1515 Battle of Marignano
1516 Capitulation between some cantons and France
1618-1648 Thirty Years' War (no intervention, but many mercenaries involved; exports to belligerent countries)
1648 Recognition of the inviolability of Confederate territory in the Treaties of Westphalia (24 October 1648)
1647 Creation of a common army (armed neutrality)
1672-1678 Dutch War (no intervention, but many mercenaries involved; exports to belligerent states)
1688-1697 War of the League of Augsburg (no intervention, but many mercenaries involved; exports to belligerent states)
1701-1713 War of the Spanish Succession (no intervention, but many mercenaries involved; exports to belligerent states)
19.8.1798 Assistance pact of the Helvetic Republic with France
27.9.1803 Military alliance Helvetic Republic – France
23 September 1805 Declaration of armed neutrality by the Diet
1807 Mme de Staël holds a literary salon in the Château de Coppet
28 March 1812 Exclusive military surrender to France
18 November 1813 Proclamation of armed neutrality by the Federal Diet
20 March 1815 Declaration to the Congress of Vienna concerning Switzerland
20 November 1815 Second Peace of Paris: recognition of perpetual neutrality (Charles Pictet de Rochemont)
1817 Accession to the Holy Alliance and guarantee of the status quo
1820 Prussian State Chancellor August Fürst Hardenberg and Austrian State Minister Klemens Wenzel Fürst Metternich deplore the "political unrest" in Switzerland and threaten to take appropriate measures to preserve the "tranquillity of the world". Under the cover of a gymnasium, a democratic club is active in Chur with mainly German refugees (Karl Follen, Wilhelm Snell, Karl Völker).
14 July 1827 The Federal Diet decides on a "Press and Foreigners' Closure" after Metternich's criticism (30 March 1823) - repealed in 1830
1 August 1838 France demands the extradition of Louis Napoleon (nephew of Napoleon I), who is visiting his mother in Arenenberg (TG); France rearms its army; the Diet appoints Charles-Jules Guiger-de-Prangins (VD) as a general; on 14 October, Louis Philippe leaves Switzerland voluntarily on a British passport
18.4.1848 The Diet rejects the alliance offer of King Albert of Sardinia
1848/49 Numerous political refugees (mainly from Germany and Italy) arrive in Switzerland. 15.9. Austrian Field Marshal Radetzky orders the expulsion of all Ticino from Lombardy and the disruption of postal and trade connections
18.7.1849 Under pressure from the conservative European powers, the Federal Council decides to expel the political leaders of the popular uprisings in Baden and the Rhineland Palatinate
1.3.1847 Putsch in Neuchâtel: In June 1849, the King of Prussia threatens to invade the country when the third Baden uprising is crushed; at the same time, Hessian troops violate the border near the Baden enclave of Büsingen (crossing the Rhine by steamer); on 24 July 1849, the Federal Council reappoints Henri-Guillaume Dufour as a general and has the borders occupied. German troops occupy the Rhine border. The Hessian troops are immobilised and can only withdraw after submitting a declaration of satisfaction. On 8 May 1852 (London Protocol), Prussia renounces its right to assert its rights by force.
2-4 September 1856 Royalist coup in Neuchâtel; the King of Prussia demands the release of the royalists; the Federal Council demands the definitive renunciation of Neuchâtel; Prussia orders mobilisation; the Federal Council reappoints Federal Councillor Henri-Guillaume Dufour (after the Sonderbund War) as a general, but releases the royalists on 15/16 January 1857; King Frederick William IV definitively relinquishes his rights to Neuchâtel in the treaty of 26 May 1957
1859 Franco-Austrian war. On 24 March, the Federal Council declares armed neutrality and the defence of territorial sovereignty. Tensions in Ticino due to a common culture; internment of fleeing Austrian troops
24.3.1869 The new Italy cedes Savoy to France. The Federal Council claims Chablais, Faucigny and part of the Genevese region. However, all that is achieved is the creation of a free zone (customs-free zone) around Geneva.
1.2.1869 Internment of the Bourbaki army
22.4.1889 German police officer August Wohlgemuth is arrested near Rheinfelden AG and deported to Germany. He had recruited people to monitor German opponents. Bismarck threatens Switzerland
July 1892 Federal Councillor Walter Hauser calls neutrality into question, after Federal Councillor Emil Frey had also called for it.
12 April 1892 New legal provisions against anarchist propaganda in Switzerland - numerous expulsions follow.
10.9.1898 Italian anarchist Luigi Luccheni stabs Empress Elisabeth of Austria in Geneva. The perpetrator is sentenced to life imprisonment on 10.11.1898.19.6.1903 The Bernese cantonal police open a personal file on the Italian sociologist Benito Mussolini who, after a brief stay in Yverdon VD, moved to Lausanne in 1902 where he first worked as a wine merchant and errand boy before attending university.
1907 After a first visit to Switzerland in 1895 (officially for a cure, in reality to make contact with some Russian emigrants), Lenin stayed in Switzerland again in 1900, 1903 and 1904. From 1914 onwards he lived in Bern, then in Zurich.
