Editing History of the Alps (section)

==Later Medieval to Early Modern Era  (1200 to 1900)==
[[File:Vasily Surikov - Suvorov Crossing the Alps in 1799 - Google Art Project.jpg|thumb|''[[Suvorov crossing the Alps]]'', by [[Vasily Surikov]]]]
[[File:Edouard Castres-Bonaparte au St-Bernard IMG 3221.jpg|thumb|right|Napoleon passing the Great St Bernard Pass, by [[Edouard Castres]]]]

The French historian [[Fernand Braudel]], in his famous volume on Mediterranean civilisation, describes the Alps as "an exceptional range of mountains from the point of view of resources, collective disciplines, the quality of its human population and the number of good roads."<ref>Fernand Braudel: The Mediterranean and the Mediterranean World in the Age of Philip II, vol. 1, Berkeley 1995, quote p. 33.</ref> This remarkable human presence in the Alpine region came into being with the [[population growth]] and agrarian expansion of the [[High Middle Ages]]. At first a mixed form of agriculture and animal husbandry dominated the economy. Then, from the Late Middle Ages onwards, [[cattle]] tended to replace sheep as the dominant animals. In a few regions of the northern slope of the Alps, cattle farming became increasingly oriented toward long-range markets and substituted agriculture completely. At the same time other types of interregional and transalpine exchange were growing in significance. The most important pass was the [[Brenner Pass|Brenner]], which could accommodate cart traffic beginning in the fifteenth century. In the Western and Central Alps, the passes were practicable only by [[pack animals]] up to the period around 1800.<ref>Jean-François Bergier;  Gauro Coppola (eds.): Vie di terra e d’acqua. Infrastrutture viarie e sistemi di relazioni in area alpina (secoli XIII-XVI), Bologna 2007.</ref>

The process of state formation in the Alps was driven by the proximity to focal areas of European conflicts such as in the [[Italian wars]] of 1494–1559. In that period the socio-political structures of Alpine regions drifted apart. One can identify three different developmental models: one of princely centralization (Western Alps), a local-communal one (Switzerland) and an intermediate one, characterised by a powerful [[nobility]] (Eastern Alps).

Until the late nineteenth century many Alpine valleys remained mainly shaped by agrarian and pastoral activities. Population growth favoured the intensification of land use and the spread of corn, potato and cheese production. The shorter [[growing season]] at higher altitudes did not seem to be an impediment until around 1700. Later, however, it became a major obstacle to the further intensification of agriculture, especially in comparison to the surrounding lowlands where [[productivity|land productivity]] increased rapidly. Inside the Alpine region there was a striking difference between the western and central parts, which were dominated by small farming establishments, and the eastern part, which were characterised by medium or big farms. Migration to the urbanised zones of the surrounding areas was already apparent before 1500 and was often temporary. In the Alps themselves, urbanisation was slow.<ref>See the thematic issues of Histoire des Alpes 3 (1998) and 5 (2000).</ref>

===Central Alps===
{{further|Old Swiss Confederacy|Highest Alemannic}}
[[File:Andermatt-Teufelsbruecke.jpg|thumb|''[[Teufelsbrücke]]'' (Devil's Bridge) on the route to the [[Gotthard Pass]]; the currently used bridge from 1958 over the first drivable bridge from 1830]]

In the Central Alps the chief event, on the northern side of the chain, is the [[Growth of the Old Swiss Confederacy|gradual formation]] from 1291 to 1516 of the [[Old Swiss Confederacy|Swiss Confederacy]], at least so far as regards the mountain [[Cantons of Switzerland|cantons]], and with especial reference to the independent confederations of the Grisons and the Valais, which only became full members of the Confederation in 1803 and 1815 respectively. The attraction of the south was too strong for both the Forest Cantons and the [[Grisons]], so that both tried to secure, and actually did secure, various bits of the [[Milan]]ese.

The [[Gotthard Pass]] was known in antiquity as ''Adula Mons'', but it was not one of the important Alpine passes due to the impassability of the [[Schöllenen Gorge]] north of the pass. This changed dramatically with the construction of the so-called [[Teufelsbrücke|Devil's Bridge]] by the year 1230. Almost immediately, in 1231, the formerly unimportant valley of [[Canton of Uri|Uri]] was granted imperial immediacy and became the main route connecting Germany and Italy. Also in 1230, a hospice dedicated to [[Gotthard of Hildesheim]] was built on the pass to accommodate the pilgrims to Rome which now took this route. The sudden strategical importance for the European powers gained by what is now [[Central Switzerland]] was an important factor in the [[formation of the Old Swiss Confederacy]] beginning in the late 13th century.

