Author: Maarten Koning

The Rhaetian Alpine passes

The Rhaetian Alpine passes in Graubünden have long played a significant role. Since the construction of tunnels (for example, the Vereina tunnel) and the beginning of the railway and automobile era, they have lost their former significance.

There are 33 passes in this area:

Albula, Aprica, Arlberg, Bernhardin, Bernina, Chaschauna, Crispalt/Oberalp, Flüela, Fraele, Fuorn/Ofen, Julier, Krüzli, Kunkels, Lembra/Kisten, Lenzerheide, Livigno, Lukmanier, Lunghin, Majola, Muretto, Reschen, Saint-Luzisteig, San Marco, Scaletta, Schlappin, Segnes, Septimer, Splügen, Strela, Valserberg, Umbrail, Veptga/Panixer and Wolfgang.

The Splügen Pass and the Septimer are mentioned in Roman literary and historical sources. The Bernhardin, Julier, Albula, Ofen, Reschen and other passes are mentioned in documents in the 13th and 14th centuries.

Carolingian monasteries (c. 770-c. 843) were founded much earlier. The best-preserved example is the Monastery of St. John in Müstair, which Charlemagne built after he campaigned against the Lombards in northern Italy around 774.

Hospices were simple inns. They have been mentioned since the 11th century and were built and managed by the church institutions.

The significant growth of transport between southern Germany and Lombardy in the 14th century strengthened the role of these passes.

The traditional transport system (mule traffic) lasted until the beginning of the 19th century. Napoleon modernised the roads and passes and made them accessible for heavy (military) transport and coaches.

(Source: M. Bundi, Cr. Collenberg, Rätische Alpenpässe, Chur 2016).

The Swiss National Park

The Swiss National Park (Schweizerischer Nationalpark) in the canton of Graubünden was founded on 1 August 1914 and is the first natural park in the Alps.

There are approximately 100 species of birds, 36 mammals, and 650 plants. Additionally, 28% of the park consists of forests. The visitor centre in Zernez showcases the history of geological development, water sources, flora, and fauna.

(source and further information: www.nationalpark.ch)

The EU should join the Swiss Confederation

Switzerland should not join the EU, but the EU should join the Swiss Confederation, a union of twenty-six democratic republics.

The country should seriously and critically consider whether to sign the so-called Rahmenabkommen, accord-cadre, or Institutional Treaty. 

Sovereignty

The sovereignty that is transferred to the EU is lost forever. And the EU is never satisfied. In ten years, membership or the end of the Rahmenabkommen will be on the table.

Reform

The EU and most of its members cannot and will not reform, and this EU lacks self-reflection (the issue of the Brexit referendum in 2016).

The EU is based on an old-fashioned subsidy system (75% budget, 40% to the agricultural sector (2% of the GNP), an overpaid, privileged and overstaffed Eurocracy, protectionism and above all ambitions and megalomaniac projects.

This EU does not necessarily unite the good qualities of its members, but rather unites their bad characteristics. Around 52% of British citizens intuitively expressed this fact in 2016. In the Netherlands, 62% of Dutch voters were ignored in the referendums of 2005 and 2016. The Dutch government abolished the referendum for this reason.

The Basler Fasnacht and the European Union

The Basler Fasnacht has undergone many changes over the centuries. Participants expose themselves without masks to the public on three Sundays after the Fasnacht.

The EU never takes off its masks and is not a (direct) democracy or system based on the trias politica if the EU does not keep up with the times but sticks to its dogmas.

This EU is unifying the incompatible from above. This process will not have a happy ending.

William Tell and the Congress of Vienna

1291-1513

When the Habsburg rulers in the central Swiss areas failed to maintain peace and protect the roads, three rural communities took action and formed a peace alliance in 1291.

These alliances were relatively common in the thirteenth and fourteenth centuries, reflecting the interests of local elites, whether rural, urban, or noble.

The alliance covered a (rural or urban) territory or a network of towns and communes. The allies agreed to help each other against aggressors, maintain peace, and settle (trade, business, territorial) disputes.

