A Concise History of Switzerland (Cambridge Concise Histories) by Clive H. Church

Cambridge Concise Histories

by Clive H. Church

Despite its position at the heart of Europe and its quintessentially European nature, Switzerland's history is often overlooked within the English-speaking world. This comprehensive and engaging history of Switzerland traces the historical and cultural development of this fascinating but neglected European country from the end of the Dark Ages up to the present. The authors focus on the initial Confederacy of the Middle Ages; the religious divisions which threatened it after 1500 and its surprising survival amongst Europe's monarchies; the turmoil following the French Revolution and conquest, which continued until the Federal Constitution of 1848; the testing of the Swiss nation through the late nineteenth century and then two World Wars and the Depression of the 1930s; and the unparalleled economic and social growth and political success of the post-war era. The book concludes with a discussion of the contemporary challenges, often shared with neighbours, that shape the country today.

Genres: History, Nonfiction, European History, Travel, Politics, World History

Unknown Binding

First published February 1, 2013

Reviews

[Warwick · Rating 2 out of 5]

Switzerland summarised in five Scrabble-winning items of vocabulary


EIDGENOSSENSCHAFT

Switzerland is an anomaly in a multitude of ways. One of the most immediately striking is that it has no head of state; the country is run collectively by a Federal Council. (Admittedly, the council does have a nominal president, but he or she has no more power than the other councillors, and the position typically rotates among members year-on, year-off.)

This lack of a single political focus is something that goes back to the very start of the country, which began as a loose confederation (Genossenschaft) of independent sovereign areas, bound together by oath (Eid). If this seems unusual now, consider how truly unique they were in the Middle Ages, hammering out an awkward cooperative existence while surrounded by autocratic feudal lords and monarchs. Yet somehow they managed to avoid getting sucked in to any of them.

The various linked members of this confederacy – now crystallised into separate cantons – didn't always get on very well, and often still don't – a situation aided by considerable local autonomy. Even contemporary Swiss politics sometimes puts you in mind of reading about medieval city-states.

RÖSTIGRABEN

This is the delightful name colloquially applied to the boundary between German-speaking and Romance-speaking parts of Switzerland – literally, the ‘rösti ditch’. Reflecting the country's disparate origins and lack of political centrality, there are four (really, five) national languages: German, French, Italian, and the interesting Alpine descendant of Vulgar Latin called Romansch. If you're not confused yet, bear with me: there are really two "German" languages here – the Swiss form of standard German, used in newspapers and printed material, which is like German German with a few Helvetisms thrown in; and also true Swiss German, which is a separate language altogether and mutually unintelligible with standard German. The situation in Germanophone parts of the country is thus not unlike Scotland, where Scottish English in public life alternates with Scots on the streets, except that crucially, Swiss German is not seen as being low-prestige: it just happens not to be used in writing.

WILLENSNATION

So the Swiss have a lot of local political autonomy. They do not share a common language, or ethnic origin. They certainly don't share a common religion (Zwingli and Calvin were from Zürich and Geneva respectively, so the country was hit pretty hard by the Reformation). So what do they have in common, exactly?

This was the question various Swiss thinkers were asking themselves in the early modern period, when ideas of nationhood were a hot topic in Europe. The answer that became popular involved seeing Switzerland as a Willensnation: a nation formed simply by a collective act of political and cultural will. One of the things this means in practice is that Swiss history and legend has become very important as a shared pool of reference – the Swiss are much more involved with their history than the Brits are, for example (although the Americans probably give them a run for their money).

Time to re-read William Tell.

RÉDUIT

In medieval and early-modern Europe, Switzerland seem to be stuck in an unenviable position, wedged right between the major powers: France to the west, the Holy Roman Empire to the north, and the powerful Italian states to the south. This is one reason they soon developed the policy of "armed neutrality" that later became such a major part of the country's identity.