In the 15th century, the Forest Cantons won the [[Valle Leventina]] as well as [[Bellinzona]] and the [[Valle di Blenio]] (though the [[Ossola Valley|Valle d'Ossola]] was held for a time only). Blenio was added to the [[Val Bregaglia]] (which had been given to the bishop of [[Chur|Coire]] in 960 by the emperor [[Otto I, Holy Roman Emperor|Otto]] I), along with the valleys of [[Valle Mesolcina]] and of [[Val Poschiavo]].

===Western Alps===
{{further|County of Savoy|Duchy of Savoy}} 
[[File:Massif du Mont-Blanc 06.jpg|thumb|[[Mont Blanc massif]]]]

In the case of the Western Alps (excluding the part from the chain of [[Mont Blanc]] to the [[Simplon Pass]], which followed the fortunes of the [[Valais]]), a prolonged struggle for control took place between the feudal lords of [[Savoy]], the [[Dauphiné]] and [[Provence]].  In 1349 the [[Dauphiné]] fell to France, while in 1388 the county of [[Nice]] passed from Provence to the house of Savoy, which also then held [[Piedmont (Italy)|Piedmont]] as well as other lands on the Italian side of the Alps.  The struggle henceforth was limited to France and the house of Savoy, but little by little France succeeded in pushing back the house of Savoy across the Alps, forcing it to become a purely Italian power.

One turning-point in the rivalry was the [[Treaty of Utrecht (1713)]], by which France ceded to Savoy the Alpine districts of [[Exilles]], Bardonnèche ([[Bardonecchia]]), [[Oulx]], [[Fenestrelle]]s, and Châtean Dauphin, while Savoy handed over to France the valley of [[Barcelonnette]], situated on the western slope of the Alps and forming part of the county of Nice. The final act in this long-continued struggle took place in 1860, when France obtained by cession the rest of the county of Nice and also Savoy, thus remaining sole ruler on the western slope of the Alps.

===Eastern Alps===
[[File:Habsburg (Aargau, Switzerland).jpg|thumb|[[Habsburg Castle]], Switzerland]]

The Eastern Alps had been included in the [[Frankish Empire]] since the 9th century. From the High Middle Ages and throughout the Early Modern era, the political history of the Eastern Alps can be considered almost totally in terms of the advance or retreat of the house of [[Habsburg]]. The Habsburgers' original home was in the lower valley of the Aar, at [[Habsburg castle]]. They lost that district to the Swiss in 1415, as they had previously lost various other sections of what is now Switzerland.  But they built an impressive empire in the Eastern Alps, where they defeated numerous minor dynasties.  They won the duchy of Austria with [[Styria (duchy)|Styria]] in 1282, [[Duchy of Carinthia|Carinthia]] and [[Carniola]] in 1335, [[County of Tyrol|Tirol]]  in 1363, and the [[Vorarlberg]] in bits from 1375 to 1523, not to speak of minor "rectifications" of frontiers on the northern slope of the Alps.  But on the other slope their progress was slower, and finally less successful.
It is true that they won [[Primiero]] quite early (1373), as well as (1517) the [[Ampezzo]] Valley and several towns to the south of [[Trento]].  In 1797 they obtained [[Venetia (region)|Venetia]] proper, in 1803 the secularized bishoprics of [[Trento]] and [[Brixen]] (as well as that of [[Salzburg]], more to the north), besides the Valtellina region, and in 1815 the [[Bergamasque]] valleys, while the [[Milanese]] had belonged to them since 1535.  But in 1859 they lost to the house of Savoy both the Milanese and the Bergamasca, and in 1866 Venetia proper also, so that the Trentino was then their chief possession on the southern slope of the Alps.  The gain of the Milanese in 1859 by the future king of Italy (1861) meant that Italy then won the valley of Livigno (between the Upper Engadine and Bormio), which is the only important bit it holds on the non-Italian slope of the Alps, besides the county of [[Tende|Tenda]] (obtained in 1575, and not lost in 1860), with the heads of certain glens in the Maritime Alps, reserved in 1860 for reasons connected with hunting. Following World War I and the demise of [[Austria-Hungary]], there were important territorial changes in the Eastern Alps.