This article deals with the

history of Switzerland Since 1848, the Swiss Confederation has been a federal republic of relatively autonomous Cantons of Switzerland, cantons, some of which have a history of federation that goes back more than 700 years, putting them among the world's oldest surviv ...

since 1848. See Early Modern Switzerland for the

Early Modern period The early modern period is a Periodization, historical period that is defined either as part of or as immediately preceding the modern period, with divisions based primarily on the history of Europe and the broader concept of modernity. There i ...

Switzerland in the Napoleonic era Switzerland, officially the Swiss Confederation, is a landlocked country located in west-central Europe. It is bordered by Italy to the south, France to the west, Germany to the north, and Austria and Liechtenstein to the east. Switzerland ...

for the period of 1798–1814, and Restoration and Regeneration (Switzerland) for the period of 1815–1848.

Formation of the Federal State (1848)

Following a 27-day civil war in Switzerland, the ''Sonderbundskrieg'', the

Swiss Federal Constitution The Federal Constitution of the Swiss Confederation (SR 10; (BV); (Cst.); (Cost.); ) of 18 April 1999 (SR 101) is the third and current federal constitution of Switzerland. It establishes the Swiss Confederation as a federal republic of ...

was passed on 12 September 1848. The constitution was heavily influenced by the

US Constitution The Constitution of the United States is the supreme law of the United States of America. It superseded the Articles of Confederation, the nation's first constitution, on March 4, 1789. Originally including seven articles, the Constitut ...

and the ideas of the French Revolution. The constitution establishes the

Swiss Confederation Switzerland, officially the Swiss Confederation, is a landlocked country located in west-central Europe. It is bordered by Italy to the south, France to the west, Germany to the north, and Austria and Liechtenstein to the east. Switzerlan ...

, governed by a comparatively strong

federal government A federation (also called a federal state) is an entity characterized by a political union, union of partially federated state, self-governing provinces, states, or other regions under a #Federal governments, federal government (federalism) ...

, instead the model of a

confederation A confederation (also known as a confederacy or league) is a political union of sovereign states united for purposes of common action. Usually created by a treaty, confederations of states tend to be established for dealing with critical issu ...

of independent

cantons A canton is a type of administrative division of a country. In general, cantons are relatively small in terms of area and population when compared with other administrative divisions such as counties, departments, or provinces. Internationally, th ...

bound by treaties.

Industrialisation and economic growth (1848–1914)

From 1847 to 1914, the Swiss railway network was developed. The ''Schweizerische Nordbahn'' (SNB) society opened the first railway line on Swiss soil in 1847, connecting

Zürich Zurich (; ) is the list of cities in Switzerland, largest city in Switzerland and the capital of the canton of Zurich. It is in north-central Switzerland, at the northwestern tip of Lake Zurich. , the municipality had 448,664 inhabitants. The ...

and

Baden Baden (; ) is a historical territory in southern Germany. In earlier times it was considered to be on both sides of the Upper Rhine, but since the Napoleonic Wars, it has been considered only East of the Rhine. History The margraves of Ba ...

. The Gotthard Rail Tunnel was completed in 1881. The Swiss watchmaking industry has its origins in the 18th century, but boomed during the 19th century, turning the village of

La Chaux-de-Fonds La Chaux-de-Fonds (; archaic ) is a Swiss city in the canton of Neuchâtel. It is located in the Jura Mountains at an altitude of 992 metres, a few kilometres south of the French border. After Geneva, Lausanne, Biel/Bienne, and Fribourg, ...

into an industrial center. Rapid urban growth also enlarged

, which incorporated its

industrial suburb An industrial suburb is a community, near a large city, with an industrial economy. These communities may be established as tax havens or as places where zoning promotes industry, or they may be industrial towns that become suburbs by urban ...

Aussersihl Aussersihl is a district in the Swiss city of Zürich. Known officially as District number 4, the district is known as colloquially ''Chreis Cheib'', ''cheib'' being the Zürich German word for an animal cadaver. It earned the name as the area h ...

into the municipality in 1891.

