ABSTRACT
The Catholic canton of Lucerne responded with its own ‘radical cure for Straussism’, inviting the Jesuit order to run the local seminary. Freethinkers and Protestants dropped their differences and united in a crusade against ‘Jesuitism’. Armed partisans from neighbouring cantons made two attempts to overthrow Lucerne’s government, which repelled them with the assistance of Catholic neighbours. This triggered a slide to war between Protestant and Catholic cantons. Fortunately, the leader of the victorious forces, General Guillaume Dufour, was a master tactician as well as a moderate, and secured victory with only 100 casualties on both sides.1
