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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
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.
Map of Switzerland during the Roman period
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)
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 early 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 papacy 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)
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)
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)
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 united Helvetic Republic, effectively abolishing the
cantons. Having been imposed by a foreign power, and relying on
French troops to survive, the Helvetic Republic was highly unpopular
and encountered severe economic and political problems and
uprisings.
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 (Restoration). At this time, the territory of
Switzerland was increased, by the new cantons of Valais, Neuchatel
and Geneva.
Switzerland as a federal
state (1848–1914)
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 defense, 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 (1914–45)
The major powers respected Switzerland's neutrality during World War
I, though the Grimm-Hoffmann Affair did come close into calling it
into question.
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[6]. 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.[7] Between 10,000 and 25,000 civilian
refugees were refused entry[8][9]. At the beginning of the war,
Switzerland had a Jewish population of between 18,000[10] and
28,000[11] 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,[12] was issued in 2002.
After 1945
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.
Opening speech by president Pascal Couchepin at the World Economic
Forum, one of the many international organizations based in
Switzerland
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
* 1291 – Uri-coat of arms.svg Uri, Schwytz-coat of arms.svg Schwyz,
Unterwalden (now divided into Obwald-coat of arms.svg Obwalden and
Nidwald-coat of arms.svg Nidwalden)
* 1332 – Lucerne-coat of arms.svg Lucerne
* 1351 – Zurich-coat of arms.svg Zurich
* 1352 – Glaris-coat of arms.svg Glarus, Zug-coat of arms.svg Zug
* 1353 – Berne-coat of arms.svg Berne
* 1481 – Fribourg-coat of arms.svg Fribourg, Solothurn-coat of
arms.svg Solothurn
* 1501 – Bale-coat of arms.svg Basel-Stadt, BaleCampagne-coat of
arms.svg Basel-Landschaft, Schaffhouse-coat of arms.svg Schaffhausen
* 1513 – AppenzellRE-coat of arms.svg Appenzell Außerrhoden,
AppenzellRI-coat of arms.svg Appenzell Innerrhoden
* 1803 – St.Gallen-coat of arms.svg St. Gallen, Grisons-coat of
arms.svg Graubünden, Argovie-coat of arms.svg Aargau, Thurgovie-coat
of arms.svg Thurgau, Tessin-coat of arms.svg Ticino, Vaud-coat of
arms.svg Vaud
* 1815 – Valais-coat of arms.svg Valais, Neuchatel-coat of arms.svg
Neuchâtel, Coat of Arms of Geneva.svg Geneva
* 1979 – Jura-coat of arms.svg Jura (secession from Berne)
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