Treaty of Zürich Treaty of Zürich The Treaty of Zurich was signed by the Austrian Empire, the French Empire, and the Kingdom of Sardinia on November 10, 1859. The agreement was a reaffirmation of the terms of the preliminary peace of Villafranca, which brought the Austro-Sardinian War to an official close. The treaty actually consisted of three separate treaties - a treaty between France and Austria, which reaffirmed the terms of the preliminary peace, re-established peace between the two emperors, and ceded Lombardy to France. A second treaty, between France and Sardinia, saw France cede Lombardy to Sardinia. The third treaty, signed by
Tariff real breakthrough in continental Europe with the Cobden-Chevalier Treaty signed by Napoleon III. The agreement was considered in France as a coup d'état, since the parliament was opposed to it, and the agreement was established by means of secret negotiations between Napoleon Ill's envoy Michel Chevalier (a follower of Saint-Simon) and Britain's Richard Cobden. That agreement was the first of a series which Britain would establish with several European countries, known as the "Cobden agreements": the Franco-Belgian treaty was signed in 1861 and between 1861 and 1866 almost all European countries joined the Cobden treaty. Only a few countries on