Schwyz

Schwyz was an Alpine valley canton between Lake Lucerne and Lake Zürich. In 1291 it formed a confederation with Uri and Unterwalden.

Schwyz absorbed Einsiedeln, Küssnacht and March, and retained Catholicism. Its men helped defeat and kill Huldrych Zwingli at Kappel in 1531. In 1798 Alois von Reding led the Forest Cantons against France, but Schwyz surrendered and entered the Helvetic canton of Waldstätten; the Act of Mediation restored it in 1803.