1915 in Zurich in exile. After the outbreak of the February Revolution, Lenin leaves Switzerland on 9 April 1917 with the consent of the German authorities and travels through German territory.
23.8.1914 Mobilisation and affirmation of neutrality (First World War)
1917 The failure of Federal Councillor Hoffmann to mediate peace leads to his resignation.
1918 Expulsion of Soviet commissar Jan Berzin for his alleged involvement in the national strike - disagreement with the Soviet Union
1920 The popular vote of 16 May paves the way for Switzerland to join the League of Nations, after the League of Nations' guarantee of neutrality - Federal Councillor Giuseppe Motta solemnly opens the first Assembly of the League of Nations on 15 November.
10.5.1923 Assassination of the Soviet diplomat Waclaw W. Worowski by the Swiss abroad Moritz Conrad in Lausanne; his acquittal leads to the Soviet Union breaking off diplomatic relations until 1946.
1921 France and Switzerland sign an agreement on 7 August 1921 abolishing the free trade zones in Haute-Savoie and Pays de Gex, while granting trade facilities to the cantons concerned.
1923 In the popular vote of 18 February, the zone agreement was overwhelmingly rejected in Switzerland. On 10 November, the French government unilaterally shifted the customs cordon from the Geneva region to the border, without taking into account the free zones guaranteed to Switzerland by the 1860 treaty.
1924 On 30 October, France and Switzerland agree to submit the case to the Permanent Court of International Justice in The Hague.
7.4.1933 Federal Council Decree on the reception of political refugees
26.4.1934 Limitation of the freedom of the press; the Federal Council Decree provides for restrictions on reporting that could jeopardise good foreign relations
1935 Abduction of the German emigrant Berthold Jacob by the German secret police in Basel; Swiss protests lead to his transfer on 17 September and his deportation to France on 20 September
4.2.1936 Assassination of the German National Socialist Wilhelm Gustloff in Davos by David Frankfurter; subsequently, on 18.2, banning of the national and district party leadership by the Federal Council. Frankfurter is condemned by the cantonal court of Graubünden but pardoned on June 1, 1945: he is deported to Palestine.
14 May 1938 At Switzerland's request, the League of Nations unanimously recognises Switzerland's global neutrality, i.e. also its non-participation in economic sanctions (China and the Soviet Union abstain).
4.10.1938 First immigration restrictions against Jewish emigrants from the German Reich and Austria; the Federal Council approves the agreement with the German Reich (stamp J in the passport for Jews)
16 March 1939 Federal Councillor Hermann Obrecht declares his determination to repel military aggression
30.8.1939 Election of Heri Guisan to the post of general; on 1.9. general mobilisation for war
3 November 1939 Spanish Civil War: Switzerland does not take a stand for either side (unlike Italy or the German Empire).
10.5.1940 Declaration of neutrality; the Federal Council recalls its right (but not its duty) to occupy Haute-Savoie
1940 Radio address on 25 June and reception of three National Socialists on 10 September at the home of Federal President Pilet-Golaz
23.12.1940 Bombing of Zurich by British aircraft (before this, various bombings, e.g. in Diessenhofen TG and Langwiesen ZH as well as in Renens VD - here the railway station is bombed and two people are killed - subsequently Great Britain pays compensation); unsuccessful protests by Switzerland against the overflights - subsequently night-time darkening of Switzerland since 6.11.1940 due to overflights by British aircraft
13.8.1942 Increased measures against the growing number of refugees in Switzerland ("the boat is full") - Heinrich Rothmund, head of the police division of the FDJP, decrees a total ban on refugees at the borders (some easing on 24.8.)
1 April 1944 Bombing of Schaffhausen by the US Air Force (40 dead)
12.7.1944 The rules for the reception of refugees are again more generous.
26 June 1945 UN founded - Switzerland does not want to join for reasons of neutrality.
6 July 1948 The Zurich Court of Assizes convicts the Swiss Eugen Wipf of 14 murders in the Hinzert concentration camp.
1 January 1950 Federal Councillor Max Petitpierre adds the concept of solidarity to the concept of neutrality
4.11.1956 Many Hungarian refugees are welcomed in Switzerland
1.4.1962 Rejection of the nuclear weapons initiative at the ballot box
6 May 1963 Switzerland joins the Council of Europe, founded in 1949
17 December 1965 Arms embargo on Rhodesia
13.2.1967 Refusal to participate in UN sanctions against Rhodesia
3.7.1973 Switzerland participates in the CSCE in Helsinki
28 November 1974 Accession to the ECHR/HRC, concluded on 4 November 1950 (SR 0.101)
1 August 1975 Signature of the Final Act of the CSCE (since 1 January 1995 OSCE, with headquarters in Vienna)
9.4.1980 The USA asks Switzerland to take over the defence of its interests in Iran
16.3.1986 UN membership is rejected by the ballot box (referendum)
10.9.2002 Accession to the UN (acceptance of the popular initiative)
2023/2024 Switzerland takes its first seat on the UN Security Council
