The Gallo-Roman culture was amalgamated with Germanic influence during Late Antiquity, with the eastern part of Switzerland becoming Alemannic territory.

The Swiss Reformation divided the Confederacy and resulted in a drawn-out history of internal strife between the Thirteen Cantons in the Early Modern period.

Archeological evidence suggests that hunter-gatherers were already settled in the lowlands north of the Alps in the Middle Paleolithic period 150,000 years ago.

A woman who died in about 200 BC was found buried in a carved tree trunk during a construction project at the Kern school complex in March 2017 in Aussersihl.

A sheepskin coat, a belt chain, a fancy wool dress, a scarf and a pendant made of glass, and amber beads were also discovered with the woman.

[3][4][5] In 58 BC, the Helvetii tried to evade migratory pressure from Germanic tribes by moving into Gaul, but were defeated by Julius Caesar's armies and then sent back.

Burgundians settled in the west; while in the north, Alamanni settlers slowly forced the earlier Celto-Roman population to retreat into the mountains.

Rudolph of Habsburg, who became King of Germany in 1273, effectively revoked the status of Reichsfreiheit granted to the "Forest Cantons" of Uri, Schwyz, and Unterwalden.

On 1 August 1291, the cantons of Uri, Schwyz, and Unterwalden united to defend the peace upon the death of Emperor Rudolf I of Habsburg, forming the nucleus of the Old Swiss Confederacy.

[6] They were notable for their service in foreign armies, especially among the military forces of the Kings of France, throughout the Early Modern period of European history, from the Late Middle Ages to the Renaissance.

The expansion of the Confederation and the reputation of invincibility acquired during the earlier wars suffered its first setback in 1515 with the Swiss defeat in the Battle of Marignano.

Zürich adopted the Protestant religion, joined by Berne, Basel, and Schaffhausen, while Lucerne, Uri, Schwyz, Nidwalden, Zug, Fribourg, and Solothurn remained Catholic.

Although the authorities prevailed in this Swiss peasant war, they did pass some tax reforms and the incident in the long term prevented an absolutist development as would occur at some other courts of Europe.

[9][10] Resistance was strongest in the more traditional Catholic bastions, with armed uprisings breaking out in spring 1798 in the central part of Switzerland.

The reform element was weak, and most Swiss resented their loss of local democracy, centralization, new taxes, warfare, and hostility to religion.

At this time, Valais, Neuchâtel, and Geneva also joined Switzerland as new cantons, thereby extending Swiss territory to its current boundaries.

The long-term impact of the French Revolution has been assessed (by William Martin): On 6 April 1814, the so-called "Long Diet" (delegates from all the nineteen cantons) met at Zürich to replace the constitution.

The liberal Free Democratic Party of Switzerland was strong in the largely Protestant cantons and obtained the majority in the Federal Diet in the early 1840s.

The Federal Diet, with the approval of a majority of cantons, had taken measures against the Catholic Church such as the closure of monasteries and convents in Aargau in 1841,[15] and the seizure of their properties.

The Diet ordered the Sonderbund dissolved, igniting a small-scale civil war against rural cantons that were strongholds of pro-Catholic ultramontanism.

[21] Swiss universities in the late 19th century are notable for the number of female students receiving medical education.

In the Grimm–Hoffmann Affair, the Allies denounced a proposal by one politician to negotiate peace on the Eastern Front; they wanted the war there to continue to tie Germany down.

Switzerland remained independent and neutral through a combination of military deterrence, economic concessions to Germany, and good fortune, as larger events during the war delayed an invasion.

Economic cooperation and extension of credit to the Third Reich varied according to the perceived likelihood of invasion, and the availability of other trading partners.

Concessions reached their zenith after a crucial rail link through Vichy France was severed in 1942, leaving Switzerland surrounded by the Axis.

Switzerland relied on trade for half of its food and essentially all of its fuel, but controlled vital trans-alpine rail tunnels between Germany and Italy.

Switzerland's most important exports during the war were precision machine tools, watches, jewel bearings (used in bombsights), electricity, and dairy products.

The Swiss-German speaking areas moved linguistically further away from the standard (high) German spoken in Germany, with more emphasis on local Swiss dialects.

[38] Leading nuclear physicists at the Federal Institute of Technology Zurich such as Paul Scherrer made this a realistic possibility.

However, financial problems with the defense budget prevented substantial funds from being allocated, and the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty of 1968 was seen as a valid alternative.