History of Switzerland

Since 1848, the Swiss Confederation has been a federal state of relatively
autonomous cantons, some of which have a history of confederacy that goes
back more than 700 years, arguably putting them among the world's oldest
surviving republics. For the time before 1291, this article summarizes events
taking place on the territory of modern Switzerland. From 1291, it focuses mainly
on the fates of the Old Swiss Confederacy, at first consisting of only three
cantons (Uri, Schwyz and Unterwalden) in what is now central Switzerland, and
gradually expanding until it encompassed the present-day area of Switzerland in
1815.

Early history
Main article: Early history of Switzerland

Map of Switzerland during the Roman period

Archeological evidence suggests that hunter-gatherers were already
settled in the lowlands north of the Alps in the late Paleolithic period. By
the Neolithic period, the area was relatively densely populated. Remains
of Bronze Age pile dwellings from as early as 3800 BC[1] have been found
in the shallow areas of many lakes. Around 1500 BC, Celtic tribes settled
in the area. The Raetians lived in the eastern regions, while the west was
occupied by the Helvetii.
In 58 BC, the Helvetii tried to evade migratory pressure from Germanic
tribes by moving into Gaul, but were defeated at Bibracte by Julius
Caesar's armies and then sent back. The alpine region became integrated
into the Roman Empire and was extensively romanized in the course of
the following centuries. The center of Roman administration was at
Aventicum (Avenches). In 259, Alamanni tribes overran the Limes, putting
the settlements on Swiss territory on the frontier of the Roman Empire.
The first Christian bishoprics were founded in the 4th century. With the fall
of the Western Roman Empire, Germanic tribes entered the area.
Burgundians settled in the west; while in the north, Alamanni settlers
slowly forced the earlier Celto-Roman population to retreat into the
mountains. Burgundy became a part of the kingdom of the Franks in 534;
two years later, the dukedom of the Alamans followed suit. In the Alaman-
controlled region, only isolated Christian communities continued to exist
and Irish monks re-introduced the Christian faith in the early 7th century.
Under the Carolingian kings, the feudal system proliferated, and
monasteries and bishoprics were important bases for maintaining the rule.
The Treaty of Verdun of 843 assigned Upper Burgundy (the western part of
what is today Switzerland) to Lotharingia, and Alemannia (the eastern
part) to the eastern kingdom of Louis the German which would become
part of the Holy Roman Empire.
In the 10th century, as the rule of the Carolingians waned, Saracenes
ravaged the Valais, and Magyars destroyed Basel in 917 and St. Gallen in
926. Only after the victory of king Otto I over the Magyars in 955 in the
Battle of Lechfeld, were the Swiss territories reintegrated into the empire.
In the 12th century, the dukes of Zähringen were given authority over part
of the Burgundy territories which covered the western part of modern
Switzerland. They founded many cities, including Fribourg in 1157, and
Berne in 1191. The Zähringer dynasty ended with the death of Berchtold V
in 1218, and their cities subsequently became reichsfrei (essentially a
city-state within the Holy Roman Empire), while the dukes of Kyburg
competed with the house of Habsburg over control of the rural regions of
the former Zähringer territory.
Under the Hohenstaufen rule, the alpine passes in Raetia and the St.
Gotthard Pass gained importance. The latter especially became an
important direct route through the mountains. Uri (in 1231) and Schwyz
(in 1240) were accorded the Reichsfreiheit to grant the empire direct
control over the mountain pass. Most of the territory of Unterwalden at
this time belonged to monasteries which had previously become
reichsfrei.
The extinction of the Kyburg dynasty paved the way for the Habsburg
dynasty to bring much of the territory south of the Rhine under their
control, aiding their rise to power. Rudolph I of Habsburg, who became
Holy Roman Emperor in 1273, effectively revoked the status of
Reichsfreiheit granted to the "Forest Cantons" of Uri, Schwyz, and
Unterwalden. The Forest Cantons thus lost their independent status and
were governed by reeves.

Old Confederacy (1291–1523)

Main article: Growth of the Old Swiss Confederacy
The Battle of Laupen (1339) between Swiss forces and an army of the
Dukes of Savoy (Diebold Schilling the Elder, 1480s).
In 1291, the cantons of Uri, Schwyz, and Unterwalden conspired against
the Habsburgs. Their union, the nucleus of the Old Swiss Confederacy, is
recorded in the Federal Charter, a document probably written after the
fact, in the 14th century. At the battles of Morgarten in 1315 and
Sempach 1386, the Swiss defeated the Habsburg army, allowing the
confederacy to continue within the Holy Roman Empire.
By 1353, the three original cantons had been joined by the cantons of
Glarus and Zug and the city states of Lucerne, Zürich, and Berne, forming
the "Old Federation" of eight states that persisted during much of the 15th
century. Zürich was expelled from the confederation during the 1440s due
to a conflict over the territory of Toggenburg (the Old Zürich War). This led
to a significant increase of power and wealth of the federation, in
particular due to the victories over Charles the Bold of Burgundy during
the 1470s and the success of Swiss mercenaries.
The traditional listing order of the cantons of Switzerland reflects this
state, listing the eight "Old Cantons" first, with the city states preceding
the founding cantons, followed by cantons that joined the federation after
1481, in historical order.
The Swiss victory in a war against the Swabian League in 1499 amounted
to de facto independence from the Holy Roman Empire. In 1506, Pope
Julius II engaged the Swiss Guard that continues to serve the Vatican to
the present day. The expansion of the federation and the reputation of
invincibility acquired during the earlier wars suffered a first setback in
1515 with the Swiss defeat in the Battle of Marignano.

