History of Switzerland

Introduction to History of Switzerland

The first known inhabitants of Switzerland were a prehistoric people called Lake Dwellers. ( Sometime after 1000 B.C., Celtic tribes moved into the area. The Helvetians, in the west, occupied the most extensive lands. The Raetians held a section in the east.

Roman and Germanic Switzerland

In 58 B.C., the Helvetians were conquered by Roman legions led by Julius Caesar. They became allies of Rome, remaining in their native land and protecting it against Germanic tribes threatening from the north. During the next 200 years trade flourished, and roads and cities were built.

In the mid-third century A.D., Germanic tribes began to invade the empire. Within 200 years, two such tribes had occupied Switzerland, the Alamanni in the east and the Burgundians in the west.

The Franks conquered the region in the first half of the sixth century. Under Frankish rule, Christianity became well established and numerous abbeys were founded. One of the most famous was that of St. Gallen, founded by an Irish monk. In 843, the Treaty of Verdun divided the region between two of Charlemagne's grandsons. A western portion became part of the Kingdom of Burgundy, while the remainder went to the new Kingdom of Germany. In the 11th century, Burgundy was annexed to Germany.

In 1273, Rudolf of Hapsburg (Habsburg, in northern Switzerland) was chosen German king and Holy Roman emperor. An ambitious ruler, he seized Austria as his personal domain and tried to take personal control over the duchy of Swabia, which included the area around Lake Lucerne.

Confederation

The people of the lake districts were particularly offended by Rudolf's practice of appointing to their courts judges from other parts of the empire. In 1291, after the death of Rudolf, three of the districts around Lake Lucerne—Uri, Schwyz, and Unterwalden—formed a mutual defense alliance and agreed to recognize only judges who were native to one of the three districts. This alliance became the nucleus of the Swiss Confederation. Other districts joined the Confederation and it soon came into conflict with the empire. War between the Confederation and the empire was waged intermittently for a century, with the Confederation winning major victories at Morgarten in 1315 and at Sempach in 1386. In 1394 a truce was signed that recognized the Confederation as an autonomous state, within the Holy Roman Empire but independent of Austria and the other individual Hapsburg realms. By this date four neighboring districts had joined the Confederation. The William Tell legend dates from this period of struggle for independence.

The 15th century was marked by expansion and civil war. The Confederation pushed north to the Rhine River, causing new conflicts with Austria, and south across the Alps into Italy. In 1476 the Swiss repelled an invasion by Burgundy at Grandson, and in 1499 they won a series of victories against the Holy Roman Emperor Maximilian I. He was forced to grant the Swiss virtual independence, although officially they still remained a part of the empire. Having demonstrated their fighting skills against other European armies, Swiss soldiers thereafter were widely recruited as mercenaries.

Internal strife prevented national unity, as each of the sovereign cantons (districts) continued to act primarily in its own interest. Rivalry developed between the prosperous and growing towns and the much poorer rural areas. Internal hostilities intensified in the 16th century with the spread of Protestantism to Switzerland. It first took root in Zürich under the leadership of Huldreich Zwingli and then in Geneva under the influence of John Calvin. In 1531 the Catholic cantons declared war on Zürich. They defeated Zürich at the battle of Kappel in 1531, stopping the spread of the Reformation within Switzerland. The country remained divided on the basis of religion.

Switzerland remained neutral during the Thirty Years' War (1618–48), but many Swiss cantons provided aid to one side or the other. The country generally prospered from selling supplies to the combatants. In the Peace of Westphalia, which ended the war, Swiss independence was finally formally recognized.

French Domination

Political, social, and economic fragmentation increased during the 18th century. Oligarchic governments, controlled by aristocrats, ruled in many towns and gained authority over the countryside, often suppressing the peasants' liberties. A number of uprisings occurred, but the aristocrats retained control.

Switzerland remained neutral during the French Revolutionary wars until invaded by French forces. In 1798 Bern fell, and the other cantons were conquered shortly afterwards. A new constitution, dictated by France, proclaimed the Helvetic Republic in 1798. It provided for a strongly centralized government. In 1803 the Republic was replaced by a confederation, which granted limited powers to the cantons and decentralized the government. Switzerland remained under French domination until 1814, when Napoleon was defeated. The country again became independent and its neutrality was guaranteed by the Congress of Vienna in 1815.

The Swiss Republic

In 1815 a new federal pact came into effect, by which the cantons regained their sovereignty and, in general, returned to oligarchic rule. However, liberalism had many followers and several cantons adopted liberal constitutions. The liberals favored a powerful, unified state and social and economic reforms. Opposition to them was led by the Jesuit religious order. As liberal ideas spread to a majority of cantons, the Catholic cantons formed a defensive pact, the Sonderbund .

Civil war broke out in 1847. In less than a month, the liberals were victorious, and the Jesuits were soon expelled. A new constitution (1848) organized Switzerland as a federal republic.

The second half of the 19th century was a period of peace, internal and external. Several cantons revised their constitutions to allow voters to initiate legislation. The federal constitution was also modified (1874) to enlarge the powers of the federal government. During this period manufacturing developed rapidly and replaced agriculture as the primary occupation of the Swiss people.

Switzerland also established itself as a neutral country in international conflicts. Mercenary service in foreign armies was prohibited, although the Swiss Guards were allowed to continue as the pope's personal bodyguard.

Switzerland's neutral status during World War I made it a shelter for foreign refugees. Many of them brought socialist ideas and were influential in organizing an industrial workers' movement. In 1918 a general strike caused the government to institute reforms improving working conditions and to introduce a new system of proportional representation for electing the National Council.

After World War I, Switzerland joined the League of Nations and was active in its humanitarian programs. Following World War II Switzerland cooperated with, but did not join, the United Nations. Switzerland helped found the European Free Trade Association (EFTA) in 1960 and joined the Council of Europe in 1963. In 1986 the Swiss government issued a proposal that Switzerland join the United Nations, but it was turned down by Swiss voters. In 1997, after years of rejecting membership in most international bodies (including the European Union), the Swiss approved joining the Partnership for Peace, an organization affiliated with the North Atlantic Treaty Organization.

Because of Switzerland's neutrality, it has become the site of numerous international agencies and conferences. The International Red Cross, for instance, was founded in Geneva. In the late 1990's, however, Switzerland's neutrality, a source of great pride for the Swiss people, was called into question when it was revealed that Switzerland had helped Germany profit from looted gold and other assets, including gold taken from victims of the Holocaust.

In 2002, Switzerland joined the United Nations.