Alpes-Maritimes, a bit of regional history
Part 3: modern times
Rise of the "Côte d'Azur", desertification of the hinterland
The Third Republic, from 1870 to 1914
After the collapse of the Empire and the proclamation of the Republic September 4, political landscape is complex, between republicans " French », Opposing the liberals« italians "Some of which want Nice to return to Italy, while finally others, conservatives, demand that it be taken into account local peculiarities.
But precisely, the party of particularism brought to power fails quickly.
1878 : Nice passes to the left with the Republicans " French " and launches major works.
1886 : Nice goes to moderate conservatives.
23 February 1887 : the major earthquake of intensity 6.3 to 6.4, including the epicenter was located at sea off San Remo, strongly shakes the city and left 2 dead (8 dead in the department, 635 dead in Liguria) and 13 injured (51 in the department, 555 in Liguria). Nietzsche , while on vacation, describes him as " new kind of entertainment : the charming prospect that suddenly opens up to us to see ourselves swallowed up from one moment to the next ".
From 1896 to 1912: Nice goes to the radicals (left), then to the right.
The promenade pier in 1882
(Aristocratic) encampment on the Promenade des Anglais (Illustrated Universe n ° 1667)
The economic and demographic growth is important, especially thanks to immigration for work in the construction industry. At the end of the 19th century, Nice had between 24 000 and 25 000 Italians , or about a quarter of its population (93 800 inhabitants in 1896 ).
The population of the department has grown by 80% in 40 years (199 000 in 1872 to 356 300 in 1911) for the benefit of the coast while the high country undergoes a rural exodus.
the tourism becomes a predominant activity with, in the 2nd half of the 19th century the development of Nice as a winter resort and socialite (November to May), in its beginnings by English aristocrats and Russian rentiers during the winter, then which spread to other nationalities after the arrival of the Chemin de iron.
The promenade pier in 1882
The Promenade des Anglais in the "Belle Epoque"
The term " French Riviera »Was created in 1887 by the writer Stephen Liégeard. Floral culture, luxury hotels, gambling also with 5 casinos in Nice and the creation of the carnival took off considerably.
Villas inspired by the Italian style, adorned with beautiful gardens are built.
This rich cosmopolitanism also led to the creation of various places of worship : Scottish, American, English Episcopal, Anglican Evangelical, Russian Orthodox churches.
The Promenade des Anglais becomes at the Belle Epoque an important social place. Cannes is the resort of elegance; Menton is also very popular ; Antibes stays away.
Nice and its region, the two world wars
The First World War and the interwar years
With the First World War , the local economy is disrupted, the unemployment increases. Nice welcomes wounded soldiers at the front and fleeing civilians.
In the interwar period, the boom resumed. But from 1 930, Nice is affected by the global economic crisis .
The far right, with Action Française , is very active and the left is also mobilizing with clashes in January. 1934. and incidents until 1936.
1936 : Nice elects a deputy communist . As in the rest of France, the month of June is marked by very important strikes.
From aristocratic and elitist, tourism becomes bourgeois ; hotel standing is declining, palaces are suffering from the crisis.
The summer season is developing to the detriment of the winter season, in particular with the arrival of paid holidays which is developing popular tourism.
The population of the department is increasing 44% between 1911 and 1936 when it reached 514 000 inhabitants.
The Plastic Arts are developing, artists fleeing all the dictatorships of this time, Russian as well as Italian ... come there.
Likewise, Nice becomes an open-air laboratory of Art Deco architecture.
The Second World War
1940 : after the entry into the war of 3 September 1939 , Italy de Mussolini declares war on France on June 10, 1940. Then, crushed, France signs the a rmistice on June 22.
The mayor of Nice Jean Médecin votes as a senator full powers at the Marshal Pétain The 10 july .
The department is part of the free zone , but Isola, Fontan and Menton are annexed and therefore occupied.
The first groups of resistance are formed in September.
1941 : with the prefect Marcel Ribiere arrived in September, es of assaults and raids anti-Semitic take place in 1941 and 1942, and deportation to Drancy .
1942 : after the landing of the Allies in North Africa, fascist Italy occupies the department in November, which is no longer free zone.
But thanks to italian jewish banker Angelo Donati and at Capuchin Father Marie-Benoît, the fascist authorities are slowing down the application of Vichy anti-Semitic laws for Jews fleeing the Germans and who had taken refuge here before.
1943 : the Resistance continues.
Italy's confused surrender in September marks the end of the Italian occupation, immediately replaced by the beginning of the German occupation, particularly brutal in the department.
Menton, Isola and Fontan are reinvested by the French. The situation of the 25,000 Jews is becoming very precarious. 6000 are deported.
The Resistance is intensifying. The repression is extremely harsh. The Gestapo executes, tortures, hangs in public, deports to concentration camps .
1944 : the Allied bombings are numerous and deadly from November 1943 to May 1944. The economic situation is catastrophic ; Nice is experiencing an almost famine during summer 1944 .
The success of landing of Provence August 15 provokes the withdrawal of nazi troops towards the Italian border.
The paratroopers Americans enter Nice on August 30.
The city suffered and its population fell to 210,000 in 1946 , losing 30,000 inhabitants compared to 1936.
Fighting continues in November in the valley of the Bévéra . From villages are destroyed. Sospel , bombarded by the Americans, is released late October 1944. During the winter of 1944-1945, the upper valley of the Roya , the Authion massif and the border ridges of the Vesubia and some Tinée remain occupied by the Germans.
The inhabitants of Breil , Fontan and Saorge are evacuated to Turin . After fights in the upper Roya valley, on April 12, 1945, the French took L'Authion. Breil was released on the 13th and Tende , The Brig and Ventimiglia are occupied on 14.
1945 : the Alpes-Maritimes department is released in April.
Its demographic has declined (514,000 inhabitants in 1936 and 453,000 in 1946 ). The number of foreigners has halved.
Chin and Breil lost 46 % of their population, Sospel 44 % and Lantosque 36 %.
The department is classified in the third of the departments most devastated by the war. 16 000 buildings or public buildings were destroyed, in part or in whole.
Marines assaulting Cabanes Vieilles in the Authion massif in 1945
The post-war period in Nice and its region
Post-war
1947 : following a plebiscite on October 12, the villages of Tender and La Brigue , as well as the hamlets of Pine and Libre, chose France, completing the border its current course.
The first international film festival of Cannes takes place in 1947 .
Tourism did not regain its pre-war level until 1948 and favored the summer season. It became mass tourism in the years 1955-60, thanks to the development of means of transport and the improvement of the standard of living.
Winter tourism is developing in the hinterland, especially after the creation of the Isola 2000 resort in 1971.
In the plan, the 1860 border is that corresponding to the colored area "goose poo". That of 1947 is represented in light brown on a yellow background.
The only card simply representing this evolution is in English !!!
The Authion cow farm
and a herd of goats on the road going down to Lucéram
The Nice hinterland, the one that interests us, was first for a long time in its mountainous escarpments, a region of subsistence breeding and transhumance.
Then the population, at least that of men, was caught up in the major works of the coast from the 19th century, leaving the mountain lands more or less abandoned.
To finally get back together with alpine winter tourism (Isola winter sports resort was created in 1971 ...) and now summer (the Mercantour park was officially created in 1979 after 33 years of difficult gestation).
But also with the strong resumption of the breeding of sheep and cattle in the "cow houses" or "cheese dairies".