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- This section gives an outline of the history of Switzerland, especially on Central and Northern Switzerland. The sub-sections give an outline of the history of East Switzerland (395-1803) and West Switzerland (395-1803/1852).
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Roman Republic
- 58 BC: The Roman Republic subjugates the Celtic tribe of Helvetii in present-day Switzerland.
- 16 BC: The conquest of Switzerland is completed.
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Roman Empire
- 27 BC: Gaius Octavianus becomes sole ruler of Rome and as Augustus the first emperor.
- 260s: Germanic Allemani settle in the region.
- 395: After the death of emperor Theodosius I, the Roman Empire is partitioned in the (Eastern) Roman Empire and the (Western) Roman Empire. Helvetia becomes part of the Western part of the Empire.
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Alamannia
- 410s: After the retreat of the Romans, present-day Northern Switzerland is populated by the Germanic tribe of the Alemanni. Other parts are conquered by Odoacer and by the Burgundians.
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Kingdom of the Goths
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Kingdom of the Franks
- 539: The Franks, who conquered the kingdom of the Burgundians in 534, annex Alamannia and it becomes a duchy within Francia.
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Kingdom of the East Franks
- 843: After the partition of the Frankish Empire, the region becomes part of East Francia, mainly populated by the Allemanians.
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Duchy of Swabia
- 915: Most of the area becomes inside East Francia part of Swabia, one of its stem duchies.
- 962: The king of East-Francia becomes king of Italy and merges it with East-Francia into the Holy Roman Empire[1].
- 900s/1200s: Several come to existence in Swabia, among them are Strasbourg (960s), Saint Gallen (900s), Chur (900s), Habsburg (1020), Basel (1032), Zollern (1052), Kyburg (1053), Haigerloch (1080s), Württemberg (1083), Zähringen (1098), Baden (1112), Upper Alsace (1136), Hohengeroldseck (1139), Toggenburg (1176), Schellenberg (1100s) and Montfort (1220s) as well as several imperial cities in Alsace.
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County of Kyburg
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- 1020: The Swabian count Radbot of Klettgau founds the Habsburg castle.
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Prince-Bishopric of Basel
- 1032: Basel becomes a prince-bishopric.
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Duchy of Zähringen
- 1098: Duke Berthold II of Swabia denounces all claims to Swabia and instead concentrates on his possessions in the Breisgau region, assuming the title of duke of Zähringen. His territory includes parts of present-day Switzerland.
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County of Habsburg
- 1096: Count Otto II names himself count of Habsburg
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- 1100s: Habsburg gradually expanses in the region.
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- 1218: After the death of duke Berthold V, Zähringen is divided. Parts fall to Bern, Zürich, Kyburg and Urach.
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Bern
- 1218: Bern becomes an imperial city.
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Zürich
- 1218: Zürich becomes a free city.
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- 1262: Zürich is confirmed as imperial city.
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- 1263: Kyburg is ruled by count Rudolf of Habsburg.
- 1273: Count Rudolf becomes king of Germany.
- 1276: Rudolf becomes duke of Carinthia with Carniola
- 1278: Rudolf becomes also duke of Austria and Styria. The centre of the Habsburg dominions shifts to the east.
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Confederacy
- 1291: Schwyz, Uri and Unterwalden form the Confederacy in resistance to the Habsburg rule in the region.
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- 1323: Bern becomes associated with the Confederacy.
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- 1300s: Kyburg loses areas and gradually is absorbed by other entities.
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- 1323: Bern becomes the first associated state of the Confederacy[2].
- 1332: Lucerne joins the Confederacy. The first protecorate, the Republic of Gersau is established by Schwyz.
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- 1300s: Habsburg gradually loses areas to the Confederacy and disappears in the region.
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- 1351: Zürich joins the Confederacy.
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- 1353: Bern join the confederacy. The eight Swiss cantons establish somewhere in that time an assembly as joint legislative and executive power, consisting out of representatives of the cantons. A growing number of entities associate themselves with cantons of the Confederacy.
- 1405: Appenzell associates with the Confederacy.
- 1415: The Confederacy conquers Baden and establishes its first comdominium. In the upcoming time more conquests become condominiums of the Confederacy. The same year the city of Saint Gallen associates itself with the Confederacy
- 1440: The Milanese Leventina Valley is conquered by Uri. Zürich annexes Toggenburg. This is disputed by the other cantons and Zurich is temporarily expelled from the confederacy. A war commences.
- 1446: The war between the Zürich and the other cantons ends inconclusive. Valais becomes a associated state of Switzerland.
- 1450: Zürich is readmitted to the confederacy.
- 1451: The Abbey of Saint Gallen associated itself with the Confederacy.
- 1460: Thurgau is conquered and becomes a condominium.
- 1478: Uri defeats at Giornico Milan. The Leventina is secured by Uri.
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- 1501: The city of Basel joins the Confederacy. Schaffhausen, associated since 1454, joins the Confederacy.
- 1511: Switzerland joins the papal-Venetian alliance against France in the Holy League.
- 1513: Appenzell, associated since 1411, joins the Confederacy.
- 1515: Mulhouse becomes an associate of the Confederacy.
- 1516: France and Venice defeat at Marignano the papal and Swiss forces.
