Johann Ulrich von Salis-Soglio

Johann Ulrich von Salis-Soglio (16 March 1790 – 27 April 1874[1]) was a Swiss military officer who in 1847 commanded the conservative Sonderbund alliance in the Sonderbund War.

Johann U. von Salis-Soglio in a drawing from XXI

Career

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Salis-Soglio was born in Chur on 16 March 1790 to the Salis-Soglio noble family.[2] He chose a military career at a young age and became a member of the Grisons Militia in 1809.[2] He served as a mercenary in Bavaria between 1812 and 1815, fighting in the War of the Sixth Coalition, and in the Netherlands between 1815 and 1839, reaching the rank of major-general.[2] Salis-Soglio returned to Switzerland in 1839 and joined the general staff of the Swiss Army with the rank of colonel in 1841.[2][3]

In August 1847, Salis-Soglio was dismissed from his army position due to his support for the Sonderbund alliance.[2] A Protestant, he reluctantly took command of the Sonderbund army in October 1847.[2] The Sonderbund, politically divided and with an inferior army, was defeated by the Federal army under General Dufour in the Sonderbund War.[2] Salis-Soglio was accused of high treason, but was not put on trial due to the prioritization of national reconciliation.[2]

After the war, Salis-Soglio lived in Bergamo, South Tyrol, and Munich, before retiring to Chur in 1855. He died in Chur on 27 April 1874, aged 84.[2]

References

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  1. ^ According to the ADB, 17 April 1871.
  2. ^ a b c d e f g h i Adolf Collenberg: Salis, Johann Ulrich von (Soglio) in German, French and Italian in the online Historical Dictionary of Switzerland.
  3. ^ Georg von Wyß (1890), "Salis-Soglio, Johann Ulrich von", Allgemeine Deutsche Biographie (in German), vol. 30, Leipzig: Duncker & Humblot, pp. 249–251