The Swiss Confederacy, which until then had consisted ofself-governing cantons united by a loose military alliance (and ruling over subject territories such asVaud), was invaded by theFrench Revolutionary Army and turned into an ally known as the "Helvetic Republic". The interference with localism and traditional liberties was deeply resented, although some modernizing reforms took place.[5][6] Resistance was strongest in the more traditional Catholic cantons, with armed uprisings breaking out in spring 1798 in thecentral part of Switzerland. The French and Helvetic armies suppressed the uprisings, but opposition to the new government gradually increased over the years, as the Swiss resented their loss of local democracy, the new taxes, the centralization and the hostility to religion. Nonetheless, there were long-term effects to the Helvetic citizens.[7]
The Republic's nameHelvetic, after theHelvetii, the Gaulish inhabitants of the Swiss Plateau in antiquity, was not an innovation; rather, the Swiss Confederacy had occasionally been dubbedRepublica Helvetiorum in humanist Latin since the 17th century, andHelvetia, the Swissnational personification, made her first appearance in 1672.[citation needed] InSwiss history, the Helvetic Republic represents an early attempt to establish a centralized government in the country.
During theFrench Revolutionary Wars of the 1790s, the French Republican armies expanded eastward. In 1793, theNational Convention had imposed friendship with the United States and theSwiss Confederation as the sole limit while delegating its powers in foreign policy to theCommittee of Public Safety, but the situation changed when the more conservativeDirectoire took power in 1795 andNapoleon conqueredNorthern Italy in 1796. The French Republican armies enveloped Switzerland on the grounds of "liberating" the Swiss people, whose own system of government was deemedfeudal, especially for annexed territories such asVaud.
Some Swiss nationals, includingFrédéric-César de La Harpe, had called for French intervention on these grounds. The invasion proceeded largely peacefully since the Swiss people failed to respond to the calls of their politicians to take up arms.
On 5 March 1798, French troops completelyoverran Switzerland and theOld Swiss Confederation collapsed. On 12 April 1798, 121 cantonal deputies proclaimed the Helvetic Republic, "One and Indivisible". On 14 April 1798, a cantonal assembly was called in thecanton of Zürich, but most of the politicians from the previous assembly were re-elected. The new régime abolishedcantonal sovereignty andfeudal rights. The occupying forces established a centralised state based on the ideas of theFrench Revolution.
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 limitedfreedom of worship, which outraged many of the more devout citizens.
Alois von Reding led Central Swiss troops against the French.
In response, the Cantons ofUri,Schwyz andNidwalden raised an army of about 10,000 men led byAlois von Reding to fight the French. This army was deployed along the defensive line fromNapf toRapperswil. Reding besieged French-controlledLucerne and marched across theBrünig pass into theBerner Oberland to support the armies of Bern. At the same time, the French GeneralBalthasar Alexis Henri Antoine of Schauenburg marched out of occupiedZürich to attackZug, Lucerne and theSattel pass. Even though Reding's army won victories at Rothenthurm andMorgarten, Schauenburg's victory nearSattel allowed him to threaten the town ofSchwyz. On 4 May 1798, the town council of Schwyz surrendered.[8]
On 13 May, Reding and Schauenburg agreed to a cease-fire, the terms of which included the rebel cantons merging into a single one, thus limiting their effectiveness in the central government. However, the French failed to keep their promises in respecting religious matters and before the year was out there was another uprising inNidwalden which the authorities crushed, with towns and villages burnt down by French troops.
No general agreement existed about the future of the Swiss. Leading groups split into theUnitaires, who wanted a united republic, and theFederalists, who represented the oldaristocracy 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 insisted that the accommodation and feeding of the soldiers be paid for by the local populace, which drained the economy. The treaty of alliance of 19 August with France, which also reaffirmed the French annexation of thePrince-Bishopric of Basel and imposed French rights over the UpperRhine and theSimplon Pass for evident strategic reasons towards Germany and Italy, also broke the tradition of neutrality established by the Confederation. All this made it difficult to establish a new working state.
In 1799, Switzerland became a virtual battle-zone between the French, Austrian, andImperial 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.
Instability in the Republic reached its peak in 1802–1803; it included theBourla-papey uprising and theStecklikrieg civil war of 1802. By then, the Republic was 12 million francs in debt, having started with a treasury of 6 million francs.[9] This, together with local resistance, caused the Helvetic Republic tocollapse, and its government took refuge inLausanne.