The fact that they survived at all is mainly thanks to their geographical position, backed up against the Alps in a natural fortress. In fact until the advent of artillery, it was literally impossible to stage a military take-over of the area: there was simply no army in Europe that had the man-power or the technological means to do it. Hence there are endless examples of Swiss militia thrown together from a few small villages that defeated entire Imperial armies, over and over again.

Perhaps this has an effect on a country's psyche. In the Second World War, it formed the basis of the country's policy of the Réduit (‘cubby-hole’), whereby in case of invasion everyone would retreat to the mountains, which were duly planted with camouflaged cannons and gunner emplacements. This network of Alpine armaments was not fully dismantled till 2011.

There is a (doubtless apocryphal) story about a senior Nazi officer having a clandestine meeting with a Swiss general in 1939, in an attempt to win Switzerland over to the Nazi cause. The Germans threatened invasion if Switzerland refused. ‘I can have a million men mobilised overnight,’ the Swiss general calmly pointed out.

‘Then we shall send two million!’ said the Nazi officer.

‘Ah,’ said the Swiss general. ‘But we will fire twice.’

SONDERFALL

Switzerland came through the war with their territorial integrity and their neutrality intact, and they were proud of coming out the other side in one piece. Not having suffered the depravations of the war years in the same way that the combatants had, their economy boomed. Industrial output went into overdrive and GDP shot up like a bridegroom on Viagra. The number of millionaires also rose precipitously.

Perhaps (some people started to say) Switzerland was somehow special…? It had avoided the problems other nation-states were lumbered with; it had found the magic formula. It was a Sonderfall, a special case.

In some ways it was, and still is. But the honeymoon is long over. Their wartime conduct has been aggressively called into question, especially by the US over the ‘Nazi gold’ issue. An influx of foreign workers and a credit crunch has led to a flourishing far-right in Switzerland, built on fears of Überfremdung or ‘over-foreignisation’ – a fear best symbolised by the nauseating ban on minarets a few years ago. And in other ways too, the country has been slow to modernise socially: women in parts of Switzerland were still excluded from voting in local elections until 1990. No, that is not a typo. Nineteen-fucking-ninety.

Switzerland definitely repays further study, given its many peculiarities, and the two authors here (one an expert on the medieval Swiss, the other an expert on the modern state) rattle through the essentials briskly. This book does what it says on the tin, competently but without flair. However, as a one-volume history of the country down to modern times, it doesn't currently have much competition.

[James · Rating 3 out of 5]

The concise version of a concise history of Switzerland

1. Switzerland is actually an interestingish sort of country especially in the middle ages where its citizens enjoyed greater freedom then almost any other European people (except of course if you were a woman and actually removing heriditary aristocracy and allowing men the choice further slowed womens advancement) .
2. At one stage Swiss infantry was so effective that Switzerland was a bit of a military superpower
3. William Tell is a myth, apparently this is a done deal for which there is no appeal. Look its not as bad as finding out that Father Christmas is a myth but it is a wee bit upsetting nontheless
4. Despite what Harry Lime had to say Switzerland did not actually enjoy 800 years of peace, it actually was pretty occupied with multiple cantonal civil wars thought over various religous, commercial and foreign policy. It also did not as a consequence invent the cuckoo clock (by the way Swiss people hate it when you congratulate them on inventing the cuckoo clock)
5. The creation of Switzerland as we know it now has more to do with Napoleon deciding things had gone too far then anything else
6. The Swiss have always been worried about Swissness and the danger too many foreigners pose to Switzerland. This reached a shameful height in WWII although the concerns of a German invasion were warranted even though it was very low down the German prioirty list is was a to do.
7. They have also always felt underappreciated by the rest of Europe, apart presumably from the cuckoo clock
8. Sitting out major European conflicst has been a good strategy starting with the 30 years war. The first world war however was an economic and social disaster
9. Actually it was never really and agrarian eden with an disproportonately urbanized and industrialized society to the extent that Lenin believe Switzerland was the ideal country for communism
10. The swiss are prone to warranted self congratulation punctuated by sever bouts of equally warranted self doubt.
11. Concise histories are a bit dull as either you dont care about the 28th cantonal war in succession and do not want even a brief recap or you do and then its all very frustrating
12. Its hard to imagine why anyone not Swiss, living in Switzerland would really care about Swiss history
13. Despite the authors assertion that deep fissures were about to open up in the society they never do. They vote, vote again, debate have a few more votes and ussually by that stage its already so way beyond needing to be dealt with that it happens through a collective decision impenetrable to foreigners.

