategic position – and the Swiss cantons..
Faced with the tendencies of annexation of the Savoyards, several Geneva personalities dispute the collaborationist attitude of the municipality and fear the monarchical regime. Among these are Besançon Hugues or Philibert Berthelier who belong to the middle class of merchants. In 1519, it was the community of citizens who signed a treaty of combourgeoisy with Friborg, but Duke Charles III of Savoy forced the Genevans to renounce, during an arbitration, this alliance directed against him while Bishop Jean de Savoie had Berthelier executed on August 23 in front of the Château de l’Île on the square which now bears his name. From then on, the Eidguenots, supporters of the attachment to the Swiss Confederation, and those they designated as the “Mammelus”, that is to say the supporters of the attachment to Savoy, were opposed.
On December 10, 1525, the Mammelus had the Savoyard protectorate over Geneva recognized by the General Council. During this famous meeting of the general council, better known as the council of the Halberds. However, the Eidguenots manage in a few weeks to conclude a treaty of mutual assistance, signed in 1526 with Friborg and Bern, which announces the end of the power of the bishop and the emergence of an autonomous seigniory. It is approved by the General Council on25 February. An assembly chosen by the trustees, the Conseil des Deux-Cents, is then created and takes over part of the prerogatives of the General Council. This council of 200 has about 320 members, but this term was used in the cantons of Friborg and Bern and was set up to obtain the opinion of the population on the combourgeoisie.
Economically, the XIII century saw the emergence of fairs that attract a growing number of traders from more and more distant. Italian merchants in particular contributed to the reputation of Geneva. Reaching their booming amid the XV century, the fairs of Geneva are then one of the main places for exchanges of European goods, the share of local products remains however very modest. It was also at this time that the city became an important banking center, with the opening by the Medici bankers of Florence of a branch in 1424.
This economic prosperity led to rapid population growth, which is Geneva’s main city of the region until the middle of the XIX century, with the expansion of the suburbs of Plainpalais and Saint-Gervais. It attracts Savoyards and Burgundians but also Italians and a small number of Jews who, in 1428 were relegated to a ghetto, the cancel, before being expelled from the city in 1490. But the period of expansion ended in 1462, when King Louis XI of Franceforbade French merchants to attend Geneva fairs in order to promote Lyon. Traffic then decreased significantly, a phenomenon favored by the departure of the Italians for Lyon.
On the urban plan, European cities begin to expand from the XI century by the formation of suburbs outside the fortifications ancient, usually around a market. In Geneva, this is the case of Bourg-de-Four where the axes from Lyon, Italy and Switzerland converge via the Île bridge. In the XII century, a new system of fortifications includes the suburbs as well as the surrounding countryside, tripling the area of the city which will not move until the middle of XIX Century. This growth is accompanied by the formation ofparishes, as in Saint-Victor or Saint-Jean, and the construction of Saint-Pierre cathedral which lasted until around 1250. In the XIV century, the lake shore is pushed streets Basses at present rue du Rhône, allowing the extension of the city and the construction of places of Fusterie of Molard and Longemalle each opening on a port.
Reform
From 1526, German merchants propagated the ideas of the Lutheran reform in Geneva among the Genevan merchants; this current is spreading in the population under the influence of preachers like Guillaume Farel.
The 1 January 1533, a public lecture takes place on the Place du Molard. On August 22, Bishop Pierre de La Baume left Geneva and transferred the episcopal court to Gex.
The August 10, 1535, Mass was suspended and, on November 26, the Council of Deux-Cents attributed the right to mint money in its place – thus marking its sovereignty – while the city was again threatened by Savoy. Note that this was done with the idea of replenishing the funds, but this act was contrary to the Franchises. Bern, a powerful new ally because it went through the Reformation unlike Friborg, intervened and conquered new territories (Pays de Vaud, Pays de Gex, Chablais, etc.).
The Reform is definitively adopted onMay 21, 1536 at the same time as the obligation for everyone to send their children to school. Adopting the Protestant reform, Friborg leaves the combourgeoisie. Geneva therefore becomes the center of Calvinism and is sometimes called “Protestant Rome”. This conversion is often explained by the conjunction between religious motives and the repeated attacks of the Catholic princes of Savoy supported by the bishop.
