Ulrich Ochsenbein

Ulrich Ochsenbein (born November 24, 1811, Schwarzenegg, Switzerland—died November 3, 1890, Bellevue, Bern) was a Swiss politician and military leader who headed the confederation government during the Sonderbund War (1847) and presided over the constitutional reform committee of 1848. An ardent Bernese radical, Ochsenbein organized and directed an abortive military coup against the clerical government of Luzern (March 1845), precipitating the formation by Roman Catholic cantons of a conservative defense league, the Sonderbund. At Bern...