Look this is essentially the only modern book about Switzerland, written in English that does not involve cartoons of cows I have ever found.

[Lois Bujold · Rating 4 out of 5]

I don't feel right giving this book 3 stars just because it's mostly not the book I was looking for, so I upped it one. Like its series-companion volume I read a while back about Finland, it manages to be concise while covering a thousand years of history by leaving out everything except political history, i.e., skipping all the good bits. So I got maybe half a chapter on the middle ages, the period in which I was interested, and two whole chapters at the end on modern post-WWII Swiss politics and its multitude of conflicting parties, in breathless and eye-clogging acronymic detail.

I did get one new vocabulary word out of it, a somewhat rare event at my age -- "psephological". Not a typo, it turns out; it means "the study of elections". Which leads me to wonder if I can form "psephologiaphobia", and aversion to the study of elections, for myself... Shall hold it in reserve for 2016, sigh. But if psephologiaphilia is what you seek, you will certainly find it in this volume.

Nonetheless, useful as a quick overview and framework in which to place further reading.

The next book up in my library queue was published in 1822, so should be entirely free of 21st, 20th, and most 19th C. politics. It should make an interesting compare-and-contrast. On so many levels.

Ta, L.

[Andrew · Rating 4 out of 5]

A Concise History of Switzerland, by Clive H. Church and Randolph C. Head, is an interesting book on Swiss history, and a rare one in the English language. This book covers Swiss history from the earliest conceptions of a Swiss-style state, to 2013. Switzerland began as a series of alliances between a number of polities in the Alps, and the history of this nation is one that is controlled by a slow development of these alliances. In the 12th and 13 centuries, much of Europe was dominated by hereditary feudalism, with land being controlled by powerful families, and the majority of the population working as serfs on the land, with little or no political power. The alliances that came from these regions were often initiated by urban and rural elites against the power of these noble families. The Swiss region developed an identity that revolved around greater political freedoms, a guild-dominated local economy, and alliances with like minded communities near and far. This book shies away from some of the more democratic myths of Swiss identity; the William Tell apple shooting myth is prevalent in Swiss history, with almost no evidence to support it, for example. Instead, Swiss politics was defined, largely up to the 19th century, as an oligarchy of rich urban merchant families that kept much of the population out of the decision making process. Even so, peasant rebellions were common in Switzerland throughout its history, and would often lead to first massive repression, and then gradual change after the ringleaders were executed.

The Swiss banded together i security packs to combat the influence of the Church, and noble families like the Hapsburgs. These alliances were often defensive in nature, and did not, at first, alter the autonomy of any of the signing parties. The valleys of Uri, Schwyz, and the city states of Zurich and Basel were early proponents of these alliances, but they existed in some form in Southern Germany, northern Italy, and across the Holy Roman Empire. The alliances did not transcend these state-lets membership to the HRE in any form, and Switzerland would be de jure part of the Holy Roman Empire until the Treaty of Westphalia in 1648. As these alliance systems succeed, the attractiveness of them began to expand bringing more and more communities into pacts that covered more and more terms of agreement. Military alliance gave way to mutual security, the collection of funds through taxes to raise levies, the joint training and drilling of militias, and so forth. Many internal wars and splits in these alliances occurred, as the domain of foreign affairs continued to be the domain of each city state or locality. Zurich often looked to increase its rural domains by building alliances and annexing territory, and this was common with many other city-states - Laussane, Basel, St Gallen, and so forth. These city-states divided on lines of religion, language, ethnicity and local affiliation, some siding with France, some with Savoy, some with Milan, some with Austria, and some with the Germans. None of these splinters shattered the alliance systems of Switzerland, and it began to form a more cohesive polity, taking on new territories through annexation, outright purchase, or treaty.