Arrived in Geneva in July 1536, Jean Calvin was retained by Farel to set up the institutions allowing the city to live according to the new religion. The two men were expelled from Geneva two years later for excessive intransigence. Calvin will go to Strasbourg, where he will remain three years before returning in September 1541 thanks to his supporters who mobilized to obtain his return. He will have an immense influence, as president of the Company of Pastors, on all aspects of Geneva life. Despite this influence, he will never lead the government or the Church of Geneva.
The republic proclaimed under the name of “seigneurie de Genève”, he drew up theEcclesiastical ordinances in 1541 then the Civil Edicts in 1543 which will serve as the constitution for the new republic. The city inherits the sovereign rights and the seigneurial power of the bishop over the inhabitants of most of its rural possessions. It also recovers certain lands in the area which depended on the bishop and its magistrates extend their prerogatives throughout its territory (city, franchises and mandates). Inside the city, citizens and citizens enjoy specific privileges and tax exemptions. However, opposition began to emerge among the notables as to the balance of power sought by Calvin or the strict repression of luxury by the Consistory. At the end of October 1553, Michel Servet was burnt alive in Champel for having denied the Trinity. In 1555, a riot instigated against Calvin was put down.
In 1568, Germain Colladon is the main author of the edicts which update the ordinances on offices of 1543, governing the political organization of Geneva, and especially the Civil Edicts which set for more than two centuries the rules of procedure and private law. in Geneva in a synthesis of Geneva law, Roman law and the customs of Berry. Political institutions include the General Council, where members of the Geneva bourgeoisie sit, the Council of the Two Hundred, the Council of Sixty and, for religious affairs, the Consistory.
Since its inception in 1580, the attacks of Duke Charles Emmanuel I Savoy multiply. Geneva then extended its alliance with Solothurn, Zurich and France.
In April 1589, the Genevans and their allies tried to push back the Savoyards who managed to maintain their position.
From 6 to 8 October 1600, during the Franco-Savoyard war, Henri IV, then in Annecy, received the Geneva nobility with whom he shared a meal in the great hall of the castle and promising them to take the fort Sainte-Catherine located near de Viry, in order to protect them from any Savoyard aggression.
On December 11, 1602, the new nocturnal attack of the Savoyards, a defeat that has remained in history under the name of “Escalade”, forced the duke to accept a lasting peace sealed by the Treaty of Saint-Julien of July 12, 1603 which recognized the independence of the city. The negotiations are placed under the mediation of the Protestant cantons of Solothurn, Basel, Schaffhausen, Glarus and Appenzell which will finance the strengthening of the fortifications.
Economically, many Italian but especially French Protestants doubled the population during the 1550s and gave a new dynamism to the city.
Two new waves of French refugees coincided with the Saint-Barthélemy massacre and, a century later, with the revocation of the Edict of Nantes in 1685. This last influx, temporary, reinforced the discontent which resulted in a petition against the French presence in 1696. The newcomers, businessmen, bankers or craftsmen, nevertheless bring money and relationships with foreign business circles and develop the role of commercial intermediary for Geneva.
Manufacturing activities implemented by them – silk whose owners are Italians, gilding and watch after the disappearance of the silk industry in the middle of the XV century – are developing for the first time to export through the support accorded to them by municipal authorities. However, for the sake of regulation and control, the government participates in the creation of masteries, which hold manufacturing monopolies. The printing press which appeared in 1478rapidly developed its activities, with the aim of propagating the Reformed faith, before constituting the first Geneva corporation in 1560.
As a result, demographic pressure is strong inside the city and the space is limited. At the end of the XVI century, the population of Geneva does not however exceed 14 000 but the abolition of the feasts of the Virgin Mary and saints as well as change of 12 daily working hours at 14 hours increase the productivity of Geneva compared to its Catholic neighbors. In addition, the city razed its suburbs from 1531, which considerably reduced the available space, and built in stages a system of bastions which integrated Saint-Gervais on the right bank. At the three city gates which close every evening, men, animals and goods are subject to control.
