From prehistory to the modern day, the history of Switzerland is a vibrant story that takes place in the heart of Europe. While not as extensively covered abroad compared to other European histories, the Swiss story has many twists and turns, going from a warring, expansionist state to the neutral bastion of Europe we know today.
Like most nations in Europe, Swiss history is defined by several key eras, starting in prehistory, before moving on to the Romans, and then the medieval, early modern and modern periods. During this time, Switzerland as a country developed from a collection of tribes, to a loose confederation and finally into a modern state.
The first evidence of human habitation in Switzerland can be traced back 400.000 years, when early hunter-gatherers first settled in lands north of the Swiss Alps. However, the first settlements found in the alpine nation were likely from after the end of the Ice Age, around 11.000 years ago.
The development of agriculture in Switzerland can be traced back to 5.500 BC, when evidence suggests that densely populated communities were active across the country. The most interesting finds from the pre-Roman period are the remains of Bronze Age pile dwelling settlements found in and across Swiss lakes. The most well-preserved remains have been found in and around Lake Biel / Bienne.
While the exact timing of their arrival is still a matter of heated debate, a Gallic tribe known as the Helvetii or Helvetians settled in most of Switzerland around the first century BC, replacing the Rhaetian tribe. At their peak, according to an account given by Roman Emperor Julius Caesar, the tribe was made up of 263.000 people - though the real number is likely much lower.
The name Helvetii is said to come from a Gaulish word meaning “rich in land”. Today, Helvetia is still used as the Latin word for Swiss and Switzerland, hence the official name and abbreviation of Switzerland as Confoederatio Helvetica or CH.
Between the third and first centuries BC, Switzerland began to be conquered and settled by the Romans. Julius Caesar defeated the Helvetii in 58 BC, gradually bringing all of the country under Roman control. The tribes that inhabited the land were then gradually Romanised.
The capital of Roman Switzerland, then divided between the provinces of Helvetia, Germania Superior and Rhaetia, was at Aventicum - modern-day Avenches, Canton Vaud. Other major Roman towns included Augusta Raurica (near Basel), Turicum (modern-day Zurich), Forum Claudii Vallensium (Martingy, Canton Valais) and Curia (Chur, Canton Graubünden).
As in the rest of Europe, the first centuries AD in Switzerland were characterised by instability brought about by migratory peoples, and the decline of the Roman state. The first Christian bishoprics in Switzerland were also founded during this time.
As Roman influence declined, Burgundian tribes settled in west Switzerland, the Alamanni spread north and east, and the remaining Celto-Roman peoples fled to the mountains. This is one of the reasons why Romansh - a mixture of Latin and Gaulish - is only spoken in isolated communities in the Alps.
After the fall of Rome, Switzerland became part of the Kingdom of the Franks from 536 onwards. The Carolingian kings implemented feudalism across the country and gave more land and power to emerging bishoprics in St. Gallen, Chur and Basel.
In 843, western Switzerland was given to the new Kingdom of Lotharingia, while the east was awarded to Louis the German of the Holy Roman Empire (HRE). This remained the status quo until the rise of several local noble families.
In the 12th century, the house of Zähringen came to control much of western Switzerland. They would go on to found many important Swiss cities such as Bern in 1191.
During this time, the Zähringen competed with the house of Kyburg, which controlled large swathes of land in eastern Switzerland - though the families technically swore fealty to the Kingdom of Burgundy and the HRE respectively.
At the same time, the Hohenstaufen family came to rule areas of central Switzerland and the Alps.
With the ending of the Zähringer dynasty in 1218 and the last of the Kyburgs dying out in 1264, many of the cities they once controlled became Reichsfrei within the HRE, meaning they were given a large amount of autonomy. However, with much of Switzerland eventually coming under the technical control of the famous Habsburg family, there were attempts by Austrian rulers to revoke this status, raise taxes and take the land for themselves.
It was amid this tension that on August 1, 1291, a group of three states, Uri, Schwyz and Unterwalden (now Obwalden and Nidwalden) signed the first Federal Charter. The agreement itself was a defensive alliance between the three soon-to-be-called cantons, who agreed to work together on common interests.
This was the first time that Switzerland as a country was formed and is the reason why Swiss National Day is on August 1.
The founding document was instrumental in deciding how the country was initially governed. Unlike more centralised states, Swiss cantons were given far more autonomy amongst themselves and could act independently of one another should they so wish.
Relations between the founding three cantons are said to have been cemented at the so-called Rütli Oath (Rütlischwur). During the meeting in early August 1307, representatives of all three cantons met at the Rütli, a meadow above Lake Uri, where they swore an oath, founding the Old Swiss Confederacy.
