Switzerland historical timeline

Chronology

from c. 450 BC — La Tène culture flourishes in the late Iron Age, named for the site on the north shore of Lake Neuchâtel. Its most prominent tribe on the Swiss Plateau is the Helvetii, whose name the country still carries in Confoederatio Helvetica and in the CH on every car.
972 — Schwyz is first attested, as Old High German Suittes, perhaps from a word meaning to burn — a reference to forest burned and cleared to build on. The canton's name later spread to the whole country.
1291 — The Federal Charter, dated 1 August and treated as the founding document of the Old Swiss Confederacy: an alliance among valley communities of the central Alps, governed by nobles and patricians who managed common interests and kept the peace on the mountain trade routes. 1 August is the national day.
by 1353 — The three original cantons have been joined by Glarus, Zug and the city-states of Lucerne, Zurich and Bern, forming the eight-member Old Confederacy that holds to the end of the fifteenth century.
1499 — After the Swabian War the name Schwyz comes gradually to stand for the whole Confederacy.
1515 — Defeat at the Battle of Marignano ends Swiss expansion and the “heroic” epoch. Zwingli's Reformation then splits the cantons, with inter-cantonal religious conflict in 1529 and 1531.
1648 — Swiss sovereignty is recognised at the Peace of Westphalia on 24 October. Each canton remains a fully sovereign state with its own borders, army and currency — and stays that way until 1848.
1798 — Revolutionary France invades and imposes a unified constitution, effectively abolishing the cantons. The Helvetic Republic is deeply unpopular; Russian and Austrian forces then invade in turn, and the Swiss refuse to fight alongside the French in its name.
1803 — Napoleon convenes the leading Swiss politicians in Paris and the resulting Act of Mediation largely restores Swiss autonomy.
1815 — The Congress of Vienna re-establishes Swiss independence and the European powers recognise permanent neutrality. The treaty also admits Valais, Neuchâtel and Geneva as cantons. Switzerland has not fought an international war since.
1847 — The Sonderbundskrieg, a civil war provoked when some Catholic cantons attempt a separate alliance. It lasts under a month and causes fewer than a hundred casualties, which is why it barely marks the landscape and thoroughly marks the constitution.
1848 — The Swiss Federal Constitution creates the federal state on 12 September, and Bern is chosen as the permanent seat of the federal legislature and executive. A single system of weights and measures follows, and in 1850 the Swiss franc becomes the single currency.
1863 — Henry Dunant founds the Red Cross movement, which takes the Swiss flag with its colours reversed as its symbol. Geneva's role as the seat of international institutions starts here.
1874 — A revised constitution is accepted after an earlier draft is rejected in 1872. It introduces the facultative referendum at federal level — the machinery behind the votes the Swiss still hold several times a year.
1882 — The Gotthard rail tunnel opens, connecting Ticino to the north and the longest in the world at the time. Its successor, the 57-kilometre Gotthard Base Tunnel of 2016, is the longest and deepest rail tunnel in the world.
1914–1918 — Switzerland is not invaded. Lenin lives here until 1917, neutrality is seriously questioned by the Grimm–Hoffmann affair of 1917, and the country joins the League of Nations in 1920.
1939–1945 — Germany draws up detailed invasion plans and never uses them. Switzerland stays independent through military deterrence, concessions and luck; trade is blockaded by both sides; economic cooperation with Nazi Germany including gold purchases varies with the perceived likelihood of invasion. The air force shoots down eleven intruding Luftwaffe aircraft in May and June 1940, then changes policy under German threat; over a hundred Allied bombers and their crews are interned, and the Allies bomb Switzerland between 1940 and 1945.
1971 — Women get the federal vote — Switzerland is the last Western republic to grant it, some cantons having done so from 1959. The last canton, Appenzell Innerrhoden, holds out until 1990.
1979 — Areas of the canton of Bern separate to form the new canton of Jura, the twenty-sixth. A wholly revised federal constitution is approved by people and cantons on 18 April 1999.
2002 — Switzerland becomes a full member of the United Nations — 57 years after it was founded on Swiss soil, and leaving Vatican City as the last widely recognised state outside it.