On the cultural level, Geneva benefits from a new influence. The college and the university of Geneva were founded in 1559 at the initiative of Calvin and its first rector was his successor Théodore de Bèze. While England is ruled by Catholic Queen Marie Tudor, who persecutes Protestants, a number of intellectuals take refuge in Geneva including William Whittingham who oversees the translation of the Geneva Bible in collaboration with Miles Coverdale, Christopher Goodman (in), Anthony Gilby (in),Thomas Sampson (in) and William Cole (in). Moreover, the literacy of Genevans remains higher than that of their Catholic neighbors. The advent of the Age of Enlightenment is reflected in an ideological openness attested by the work of Jean-Robert Chouet, Jean-Alphonse Turretin or Jean-Antoine Gautier.
XVIII century
The century, economically and culturally flourishing, is shaken by political unrest that contemporaries call the “Geneva revolutions”. Indeed, the political system in place is based on the distinction between two groups: those who benefit from political and civil rights – noble and bourgeois who almost all occupy lucrative professions and monopolize most of Geneva’s fortune – but remain in the minority (27% in 1781) and those who have no political rights and only certain civil rights (inhabitants and natives). It is, however, within the group formed by the citizens and the bourgeoisie that the struggle ends up breaking out. Because the aristocracy has gradually seized political authority, using in particular the possibilities offered by the recruitment by co-option of the Petit Conseil and the Conseil des Deux-Cents since the war of 1589, and monopolizes power without asking the opinion of the General Council which brings together all citizens and bourgeois.
First expressed in a limited and practical way, the principles of equality were deepened during the century following the development of political philosophy, the most illustrious representative of which was the Genevan philosopher Jean-Jacques Rousseau. A revolt broke out in 1707 because of economic discontent. Indeed, the aristocracy abuses its power and puts it at the service of its economic interests, which causes prejudice for the middle class. In addition, the Geneva capitalists invest little in industry.local, preferring investments abroad.
The revolt is led by a member of the aristocracy, lawyer Pierre Fatio, who sets a program with confused aspirations. The uprising failed thanks to the support of Bernese and Zurich troops and Fatio was secretly shot in prison. In 1737, a new revolt caused eleven deaths. Defeated, the government alerts France, which intervenes with an arbitration satisfactory to the citizens. The Rules of Mediation, accepted by the General Council in 1738, will serve for thirty years of constitution: it grants more economic rights to natives and obliges to go through the General Council for any new law or any new tax bill. After the treaties of 1749 and 1754 signed with France and Savoy (which became the Kingdom of Sardinia),
Geneva became master of its rural territory even if it remained landlocked among the French and Sardinian possessions. However, denying the certificate of tolerance awarded by the Encyclopedia of Diderot and d’Alembert, the Petit Conseil condemns in 1762 two works by Rousseau – Émile or On education.and Du Contrat social – to be burned in front of the Hôtel-de-Ville because “tending to destroy the Christian religion and all governments”. Citizens protest by presenting complaints to the government known as “representations”.
The natives having obtained almost nothing while the Representatives had forced the aristocrats to some concessions, they form a third force which publicly expresses its discontent. The heads of the Representatives, influenced by Rousseau, briefly allied with the government to suppress a possible plot of the natives in 1770although they hold equality for a sacred principle from which it follows that the natives should be assimilated to citizens. The bourgeoisie and natives therefore ended up occupying the city in February 1781 and passed a law granting civil equality to natives, inhabitants and subjects of the countryside.
But the aristocracy called Louis XVI for help: three united armies – French, Sardinian and Bernese – besieged Geneva which capitulated on July 2, 1782. The aristocracy regains power but the natives retain civil equality. Circles, a sort of political club, were dissolved and freedom of the press suppressed. A thousand representatives go into exile to Paris – where their ideas will participate in the French Revolution -, Brussels or Constance. During this same period, France and Sardinia founded the towns of Versoix andCarouge to try to compete with Geneva.
