The Helvetic Republic

Aarau, Zurich, Gotthard, Berezina

Key figures: Napoleon Bonaparte, Michel Ney, Thomas Legler

Further reading: Helvetic Republic (Wikipedia), Battle of the Berezina (HLS, German)

The end of the old Confederation (1798). In 1798 French troops entered Switzerland and the old Confederation collapsed. On 12 April, in Aarau, the Helvetic Republic was proclaimed: a unitary state, with a written constitution, equality before the law and the end of the privileges of the towns and of the patrician families. The subject territories, such as Vaud and the Ticino lands, became free.

An occupied state (1798–1803). With the offensive and defensive alliance of 19 August 1798 the Helvetic Republic became a satellite state of France and lost its neutrality. It had to maintain the army of occupation, which confiscated the treasuries of the towns and imposed heavy requisitions. The republic was unstable, divided between unitarists and federalists and shaken by coups; in 1802 the revolt known as the «Stecklikrieg» (War of the Sticks) brought it down, and in 1803 Napoleon imposed the Act of Mediation.

A battlefield (1799). In the War of the Second Coalition French, Austrian and Russian armies fought one another in Switzerland. Two battles took place around Zurich, in June and in September. The Russian general Alexander Suvorov came up from Italy and forced the Gotthard route; isolated after the Russian defeat at Zurich, he withdrew over the Pragel and Panix passes, already covered in snow.

Soldiers for France: the Helvetic half-brigades (1798–1805). The 1798 alliance obliged the Republic to supply France with an auxiliary corps of 18,000 men, organised in six Helvetic half-brigades, with a quota fixed for each canton. Recruitment yielded little: many young men fled abroad, and some joined the émigré regiments fighting on the opposite side. The half-brigades fought in the War of the Second Coalition; in 1803 a battalion of the 3rd half-brigade fought alongside the French in Saint-Domingue against the insurgents who proclaimed the independence of Haiti the following year.

The four Swiss regiments (1803–1814). On 27 September 1803, together with a defensive alliance, the Diet had to sign a military capitulation negotiated by General Michel Ney: for 25 years Switzerland would keep 16,000 men in the service of France in four regiments, in red uniforms, with their own justice and freedom of worship, to be deployed only on the European continent. In 1805 the last half-brigades merged into the 1st Swiss Regiment. Recruiting fell to the cantons and the municipalities, which struggled to fill the ranks even with ever higher enlistment bounties and sent unwanted people and petty offenders into service; desertions were frequent. Napoleon threatened sanctions, then in 1812 reduced the contingent to 12,000 men. The Swiss fought in the Kingdom of Naples, against the guerrillas in Calabria, and from 1807 in Spain and Portugal. At Bailén, in July 1808, there were Swiss on both sides: regiments in Spanish service, with Theodor von Reding of Schwyz among the victorious commanders, and others forcibly incorporated into the French corps of General Dupont, which surrendered.

The Berezina (1812). In 1812 the four regiments, about 8,000 men, set off on the Russian campaign with Marshal Oudinot's 2nd Corps, in General Merle's division. In October, at the second Battle of Polotsk, the 1st and 2nd regiments lost more than 1,100 men. When they reached the Berezina during the retreat, about 1,300 were left. On 28 November, on the western bank, they covered the crossing of the remnants of the Grande Armée: out of ammunition, they charged the Russians eight times with the bayonet. The next day 300 Swiss answered the roll call. Several thousand Swiss soldiers died in the Russian campaign.

The Berezina song. On the morning of 28 November First Lieutenant Thomas Legler of Glarus sang «Unser Leben gleicht der Reise», a poem by Ludwig Giseke, to his comrades. Almost forgotten in the 19th century, the song was revived by Otto von Greyerz and Gonzague de Reynold under the title «Beresinalied» and became the symbol of the sacrifice of Swiss soldiers in foreign service; between 1912 and 1946 it was translated into several languages.