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Swiss history can be dated back to the late 13th century when three forest cantons signed the Federal Charter to unite against the Habsburgs who controlled the Duchy of Austria.
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The Swiss position of neutrality did nothing to curb the expansionist ambitions of Napoleon and in 1798; Switzerland was conquered by the French and became known as the Helvetic Republic and ruled by France. This was a hugely unpopular move and the French were only able to keep control by force and when France went to war with other countries, Switzerland found herself a target.
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Switzerland’s neutrality was respected during WWI and the country joined the League of Nations in 1920. Switzerland retained their neutral position in WWII, although Swiss history of this period is not without its controversy. The Germans had plans to invade Switzerland but through a mixture of luck and Swiss economic concessions to the Nazis, this never happened.
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In 1996, the Bergier Commission was established by the Swiss government to investigate the country’s role in the German war effort and in 1998, $1.2 billion was paid out to relatives of holocaust victims.