Banking A bank is a financial institution that accepts Deposit account, deposits from the public and creates a demand deposit while simultaneously making loans. Lending activities can be directly performed by the bank or indirectly through capital m ...

emerged as a significant factor in Swiss economy with the foundation of the Union Bank of Switzerland in 1862, and the

Swiss Bank Corporation Swiss Bank Corporation (French language, French: ''Société de banque suisse''; German language, German: ''Schweizerischer Bankverein'') was a Swiss Investment banking, investment bank and financial services company located in Switzerland. Prio ...

in 1872. The Golden age of alpinism in the 1850s to 1860s lay the foundation to the

tourism industry Tourism is travel for pleasure, and the Commerce, commercial activity of providing and supporting such travel. World Tourism Organization, UN Tourism defines tourism more generally, in terms which go "beyond the common perception of tourism as ...

World wars (1914–1945)

During

World War I World War I or the First World War (28 July 1914 – 11 November 1918), also known as the Great War, was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War I, Allies (or Entente) and the Central Powers. Fighting to ...

and

World War II World War II or the Second World War (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War II, Allies and the Axis powers. World War II by country, Nearly all of the wo ...

, Switzerland maintained a stance of armed neutrality, and apart from minor skirmishes was not involved militarily. Because of its neutral status, Switzerland was of considerable interest to the warring parties, as a scene for

diplomacy Diplomacy is the communication by representatives of State (polity), state, International organization, intergovernmental, or Non-governmental organization, non-governmental institutions intended to influence events in the international syste ...

espionage Espionage, spying, or intelligence gathering, as a subfield of the intelligence field, is the act of obtaining secret or confidential information ( intelligence). A person who commits espionage on a mission-specific contract is called an ...

commerce Commerce is the organized Complex system, system of activities, functions, procedures and institutions that directly or indirectly contribute to the smooth, unhindered large-scale exchange (distribution through Financial transaction, transactiona ...

, and as a safe haven for

refugees A refugee, according to the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR), is a person "forced to flee their own country and seek safety in another country. They are unable to return to their own country because of feared persecution as ...

. During World War I, Switzerland was situated between the

Central Powers The Central Powers, also known as the Central Empires,; ; , ; were one of the two main coalitions that fought in World War I (1914–1918). It consisted of the German Empire, Austria-Hungary, the Ottoman Empire, and the Kingdom of Bulga ...

to the north and east, and the

Entente Powers The Allies or the Entente (, ) was an international military coalition of countries led by the French Republic, the United Kingdom, the Russian Empire, the United States, the Kingdom of Italy, and the Empire of Japan against the Central Powers ...

to the south and west. During World War II, Switzerland was entirely surrounded by the

Axis Powers The Axis powers, originally called the Rome–Berlin Axis and also Rome–Berlin–Tokyo Axis, was the military coalition which initiated World War II and fought against the Allies of World War II, Allies. Its principal members were Nazi Ge ...

from 1940 to 1944.

1945 to present

Government

From 1959, the Federal Council, elected by the parliament, is composed of members of the four major parties, the liberal Free Democrats, the Catholic Christian Democrats, the left-wing

Social Democrats Social democracy is a social, economic, and political philosophy within socialism that supports political and economic democracy and a gradualist, reformist, and democratic approach toward achieving social equality. In modern practice, s ...

and the right-wing People's Party, essentially creating a system without a sizeable

parliamentary opposition Parliamentary opposition is a form of political opposition to a designated government, particularly in a Westminster-based parliamentary system. This article uses the term ''government'' as it is used in Parliamentary systems, i.e. meaning ''t ...

(see

concordance system Concordance democracy is a type of governing / ruling a country that aims to involve as many different groups as possible (parties, associations, minorities, social groups) in the political process and to make decisions by reaching a consensus. ...

