The Sonderbund War that brought Peace
19 December 2022
Switzerland has a reputation for slow decision-making in politics. However, the country introduced Europe’s first democracy (for men and with many exemptions) and first trilingual confederal republic in 1848.
The cantons are the experimental gardens of new political concepts; ultimately, the citizens always have the last say, as all citizens are, in a sense, politicians. So it was also in the cantons and their municipalities that the political discussions and polarisation preceding the Sonderbund War of 1847 began. The long-smouldering discord in the new Swiss Confederation of 1815 erupted in 1847.
The political situation after 1831. Map: Marco Zanoli/Wikipedia
Background
The Constitution of the new Confederation of 1815 restored the ancien régime in most cantons. The sinecure was the revision of the Constitution of 11 cantons in 1830/1831, the so-called Regeneration. Impressed by the French and German revolutions in 1830/1831, 11 cantons introduced a liberal Constitution, including universal suffrage for male citizens (with some restrictions).
This liberal Constitution in these cantons focused mainly on the trias politica, liberalisation of the economy and trade, universal suffrage (for men), equality before the law (although not yet for women and Jews), and other fundamental freedoms and democratisation.
Religious motives did not play a decisive role at this moment. Religious conflicts increased after 1831, and from 1841 onwards, the situation escalated. The dissolution of monasteries in the Protestant and Catholic canton of Aargau, and the role of the Church and Jesuits in the Catholic canton of Lucerne, were the immediate causes.
The distribution of catholic and Reformed religions (1850). National Museum Zurich
A new Constitution in Canton Aargau (5 January 1841) ended Catholics’ equal rights. They revolted in vain. The Catholic cantons did not accept it, and the Jesuits regained a prominent role in politics and education in the canton of Lucerne. This subsequently led to armed incursions from neighbouring cantons.
The deeper cause, however, was disagreement over the Confederation’s constitutional future. The Protestant and some liberal Catholic cantons wanted a stronger federal government, while the Catholic-conservative cantons opposed it.
The conflict also had economic motives. The cantons in central Switzerland had a different geographical and economic orientation across the St Gotthard. The urban Protestant cantons were more oriented towards contacts with the north, west, and far beyond.
Poverty and famine also prevailed in the so-called Urkantone of Schwyz, Obwalden, Nidwalden, and Uri, which is always a fertile breeding ground for rebellion. For centuries, young men had served as mercenaries in foreign armies. This lucrative business collapsed after 1815 and was forbidden in 1848.
The Sonderbund. Map: Marco Zanoli/Wikipedia
The Sonderbund
In 1845, the Catholic cantons of Schwyz, Obwalden, Nidwalden, Zug, Uri, Lucerne, Valais/Wallis, and Fribourg/Freiburg founded the Sonderbund. The Protestant-liberal cantons, supported by three predominantly liberal Catholic cantons (Solothurn, Tessin, and St Gall), opposed the Sonderbund, invoking the Confederal Constitution.
The Protestant Cantons of Basel-Stadt and Neuchâtel, along with the Catholic canton of Appenzell Innerrhoden, remained neutral. In July 1847, the Tagsatzung, the Confederal Parliament with representatives from the cantons, declared the Sonderbund and the presence of Jesuits in Lucerne illegal, but only by a small majority.
Despite the mediating role of Canton Basel-Stadt, the escalation culminated with the mobilisation of an army of 80,000 Sonderbund soldiers in October 1847. Subsequently, the Confederation mobilised an army of 100,000 men.
The Tagsatzung appointed Guillaume Henri Dufour (1787-1875) as general. The general of the Sonderbund was a Protestant (!) and a colonel from the Federal army (!), Johann-Ulrich von Salis-Soglio (1790-1874) from Graubünden, a canton that fought against the Sonderbund(!). It shows how intertwined the cantons already were.
Johann-Ulrich von Salis-Soglio, mid-19th century. Anonymous engraving. Photo: Wikipedia
Dufour’s choice was also not self-evident. He came from the French-speaking canton of Geneva, and although Protestant, he opposed a powerful federal government.
On 4 November, the Sonderbund attacked the canton of Tessin, an old Untertanen territory across the St Gotthard. It was a failure, and its subsequent course is well known. On 23 November 1847, the decisive battle occurred near the village of Gisikon (canton of Lucerne). After a short war of 25 days, 93 killed and 510 wounded, Canton Valais capitulated as the last Sonderbund canton on 29 November.
The European context
The Great Powers, including Russia, Austria, Prussia (the Holy Alliance), and France, considered intervening militarily in favour of the Catholic-conservative cantons and against the liberal, in their eyes, radical-democratic cantons.
The Monarchs did not want a second Revolutionary experiment after the experiences of 1789-1815. Klemens Wenzel von Metternich (1773-1859), the long-serving Austrian foreign minister and chancellor, advocated for a military intervention. Moreover, the Pope financially supported the Catholic canton of Lucerne and the Jesuits.