- 1523: The reformation begins, leading to a division in protestant members (Zürich, Bern and Schaffhausen) and catholic members (Luzern, Uri, Schwyz, Nidwalden, Zug,Fribourg and Solothurn). Glarus and Appenzell are split.
- 1526: Genève associates itself with the Confederacy.
- 1529: The First War of Kappel takes place between the catholic and the protestant cantons of the Confederacy. It ends without any battle having been fought.
- 1531: The Second War of Kappel commences and the protestant cantons are defeated at Kappel.
- 1538: Bern conquers present-day Vaud and rules it as a subject territory.
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- 1501: The prince-bishopric loses the city of Basel to the Confederacy.
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Republic of the Swiss
- 1570s: The confederacy starts to name itself Republic of the Swiss.
- 1628: Valais becomes a republic and remains an associated state.
- 1648: The Peace of Westphalia ends the Thirty Years' War in the Holy Roman Empire. The independence of Switzerland from the Holy Roman Empire is recognized.
- 1653: A peasant uprising ends with a military victory of the ruling city councils and thwarts a further advancement of absolutist trends in Switzerland.
- 1656: When protestant cantons try to break the political hegemony of the catholics since 1531, the following First War of Villmergen ends with a catholic victory.
- 1712: The Toggenburg War ends with a protestant victory and the end of catholic hegenomy.
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- 1790-1798: In various members revolts arise across the Confederacy.
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Rauracian Republic
- 1792: The Rauracian Republic is established as a French client state, governed by a revolutionary provisional government.
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French Republic
- 1793: The Rauracian Republic is annexed to France as the departement of Mont-Terrible.
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Helvetic Republic
- 1798: The Confederacy is invaded by France and continued as a French client state, the Helvetic Republic. The republic gets a bicameral parliament elected on a universal male suffrage and a central government with little role for the cantons. The Lemanic Republic and Valais secede from Switzerland.
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- 1798: The same year the Helvetic Republic annexes the associated state of Gersau, the Lemanic Republic and Valais as well as Appenzell, Saint Gallen and the Three Leagues.
- 1800: After a coup d’état the Helvetic Republic gets a provisional parliament and government.
- 1801: Federalists overthrow the unitarians. The Helvetian Republic gets a bicameral parliament, consisting out of chamber with representatives of the cantons and a senate elected by the chamber.
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- 1802: The Helvetian Republic becomes after a coup d'état a unitary state and gets a bicameral parliament, consisting out of a chamber with representatives of the cantons and a senate elected by the chamber. The revolutionary Rhodanic Republic (former Valais) is separated.
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Swiss Confederation
- 1803: The republic is replaced by the Swiss Confederation. Switzerland becomes a federal republic of sovereign cantons and gets a unicameral parliament with representatives of the cantons elected by limited suffrage and an executive landammann, elected every year. Saint Gallen, Graubünden, Aargau, Thurgau, Ticino and Vaud become Swiss cantons.
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French Empire
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- 1813: The Diet is restored as confederal authority, presided by the president of the Cantonal diet that called the Diet to meet. Swiss rule over the Rhodanic Republic is restored.
- 1814: The former associated state of Gersau becomes as Republic of Gersau an independent republic. King Friedrich Wilhelm III of Prussia becomes prince of Neuchâtel and at the same time Neuchâtel becomes part of Switzerland.
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- 1815: In the Final Act of the Congress of Vienna, shortly before the final defeat at Waterloo of Napoleon, the neutrality of Switzerland is guaranteed. Switzerland is continued as an independent confederation. The pre-1795 order as well as the assembly are restored and modernized. The former Prince-Bishopric of Basel is divided between the Swiss Cantons of Basel and Bern. Valais, Neuchâtel and Geneva become cantons.
- 1817: Switzerland annexes Gersau.
- 1845: Seven catholic cantons establish a special confederation of conservative cantons, the Sonderbund.
- 1847: A Sonderbund War takes place in Switzerland after an attempt to establish the Sonderbund.
- 1848: The Sonderbund is defeated. A new constitution, approved in a referendum by a mayority of voters and a majority of cantons, establishes the Swiss Confederation as a federal republic of cantons and creates, for the first time, Swiss citizenship in addition to cantonal citizenship. A federal central government is set up to which the cantons gave up certain parts of their sovereign rights, retaining the rest. It creates a Federal Assembly made up of two houses elected in free multi-party elections on a universal male suffrage: the Council of States, composed of two deputies from each canton and the National Council made up of deputies elected in the proportion of the size of the cantons. The Federal Council is the government, that consists of seven members elected by the Federal Assembly. The chairman of the Council also holds the title of President of the Swiss Confederation for a one-year term, with the position rotating among the members of the Federal Council. King Friedrich Wilhelm IV of Prussia is overthrown in Neuchâtel and Neuchâtel becomes a republic and canton inside Switzerland.
- 1874: The constitution establishes referenda and plebiscites as instruments of direct democracy.
- 1914-1918: Switzerland remains neutral in World War I.
- 1920: Switzerland is a founding member of the League of Nations.
- 1939-1945: Switzerland remains neutral during World War II that lasts until 1945.
- 1960: Switzerland is a founding member of the European Free Trade Association.
- 1963: Switzerland joins the Council of Europe.
- 1971: In a referendum the introduction of women's suffrage is approved by a majority of voters and cantons.
- 2002: Switzerland joins the United Nations, being an observer since 1946.
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