), reflecting the powerful position of an opposition in a

direct democracy Direct democracy or pure democracy is a form of democracy in which the Election#Electorate, electorate directly decides on policy initiatives, without legislator, elected representatives as proxies, as opposed to the representative democracy m ...

. Women were granted the

right to vote Suffrage, political franchise, or simply franchise is the right to vote in representative democracy, public, political elections and referendums (although the term is sometimes used for any right to vote). In some languages, and occasionally in ...

in the first Swiss cantons in 1959, at the federal level in 1971Country profile: Switzerland
UK Foreign and Commonwealth Office, Retrieved on 2009-11-25 and, after resistance, in the last canton

Appenzell Innerrhoden Canton of Appenzell Innerrhoden ( ; ; ; ), in English sometimes Appenzell Inner-Rhodes, is one of the 26 cantons forming the Swiss Confederation. It is composed of five districts. The seat of the government and parliament is Appenzell. It is ...

in 1990. After

suffrage Suffrage, political franchise, or simply franchise is the right to vote in public, political elections and referendums (although the term is sometimes used for any right to vote). In some languages, and occasionally in English, the right to v ...

at the federal level women quickly rose in political significance, with the first woman on the seven-member Federal Council executive being Elisabeth Kopp who served from 1984 to 1989. The first female president was Ruth Dreifuss, elected in 1998 to become president during 1999. The Swiss president is elected every year from those among the seven member high council and cannot serve two consecutive terms. During the

Cold War The Cold War was a period of global Geopolitics, geopolitical rivalry between the United States (US) and the Soviet Union (USSR) and their respective allies, the capitalist Western Bloc and communist Eastern Bloc, which lasted from 1947 unt ...

, Swiss authorities considered the construction of a Swiss

nuclear bomb A nuclear weapon is an explosive device that derives its destructive force from nuclear reactions, either fission (fission or atomic bomb) or a combination of fission and fusion reactions (thermonuclear weapon), producing a nuclear exp ...

. Leading nuclear physicists at the Federal Institute of Technology Zürich such as Paul Scherrer made this a realistic possibility. In a nationwide referendum held in April 1962, the Swiss people chose not to prohibit nuclear arms in Switzerland. However, financial problems with the defense budget prevented the substantial funds from being allocated, and the

Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty The Treaty on the Non-Proliferation of Nuclear Weapons, commonly known as the Non-Proliferation Treaty or NPT, is an international treaty whose objective is to prevent the spread of nuclear weapons and weapons technology, to promote cooperatio ...

of 1968 was seen as a valid alternative. All remaining plans for building nuclear weapons were dropped by 1988.Swiss nuclear bomb
''International Physicians for the Prevention of Nuclear War'' October 9, 2010. Retrieved March 6, 2014

Domestic

In 1979, parts of the

Bernese Jura Bernese Jura (, , German: Berner Jura) is the name for the French-speaking area of the Switzerland, Swiss canton of Bern, and from 2010 one of ten Administrative divisions of Switzerland, administrative divisions of the Cantons of Switzerland, cant ...

attained

independence Independence is a condition of a nation, country, or state, in which residents and population, or some portion thereof, exercise self-government, and usually sovereignty, over its territory. The opposite of independence is the status of ...

while remaining in the Federation, forming the new

canton of Jura The Republic and Canton of Jura (officially in ), less formally the Canton of Jura or Canton Jura ( ; ), is the newest (founded in 1979) of the 26 Swiss cantons, located in the northwestern part of Switzerland. The capital is Delémont. It shar ...

. The

Demographics of Switzerland Switzerland has 9 million inhabitants, as of June 2024. Its population quadrupled over the period 1800 to 1990 (average doubling time 95 years). Population growth was steepest in the period after Switzerland during the World Wars, World War I ...

has changed in similar ways as in other states in Western Europe. Since 1945, the population of Switzerland has grown from roughly 4.5 to 7.5 million, mostly between 1945 and 1970, with a brief negative growth in the late 1970s, and a population growth hovering around 0.5% per year since the 1990s, mostly due to immigration. With a population composed of a roughly balanced combination of Roman Catholics and Protestants, together amounting to more than 95%, the population without any religious affiliation has grown to more than 10% in the 2000s, while the Muslim population grew from practically nil to some 4% over the past decades.

