| History of Switzerland | |
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| Prehistory | |
| Roman era | |
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| Growth (1291–1516) | |
| Reformation (1516–1648) | |
| Ancien Régime (1648–1798) | |
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| Napoleonic era (1798–1814) | |
| Restauration (1814–1847) | |
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| Federal state (1848–1914) | |
| World Wars (1914–1945) | |
| Modern history (1945–present) | |
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| Military history | |
| Historiography | |
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Switzerland Portal |
During the French Revolutionary Wars, the revolutionary armies marched eastward, enveloping Switzerland in their battles against Austria. In 1798 Switzerland was completely overrun by the French and became the Helvetic Republic. The Helvetic Republic encountered severe economic and political problems. In 1798 the country became a battlefield of the Revolutionary Wars, culminating in the Battles of Zürich in 1799.
In 1803 Napoleon's Act of Mediation reestablished a Swiss Confederation that partially restored the sovereignty of the cantons, and the former tributary and allied territories of Aargau, Thurgau, Graubünden, St. Gallen, Vaud and Ticino became cantons with equal rights.
The Congress of Vienna of 1815 fully re-established Swiss independence and the European powers agreed to permanently recognise Swiss neutrality. At this time, the territory of Switzerland was increased for the last time, by the new cantons of Valais, Neuchâtel and Geneva.
The Restoration, the time leading up to the Sonderbundskrieg, was marked with turmoil, and the rural population struggling against the yoke of the urban centres, for example in the Züriputsch of 1839.
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Fall of the Ancien Régime
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During the last years of the Ancien Régime the growing conflicts throughout the Confederation (aristrocratic cities against peasant farmers, Protestant against catholic and canton against canton) had weakened and distracted the Diet. In Paris the Helvetian Club, founded in 1790 by several exiled Vaudois and Fribourgers, was the centre from which the ideas of the French Revolution were spread in the western part of the Confederation.[1] During the next eight years revolts sprang up across the Confederation and unlike earlier many were successful. In 1790 the Lower Valais rose against the upper districts. In 1791 Porrentruy rebelled against the Bishop of Basel and became the Rauracian republic in November 1792 and in 1793 the French department of the Mont Terrible. In 1795 St Gallen successfully revolted against the prince-abbot. These revolts were supported or encouraged by France, but the French army didn't directly attack the Confederation.
However, following the success of the First Coalition (1792-1797) against the aristrocratic armies of Prussia and Austria, the time had come for direct action against the aristrocratic Ancien Regime in Switzerland. In 1797 the districts of Chiavenna, Valtellina and Bormio, dependencies of the Three Leagues (an associate of the Confederation), revolted under the encouragement of France. They were quickly invaded and annexed to the Cisalpine Republic on 10 October 1797. In December of the same year the Bishopric of Basel was occupied and annexed.[2] On 9 December 1797 Frédéric-César de La Harpe, a member of the Helvetian Club from Vaud, asked France to invade Berne to protect Vaud. Seeing a chance to remove a feudal neighbor and gain Berne's wealth, France agreed.[1] By February 1798 French troops occupied Mulhouse and Biel/Bienne. Meanwhile, another army entered Vaud, when the "Lemanic republic" was proclaimed, and the Diet broke up in dismay without taking any steps to avert the coming storm. On 5 March troops entered Bern, deserted by her allies and distracted by quarrels within. With Berne, the stronghold of the aristocratic party, in revolutionary hands, the old Confederation collapsed. Within a month, the Confederation was under French control and all the associate members of the Confederation were gone.
Helvetic Republic
On 12 April 1798 121 cantonal deputies proclaimed the Helvetic Republic, "One and Indivisible". The new régime abolished cantonal sovereignty and feudal rights. The occupying forces established a centralised state based on the ideas of the French Revolution.
Before the Helvetic Republic, each individual canton had exercised complete sovereignty over its own territory or territories. Little central authority had existed, with matters concerning the country as a whole confined mainly to the Diet, a meeting of leading representatives from the cantons.[3]
The constitution of the Helvetic Republic came mainly from the design of Peter Ochs, a magistrate from Basel. It established a central two-chamber legislature which included the Grand Council (with 8 members per canton) and the Senate (4 members per canton). The executive, known as the Directory, comprised 5 members. The Constitution also established actual Swiss citizenship, as opposed to just citizenship of one's canton of birth.[3] With Swiss citizenship came the absolute freedom to settle in any canton, the political communes were now composed of all residents, and not merely of the burghers.[1]
No general agreement existed about the future of Switzerland. Leading groups split into the Unitaires, who wanted a united republic, and the Federalists, who represented the old aristocracy and demanded a return to cantonal sovereignty. Coup-attempts became frequent, and the new régime had to rely on the French to survive. Furthermore, the occupying forces plundered many towns and villages. This made it difficult to establish a new working state.
Many Swiss citizens resisted these "progressive" ideas, particularly in the central areas of the country. Some of the more controversial aspects of the new regime limited freedom of worship, which outraged many of the more devout citizens. Several uprisings took place, with the three Forest Cantons (Uri, Schwyz and Unterwalden) rebelling in early 1798. The Schwyzers, under Alois von Reding, were crushed by the French on the heights of Morgarten in April and May, as were the Unterwaldners in August and September. Due to the destruction and plundering, the Swiss soon turned against the French.[1]
After the Forest Cantons uprising, some cantons were merged, thus reducing their anti-centralist effectiveness in the legislature. Uri, Schwyz, Zug and Unterwalden together became the canton of Waldstätten; Glarus and the Sarganserland became the canton of Linth, and Appenzell and St. Gallen combined as the canton of Säntis.
