Niklaus Franz von Bachmann

Niklaus Franz Ignaz Leger by Bachmann at the Letz ( born March 27, 1740 in Naefels, † February 11, 1831 ) was a Swiss military leader.

Life

Niklaus Franz Ignaz Leger Bachmann was the son of Field Marshal ( in French service ) and Ludwig Ritter Karl Leonhard Bachmann of Naefels ( 1683-1749 ) and Mary Ignatia Elisabetha Keller ( 1714-1779 ), a daughter of the patrician Lucerne Anton Leger cellar. His brother was Karl Josef Anton Leger by Bachmann.

He spent his childhood in Freulerpalast Naefels, the school and education at the Jesuit College in Feldkirch Stella Matutina and the Nazarenerinstitut in Rome.

1756, he joined the French mercenary service and rose to lieutenant general. After the dismissal of the Swiss troops in France in 1792, he joined Sardinian- Piedmontese services and in 1794 was appointed major general. He fought against the French Revolution and was a prisoner of war back to Switzerland. The Helvetic government placed him under house arrest, then he went to English services and presented the regiment Bachmann along with English means to fight against the French.

After the death of General Friedrich von Hotze, he was appointed Inspector General of the Swiss émigré army command of the fighting against Napoleon Swiss troops on the side of the Allies. In Stecklikrieg he commanded the conservative forces, which ended the Helvetic Republic in Bern. He was since 1802 the first supreme commander of a total Swiss army. 1815 elected him to the Diet General. Bachmann came only Swiss army leaders of modern history in a foreign territory. But the senseless campaign failed miserably; the Swiss military system was at a low point.

Niklaus Franz von Bachmann introduced the red armbands with the white Swiss cross, which had fallen into disuse since the late Middle Ages.