Valais Republic

The Valais Republic was a French sister republic that existed from 1802 to 1810 in the French-speaking Alps of present-day Switzerland. Napoleon wanted secure control of the Simplon Pass, the route linking France with his Italian possessions, and pressed the Helvetic Republic to separate Valais. On 28 August 1802 a treaty signed at Sion and Bex by France, the Italian Republic, the Helvetic Republic and the newly independent Valais created the republic. It was one of several French satellite states carved from the old Swiss Confederacy. It was a narrow Alpine state with a constitution modelled on French practice and a government seated at Sion. French troops guaranteed its defence, and the Simplon road was built through its territory, opening in 1806. In 1810 Napoleon annexed Valais to France as the department of Simplon, justifying the act by the road's strategic value. After his fall the Congress of Vienna returned Valais to Switzerland, and it became a canton in 1815.