Niklaus Franz von Bachmann

Niklaus Leodegar Franz Ignaz von Bachmann (27 March 1740 – 11 February 1831) was a Swiss military officer who served as commander-in-chief (General) of the Swiss Army at the end of the Napoleonic Wars.

Family and early life Bachmann was born on 27 March 1740 in Näfels, Switzerland, into a family of Swiss mercenaries. He was the son of Karl Leonhard von Bachmann, a maréchal de camp in the French Army, and Elisabeth Keller. Bachmann's campaign in Franche-Comté remains the most recent occasion when the Swiss Army entered foreign territory.

Bachmann was eventually compelled to end his offensive due to mutinies, lack of supplies and disunity within the Federal Diet. Frustrated, he resigned his command on 26 July. In a report justifying his decision presented to the Diet, Bachmann highlighted the political obstacles and serious deficiencies of the Swiss military. His ideas for improving Swiitzerland's military capabilities were implemented in the Federal Treaty of 1815 and the Military Regulations of 1817.

Later life After the war, Bachmann received the Grand Cross of the Order of Saint Louis (France), of the Order of Leopold (Austria) and of the Order of Saints Maurice and Lazarus (Sardinia). The Federal Diet, which did not have any orders, gave him a ceremonial sabre with a golden hilt. Louis XVIII offered Bachmann the position of inspector general of all the Swiss regiments in France, but he declined the offer due to his age. In 1819 he attended, as a guest of honour, the inauguration in Lucerne of the Lion Monument by Bertel Thorvaldsen, where his brother's name is engraved. Bachmann died in his native Näfels on 11 February 1831, at the age of almost 91 years.