Reformation (1523–1648)
Main article: Reformation in Switzerland
Huldrych Zwingli was elected priest of the Great Minster church in Zürich
in 1518. Zwingli's Reformation of 1523 was supported by the magistrate
and population of Zürich and led to significant changes in civil life and
state matters in Zürich. The reformation was spread from Zürich to five
other cantons of Switzerland, while the remaining five sternly held onto
the Roman Catholic faith, leading to inter-cantonal wars (Kappeler Kriege)
in 1529 and 1531, where Zwingli died on the battlefield.
During the Thirty Years' War, Switzerland was a relative "oasis of peace
and prosperity" (Grimmelshausen) in war-torn Europe, mostly because all
major powers in Europe were depending on Swiss mercenaries, and would
not let Switzerland fall in the hands of one of their rivals. Politically, they
all tried to take influence, by way of mercenary commanders such as Jörg
Jenatsch or Johann Rudolf Wettstein. The Drei Bünde of Grisons, at that
point not yet a member of the Confederacy, were involved in the war from
1620, which led to their loss of the Valtellina in 1623.

Ancien Régime (1648–1798)

Main article: Ancien Régime of Switzerland
At the Treaty of Westphalia in 1648, Switzerland attained legal
independence from the Holy Roman Empire. The Valtellina became a
dependency of the Drei Bünde again after the Treaty and remained so
until the founding of the Cisalpine Republic by Napoleon Bonaparte in
1797.
In 1653, peasants of territories subject to Lucerne, Berne, Solothurn and
Basel revolted because of currency devaluation. Although the authorities
prevailed in this Swiss peasant war, they did pass some tax reforms and
the incident in the long term prevented an absolutist development as
would occur at some other courts of Europe. The confessional tensions
remained, however, and erupted again in the Battles of Villmergen in 1656
and 1712.

Napoleonic Era (1798–1848)

Main article: Switzerland in the Napoleonic era

The Swiss flag between 1798–1803

During the French Revolutionary Wars, the revolutionary armies boiled
eastward, enveloping Switzerland in their battles against Austria. In 1798
Switzerland was completely overrun by the French and became the
Helvetic Republic. The Helvetic Republic encountered severe economic
and political problems. In 1798 the country became a battlefield of the
Revolutionary Wars.
In 1803 Napoleon's Act of Mediation partially restored the sovereignty of
the cantons, and the former tributary and allied territories of Aargau,
Thurgau, Grisons, St. Gallen, Vaud and Ticino became cantons with equal
rights.
The Congress of Vienna of 1815 fully re-established Swiss independence
and the European powers agreed to permanently recognise Swiss
neutrality. At this time, the territory of Switzerland was increased for the
last time, by the new cantons of Valais, Neuchatel and Geneva.

Switzerland as a federal state (1848–1914)

Main article: Switzerland as a federal state
In 1847, a civil war broke out between the Catholic and the Protestant
cantons (Sonderbundskrieg). Its immediate cause was a 'special treaty'
(Sonderbund) of the Catholic cantons. It lasted for less than a month,
causing fewer than 100 casualties. Apart from small riots, this was the last
armed conflict on Swiss territory.
As a consequence of the civil war, Switzerland adopted a federal
constitution in 1848, amending it extensively in 1874 and establishing
federal responsibility for defence, trade, and legal matters, leaving all
other matters to the cantonal governments. From then, and over much of
the 20th century, continuous political, economic, and social improvement
has characterized Swiss history.

World Wars (1914–1945)

