Sonderbund War

Sonderbund war
Confederates   Sonderbund   Neutrals
Date 3–29 November 1847 Location Switzerland Result Confederate victory Dissolution of the Sonderbund Federal constitution of 1848
Belligerents
Swiss Confederation	Sonderbund (cantons of UR, SZ, NW, OW, LU, ZG, FR and VS)
Commanders and leaders
Henri Dufour	Johann-Ulrich von Salis-Soglio
Strength
99,000	79,000
Casualties and losses
60 dead 386 wounded	26 dead 114 wounded

The Sonderbund War (German: Sonderbundskrieg) of November 1847 was a civil war in Switzerland, then still a relatively loose confederacy of cantons (states). It ensued after seven Catholic cantons formed the Sonderbund ("separate alliance") in 1845 to protect their interests against a centralization of power. The war concluded with the defeat of the Sonderbund. It resulted in the emergence of Switzerland as a federal state, concluding the period of political "restoration and regeneration" in Switzerland.

The Sonderbund consisted of the cantons of Lucerne, Fribourg, Valais, Uri, Schwyz, Unterwalden and Zug, all predominantly Catholic and governed by Conservative administrations. The cantons of Ticino and Solothurn, also predominantly Catholic but governed by liberal administrations, did not join the alliance.

After the Tagsatzung (Federal Diet) declared the Sonderbund unconstitutional and ordered it dissolved by force, General Guillaume-Henri Dufour led the federal army of 100,000 and defeated the Sonderbund under Johann-Ulrich von Salis-Soglio in a campaign that lasted only a few weeks, from November 3 to November 29, and claimed fewer than a hundred lives. He ordered his troops to care for the injured, anticipating the formation of the Red Cross in which he participated a few years later. Major actions were fought at Fribourg, Geltwil, Lunnern, Lucerne, and finally at Gisikon, Meierskappel, and Schüpfheim, after which Lucerne capitulated on 24 November. The rest of the Sonderbund surrendered without armed resistance in the subsequent weeks.

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