Switzerland 1798-1848

                                        Switzerland 1798-1848

Activity 1

1 : Swiss cantons provided mercenary soldiers to other European powers until the 19th

 century and in return the cantons received significant wealth and a recognised neutrality that was

in everyone’s interest. So, despite deep internal divisions (notably between Catholic and Protestants) Switzerland gained a reputation for wealth and stability.

2 : The idea of a long history of Swiss democracy largely a myth because before 1798, Switzerland’s social and political system was characterized by the domination of a ruling, aristocratic class that was similar to pre-revolutionary France.

3 : Voltaire who wrote Candide in Switzerland and especially Geneva born Jean Jacques Rousseau exercised considerable influence in Switzerland. Swiss society was becoming increasingly tolerant, executions for heresy and witchcraft stopped and the penal use of torture was increasingly criticised. The French Encyclopédie was published in Yverdon in the 1770s and Geneva, Lausanne and Neuchatel became important publishing centres that attracted intellectuals from all over Europe.

Switzerland was one of the first industrialized countries. The industralization of Switzerland began, as in Great Britain, with the production of textiles and expanded soon to the construction of machines, to food products and to chemicals and pharmaceuticals.

4 : Major Davel was a soldier, patriot, notary and land commissioner of from Vaud.

There is a statue to him because he sacrificed himself for the nation.

5 : Franz Urs Balthasar's Patriotic Dreams inspired the creation in 1762 of the Helvetic Society which was to campaign for a unified Swiss state that would overcome the divisions between the cantons.

Activity 2

1 : the Vaudois peasantry, like the peasants in the later European revolutions of 1830 had no rebellious traditions and often supported the Berne government. The most important developments were led by Swiss exiled intellectuals, who for example, formed the Club Helvétique in Paris in 1790. One of the most influential of these was Frédéric-César de La Harpe a lawyer from Rolle.

2 : De la Harpe was a Swiss political leader, scholar, and Vaudois patriot best known for his pivotal role in the formation of the Helvetic Republic, and for serving as a member of the Helvetic Directory. He was a personal teacher of Alexander I of Russia and educated him in ideals of the Lumières. This lifelong friendship resulted in the important support of Alexander I at the Congress of Vienna in 1815 in which Vaud retained its independence from Berne that had been established during the Napoleonic period.

3 : France was interested in resources and access to Italy, La Harpe and Ochs were interested in implementing implementing the political reforms of the Club Helvétique.

Activity 3

1 : The interference with localism and traditional liberties was deeply resented, although some modernizing reforms took place. Resistance was strongest in the more traditional Catholic bastions, with armed uprisings breaking out in spring 1798 in the central part of Switzerland. The French Army suppressed the uprisings, but support for revolutionary ideals steadily declined, as the Swiss resented their loss of local democracy, the new taxes, the centralization, and the hostility to religion.

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