Main article: Switzerland during the World Wars
The major powers respected Switzerland's neutrality during World War I.
During World War II, detailed invasion plans were drawn up by the
Germans,[2] but Switzerland was never attacked. Switzerland was able to
remain independent through a combination of military deterrence,
economic concessions to Germany, and good fortune as larger events
during the war delayed an invasion. Attempts by Switzerland's small Nazi
party to cause an Anschluss with Germany failed miserably, largely due to
Switzerland's multicultural heritage, strong sense of national identity, and
long tradition of direct democracy and civil liberties. The Swiss press
vigorously criticized the Third Reich, often infuriating its leadership. Under
General Henri Guisan, a massive mobilization of militia forces was
ordered. The Swiss military strategy was changed from one of static
defence at the borders to protect the economic heartland, to a strategy of
organized long-term attrition and withdrawal to strong, well-stockpiled
positions high in the Alps known as the Réduit. Switzerland was an
important base for espionage by both sides in the conflict and often
mediated communications between the Axis and Allied powers.
Switzerland's trade was blockaded by both the Allies and by the Axis. Both
sides openly exerted pressure on Switzerland not to trade with the other.
Economic cooperation and extension of credit to the Third Reich varied
according to the perceived likelihood of invasion, and the availability of
other trading partners. Concessions reached their zenith after a crucial rail
link through Vichy France was severed in 1942, leaving Switzerland
completely surrounded by the Axis. Switzerland relied on trade for half of
its food and essentially all of its fuel, but controlled vital trans-alpine rail
tunnels between Germany and Italy. Switzerland's most important exports
during the war were precision machine tools, watches, jewel bearings
(used in bombsights), electricity, and dairy products. During World War
Two, the Swiss franc was the only remaining major freely convertible
currency in the world, and both the Allies and the Germans sold large
amounts of gold to the Swiss National Bank. Between 1940 and 1945, the
German Reichsbank sold 1.3 billion francs worth of gold to Swiss Banks in
exchange for Swiss francs and other foreign currency.[3] Hundreds of
millions of francs worth of this gold was monetary gold plundered from the
central banks of occupied countries. 581,000 francs of "Melmer" gold
taken from Holocaust victims in eastern Europe was sold to Swiss banks.[4]
In total, trade between Germany and Switzerland contributed about 0.5%
to the German war effort but did not significantly lengthen the war.[5]
Over the course of the war, Switzerland interned 300,000 refugees.
104,000 of these were foreign troops interned according to the Rights and
Duties of Neutral Powers outlined in the Hague Conventions. The rest were
foreign civilians and were either interned or granted tolerance or
residence permits by the cantonal authorities. Refugees were not allowed
to hold jobs. 60,000 of the refugees were civilians escaping persecution by
the Nazis. Of these, 26,000 to 27,000 were Jews.[6] Between 10,000 and
25,000 civilian refugees were refused entry. At the beginning of the war,
Switzerland had a Jewish population of about 25,000[citation needed] and a total
population of about 4 million.
Within Switzerland at the time of the conflict there was moderate
polarization. Some were pacifists. Some took sides according to
international capitalism or international communism. Others leaned more
towards their language group, with some in French-speaking areas more
pro-Allied, and some in Swiss-German areas more pro-Axis. The
government attempted to thwart the activities of any individual, party, or
faction in Switzerland that acted with extremism or attempted to break
the unity of the nation. The Swiss-German speaking areas moved
linguistically further away from the standard (high) German spoken in
Germany, with more emphasis on local Swiss dialects.
In the 1990s, controversy over a class-action lawsuit brought in Brooklyn,
New York over Jewish assets in Holocaust-era bank accounts prompted the
Swiss government to commission the most recent and authoritative study
of Switzerland's interaction with the Nazi regime. The final report by this
independent panel of international scholars, known as the Bergier
Commission,[7] was issued in 2002.

After 1945
Main articles: Modern history of Switzerland and Politics of Switzerland
After the war, Swiss authorities considered the construction of a Swiss
nuclear bomb. Leading nuclear physicists at the Federal Institute of
Technology such as Paul Scherrer made this a realistic possibility, and in
1958 the population clearly voted in favour of the bomb. The Nuclear Non-
Proliferation Treaty of 1968 was seen as a valid alternative, however, and
the bomb was never built.
From 1959, the Federal Council, elected by the parliament, is composed of
members of the four major parties, the Protestant Free Democrats, the
Catholic Christian Democrats, the left-wing Social Democrats and the
right-wing People's Party, essentially creating a system without a sizeable
parliamentary opposition (see concordance system), reflecting the
powerful position of an opposition in a direct democracy.
In 1963, Switzerland joined the Council of Europe. Women were granted
the right to vote only in 1971, and an equal rights amendment was
ratified in 1981. In 1979, parts of the canton of Berne attained
independence, forming the new canton of Jura.
Switzerland's role in many United Nations and international organizations,
helped to mitigate the country's concern for neutrality. In 2002,
Switzerland was officially ratified as a member of the United Nations —
the only country joining after agreement by a popular vote.
Switzerland is not a member state of the EU, but has been (together with
Liechtenstein) surrounded by EU territory since the joining of Austria in
1995. In 2005, Switzerland agreed to join the Schengen treaty and Dublin
Convention by popular vote.

Order of accession of the cantons

Main article: Cantons of Switzerland

• 1291 - Uri, Schwyz, Unterwalden (now divided into Obwalden

and Nidwalden)

• 1332 - Lucerne

• 1351 - Zurich

• 1352 - Glarus, Zug

• 1353 - Berne

• 1481 - Fribourg, Solothurn

• 1501 - Basel-Stadt, Basel-Landschaft, Schaffhausen

• 1513 - Appenzell Außerrhoden, Appenzell Innerrhoden

• 1803 - St. Gallen, Graubunden, Aargau, Thurgau, Ticino,

Vaud

• 1815 - Valais, Neuchâtel, Geneva

• 1979 - Jura (secession from Berne)