- On Saturday, President Ignazio Cassis celebrated the 150th anniversary of the internment of the French Eastern Army, the so-called Bourbaki Army, in Switzerland.
- He also took part in the parade across the French-Swiss border.
- The commemoration should have taken place last year, but was postponed due to the pandemic.
On February 1, 1871, more than 87,000 soldiers of the French army named after General Bourbaki fled to Switzerland. After handing in weapons, ammunition and material at the border, they were taken in by the Swiss population and received help.
“Unshakeable Solidarity”
To celebrate the anniversary, Cassis accompanied the historic procession, which started in Les Verrières-de-Joux on the French side and ended in Les Verrières on the Neuchâtel side. Switzerland offered almost 90,000 French soldiers and officers shelter and protection, Cassis said in his speech in Les Verrières, according to the Federal Department of Foreign Affairs (EDA).
That made up around three percent of the Swiss population at the time. This action testifies to “the unshakable solidarity and the inalienable ties” between France and Switzerland.
There was a parade in period costumes at the ceremony, which was also attended by Jean-Baptiste Lemoyne, Secretary of State at the French Ministry of Foreign Affairs. Cannon shots were fired. Cassis fired a 1723 cannon from the Neuchâtel battalion. Music and theater performances, a conference, exhibitions and a five-kilometre themed trail through Les Verrières were also offered.
Encircled in the French Jura
The Franco-Prussian War of 1870-1871 ended in France’s defeat. In January 1871, General Charles Denis Bourbaki launched a counteroffensive with his army, hoping to repel the German army. However, the French soldiers were surrounded by German troops in the French Jura.
Legend:
Federal President Ignazio Cassis firing the historic cannon.
key stone
The Bourbaki army then entrenched themselves near the Swiss border at Les Verrières and asked the Federal Council for military asylum. He signed the Treaty of Les Verrières and allowed over 87,000 soldiers and 12,000 horses to cross the border.
After the French soldiers were disarmed by the Swiss army, they were given medical care, food and shelter in 188 communes across the country except Ticino. The Bourbaki army left Switzerland six weeks later and returned to France. The French government paid the costs of 12.1 million Swiss francs.