| Important Dates in
Switzerland 58 BC
Roman armies under Julius Caesar conquered Helvetia (what
is now Switzerland).
AD 400s Germanic
tribes occupied Helvetia.
962 Most of what is
now Switzerland became part of the Holy Roman Empire.
1291, August 1 The
states of Uri, Schwyz and Unterwalden signed the
Perpetual Covenant, establishing the Swiss Confederation
(Eidgenossenschaft).
1315-1388 Switzerland
defeated Austria in three wars of independence.
1332 Luzurn joined the Swiss Federation.
1351 Zürich joined the Swiss
Federation.
1352 Glarus and Zug joined the Swiss
Federation.
1353 Bern joined the Swiss Federation.
Eight states formed the acht alten Orte
("eight old states").
1481 Fribourg and
Solothurn joined the Swiss Federation.
1499 Switzerland won independence from the Holy
Roman Empire.
1501 Basel and
Schaffhausen joined the Swiss Federation.
1513 Appenzell joined the Swiss
Federation.
1515 The Swiss were defeated by the French in
Italy, and began their policy of permanent neutrality.
1648 The Holy Roman
Empire recognized Swiss Independence.
1798 French forces
occupied Switzerland and established the Helvetic
Republic under their control.
1803 Sankt Gallen,
Graubünden, Thurgau, Ticino, Aargau and Vaud joined the
Swiss Federation.
1812 The Swiss Federation declared its
neutrality.
1815 Valais, Neuchâtel and Geneva joined the
Swiss Federation. The Congress of Vienna expanded
Switzerland to 22 cantons, and restored the old
confederation.
1848 The Swiss Federation changed from a
Union of States to a Confederation when it adopted its
first Federal Constitution (Bundesverfassung).
1863 The Red Cross was founded in
Switzerland.
1874 Constitutional changes increased
federal power.
1882 The Gatthardbahn railway across the
Alps opened.
1920 The League of
Nations met at its headquarters in Geneva for its first
session.
1958 Basel became the
first Swiss city to let women vote in local elections.
1959, February 1 Vaud became the first
Swiss canton to give women the vote.
1960 Switzerland helped form the
European Free Trade Association.
1963 Switzerland joined the Council of
Europe.
1968 Geneva became the first Swiss city
to have a woman mayor.
1971 Swiss women received the right to
vote in national elections.
1978 Some villages left the state Bern
and founded the new state Jura.
1984, October 2 Elisabeth Kopp was
elected as the first woman Bunderat (executive
authority).
1992 Swiss citizens voted against
joining the European Economic Area (EAA).
1999 Ruth Dreifuss became the first
female president of the Bundesrat.
1999, April 18 Swiss voters accepted a
new Federal Constitution (Bundesverfassung).
2002, September 10
Switzerland was declared a full member of the United
Nations.
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