The Story of Switzerland

In the meantime a very remarkable event had happened at the town of Altorf in Uri. Gessler had placed a hat on a pole in the market-place, with strict orders that passers-by sho...

The Roman influence over the Burgundians was greatly increased by the policy of King Gundobad (A.D. 500). He had visited Italy, and had been greatly taken with Roman institution...

What they did excel in was fighting. Dressed in gaudy costume--wide tunic, bright plaid, and toga embroidered with silver and gold--the Celtic noble would fight by preference in...

Different, however, was the experience of Graubünden, then a separate free state, and a connection only of the Confederation. In truth, the history of that old Rhætian land at t...

Thus, whatever may be thought of Napoleon's ultimate aims, it was owing to him that Switzerland enjoyed quiet, prosperity, and perfect self-government at a time when Europe gene...

The Zurich conflicts of 1839, called "Zurichputsch," from a local word meaning push or scramble, claim a moment's attention. That canton had perhaps more thoroughly than any oth...

To find some explanation of this rapid growth and the distracted state that followed in its train we must turn for a moment to the empire. Owing no doubt to the loftiness of the...

On the accession of Francis I., that youthful and ambitious prince wished to signalize the opening of his reign by the recovery of Milan. Anxious to have Switzerland neutral he...

There would no doubt often be but little love lost between the Helvetians and the soldiery in occupation. Tacitus ("Annals") tells of one bloody episode. After the death of the...

One by one the Swiss lands were reached by the breeze of freedom blowing from the Forest Cantons after the great victory of Morgarten. Yet it was only very gradually and in smal...

Bodmer's influence on the young man of parts is noticeable. He gathered round him a large following of young Zürcher who had a taste for letters. Crowds of them would accompany...

The day of the "one and undivided Helvetic Republic" was a period of "storm and stress," short-lived, full of creative ideas and vast schemes, with much struggling for what was...

The accession of Charles III. in 1504 opened for Geneva a period of struggle. Anxious to maintain its freedom against a crafty and malignant prince, and his creature, the base-b...

Calvin was a prodigious worker, a profound theologian, an accomplished linguist, a statesman and organizer of consummate skill, and a most excellent correspondent. Twenty-four p...

But whilst poetry was rejoicing the hearts of the nobles, political clouds were fast gathering over the city, to break at length into a wild hurricane. As a matter of fact, a fe...

But in truth there were risings in almost every one of the cantons. Of these only the most remarkable can be touched on here, those of Geneva. These are real constitutional stru...

A poor peasant boy Waldmann had raised himself to the highest position in the country, that of Burgomaster of Zurich, and head, or king, as he pleased to call it, of the Eidgeno...

The reign of Rudolf III. (993-1032) was greatly harmful to the country, which was fast declining in prestige and prosperity. Better fitted for the cloister than for the throne,...

[106] Legislative Acts are, in fact, referred _to the whole people_ for approval or disapproval, as in limited monarchies they are referred to the _sovereign_. But in Switzerlan...

Whilst the republics vied with each other in extending their borders, two, Uri and Unterwalden, were unable to increase their territory, being hemmed in by lofty mountains. They...

Artful and ever on the watch, Louis found that the Eidgenossen, disgusted by the grasping tendencies of Charles, were fast drifting away from their good understanding with Burgu...

The onset was furious, and the Austrian Hotspurs, each eager to outstrip his fellows in the race for honour, rushed on the Swiss, drove them back a little, and then tried to enc...

+------------------------+---------+------------- | | Area in| Population German Name. | French Name. | Square |(approximate) | | Miles. |Dec. 1, 1888. -------------------------...

No doubt this exaltation of Charlemagne's merits is an expression of the attachment felt for his person, and of the admiration for his marvellous educational efforts. His grands...

His opening sermon, on New Year's Day, 1519, stirred his hearers in a marvellous way, and at once stamped him as an evangelical reformer of no common type. He briefly sketched o...

THE STORY OF GREECE. By Prof. JAS. A. HARRISON THE STORY OF ROME. By ARTHUR GILMAN THE STORY OF THE JEWS. By Prof. JAS. K. HOSMER THE STORY OF CHALDEA. By Z. A. RAGOZIN THE STOR...

Zurich, 60, 66; abbey founded, 70, 75; diets, 90; Reichsvogtei, 94; attacks Winterthur, 132; joins league, defeats Austrians, 142; Lenzburgs and Zaerings, 149; a poet's corner,...