However, while an integral part of Swiss folklore, there is still heavy debate as to whether there is any truth to this legend
The survival of the Old Swiss Confederacy was confirmed after the Battle of Morgarten in 1315, when an army under Leopold I, Duke of Austria was defeated by the three founding cantons.
The Old Swiss Confederacy then began a campaign of expansion. In 1332, Lucerne became the next canton to join the alliance, followed by Canton Zurich in 1351. In 1352, the Confederacy conquered the Habsburg-controlled areas of Zug and Glarus, although it later had to give them back. After forming an alliance with the confederacy in 1323, Bern joined as the eighth canton in 1353.
However, while they all remained technical allies, each canton continued to pursue their own policies. Among other actions, this included the Bernese attempts to ally with Fribourg and Solothurn, and Canton Zurich’s attempts to conquer Schaffhausen and the German city of Konstanz.
Austrian forces were defeated again at the Battle of Sempach in 1386, after which Swiss control over Zug was confirmed. In 1387, Glarus declared independence from the Habsburg, defeating them at the Battle of Näfels in 1388.
Switzerland continued to grow after the battle. During this time, the Swiss Army gained a reputation for being invincible, having won wars against the French, Burgundians and Austrians, despite the country’s smaller size.
This would lead to the establishment of Swiss mercenaries: contingents of Swiss soldiers who were paid by monarchs across Europe to fight in their wars. The most famous examples of this are the Papal Swiss Guard in the Vatican and the Swiss soldiers who guarded and died for Louis XVI of France during the French Revolution.
The Swiss Army remained dominant throughout the 1400s, helping the country expand in all directions. Cantons Fribourg and Solothurn joined the confederacy in 1481, followed by Basel and Schaffhausen in 1501 and Appenzell in 1513.
The Swiss reputation for military prowess ended after the Battle of Mariango in 1515, in which a Franco-Venetian army defeated a Swiss-Milanese force. 10.000 of the 22.000 men who fought on the Swiss side died, with casualties deemed so severe that the Old Swiss Confederacy signed the “Perpetual Peace” with France, and Switzerland never engaged in an offensive war as a whole again.
During this time, Switzerland also became the home to several new Protestant movements, inspired by Lutheranism in Germany. The most famous of these were the Zwinglians, headed by Ulrich Zwingli in Zurich, and the Calvinist movement created in Geneva by John Calvin.
After 1515, the country was hit with successive civil wars between Protestant and Catholic cantons, while attempts by individual cantons to conquer additional territories further weakened the state. Religious conflicts between Swiss regions would continue until the 17th century.
Switzerland was largely unaffected and uninvaded during the 30 Years War from 1618 to 1648, mainly because all the warring powers relied on Swiss mercenaries and did not want to disturb the status quo. In 1648, Switzerland was given legal independence from the Holy Roman Empire as part of the Treaty of Westphalia.
Political instability, mercenaries and foreign conflicts would continue to dominate Swiss history between 1515 and the late 1700s.
Following the French Revolution, the new French Republic set its sights on Switzerland. In 1793, Basel was absorbed into France with little resistance, while Napoleon annexed parts of Italian Switzerland in 1797.
In 1798, at the invitation of a faction from what is now Canton Vaud, the French Republic invaded the rest of Switzerland. Faced with military defeat and massive internal unrest, the weak central government failed to provide any coherent resistance against the invasion. In the end, only Canton Bern stood against the French in numbers, losing the Battle of Grauholz before the city surrendered.
The armies of Austria and later Russia entered Switzerland to counter the French, but were pushed back, with the month-long campaign leading the French to declare Switzerland the “Helvetic Republic”.
This puppet state attempted to abolish the cantonal system of government and feudal and sovereign rights, create a strong central government and dramatically centralise the nation. This is also the first time someone could be considered a citizen of Switzerland, rather than of their canton of birth.
However, the republic soon found itself in turmoil, with groups divided into Unitaries, who wished for a centralised state, and Federalists, who wanted the return of cantonal rule. The Swiss population also resisted the republic's reforms, leading to many revolts which had to be put down by French troops, further turning the public against the French.
Instability came to a head during the Stecklikireg federalist uprising of 1802, and by 1803, the Helvetic Republic collapsed, with the government fleeing to Lausanne. In 1803, on the advice of both sides, Napoleon signed the “Act of Mediation”, restoring the power and borders of the old cantons, with the emperor famously claiming that the country was federal “by nature”.
Thanks to the Act of Mediation, St. Gallen, Graubünden, Aargau, Thurgau, Ticino and Vaud all joined the confederation as Swiss cantons.
Despite the restoration of the Old Swiss Confederation, and the confirmation of Switzerland’s neutrality in 1815, tensions still remained between those who wanted to centralise and those who wanted to keep cantonal independence. Between 1815 and 1830, groups started to call for more democratic rights and the separation of church and state.
