History of Switzerland 1499–1914

First published in 1922, as part of the Cambridge Historical Series, this book presents the English translation of a German original written by Swiss historian Wilhelm Oechsli (1851–1919). The text gives a broad overview of the history of Switzerland, beginning with the separation of the Swiss from the Holy Roman Empire and moving through to the establishment of Switzerland as a federal state. A comprehensive bibliography is also included. This is a detailed and highly readable book that will be of value to anyone with an interest in historiography and perspectives on the history of Switzerland.

General preface; Editor's preface; Book I. Zenith of the Swiss Confederation, 1499–1519: 1. The separation of Switzerland from the Empire; 2. The confederation of the thriteen cantons and their allies; 3. Mercenary campaigns in Italy; 4. Matthew Schinner and the war with France; Book II. Reformation and Counter-Reformation, 1519–1648: 5. Ecclesiastical conditions prior to the Reformation; 6. Ulrich Zwingli and the Reformation in Zurich; 7. Spread of the Reformation in German-speaking Switzerland; 8. The Kappel wars; 9. Geneva and West Switzerland prior to the Reformation; 10. Guillaume Farel and the conquest of Vaud; 11. Calvin in Geneva; 12. The Counter-Reformation; 13. The Swiss in the Huguenot wars; 14. The Swiss during the Thirty Years' War; 15. Swiss civilisation in the age of the Reformation; Book III. Age of Aristocracy, 1648–1798: 16. The aristocracy and the Peasants' War; 17. Protestant Switzerland and Oliver Cromwell. The first Villmergen War; 18. Switzerland and Louis XIV; 19. The dispute concerning the Neuchâtel succession. The second Villmergen War; 20. Swiss civilisation in the eighteenth century; 21. Federal conditions in the eighteenth century; 22. The Swiss democracies during the eighteenth century; 23. The Swiss aristocracies during the eighteenth century; 24. Disturbances in Geneva, Neuchâtel, and the Bishopric of Basel; 25. Premonitions of the revolution; Book IV. Period of Revolution, 1798–1815: 26. The fall of the old confederation; 27. The Helvetic Republic one and indivisible; 28. Switzerland as the theatre of European war; 29. Coups d'état and mediation; 30. Switzerland under the Act of Mediation; 31. Overthrow of the Act of Mediation; Book V. Epoch of the Federal Pact, 1815–48: 32. Epoch of the Restoration; 33. Liberal and democratic regeneration in the Cantons; 34. The Sonderbund War; Book VI. Switzerland as a Federal State, 1848–1914: 35. Under the Federal Constitution of 1848; 36. The Federal Constitution of 1874; Appendix. The historical relations of England and Switzerland; Bibliography; Index.