The short-lived Swabian-, Rhenish- and Lombard leagues are a few other examples. The successful Hanseatic League of trading cities existed for more than four centuries but ultimately disappeared.

The alliance of Uri, Schwyz, and Unterwalden gradually led to the formation of the Swiss Eidgenossenschaft and ultimately to the establishment of the sovereign nation-state, which endured for centuries.

The oath was a common symbol for ratifying treaties and alliances, and “Eidgenossenschaft” means a confederation by oath. No one wanted to separate from the (divine) Habsburg lords or the Habsburgs, but it is a fact that these communities established an Alliance.

Rudolf I of Habsburg (1217-1291) became German King in 1273, but he was also the lord of the valleys of Uri, Schwytz, and Unterwalden, as well as other territories and cities in present-day Switzerland.

The extinction of the former lords (the dukes of Zähringen) led to the Habsburg jurisdiction over these valleys, which controlled the St. Gotthard Pass, which opened in 1230.

Rudolf developed new structures by establishing jurisdictions called “Landvogtei” to rule over towns and rural communities. The bailiff (Vogt) was selected from the loyal aristocracy and charged with safeguarding royal (tax) prerogatives and upholding peace within their jurisdictions.

The famous story of William Tell (Wilhelm Tell), who refused to greet the bailiff’s hat and became a national hero, took place during this period. It is not relevant whether this event happened: it is a lovely story and describes the context.

Alliances

Two alternatives for organising local political life emerged across Europe around 1350 and in Switzerland. The bottom-down approach was characterised by the administration of lords who employed new bureaucratic methods to establish effective peace-keeping, judicial, and tax systems.

The Swiss grassroots or bottom-up approach was a network of semi-autonomous rural and urban communities linked by alliances, while each ally managed its internal affairs.

The Confederation, or Eidgenossenschaft, was considered an independent nation after the Swabian War (Schwabe—orr Schweizerkrieg) in 1499, regardless of its internal struggles, divisions, and lack of central institutions or a confederal Constitution.

The thirteen cantons were still part of the Holy Roman Empire in 1513. However, they were exempt from imperial law, and the judiciary of the Reichskammergericht in Speyer/Wetzlar and the Reichshofrat in Vienna were the supreme imperial courts.

1648

The Peace of Westphalia of 1648 (24 October) was silent about the sovereignty issue, not explicitly mentioning it. The (Latin) text (Art VI) just mentioned “Völlige Freiheit und Exempt”, i.e., complete freedom and exemption (from taxes and jurisdiction).

Many cities continued to use imperial symbolism until late into the eighteenth century. The coats of arms (featuring a double-headed eagle) were not removed from the buildings.

Six cities—Basel, Zurich, Bern, Schaffhausen, Solothurn, and Luzern—formally announced their sovereignty, however, in the seventeenth century ( “ein freyer souveräner Stand zu “ein”).

A contemporary theoretical approach to sovereignty and the acts of a sovereign state is only relevant from the protocol’s perspective. Contrary to the formally sovereign Dutch Republic of the (Seven) United Provinces (1648), the Swiss did not have a Prince-Stadholder, a united standing arm, or a States-General with real powers.

The Confederation was de facto sovereign and formally exempted from imperial jurisdiction and taxes. Still, it would take another 150 years (after the Napoleonic Wars and the Congress of Vienna) for its sovereignty (and neutrality) to be recognised.

A continuing and challenging development of nation-building, begun at the time of William Tell as an open-ended story,  reached its zenith with the Constitution in 1848

(Source: P.H. Wilson, Heart of Europe. A History of the Holy Roman Empire, Cambridge (MA), 2016; C.H. Church, R.C. Head, A Concise History of Switzerland, Cambridge 2017; B. Marquardt, Die alte Eidgenossenschaft und das Heilige Römische Reich (1350-1798), Zürich 2007).

The Alpine Convention

The formation of political unities in Europe can be described as a process of concentration.

At the beginning of the early modern period, around 1500, there were approximately two hundred independent states on the continent; by shortly before 1900, this number had decreased to only thirty. The increasing size of state territories is reflected in their declining numbers.

In the Alpine region, one can see this process as well:  Johann Heinrich Zedler (1706-1751) enumerated more than twenty political units in the Alps in 1732.