Italians Italians (, ) are a European peoples, European ethnic group native to the Italian geographical region. Italians share a common Italian culture, culture, History of Italy, history, Cultural heritage, ancestry and Italian language, language. ...

had been the largest group of resident foreigners since the 1920, but with the

Yugoslav wars The Yugoslav Wars were a series of separate but related#Naimark, Naimark (2003), p. xvii. ethnic conflicts, wars of independence, and Insurgency, insurgencies that took place from 1991 to 2001 in what had been the Socialist Federal Republic of ...

of the 1990s, large-scale immigration of refugees has changed this picture, and residents with origins in the former

Yugoslavia , common_name = Yugoslavia , life_span = 1918–19921941–1945: World War II in Yugoslavia#Axis invasion and dismemberment of Yugoslavia, Axis occupation , p1 = Kingdom of SerbiaSerbia , flag_p ...

now constitute the largest group of resident foreigners, with some 200,000 people (roughly 3% of the population).

Relations with the European Union

With the exception of

Liechtenstein Liechtenstein (, ; ; ), officially the Principality of Liechtenstein ( ), is a Landlocked country#Doubly landlocked, doubly landlocked Swiss Standard German, German-speaking microstate in the Central European Alps, between Austria in the east ...

, Switzerland has been completely surrounded by the

European Union The European Union (EU) is a supranational union, supranational political union, political and economic union of Member state of the European Union, member states that are Geography of the European Union, located primarily in Europe. The u ...

since 1995. Swiss-EU relations are a major issue in the country. Swiss voters narrowly rejected a December 1992 referendum to join the

European Economic Area The European Economic Area (EEA) was established via the ''Agreement on the European Economic Area'', an international agreement which enables the extension of the European Union's single market to member states of the European Free Trade Asso ...

, with 50.3% of voters opposed. Swiss voters rejected EU membership in a March 2001 referendum, with 76.8% opposed. Despite Swiss opposition to joining the EU, voters have accepted

bilateral agreement Bilateralism is the conduct of political, economic, or cultural relations between two sovereign states. It is in contrast to unilateralism or multilateralism, which is activity by a single state or jointly by multiple states, respectively. When ...

s with the union. In a May 2000 referendum, for example, Swiss voters approved such agreements. In a June 2005 referendum, Swiss voters approved joining the

Schengen Area The Schengen Area ( , ) encompasses European countries that have officially abolished border controls at their common borders. As an element within the wider area of freedom, security and justice (AFSJ) policy of the European Union (EU), it ...

. In February 2014, Swiss voters approved a referendum to reinstitute quotas on immigration to Switzerland, setting off a period of finding an implementation that would not violate the EU's freedom of movement accords that Switzerland adopted. Switzerland co-founded the

European Free Trade Association The European Free Trade Association (EFTA) is a regional trade organization and free trade area consisting of four List of sovereign states and dependent territories in Europe, European states: Iceland, Liechtenstein, Norway and Switzerland. ...

in 1960, which is a parallel organization to the EU.

Notes and references

External links

Swiss Diplomatic Documents (DDS)
{{Portal bar, History, Switzerland

Switzerland Switzerland, officially the Swiss Confederation, is a landlocked country located in west-central Europe. It is bordered by Italy to the south, France to the west, Germany to the north, and Austria and Liechtenstein to the east. Switzerland ...

Modern history The modern era or the modern period is considered the current historical period of human history. It was originally applied to the history of Europe and Western history for events that came after the Middle Ages, often from around the year 1500, ...

19th century in Switzerland 20th century in Switzerland