Switzerland

Switzerland grew from alliances among Alpine communities into a confederation of rural and urban cantons. In 1337 Uri, Schwyz and Unterwalden were bound by the charter they had sealed in 1291.

Zürich and Bern joined by the mid-fourteenth century. Victory in the Swabian War in 1499 left the Confederacy effectively independent, a separation recognised in 1648. France replaced it with the Helvetic Republic in 1798, but Napoleon restored a confederation in 1803. In 1815 Vienna recognised Swiss neutrality, and Valais, Neuchâtel and Geneva joined as cantons.