The encyclopedias of the late 19th century no longer mentioned these political entities, except for the states, the German Reich, the Austrian Monarchy, the Kingdom of Italy, the French Republic and the Swiss Confederation.

The borders between the nation-states became barriers. After the Second World War, the development went in a different direction.

Regionalism is evident in the Alpine region. The Alpine Convention of 7 November 1991 is a clear signal. This region created a political structure. (J. Mathieu, Die Alpen. Raum, Kultur, Geschichte, Stuttgart 2015).

International Regulation of the Rhine

The Rhine, from its confluence with the Anterior Rhine (Vorderrhein) and Posterior Rhine (Hinterrhein) rivers near Reichenau (Grisons/Graubünden) to its confluence with Lake Constance, is known as the Alpine Rhine or the longest river in Europe.

As a result of the ever-increasing settlement of the Rhine Valley, better flood protection was demanded in the 19th century.

The most devastating flood catastrophe occurred in 1817. Other devastating floods include those of 1888, 1927, 1954, and 1987, as well as the Magdalena flood of 1342.

The International Treaty of 1892 between Austria and Switzerland established the International Regulation of the Rhine (IRR, die Internationale Rheinregulierung).

In 2017, the IRR celebrated its 125th anniversary. This treaty was the beginning of closer cooperation between the two countries.

At the Rhy-Schopf of the Werkhof Widnau, an exhibition is on display about the beginnings and future of flood protection on the Alpine Rhine, as well as the flood protection project Rhesi. Rhesi stands for Rhine – Recreation and Safety (Rhein – Erholung Sicherheit) in the lower Rhine valley.

The authorities want to prepare for a so-called 300-year flood. The exhibition presents the current status of the work in all specialist areas as well as the accompanying planning and various subject areas.

(Source and further information: www.rhesi.ch).

Topographical History of Graubünden

The book ‘Graubünden in alten Ansichten‘ shows many pictures of the historical development of cities, castles and nature, for example melting glaciers, and a chronological overview of illustrated printed publications, graphic works and drawings and paintings from 1525 to 1880.

(Source: B. Weber, Graubünden in alten Ansichten, Chur 2002).

The Panorama of Thun and other Swiss Panoramas

The Panorama of Thun (1809) by Marquard Wocher (1760-1830) is the oldest surviving panorama in the world, dating back 210 years.

No more than 21 other panoramas made before 1900 survived, four of which can be seen in Switzerland: Einsiedeln (the crucifixion of Christ), Murten (the battle of Murten 1476), Lucerne (the flight of the French general Bourbaki to Switzerland (1871)) and Thun (the town of Thun around 1809).

The panorama is a unique art and media form popular in the first half of the nineteenth century. It was the first optical mass medium, and people could see their cities, landscapes, historical events, and battles. This was a time of globalisation, the beginning of the Industrial and Scientific Revolution, and the rise of tourism to Switzerland and the Alps.

However, few could afford these trips, and panoramas offered a spectacular, accessible and not overly expensive opportunity (most panoramas charged a reduced entrance fee).

Robert Barker exhibited the first panorama in 1787, London’s first Cyclorama. Standing on a platform, one could see the whole city. Many scenes followed, but by the end of the nineteenth century and the appearance of photography, trains and cars, people got other resources, and the panorama disappeared. Most panoramas were sold in pieces or destroyed.

Today, however, the panorama is making a spectacular comeback, as Yadegar Asisi (1955) shows with his panoramas (Rome 312, Battle of Leipzig 1813, Pergamon museum pieces from the ancient world (Berlin) and Luther 1517 (Wittenberg).

The panorama of Thun was saved by luck, funding and the vision of a few. It depicts the town of Thun around 1809, initially located in Basel, from 1899 in Thun, and in 1961 in the rotunda of Thun’s Schadaupark.

Thun was the ideal Swiss town to show: city, lake and mountains in the background. It is still a unique document of life, buildings, and nature in Thun around 1900.

(Source: D. Imhof and others (ed.), Marquand Wocher, Das Panorama von Thun, Thun, 2009; Thun Panorama).