The relationship between Switzerland and Great-Britain

27 November 2021

The heyday of the relationship between Switzerland and Great Britain was in the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries. Switzerland had a cult status in the Anglo-Saxon countries. Many writers, historians, travellers, politicians, diplomats and merchants praised the political system, the state’s organisation and the Confederation’s functioning (Eidgenossenschaft). They were impressed by the landscape and towns. Edward … Read more » “The relationship between Switzerland and Great-Britain”

Jacob Burckhardt, European Satire, parody and wit in Basel

18 April 2019

The famous Swiss historian Jacob Christian Burckhardt (1818-1897) was the first to analyse the use of satire, parody and wit in Renaissance Europe. Burckhardt (Weltliche Betrachtungen, posthumously published in 1905) also introduced the term Kleinstaat (Le petit état, the small state) as a reminder of the democratic qualities of Switzerland at the time of European … Read more » “Jacob Burckhardt, European Satire, parody and wit in Basel”

Tadeusz Kosciuszko in Switzerland

19 November 2018

Tadeusz Kosciuszko was born as the son of a Polish aristocratic family in 1746, in a town now part of the Republic of Belarus. He took on a career as an army officer, first in Warsaw (1765-1769) and afterwards in France (1769-1774), where he acquired his expertise as a military engineer in building military fortifications. … Read more » “Tadeusz Kosciuszko in Switzerland”