Johann Nepomuk von Schmiel

Johann Nepomuk von Schmiel (born April 19, 1774 in Leipnik , Moravia , † December 29, 1850 in Aarau ; authorized to reside in Unterleibstadt and Aarau) was a Swiss politician and officer . After a military career in the service of Habsburg Austria , he moved to Switzerland for personal reasons and, despite his aristocratic origins, sided with the revolutionaries at the beginning of the French invasion. He held various offices in the Helvetic Republic . In the newly founded canton of Aargau, he organized and commanded the cantonal troops. From 1815 he was a member of the cantonal government , but had to resign in 1831 as a result of the free office storm . After that he was district administrator in Aarau until his death.

biography

Helvetic Republic

The son of a captain in the Austrian service embarked on a military career himself after attending school in Olomouc . From 1789 to 1791 he took part in the Russo-Austrian Turkish War, after which he was involved in campaigns against France until 1797 . In 1793 he was promoted to lieutenant . After a failed love affair, he resigned in April 1797. He decided to start a completely new life in Switzerland and found a job as court master in Bern . At Wildegg Castle , the family home of his employer, he met Johann Rudolf Dolder , who was elected to the Senate after the French invasion and the proclamation of the Helvetic Republic .

Inspired by Dolder, von Schmiel broke with his noble past and also joined the revolutionary forces. At first he was secretary of Dolder, who had meanwhile risen to the Helvetic directorate , then moved to the war ministry and became office manager there. In March 1801, von Schmiel received the citizenship of the community of Unterleibstadt , two months later he was appointed captain of the Helvetian troops. In March 1802, governor Sebastian Fahrländer commissioned him to build up the administrative chamber of the newly founded canton of Fricktal . In the following month, von Schmiel married Regina Sonnenschein, the daughter of the sculptor Valentin Sonnenschein . In September he resumed his previous work in the War Ministry in Bern. In the turmoil of the Stecklikkrieg in the autumn of 1802, he fled to Lausanne together with the Swiss government .

Kanton Aargau

With the act of mediation issued by Napoleon Bonaparte , the canton of Fricktal was merged with the canton of Aargau on February 19, 1803. Dolder was at the head of the Aarau government, which is why von Schmiel followed his patron to Aarau . The cantonal government granted him the privilege of publishing the official gazette and appointed him captain of the provisional army. In the spring of 1804, von Schmiel led the Aargau troops in the buck war , a little more than a year later he was appointed commander of six newly established militia battalions. As head of the military instruction school, he also took on the training of all militias in the canton of Aargau. In 1805, von Schmiel received the citizenship of Aarau, in 1811 he was a co-founder of the local Masonic Lodge , and in 1816 he joined the Swiss Society for Natural Research .

With the rank of federal colonel , von Schmiel commanded a division in December 1813 and monitored the march of Austrian troops through the Fricktal towards France. In negotiations he was able to ensure that their march back no longer took place via Switzerland. In March 1815 he was elected to the Grand Council of the Canton of Aargau in the Rheinfelden constituency, and in December of the same year he was elected to the cantonal government. In between he was given command of a brigade consisting of troops from seven cantons.

In the cantonal government, von Schmiel was assigned the police department and he also chaired several commissions. Under his leadership, a new military law was drafted, which came into force in December 1816. He ordered a reorganization of military training and took over the management of the new instruction school. From 1823 he was also a member of the federal military supervision and was significantly involved in the drafting of new military regulations. He met with public criticism because of his aristocratic origins and the introduction of “foreign customs and traditions” into the military, which were considered “un-republican”.

During the Freiamt storm in December 1830, von Schmiel gave the order not to shoot the rebels. The Freiämter took Aarau without a fight and forced the drafting of a new constitution. As a result, von Schmiel resigned from all military offices at canton level in January 1831. After the new, more democratic constitution was adopted, he was re-elected to the Grand Council in the Kaiserstuhl constituency, but no longer to the cantonal government. However, the Grand Council elected him President of the Aarau District Court, and in 1832 he was also appointed District Administrator of the Aarau District .

Von Schmiel held back to a large extent in the Grand Council, but presided over it in 1842. After the failed second free march in March 1845, he negotiated the release of the Aargau irregulars held prisoner in Lucerne . Shortly before the end of 1850 he died as a result of an accident.

See also

• List of government councils in the canton of Aargau

literature

• Biographical Lexicon of the Canton of Aargau 1803–1957 . In: Historical Society of the Canton of Aargau (Ed.): Argovia . tape 68/69 . Verlag Sauerländer, Aarau 1958, p. 682-688 .

Web links

• Andreas Steigmeier : Schmiel, Johann Nepomuk von. In: Historical Lexicon of Switzerland .