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The war of succession of Mantua and Monferrato (1628 - April 1631), which saw France and the Republic of Venice opposed against Carlo Emanuele I of Savoy and Spain, deeply touched the Piedmontese territory. After a first French penetration from Monginevro and the occupation of the fortress of Pinerolo, the troops of the king of France continued to Casale Monferrato, to free it from the siege. Piedmontese neutrality did not last long and in early 1630 a large French expeditionary force crossed the Alps again to force Carlo Emanuele to respect the Treaty of Susa. The French occupied Pinerolo and attacked Avigliana. Soon after another French army crossed the Alps and joined the previous one. In Bassa Valsusa the ducal army, in which Vittorio Amedeo also fought, was finally defeated. The entire Piedmontese countryside between the mouth of the Alpine valleys and Carignano, where in August 1630 there was the break-up of the French towards Casale, became a territory of occupation. The Savoy camp followed with attention every movement of armies, and this correspondence between the Savoy leaders and the Governor of Cavour Giovanni Francesco Malopera testifies with almost daily frequency the situation tesissima, extreme emergency, in which operated the many actors of an epochal historical fact.
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