Switzerland Timeline
58 BC The Celtic people called the Helvetians who lived in the region of Switzerland were conquered by Julius Caesar. The region became known as Helvetia.
400s AD Two Germanic tribes, the Alemanni and the Burgundians, settled in the area of Switzerland.
500s Switzerland came under the rule of the Franks.
800s The Frankish kingdom expanded under the rule of Charlemagne, but after his death the kingdom broke apart.
962 Most of Switzerland became a part of the Holy Roman Empire. The rest was part of the kingdom of Burgundy.
1033 Burgundy became a part of the Holy Roman Empire.
1200s The Habsburg family gained control of much of Switzerland. Schwyz and Uri were cantons that were not under control of the Habsburgs. People of the two cantons were against the growth of the Habsburg empire.
1273 Rudolf I became the first Habsburg to rule the Holy Roman Empire. He brought Schwyz and Uri under his control.
1291 Schwyz and Uri decided to defend their freedom. They invited Unterwalden another canton to join them.
August 1291 Schwyz, Uri, and Unterwalden signed the Perpetual Covenant. It was a defense agreement. They declared their freedom and promised to come to the aid of one another. This was the beginning of the Swiss Confederation.
Late 1200s-1300s The Cantons of Switzerland fought a number of battles with Austria for their freedom.
1315 Swiss peasants trapped and defeated an army from Austria ten times their size.
1332-1353 Five mor cantons joined the Swiss confederation during this time period.
1386 Swiss forces defeated Austria at Sempach.
1388 Austria was again defeated by the Swiss at Nafels.
1400s Switzerland became a strong military power.
1476-1477 In three major battles the Swiss defeated Charles the bold, the Duke of Burgundy.
1481-1513 Five more cantons joined the Swiss Confederation./P>
1499 Swiss forces crushed the forces of the Holy Roman Empire. Switzerland won its complete independence from the empire.
1512-1513 Swiss forces drove the French army out of northern Italy.
1515 The Swiss were defeated by France at Marignano
Early 1500s The Swiss people established a policy of not taking sides in the wars that waged in Europe.
1500s Huldreich Zwingli preached his Protestant movement in Zurich.
1500s Calvinism developed in Switzerland.
1529 The Roman Catholic groups and the Protestant groups fought.
1531 The Two religious groups fought again. Neither side gained control.
1798 During the French Revolution the French armies swept through Switzerland. The French set up the Helvetia Republic and they set up a strong central power of government. The cantons became merely administrative districts.
1803 Napoleon reduced the power of the central government. He also made 6 new cantons from the original 13. He also restored much of the self government of the cantons.
1815 The Congress of Vienna gave Switzerland three more cantons. The old Confederation was also restored.
1830 Many Swiss people began to demand political reforms.
1847 A three-week civil war occurred by cantons who wanted to change the government and those who did not.
1848 Switzerland established a constitution. A federal democracy was established with a two house legislature.
1863 Jean Henru Dunant founded the Red Cross in Geneva.
1874 The Constitution was changed greatly.
1914 Soon after World War I began Switzerland declared its neutrality.
1916 The Dadaism movement in art was founded in Zurich.
1920 Geneva became the headquarters for the League of Nations.
1939 After World War II began, Switzerland again declared its neutrality
1945 When the United Nations was formed, Switzerland did not join it because they felt it would require possible military action by member nations. They did not want to violate their neutrality policy. However, the United Nations made Geneva its European headquarter.
1958 Basel became the first Swiss city to allow women to vote.
1959 The Christian Democratic, Radical Democratic, Social Democratic, and the Swiss People's Party formed a coalition. The coalition has held the great majority of seats in the Federal Assembly since then.
1960 Switzerland helped to form the European Free Trade Association.
1963 Switzerland joined the Council of Europe.
1971 Switzerland passed a law which gave women the right to vote in national elections.
1979 Switzerland increased its number of cantons from 22 to 23.
1981 Swiss voters passed an equal rights amendment.
1984 Elisabeth Kopp became the first woman to be elected to Switzerland's Federal Council
1988 Kopp resigned from her position after she admitted that she had advised her husband to resign from a firm that she knew that government was going to investigate.
1990 Kopp was acquitted of charges of revealing official secrets.
1992 Swiss voters approved a membership in the International Monetary Fund and the World Bank.
1993 When many European Countries formed the European Union, Switzerland declined to join. Instead that preferred to preserve their traditional independence.
1999 Ruth Dreifuss became the first woman president of Switzerland.
2002 Switzerland joined the United Nations.
Works Cited
Ireland, Patrick. "Switzerland." Worldbookonline.com