# Pierre Fatio and Geneva's Unrest (6 September 1707)

URL: https://allhistories.com/swiss/timeline/1707-pierre-fatio-and-geneva-s-unrest
Themes: Key Events

In 1707 the citizens of Geneva pressed their ruling councils to restore the powers of the General Council, the assembly of all citizens, which had been sidelined by a small group of patrician families. Their spokesman was the lawyer Pierre Fatio. The councils brought in troops from Zürich and Bern to overawe the movement. Fatio was arrested and shot in prison on 6 September 1707, and other leaders were executed or exiled. The repression did not end the dispute. Throughout the eighteenth century Geneva's citizens and bourgeois repeatedly challenged the oligarchy, making the small republic a laboratory of political argument about sovereignty and representation.

## Why it matters
Fatio's death opened nearly a century of political conflict in Geneva that helped shape Enlightenment ideas of popular sovereignty.

Ruler at the Time: [Sovereign Old Confederacy](https://allhistories.com/swiss/rulers/sovereign-old-confederacy)

## Sources
- [Wikipedia — Pierre Fatio](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pierre_Fatio)
- [Wikipedia — Republic of Geneva](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Republic_of_Geneva)
- [Wikipedia — History of Geneva](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/History_of_Geneva)
- [Encyclopaedia Britannica topic lookup — Pierre Fatio and Geneva's Unrest](https://www.britannica.com/search?query=Pierre+Fatio+and+Geneva%27s+Unrest)
- [Historical Dictionary of Switzerland (HLS) lookup — Pierre Fatio and Geneva's Unrest](https://hls-dhs-dss.ch/en/search/?text=Pierre+Fatio+and+Geneva%27s+Unrest)
- [Wikipedia — Old Swiss Confederacy](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Old_Swiss_Confederacy)
- [Wikipedia — History of Switzerland](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/History_of_Switzerland)