Attempting to gain control of key alpine passes and establish a buffer against the hostile monarchies of Europe, France first invaded some of the associates of the Swiss Confederation.

In 1797, Napoleon annexed the Valtellina on the border with Graubünden into the new Cisalpine Republic in northern Italy and invaded the southern remainder of the bishopric of Basel.

[2][3] In 1798, the confederacy was invaded by the French Revolutionary Army at the invitation of the Republican faction in Vaud, led by Frédéric-César de La Harpe.

French General Balthazar Alexis Henri Schauenburg deployed troops in two wings and prepared to attack from the north and south.

[5] Many women, older men, and sometimes even children of the rural population joined the fighting Bernese troops and tried to protect their city from the French invasion.

[3] While General Johann Rudolf von Graffenried had won a victory against the French southern wing at Neuenegg on the same day, the government's surrender and the defeat at Grauholz ended Bernese resistance.