The Heroic Swiss

Three men from the cantons of Schwyz, Uri and Unterwalden met secretly on the plateau of Grütli above the Urner lake and pledged that they and their kin would help each other against external threats. This was in 1291 and it marks the foundation of the Swiss foundation. The immediate threat came from the House of Habsburg. The alliance of 1291 was reaffirmed and strengthened after the battle of Morgarten in 1315, becoming the legal basis for relations among the cantons until 1798. (W. Scott, Pictures at an Exhibition. An introduction to Swiss History and Art,  Genève, 2007).

Dictionary of Switzerland

Switzerland is a small country, both in geography and population size, and might almost be marginal if not for its amazing trajectory and continuing political and economic vitality, for it has brought together peoples of different races, religions, languages, and political persuasions in a voluntary union that has withstood the tests of time relatively well. …This does not necessarily make Switzerland an ideal model – there are less admirable aspects as well – but it is definitely a place one should know more about. Alas, its considerable diversity and complexity make it harder to fathom than most other places (L. Schelbert, Historical Dictionary of Switzerland,  Lanham, Maryland 2007).

Switzerland in the Making

In the course of the Late Middle Ages a new political order asserted itself in the territory of Switzerland. The new communes  constituted political bodies with their own jurisdiction. Making laws and constituting administrative and executive bodies by means of election, embodied the core of the communal constitution. Today many historians would probably endorse the statement that direct democracy grew from constitutional circumstances that originated in the communalization of political power. (Forum of Swiss History, Switzerland in the Making (Baden 2011).