Verified against Wikipedia, September 2026.

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Checked against Wikipedia — La Tène culture flourished in the late Iron Age from around 450 BC, named after the site on the north side of Lake Neuchâtel, and the Helvetii were among its most prominent tribes on the Swiss Plateau, Schwyz was first attested in 972 as Old High German Suittes, perhaps related to a word meaning to burn, referring to forest burned and cleared to build, and the name later came to be used for the whole Confederacy after the Swabian War of 1499, The Old Swiss Confederacy was an alliance among valley communities of the central Alps, governed by nobles and patricians who managed common interests and ensured peace on the mountain trade routes, and the Federal Charter of 1291 is considered its founding document, Switzerland was founded on 1 August 1291, its sovereignty recognised at the Peace of Westphalia on 24 October 1648, the Federal Treaty signed 7 August 1815 and the federal state established 12 September 1848, By 1353 the three original cantons had been joined by Glarus, Zug and the city-states of Lucerne, Zurich and Bern to form an eight-state Old Confederacy that held to the end of the fifteenth century, Swiss expansion suffered a setback with defeat at the Battle of Marignano in 1515, ending the heroic epoch, and Zwingli's Reformation led to inter-cantonal religious conflicts in 1529 and 1531, Each canton was a fully sovereign state with its own borders, army and currency from the Treaty of Westphalia in 1648 until the establishment of the Swiss federal state, Revolutionary France invaded in 1798 and imposed a unified constitution that effectively abolished the cantons; the Helvetic Republic was unpopular, Russian and Austrian forces then invaded, and the Swiss refused to fight alongside the French in its name, Napoleon convened the leading Swiss politicians in Paris in 1803 and the resulting Act of Mediation largely restored Swiss autonomy, The Congress of Vienna re-established Swiss independence in 1815, the European powers recognised permanent neutrality, and the treaty admitted the cantons of Valais, Neuchâtel and Geneva, Civil war, the Sonderbundskrieg, broke out in 1847 when some Catholic cantons tried to set up a separate alliance; it lasted less than a month and caused fewer than a hundred casualties, Bern was chosen as the permanent seat of federal legislative and executive institutions in 1848, partly for its closeness to the French-speaking area, and the Swiss franc became the single currency in 1850, The Red Cross movement, whose symbol is the colour-reversed Swiss flag, was founded in 1863 by Henry Dunant, An early draft constitution was rejected in 1872 and an amended version accepted in 1874, introducing the facultative referendum for federal laws, The Gotthard rail tunnel, inaugurated in 1882 and connecting the southern canton of Ticino, was the longest in the world at the time, Switzerland was not invaded in either world war; Lenin lived there until 1917, neutrality was questioned by the Grimm–Hoffmann affair in 1917, and the country joined the League of Nations in 1920, Germany drew up detailed invasion plans in the Second World War but never attacked; Switzerland remained independent through military deterrence, concessions to Germany and good fortune, and its trade was blockaded by both the Allies and the Axis, with economic cooperation including gold purchases varying with the perceived likelihood of invasion, The Swiss Air Force shot down eleven intruding Luftwaffe planes in May and June 1940, then forced down other intruders after a change of policy following German threats; over 100 Allied bombers and their crews were interned and Switzerland was bombed by the Allies between 1940 and 1945, Switzerland was the last Western republic to grant women the vote: some cantons approved it in 1959, the federal level in 1971, and the last canton, Appenzell Innerrhoden, in 1990, Areas of the canton of Bern separated in 1979 to form the new canton of Jura, and a completely revised federal constitution was approved by the population and the cantons on 18 April 1999, Switzerland became a full member of the United Nations in 2002, leaving Vatican City as the last widely recognised state without full UN membership (September 2026).