Swiss mercenaries were legendary in Europe; certainly undefeated up until the early 16th century, when cannon and gunpowder destroyed the edge the Swiss possessed. The hundred odd years from 1400-early 1500 saw a flurry of conflict, annexation and favourable terms for the Swiss, brought on by this prowess. Valleys into northern Italy were annexed, as well as the remaining Austrian possessions in the Swiss region. Geneva became a vassal, the Vaud was annexed, and other territories and cities were added as possessions, with lesser rights and status to the older treaty areas. Past the 16th century and into the 17th, religious schism became the norm in Switzerland. Protestantism in the guise of Calvinist and Reformed Christianity was popular, with major players settling in Switzerland. Even so, religious conflict led to death and many small civil wars, often threatening the unity of Switzerland itself, as Catholic cities and regions made secret pacts with the French, and the protestant areas with the Germans. These often ignited into more regional wars, and political conflict within Switzerland as cities took sides, and weighed the costs of abandoning their Swiss brethren. Even so, the Swiss proved remarkably resilient, and the integrity of the state always held beyond any religious, or nascent nationalist sentiment, in a burgeoning nation state of German, French and Italian identity.

Switzerland became a widely recognized state by 1648, and up to the French revolution would experiment with ideas of liberty, equality and fraternity, with characters like Rousseau writing from Geneva and heavily influencing and inspiring events in turn. The Swiss were close to the French, and this relationship culminate in the brief reorganization of Switzerland into the French vassal state of the Helvetic Republic. This state solved many of the elitist issues the Swiss had been suffering from under an increasingly chocking oligarchy. Although the Republic was reverted after the

[RD · Rating 5 out of 5]

An interesting book into the history of Switzerland begining from a collection of weakened regions forming alliances in the holy Roman Empire as it grew weak in the 1200s to becoming an independent state with a history of intra-contonal civil wars regarding federalism And religion. A country which is a complete outlier in its neighborhood surrounded by monarchies serving through tumultuous periods such as napolean ending the ancien-regime, another civil war and by the revolution of 1848 one of the first republics in Europe. An interesting country which stood as neutral through the first and second world wars albeit doing many controversial things and being blacklisteddfor its neutrality by the allies such as not being able to join the United Nations. Then the nation experiences massive prosperity in the sonderfell years but also the emergence of linguistic divides and moves forward into the 21st century. Overall an interesting read, albeit it took me way to long to read this book.

[Genni · Rating 3 out of 5]

As with any concise history, clarity is often sacrificed. This is especially true towards the end when political parties and actors seem to appear out of thin air. Still, this is a decent and interesting overview.

Personal reflection: Switzerland has more political parties than we do. Yet it has still struggled with polarization and even had a Trump-like figure at the helm for a minute. This is a little disheartening to hear for someone who thinks more parties would be a good thing for our country. In the end, I still came back to thinking it would be more healthy than what we have now. There is a difference in scale, of course, but their polarization is not quite like what is happening here (from what I could glean from this brief work). And the system seemed to take care of Blocher pretty quickly. Either way, my personal desire for more parties is little more than a pipe dream at this point so…

[Hristos Dagres · Rating 5 out of 5]

In nearly 300 pages Church and Head present, in a vivid and comprehensive way, the complexity and uniqueness of Switzerland - a country that was created by the love of the citizens and elites of free cities to preserve their freedom. In times when strong empires and kingdoms around Switzerland were rising, reaching a pick and then crumbling down to pieces, the Swiss cantons were slowly but steadily forming alliances, coming closer and - sometimes - fighting eachother but gradually managing to overcome their differences and find a common ground.

The strongest message of this book is that although Swiss cantons were receptive to the changes of their times, the pace of change was always controlled by the people and the elites, not by the circumstances or the needs and priorities of the surrounding strong neighbours. Probably, this is the reason why this strange, yet beautiful confederation of cantons managed to survive, get stronger and thrive!

