The Principality of Neuchatel, known as Neuenberg in German, was a state of the Holy Roman Empire and an associate of the Swiss Confederation from 1034 to 1848. The county became a possession of Friedrich I of Prussia in 1707 by virtue of his maternal ties to the House of Orange-Nassau, leading to Neuchatel entering a personal union with Prussia and the House of Hohenzollern. Prussia ceded Neuchatel to Switzerland after the country's defeat at the hands of Napoleon I during the Napoleonic Wars, and Frederick William III of Prussia brokered a deal with Switzerland; it would remain a Prussian principality pro forma, while it would also become Switzerland's 21st canton. On 1 March 1848, it seceded from Prussia to become the "Republic of Neuchatel", and it defended itself from counter-revolution. The republic joined the Swiss federation that same year, and Friedrich Wilhelm IV of Prussia equitably relinquished his claims on the area in 1857.
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