The end of the booming economy between 1785 and 1789, a consequence of the general crisis which marked the period preceding the French Revolution, struck the population with a rise in prices but also the small employers. On January 26, 1789, the Geneva government increased the price of bread following a bad harvest. This decision sparked a riot in Saint-Gervais which led to the cancellation of the increase and the progressive liberalization of the constitution. After the Revolution, the encirclement of Geneva by revolutionaries resulted, in DecemberIn 1792, a move which breaks the government of the old regime on 28 December and proclaimed the equality policy in all categories of the population. In 1793, the Ancien Régime came to an end in Geneva: a constitution, drawn up by a national assembly and voted by the citizens on February 5, 1794, established extensive control by the citizens over the acts of the government and the administration. However, it reserves citizenshipto Protestant men only.
In the second half of the century, the Geneva population grew thanks to an influx of immigrants – mainly French and then Vaudois who worked in professions neglected by the Genevans – to reach 27,000 inhabitants in 1790. The infant mortality is also experiencing a major setback in from 550 per thousand in the 1660s to 325 per thousand a century later.
The XVIII century was a century of great prosperity and the city becomes a science center where the press enjoys considerable freedom. The Geneva economy is dominated – 32% of the workforce – by the watchmaking sector and its ancillary trades grouped together under the name of “ Fabrique ”, a network of small artisan workshops located on the upper floor of buildings. However, only master merchants have the capacity to export Geneva production.
In addition, the economic fabric saw the development of an Indian industry – characterized by large factories – in the first third of the century to become the second sector in terms of importance. Linked to the development of international trade and the need for money for the wars of Louis XIV, banking activities became one of the linchpins of the Geneva economy from 1700. Bankers in contact with Paris, Lyon, Amsterdam and London work in long-term credit (annuities) and lay the groundwork for future private wealth management banks. At the end of the century, the Geneva bank thus financed the French monarchy. Nevertheless, the French Revolution led to the collapse of several prestigious houses. This does not prevent a third of Geneva households from benefiting from the services of at least one servant.
In terms of town planning, the building sector is doing well and the city is adorned with new constructions such as the current courthouse in Saint-Antoine, the temple of the Fusterie as well as a new fortified system. In addition, the distribution of drinking water from the Rhône is improving, reaching the highest districts, as is public lighting.
XIX century
On April 15, 1798, the Treaty of Reunion incorporated Geneva into the territory of the French Republic. At the end of August, after having renounced its sovereignty and its alliances, Geneva was chosen as the prefecture and capital of the Léman department. The city is for the first time considered as an administrative entity separate from its territory: a municipal administration is in charge of local affairs while the communes located outside the fortifications come under a separate administration. Geneva then becomes a French city among others and its inhabitants experience Napoleonic centralism. In execution of the law ofFebruary 17, 1800, the city is now administered by a mayor, two deputies and a city council. Among the novelties brought by the French regime are the Civil Code which places Geneva under a completely new regime, in particular as regards the separation of civil and religious.
But the defeat of the Napoleonic army restored its independence. At the end of 1813, troops commanded by the Austrian General Ferdinand von Bubna und Littitz were tasked with crossing Switzerland and occupying Geneva. The December 30, the French garrison leaves the city and Bubna enters it. The next day, after the final withdrawal of the prefect, a reactionary government led by former trustee Ami Lullin proclaimed the restoration of the Republic of the Ancien Régime. However, the magistrates are aware that Geneva can no longer form an isolated state and are turning to the former Swiss allies by asking for the entry of the republic into the Swiss Confederation. Despite fears of Swiss Catholics facing the “Protestant Rome” and she has known troubles in XVIII century, a military delegation of the cantons of Solothurn and Friborg is receivedPort-Black, on the left bank of the Geneva Lake Geneva on1 June 1814, and the attachment to the Confederation is effective on May 19, 1815.
Previously, the opening up of the canton had been obtained – annexation of Savoy municipalities negotiated by Charles Pictet de Rochemont – and the drafting of a conservative constitution marked by the return of censal suffrage and approved in August 1814. Under the direction of the cantonal engineer, Guillaume-Henri Dufour, the city is modernizing.