Thomas Lawrence (1769-1830), Prince Klemens Wenzel von Metternich, 1818. Royal Collection of the United Kingdom. Photo: Wikipedia
Because of its refuge for asylum seekers, revolutionaries, and anarchists, Switzerland has been a problem for the European monarchs since 1815. The problem was that they had guaranteed the country’s neutrality in 1815 at the Congress of Vienna (1814/1815).
Although the Catholic cantons had requested it, there was no invasion in 1847. This was not because these monarchs respected neutrality but because England vetoed an invasion, and these countries faced revolutions and unrest in 1848. Moreover, the conflict in Switzerland was short-lived, and order was restored in 1848.
After 1847
What makes the Sonderbundskrieg special is the follow-up. A Civil War often disrupts societies, leaving them in irreconcilable camps for many generations. Not so in Switzerland. This Civil War also left its mark, but the former enemies were soon back on speaking terms, and there was no long-term hatred or feelings of revenge.
The centuries-old cohabitation, dating back to the 13th century, in the predominantly German-speaking Eidgenossenschaft and the relatively mild regimes in the occupied territories (Untertanengebiete) had created a national identity despite all the differences.
The cantons of Aargau (1415), Thurgau (1460), Vaud (1536), and Tessin (1512) were occupied and administered by the Eidgenossenschaft until 1798. In 1803, they got the status of sovereign cantons (by Napoleon).
Neuchâtel was a sovereign county until 1395, then a German, French, and finally a sovereign Prussian principality, formally until 1857. However, it was a member of the Confederation as a sovereign canton from 1815. Geneva and Valais had always been sovereign territories (except in 1798-1813). They joined the Confederation in 1815.
The citizens of Geneva, Neuchâtel and Valais (and by decision of the Congress of Vienna in 1814/1815) chose the Swiss Confederation in 1815 after their French experience.
The citizens of Tessin in 1798, when Napoleon gave them a choice to join the Italian Republica Cisalpina and later the Repubblica Italiana (Siamo Svizzeri italiani). Tessin chose the Swiss Confederation.
The spirit of compromise, centuries of experience, the pursuit of the attainable, the ‘agree to disagree’ mentality, the priority of democracy and sovereignty and shared economic interests created ‘unity in disunity’.
The war ended as it had begun: in General Dufour’s words, on the eve of victory:
“Eidgenössische Wehrmänner, Ihr werdet in den Kanton Luzern einrücken. Zieht dem Feinde kühn entgegen, schlagt Euch tapfer und steht zu Eurer Fahne. Sobald aber den Sieg für uns entschieden ist, so vergesset jedes Rachegefühl, betragt Euch wie grossmütige Krieger, verschont die Überwundenen, denn dadurch beweist Ihr Euren wahren Mut”.
It brings to mind the words of Winston Churchill (1874-1965): “In War: Resolution, In Defeat: Defiance, In Victory: Magnanimity, In Peace: Good Will.” (Winston Churchill, The Second World War, Volume I, The Gathering Storm, London 1948).
The Conciliatory Constitution of 1848 remains the country’s foundation for liberalism, social democracy, federalism, and decentralisation. Direct democracy has been an indispensable ingredient since the 1874 and 1891 amendments.
Lithography by C. Studer, Winterthur, 1848, printed by J.J. Ulrich, Zurich. Collection Burgerbibliothek Bern. Photo: Wikipedia
Conclusion
Religious issues do not play a significant role in today’s politics. Even the country’s quadrilingual concept, and particularly the Röstigraben, is politically of secondary importance. The cantons of the Sonderbund maintained their identity and largely their sovereignty and developed economically innovatively and versatilely.
They benefited from the liberal spirit of the Constitution, economic modernisation, industrial revival, tourism, the development of railway and road networks, the establishment of Europe’s top universities (ETH Zurich and EPFL in Lausanne), social legislation, and prosperity.
Conflicts and conflicts of interest still exist, but less between cantons and more within cantons. The ‘Stadt-Landgraben’, which pits urban against rural and old against young, is the new divisive line.
The current choice of a French-speaking minister (Bundesrätin/Conseillère fédérale) from canton Jura instead of a German-speaking representative from canton Basel-Stadt in the government (Bundesrat/Conseil fédéral) or a majority (four French-Italian speaking and three German speaking) in the government is of less importance than the under-representation of the big cities.
The Sonderbund War was a civil war that lacked the traumatic long-term consequences typically associated with such conflicts. It is a merit and characteristic of the country that has a leading role in the fields of cartography, humanism, geography, politics, engineering, and soldiering, as exemplified by the notable figure Guillaume Henri Dufour.
(Source and further information: J. Jung, Einigkeit, Freiheit, Menschlichkeit. Guillaume Henri Dufour als General, Ingenieur, Kartograf und Politiker, Zurich, 2022)P. du Bois, La guerre du Sonderbund (Neuchâtel 2020); Historisches Lexikon der Schweiz, Der Sonderbund.