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Peopled since prehistoric times, it was the “Helvetians”, a Celtic people, who gave their name to the Swiss and catapulted the country into History. Incorporated into the Roman Empire, Switzerland was gradually Christianised. The country was then to form part of the kingdom of Burgundy, then that of the Franks and of the Carolingian empire before becoming attached to the Holy Roman Empire in the 11th century.
If 1291 is recognized as the official birth date of the Helvetian Confederation, this is because of the alliance agreed at this time between three cantons – Uri, Schwyz and Unterwalden – that controlled the newly opened Gothard pass. To these were added neighbouring territories, the cantons of Lucerne, Glaris, Zurich, Zug and Bern. After conquests and wars – the Confederation reached the Rhine and took part in the wars of Burgundy and Swabia – the cantons obtained their independence from the Holy Roman Empire. At the beginning of the 16th century, five new cantons were welcomed into the Confederation; Fribourg, Solothurn, Basel, Schaffhausen and Appenzell. This was the Confederation of 13 Cantons that was to be torn apart by the religious wars. The French invasion of 1798 was to unify Switzerland into the “Helvetian Republic” before Napoleon imposed the Act of Mediation in 1803 and re-established the Cantons. The cantonal constitutions that regulate official matters in such areas as civil and penal law date from this time. After suffering from much dissension, a new constitution was drawn up in 1848. This transformed the Confederation of States of the time into a federal state with a certain number of common regulations. Switzerland played an active international role in the 20th century: in 1920 she became a member of and seat of the League of Nations. Spared the devastation of the Second World War, the country prospered. Switzerland joined the Council of Europe in 1963 and the United Nations in 2002. Although not a member of the European Union, Switzerland is linked to it by bilateral agreements. |
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