The only negative point is the subbtle yet evident authors' europhil point of view in their critique of Switzerland in the modern era. You can tell that authors do not approve Swiss people resistance to the euro-elites, although they try to present their opinion as impartial. Fortunately, the last 5 years have proven that the Swiss decision to keep their distances from Brussels [and, actually, Berlin] was unquestionably correct.

[Sandeep · Rating 4 out of 5]

Most of us, even in the German speaking world, would rarely know anything about Swiss history. We would rather know so much more about the kings and queens of the countries surrounding it, with whom the Swiss share languages, race and so much of the heritage. So much of the Swiss history as the Swiss know it is pure hagiography, beginning with William Tell. The apple of
William Tell is among that of Newton and Adam, as the ones which never existed.
The book covers it well from the start to its period now as a normal European republic. What makes it unique, the Sonderfall, is also its unique conflicts, first between the new and the old cantons, the rural and urban population, and finally between the Catholics, Protestants and the Anabaptists. The last of which was in the Jurassic independence, when the French Catholics left the German Protestant dominated Jura, the French Catholics decided to remain a Bernese Jura.
If the internal map of Switzerland is hotch potch of exclaves and enclaves of cantons with little geographic contiguity, but a heritage of the past conflicts and how this country, has resolved them. A less for Europe!
On the debit side of this book, my request would have been to have separate sections on each Canton, since especially here the parts are as important as the sum.
The book could have also done a little bit on the Swiss personalities, the only Swiss most of us would know is Ursula Andress.

[Doug Gordon · Rating 2 out of 5]

This book was written by academics for other academics and is not really a history of Switzerland for the general readership. Rather, it concentrates on intricate politics and the governmental structure over the centuries and assumes knowledge of people and events that I was not familiar with. I did get a general idea of the country and learned a few new things, but it made for some very dense reading.

[Christopher Roth · Rating 5 out of 5]

Everything I wanted from such a book and more, including maps and charts. Very, very clear. I'm slowly coming around to the idea that Napoleon was one of the best things that ever happened to Switzerland, but I am very ambivalent even about that belief. And how odd that no one ever mentions that Switzerland never had suzerainty over its own territory until 1815, despite all the "since 1291" bluster. Most of all: why had I never heard of the Lemanic and Rhodanic republics??

[Elliott Bignell · Rating 3 out of 5]

Clear and concise, with a useful timeline and glossary at the end. Docking a star for use of American spelling. If even Cambridge don't remember who they are, there's no hope.

[Jason Chiang · Rating 3 out of 5]

Very detailed and comprehensive history of Switzerland and its politics up until about 2011. Many many things I did not know about the country. This goes beyond the more touristy and superficial books I have read about the country. Can be a bit dry reading at times but def added to understanding.

[Margaret Clark · Rating 4 out of 5]

Dense but incredibly informative.

[Miccaeli · Rating 2 out of 5]

In good news: concise! In bad news: boring.

[Dani Ollé · Rating 5 out of 5]

Very good introduction to medieval and early modern Switzerland, and excellent perspective of the 20th century and recent issues

[Reza Amiri Praramadhan · Rating 4 out of 5]

Known for its Alpine beauty, Chocolate, Cheese, Banks and famed neutrality in foreign policy, Switzerland is a unique case in study of nations, as this book labored to describe. Beginning its existence as bunch of cities and villages, called cantons, which have their own confusingly complex policies against each other, sometimes they fight, sometimes they ally, and even once feared for its fighting capabilities, making the Swiss infantrymen an important military asset serving as mercenaries for its larger, bickering neighboring countries.

As the title suggests, the book brings us to 800 years of Swiss history, complete with the formation of William Tell legend, the situation during reformation era, the Swiss being peaceful for so long that it turned reactionary then being overrun by French revolutionary (then Napoleonic) armies, its famed neutrality and how The Swiss struggled to maintain it during two World Wars, and its role during the Cold War, in which the Swiss became interlocked against each other for whether should Swiss be more integrated with Europe and the rest of the world, or more inward-looking with emphasizes on Swiss exceptionalities (the Sonderfall).