French Revolutionary Wars in Switzerland
In 1799, Switzerland became a battle-zone between the French, Austrian and Imperial Russian armies, with the locals supporting mainly the latter two, rejecting calls to fight with the French armies in the name of the Helvetic Republic.
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Civil war and the end of the Republic
Instability in the Republic reached its peak in 1802–03 — including the Stecklikrieg civil war of 1802. Together with local resistance, financial problems caused the Helvetic Republic to collapse, and its government took refuge in Lausanne. Due to the instability of the situation, the Helvetic Republic had over 6 constitutions in a period of 4 years.[3]
At that time Napoleon Bonaparte, then First Consul of France, summoned representatives of both sides to Paris in order to negotiate a solution. Although the Federalist representatives formed a minority at the conciliation conference — known as the "Helvetic Consulta" — Bonaparte characterised Switzerland as federal "by nature" and considered it unwise to force the area into any other constitutional framework.
On 19 February 1803, the Act of Mediation restored the cantons. With the abolition of the centralized state, Switzerland became a confederation once again.
The period of the Helvetic Republic is still very controversial within Switzerland.[4] It represents the first time that Switzerland as a unified country existed and a step toward the modern federal state. For the first time the population was defined as Swiss, not as members of a specific canton. For cantons like Vaud, Thurgau and Ticino the Republic was a time of political freedom from other cantons. However the Republic also marked a time of foreign domination and revolution. For the cantons of Berne, Schwyz and Nidwalden it was a time of military defeat followed by occupation. In 1995 the Federal Parliament chose to not celebrate the 200 year anniversary of the Helvetic Republic, but to allow individual cantons to celebrate if they wished.[4]
Act of Mediation
With Napoleon acting as a mediator and declaring that the natural political state of the Swiss is a Federation[5], the Act of Mediation dissolved the Helvetic Republic and addressed many of the issues that had torn the Republic apart. It restored the original 13 members of the old Confederation and added 6 new cantons, two (St Gallen and Graubünden or Grisons) having been formerly "associates", and the four others being made up of the subject lands conquered at different times — Aargau (1415), Thurgau (1460), Ticino (1440, 1500, 1512), and Vaud (1536). In the Diet, six cantons which had a population of more than 100,000 (Bern, Zurich, Vaud, St Gallen, Graubünden and Aargau) were given two votes, the others having but one apiece. Meetings of the Diet were to be held alternately at Fribourg, Berne, Solothurn, Basel, Zurich and Lucerne.
The landsgemeinden, or popular assemblies, were restored in the democratic cantons, the cantonal governments in other cases being in the hands of a great council (legislative) and the small council (executive).
There were to be no privileged classes, burghers or subject lands. Every Swiss citizen was to be free to move and settle anywhere in the new Confederation.[1]
However the rights promised in the Act of Mediation soon began to vanish. In 1806 the principality of Neuchâtel was given to Marshal Berthier. Tessin was occupied by French troops from 1810 to 1813. Also, in 1810 the Valais was occupied and converted into the French department of the Simplon to secure the Simplon Pass. At home the liberty of moving from one canton to another (though given by the constitution) was, by the Diet in 1805, restricted by requiting ten years' residence, and then not granting political rights in the canton or a right of profiting by the communal property.
As soon as Napoleon's power began to wane (1812-1813), the position of Switzerland became endangered. The Austrians, supported by the reactionary party in Switzerland, and without any real resistance on the part of the Diet, crossed the border on 21 December 1813. On 29 December under pressure from Austria, the Diet abolished the 1803 constitution which had been created by Napoleon in the Act of Mediation.
On 6 April 1814 the so-called Long Diet met to replace the constitution. The Diet remained dead-locked until 12 September when Valais, Neuchatel and Geneva were raised to full members of the Confederation. This increased the number of cantons to 22. The Diet, however, made little progress until the Congress of Vienna.[1]
Restauration
On 20 March 1815 Berne was given the town of Biel/Bienne and much of the land that had been owned by the Bishop of Basel as compensation for territory lost during the Long Diet. The Valtellina, formerly owned by Graubunden, was granted to Austria. Muhlhausen (Mulhouse in French) was left as part of France.
On 7 August 1815 the new constitution was sworn to by all the cantons except Nidwalden. Nidwalden only agreed under military force on 30 August and as punishment lost Engelberg to Obwalden. By the new constitution the sovereign rights of each canton were fully recognized, and a return made to the lines of the old constitution, though there were to be no subject lands, and political rights were not to be the exclusive privilege of any class of citizens. Each canton had one vote in the Diet, where an absolute majority was to decide all matters save foreign affairs, when a majority of three-fourths was required.[1]
References
- ^ a b c d e f g "Switzerland". Encyclopædia Britannica. 26. 1911. pp. 257. http://en.wikisource.org/wiki/1911_Encyclop%C3%A6dia_Britannica/Switzerland/History/Religious_divisions. Retrieved 2008-10-05.
- ^ Helvetic Republic in German, French and Italian in the online Historical Dictionary of Switzerland.
- ^ a b c Histoire de la Suisse, Éditions Fragnière, Fribourg, Switzerland
- ^ a b Helvetic Republic, Historiography and Remembrance in German, French and Italian in the online Historical Dictionary of Switzerland.
- ^ Act of Mediation in German, French and Italian in the online Historical Dictionary of Switzerland.
This article incorporates text from the Encyclopædia Britannica, Eleventh Edition, a publication now in the public domain.
See also
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Wikisource has the text of a 1911 Encyclopædia Britannica article about The Period of Religious Divisions and French Influence — up to 1814. |
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