At that time,Napoleon Bonaparte, thenFirst Consul of France, summoned representatives of both sides toParis 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 country into any other constitutional framework.
On 19 February 1803, theAct of Mediation abolished the Helvetic Republic and restored the cantons. With the abolition of the centralized state, Switzerland became a confederation once again, called theSwiss Confederation.
Before the advent of 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 meetings of leading representatives from the cantons: theDiets.[10]
The constitution of the Helvetic Republic came mainly from the design ofPeter Ochs, amagistrate fromBasel. It established a central two-chamberlegislature which included the Grand Council (with 8 members per canton) and the Senate (4 members per canton). Theexecutive, known as theDirectory, comprised 5 members. The Constitution also established actual Swisscitizenship, as opposed to just citizenship of one's canton of birth.[10] Under theOld Swiss Confederacy, citizenship was granted by each town and village only to residents. These citizens enjoyed access to community property and in some cases additional protection under the law. Additionally, the urban towns and the rural villages had differing rights and laws. The creation of a uniform Swiss citizenship, which applied equally for citizens of the old towns and their tenants and servants, led to conflict. The wealthier villagers and urban citizens held rights to forests,common land and other municipal property which they did not want to share with the "new citizens", who were generally poor. The compromise solution, which was written into the municipal laws of the Helvetic Republic, is still valid today. Two politically separate but often geographically similar organizations were created. The first, the so-called municipality, was a political community formed by election and its voting body consists of all resident citizens. However, the community land and property remained with the former local citizens who were gathered together into theBürgergemeinde.[11]
Due to the instability of the situation, the Helvetic Republic had over 6 constitutions in a period of four years.[10] Many of the draft constitutions were sent to Napoleon for review, and he made his preferred version known. He also assisted in some of the coups that overthrew interim governments organized along constitutional lines that did not meet with his approval.[12]
William Tell fights the revolution (1798), byDunker, praises the struggle of the Old Confederation against the Helvetic revolution supported by French invasion. It depicts the Swiss folk heroWilliam Tell, carrying a shield with theRütlischwur, and his son fighting the revolution, represented as achimera wearing a phrygian capThe awakening of the Swiss (1798), by Midart, celebrates the transformation of the Old Confederation into the Helvetic Republic. It shows a Swiss who wakes up from his sleep (theancien régime) and is handed his weapons byLiberty. In the background, the rising sun and theGallic rooster herald the new era
The Helvetic Republic did highlight the desirability of a central authority to handle matters for the country as a whole (as opposed to the individual cantons which handled matters at the local level). In the post-Napoleonic era, the differences between the cantons (varying currencies and systems of weights and measurements) and the perceived need for better co-ordination between them came to a head and culminated in theSwiss Federal Constitution of 1848. The Republic's 5-member Directory resembles the 7-memberSwiss Federal Council, Switzerland's present-day[update] executive.
The Helvetic Republic is still very controversial within Switzerland.[13]Carl Hilty described the period as the firstdemocratic experience in Swiss territory, while withinconservatism it is seen as a time of national weakness and loss of independence. For cantons such as Vaud, Thurgau andTicino, the three who in 1898 celebrated the centenary of their independence, the Republic was a time of political freedom and liberation from the rule of other cantons. However, the period was also marked by foreign domination and instability, and for the cantons of Bern, Schwyz and Nidwalden it signified military defeat.[13]In 1995, theFederal Assembly chose not to celebrate the 200 year anniversary of the Helvetic Republic but to allow individual cantons to celebrate if they wished. TheFederal Councilors took part in official events inAargau in January 1998.[13]
The Helvetic period represents a key step toward themodern federal state. For the first time, the population was defined as Swiss, not as inhabitants of a specific canton.
The provisional constitution of 15 January 1798The constitution of 12 April 1798The constitution of 25 May 1802
The Helvetic Republic reduced the formerly sovereign cantons to mere administrative divisions, though keeping the denomination of cantons, while also raising to such status unrepresented territories previously ruled as subjects of the Confederation. In order to weaken the oldpower-structures, it defined new boundaries for some cantons. The Act of 1798 and subsequent developments resulted in the following cantons:
Marabello, Thomas Quinn (2023) "Challenges to Swiss Democracy: Neutrality, Napoleon, & Nationalism,"Swiss American Historical Society Review, Vol. 59: No. 2. Available at:https://scholarsarchive.byu.edu/sahs_review/vol59/iss2/5. Pg. 46-48.
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