Overall, this book is informative and a good starting point before you learn more about more detailed aspects of Swiss history.

[Ana · Rating 4 out of 5]

I think this is the first proper history book I’ve read. I wanted to try and get a better grasp of Swiss culture, since I know a lot less about it than about most European countries, and I figured that knowing more about their history and how they got to where they are now is a good way to approach this. This book was very insightful, and although the writing confused me at times with multiple jumps back and forth between years (maybe I’m just not used to reading history books), it was quite informative. Getting to know Swiss history and the challenging road they took which led them to develop into the state we see today made me realise how little history I actually know, and how important it really is. Will continue reading this concise histories series and I already got the one for Romania!

[Eduardo Bracher · Rating 4 out of 5]

The history of a very particular country

If you want to know about the history of Switzerland, this is probably the best short book. The overall European historical context is mentioned only when it is relevant to Switzerland, which leaves us with a somehow partial view, but the history of the country is explained in good detail and with an even-minded approach. The author writes with an agreeable narrating style The description up to the XIX century could be a little more detailed, but it could definitely be less detailed when dealing with the intricacies of post-WWII Swiss politics.

[Ebenmaessiger · Rating 4 out of 5]

a thankless task, the writing or marketing (such that CUP would feel the need) of these concise histories. the "history" demands chronological comprehensiveness, to the exclusion of either narrative thrust (au revoir pop appeal) or academic intervention (tschüss disciplinary visibility). and the "concise" demands taking for granted the reader's reliably deep contextual grounding ("we've no time to explain governance in the HRE or the trajectory of the French Rev or the liberal nationalism of 1848! we gotta get moving!"). the audience, then, are those who know a lot about the theme but little about the subject. good luck! either way, church did prettay prettay good here

[Alex Cole · Rating 3 out of 5]

Wasn’t quite what I was hoping for — most of the book was quite dry even for nonfiction, focused on uninspiring summaries of battles and treaties that read like laundry list. WWI onwards was much more interesting as they began to delve a bit more into how modern Switzerland’s political landscape developed, accusations over WWII, etc. Overall though I definitely learned a bit more about the country I lived in for about year.

[Anonymous4999 · Rating 4 out of 5]

A thoroughly fascinating look at one of Western Europe's more unique countries, A Concise History of Switzerland traces the nation's progress from its loose confederare beginnings until the modern day, all while providing insights that reveal Switzerland is more than chocolate, yodeling and scenic mountains.

[Queen's road East · Rating 3 out of 5]

A good entrée for Swiss history. The formation of Switzerland involved not only the Swiss people but also empires around, so the whole story is complicated and with so many players. It would be better if it provides a brief intro/conclusion in each chapter abt the historical background of every era. Not so reader-friendly for those who are not familiar with European history like me.

[Chris · Rating 3 out of 5]

Solid introduction

Good introduction to Swiss history. It doesn’t go into extreme detail on many of the topics, but still provides the reader with the big issues and events that have led Switzerland to its current state.

[Alexandre Assine · Rating 2 out of 5]

Insipid left-leaning textbook.

[Alexandru · Rating 3 out of 5]

Good I introduction in Switzerland history, but it's just too brief .

[Truls Ljungström · Rating 2 out of 5]

Boken lever verkligen upp till sitt namn. Det är en kort beskrivning, med fokus på översiktlighet.

[Manne Thomas · Rating 4 out of 5]

Lekker geschreven

[Teresa Pedro · Rating 4 out of 5]

A lot of interesting information, but not so well structured for an ordinary reader

[Terry Burgess · Rating 5 out of 5]

Read this book for an upcoming trip. I knew little about Switzerland compared to many other European countries. Definitely a good read if you want to brush up on your Swiss history.

[Kurtis DePippo · Rating 3 out of 5]

Chaotic writing, but it’s the only decent English Swisstory book that I could find.