HISTORY
Originally inhabited by the
Helvetians, or Helvetic Celts, the territory comprising modern
Switzerland came under Roman rule during the Gallic wars in the
1st century BC and remained a Roman province until the 4th century
AD. Under Roman influence, the population reached a high level
of civilization and enjoyed a flourishing commerce. Important
cities, such as Geneva, Basel, and Zurich, were linked by military
roads that also served as trade arteries between Rome and the
northern tribes.
After the decline of the Roman
Empire, Switzerland was invaded by Germanic tribes from the north
and west. Some tribes, such as the Alemanni in central and northeastern
Switzerland, and the Burgundians, who ruled western Switzerland,
settled there. In 800, the country became part of Charlemagne's
empire. It later passed under the dominion of the Holy Roman emperors
in the form of small ecclesiastic and temporal holdings subject
to imperial sovereignty.
With the opening of a new
important north-south trade route across the Alps in the early
13th century, the Empire's rulers began to attach more importance
to the remote Swiss mountain valleys, which were granted some
degree of autonomy under direct imperial rule. Fearful of the
popular disturbances flaring up following the death of the Holy
Roman Emperor in 1291, the ruling families from Uri, Schwyz, and
Unterwalden signed a charter to keep public peace and pledging
mutual support in upholding autonomous administrative and judicial
rule. The anniversary of the charter's signature (August 1, 1291)
today is celebrated as Switzerland's National Day.
Between 1315 and 1388 the
Swiss Confederates inflicted three crushing defeats on the Habsburgs,
whose aspiration to regional dominion clashed with Swiss self-determination.
During that period, five other localities (cantons in modern-day
parlance) joined the original three in the Swiss Confederation.
Buoyed by their feats, the Swiss Confederates continuously expanded
their borders by military means and gained formal independence
from the Holy Roman Empire in 1499. Routed by the French and Venetians
near Milan in 1515, they renounced expansionist policies. By then
the Swiss Confederation had become a union of 13 localities with
a regularly convening diet administering the subject territories.
Swiss mercenaries continued for centuries to serve in other armies;
the Swiss Guard of the Pope is a vestige of this tradition.
The Reformation led to a division
between the Protestant followers of Zwingli and Calvin in the
German and French parts of the country respectively, and the Catholics.
Despite two centuries of civil strife, the common interest in
the joint subject territories kept the Swiss Confederation from
falling apart. The traffic in mercenaries as well as the alienation
between the predominantly Protestant Swiss and their Catholic
neighbors kept the Swiss Confederation out of the wars of the
European powers, which formally recognized Swiss neutrality in
the Treaty of Westphalia in 1648. The Swiss remained neutral during
the War of the First Coalition against revolutionary France, but
Napoleon, nonetheless, invaded and annexed much of the country
in 1797-98, replacing the loose confederation with a centrally
governed unitary state.
The Congress of Vienna in
1815 re-established the old confederation of sovereign states
and enshrined Switzerland's status of permanent armed neutrality
in international law. In 1848, after a brief civil war between
Protestant liberals seeking a centralized national state and Catholic
conservatives clinging on to the old order, the majority of Swiss
Cantons opted for a Federal State, modeled in part on the U.S.
Constitution. The Swiss Constitution established a range of civic
liberties and made far-reaching provisions to maintain cantonal
autonomy to placate the vanquished Catholic minority. The Swiss
amended their Constitution extensively in 1874, establishing federal
responsibility for defense, trade, and legal matters, as well
as introducing direct democracy by popular referendum. To this
day, cantonal autonomy and referendum democracy remain trademarks
of the Swiss polity.
Switzerland industrialized
rapidly during the 19th century and by 1850 had become the second
most industrialized country in Europe after Great Britain. During
World War I serious tension developed between the German, French,
and Italian-speaking parts of the country, and Switzerland came
close to violating its neutrality but managed to stay out of hostilities.
Labor unrest culminating in a general strike in 1918 marked the
interwar period, but in 1937 employers and the largest trade union
concluded a formal agreement to settle disputes peacefully, which
governs workplace relations to the present day. During World War
II, Switzerland came under heavy pressure from the fascist powers,
which after the fall of France in 1940 completely surrounded the
country. Some political and economic leaders displayed a mood
of appeasement, but a combination of tactical accommodation and
demonstrative readiness to defend the country helped Switzerland
survive unscathed.
The Cold War enhanced the
role of neutral Switzerland and offered the country a way out
of its diplomatic isolation after World War II. Economically,
Switzerland integrated itself into the American-led Western postwar
order, but it remained reluctant to enter supranational bodies.
Switzerland did not join the United Nations, even though Geneva
became host to the UN's European headquarters, and the country
played an active role in many of the UN's specialized agencies.
Switzerland also remained aloof in the face of European integration
efforts, waiting until 1963 to join the Council of Europe. It
still remains outside the European Union. Instead, Switzerland
in 1960 helped form the European Free Trade Area, which did not
strive for political union. Following the Cold War, Switzerland
joined the Bretton Woods institutions in 1992 and finally became
a member of the United Nations in 2002.