In 1833 and 1834, the strikes tailors and locksmiths are among the first strikes of the XIX century in Switzerland. A riot that took place in November 1841 prompted a revolutionary movement called the Association du Trois-Mars to demand an overhaul of the government. The association will ultimately obtain only the election of a constituent assembly. The constitution of 1842 adopted universal male suffrage and endowed the city of Geneva with its own municipal institutions. However, the Sonderbund war eventually led to the fall of the regime.
On 3 October 1846, the authorities refuse to recommend that the Geneva members of the Federal Diet vote to dissolve the Sonderbund. The working-class district of Saint-Gervais rose up as a result, two days later, and pushed back the government troops. It was the outbreak of a left-wing revolution led by the Radical Party of James Fazy which overthrew the government and established a new constitution on May 24, 1847 which notably removed the dominant character of Protestantism. During the next ten years, Fazy governed Geneva by relying on the workers and traders.
The Fazist revolution also resulted in the destruction of the fortifications which surrounded the city and slowed down its demographic growth. Undertaken at the end of 1849, this destruction saw the city equip itself with grand boulevards, residential districts (Trenches, Pâquis, etc.), public buildings (Grand Theater, museum of art and history, religious buildings, etc..) and many school buildings. The disappearance of the enclosure is accompanied by transformations inside the old agglomeration pierced by new streets and boulevards(Fazyste belt) and embellished with a few walks. The site, which also served to curb the economic crisis by employing many unemployed, also freed up the space necessary for the construction of the first railway line in 1858 (14 years after the first Swiss line). The tunnel projects under the Col de la Faucille and a river port will not be successful.
In addition, the ever more massive influx of foreign workers is transforming the social physiognomy of the agglomeration. While at the beginning of the XIX century, one can still distinguish a country of a city, the differences fade gradually and this population an increasingly cosmopolitan face. Population growth accompanies urban transformation and Geneva goes from 38,000 inhabitants in 1850 to 60,000 in 1870 while its foreign population goes from 24% in 1850 to 42% in 1913 (mainly French). Geneva will then welcome a number of Italian, German, French and Russian political refugees (including Lenin).
On the economic level, the industrialization of the region is evolving, with the appearance of workshops of mechanics, electrical equipment and cars, while the electrification of the city is carried out under the impetus of the administrative advisor Theodore Turrettini with the construction of the Motrices and Goats factories. The extension of the free zone established with the restoration of 1813 contributes to regional trade. Geneva also became one of the strongholds of the International, which held a congress there in 1866, and two major strikes, in 1868 and 1902., contribute to improving the working conditions of workers. In 1882, the radical Georges Favon established the industrial tribunals while, ten years later, the introduction of the proportional ballot allowed the appearance of the Socialist Party and the election of the first Socialist as a member of a Swiss cantonal executive.: Fritz Thiébaud.
After the Vatican Council I in 1870, the radical Antoine Carteret passed anticlerical laws to oppose the supposed ambitions of Cardinal Gaspard Mermillod to restore a bishopric in Geneva. Not until the elections in 1878 to see this policy into question by the Conservatives. Carteret also introduced compulsory education and allowed women to enter university. Moreover, despite its modest size, Geneva already hosts a number of scientists including Augustin Pyrame de Candolle, François-Jules Pictet de la Rive, Carl Vogt orJean-Daniel Colladon.
XX century
The city’s international mission asserted itself particularly after the First World War: it became – notably through the actions of Gustave Ador and William Rappard – the seat of the League of Nations in 1919.
In the wake of the First World War, the class struggle intensified and led to the general strike of the November 11, 1918led from German-speaking Switzerland. But the surrounding Francophilia greatly reduced its impact in Geneva. Small fascist- inspired parties, such as the National Union, attacked the socialist leaders on theNovember 9, 1932, resulting in a demonstration of the anti-fascist left. On this occasion, young recruits fired without warning on the crowd, killing thirteen and wounding. This tragedy generates, a few days later, a new general strike in protest.
After World War II, the European headquarters of the United Nations (UN) and dozens of international organizations moved to Geneva, which would benefit the development of leisure and business tourism. With the arrival of the 1960s, Geneva was one of the first Swiss regions where xenophobic movements experienced some success, with the appearance of Vigilance, but also the third canton to grant cantonal and municipal voting rights to women..