1815 also saw the admission of Valais, Neuchâtel and Geneva as full Swiss cantons, completing the country’s borders as we see them today.
Tensions would erupt in 1845, when a collection of seven cantons formed a loose alliance against the remaining cantons that wanted to establish a strong central government and offer more religious rights. This “Sonderbund” or Special Alliance led to the Sonderbund War of 1847, after troops from Uri seized the St. Gotthard Pass.
The Swiss Civil War lasted one month and led to just over 100 dead, but also led to the founding of the modern Swiss Confederation. The first Swiss Constitution, signed on September 12, 1848 ended the near-autonomy of Swiss cantons once and for all, and created a central government based in Bern. Democratic rights, elections and referendums were also enshrined, though participation was restricted to male citizens.
In the 19th century, Switzerland continued to grow and expand its economy as the Industrial Revolution took hold. The first internal railway in Switzerland was completed in 1847 between Zurich and Baden, and the first Gotthard Tunnel was completed in 1882.
Swiss cities also began to become hubs of manufacturing, and several major universities were founded such as ETH Zurich (1855). Major Swiss institutions like the International Committee of the Red Cross were also founded during the century.
However, despite these developments, the alpine nation remained comparatively rural and underdeveloped up until the 20th century.
Switzerland remained neutral during the First World War, although it undermined this neutrality by mobilising hundreds of thousands of troops. Generally, German speakers tended to support Germany and Austro-Hungary, while French and Italian-speaking regions were more attached to the Allies.
Because of its neutrality, Swiss cities became a haven for free thinkers, sparking the Dada movement in Zurich. Vladimir Lenin was also a resident of the city from 1916 before he was transported back to Russia in April 1917 to help initiate the Russian Communist Revolution.
The inter-war period in Switzerland was characterised by internal strife, with the General Strike of 1918 seeing three people killed as a quarter of a million workers walked out, demanding political reforms, women’s suffrage, a 48-hour working week, and old age and disability insurance, among other things.
In 1920, Switzerland briefly abandoned its position of neutrality by joining the League of Nations - the predecessor of the United Nations, based in Geneva. The following two decades saw a focus on rearmament and the passing of the Swiss Banking Act in 1934, allowing Swiss banks to hold accounts anonymously.
In response to German rearmament, Switzerland withdrew from the League of Nations in 1938 and re-declared its neutrality.
Despite German plans to invade the country, and the accidental bombings of cities like Zurich and Schaffhausen by Allied planes, Switzerland remained neutral throughout World War Two and was able to keep lines of communication open between both sides. At the war’s peak, 850.000 Swiss troops were mobilised to defend the country.
Instead of fighting directly, Switzerland’s role in the war mainly revolved around money and refugees. During the conflict, the country interned 300.000 people. However, according to the Bergier Commission set up by the Swiss government in the 1990s, 24.500 people who fled to Switzerland during the war were returned to Nazi Germany, most of whom were Jewish people fleeing the Holocaust.
The country has also been condemned for its acceptance of gold stolen by the Nazis, which was facilitated by Swiss Banking Secrecy laws. The matter was only resolved by a claims tribunal set up between 1997 and 2012 that saw UBS and Credit Suisse pay out 780 million US dollars to Holocaust victims and their relatives.
Following the end of the Second World War, Switzerland’s economy grew steadily, thanks to a combination of comparatively low taxes, innovation and the efficiency and secrecy afforded to investors by Swiss banks. Over time, the economy became known for key and specialised industries including pharmaceuticals, watches, luxury products and, of course, tourism.
Diplomatically, Swiss neutrality has allowed it to become a mediator and a line of communication between warring sides. Notable examples include between France and Algeria in the 1960s, the US and USSR during the Cold War and between rebels and the government of Mozambique in 2019. Switzerland joined the United Nations in 2002 but has chosen not to join the European Union.
In 1979, following a referendum, the final of the 26 cantons, Jura, was carved out of Canton Bern and officially admitted to the Swiss Confederation.
Switzerland was comparatively late to accept women’s suffrage, largely due to direct democracy. Attempts were made to grant women the vote in 1909, 1918, 1929 and 1959, but failed due to either inaction or rejection by male voters at the ballot box. The first places to grant women cantonal and communal voting rights were Vaud, Geneva and Neuchâtel in 1959 and 1960.
Finally, on February 7, 1971, 65,7 percent of male Swiss voters approved a plan to give women the right to vote and stand in elections. The last place to grant women cantonal voting rights in Switzerland was Appenzell Innerrhoden in 1990.
Switzerland today is a culmination of thousands of years of fascinating history that is still being shaped and analysed. While not the most prominent story in Europe, the annals of this small nation give a great insight into what makes the country tick today.