Dissolution of the Sonderbund

Reverse

Caption with date and name of the engraver.

Script: Latin

Lettering:
REVISION DU PACTE FEDERAL EXPULSION DES JESUITES •
DISSOLUTION
DU
SONDERBUND
1847
SIBER

Engraver: Jacob Siber

Edge

Plain

Comment

When the seven conservative Catholic cantons of Lucerne, Uri, Schwyz, Unterwalden, Zug, Fribourg and Valais entered into a defensive association in 1845, mainly to safeguard the Catholic religion and cantonal sovereignty, the Liberals saw it as nothing more than a new, separate alliance, the German term Sonderbund. The crisis escalated into a civil war in 1847, which resulted in the victory of the Protestant cantons and the dissolution of the Sonderbund. (René Roca: "Sonderbund", in: Historical Dictionary of Switzerland (HDS), version of 20.12.2012, translated from German.)