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Theterritorial evolution of Switzerland occurred primarily with the acquisition of territory by the historicalcantons of theOld Swiss Confederacy and itsclose associates. This gradualexpansion took place in two phases, the growth from the medievalFounding Cantons to the "Eight Cantons" during 1332–1353, and the expansion to the "Thirteen Cantons" of theReformation period during 1481–1513.
TheHelvetic Republic (formed 1798) as revised in theAct of Mediation (1803) added further territories of former Associates of the Swiss Confederacy, notably those of theAbbey of St. Gall and theThree Leagues. The territories of theValais, theSwiss Jura andGeneva were added to the"restored" Confederacy following theCongress of Vienna in 1815.
The restored Confederacy remained a union of nominally independent states until the formation ofSwitzerland as a federal state in 1848. Some territorial disputes remained, and were resolved in the 1850s and 1860s. Since then, the territory of Switzerland has remained fixed (with the exception of minor border corrections) by 1863.
There have since been a number of unsuccessful suggestions for further enlargement. The most realistic of these was the possible accession ofVorarlberg following a referendum held there in 1919, in which 81% of the people of Vorarlberg voted to join Switzerland; but Vorarlberg was instead incorporated into theFirst Austrian Republic. There was a brief and unsuccessful revival ofAlemannic separatism after World War II, and in the later half of the 20th century, there were no serious political scenarios of any further enlargement of Switzerland.
Since there is currently no legal framework governing the admission of new cantons, any enlargement would, as a matter of Swiss law, require an amendment of theSwiss federal constitution and therefore a national popular referendum. A corresponding proposal was submitted byJurassian representativeDominique Baettig in 2010, but was dropped after Baettig was not re-electedin 2011.
Switzerland, a multilingualfederation of 26cantons whose origins lie in a defensive alliance of alpine valleys around the end of the 13th century,grew through the accession of new states and territories during the 14th to 16th centuries. The accession ofAppenzell in 1513 completed the growth of the Confederacy into theThirteen Cantons of the early modern period. TheValais became an "eternal associate" of the Confederacy in 1529. In 1536 the Swisscanton of Bern annexed theVaud fromSavoy.
Geneva had sought alliances with the Swiss Confederacy (in order to defend itself against Savoy) since the early 16th century. The conclusion of an eternal treaty with the Protestant cantons Bern and Zürich in 1584 tied Geneva closely to Switzerland, but the Catholic cantons, which had allied themselves with thedukes of Savoy since 1560, opposed the full accession of Geneva as a member of the Confederacy.
In addition to the cantons, the Old Swiss Confederacy had severalassociated states (Zugewandte Orte), which included theSieben Zenden (Valais), theThree Leagues (principally present-dayGraubünden), and theImperialAbbey of St. Gall.
New cantons were added only in themodern period, during 1803–1815; this mostly concerned former subject territories now recognized as full cantons (such asVaud,Ticino andAargau), and the full integration of territories that had been more loosely allied to the Confederacy (such asGeneva,Valais andGrisons).
Grisons acceded with theAct of Mediation in 1803. At that time, the territory ofTarasp, formerly an exclave within the territory of theLeague of God's House, was ceded by Austria. Similarly, the newly created canton ofAargau included the territory ofFricktal, which had previously remained as the only territory left of the Rhine under directHabsburg control.TheCanton of St. Gallen was created at the same time, out of a number of disparate territories, which had however all been previously either allied with or subject to Swiss cantons.
The territory of Geneva was fragmented, with various enclaves or exclaves of Savoyard and French territory, and it was not connected to Swiss territory. Due to the efforts ofCharles Pictet de Rochemont, the Congress of Vienna decided to incorporate seven communes of the FrenchPays de Gex in order to create a land bridge between Geneva and Switzerland.[1]
TheValtellina had been a territory of theThree Leagues from the 15th century until 1797, when it was annexed by theCisalpine Republic. TheCongress of Vienna considered restoring the Valtellina toGrisons, and thus to Switzerland, but the strategic importance of the territory was deemed as too high by Austria, and it became part of theKingdom of Lombardy–Venetia instead. The loss of the Valtellina remained anirredentist issue in Grisons well into the 20th century.
Along with the Valtellina,Chiavenna was lost to the Cisalpine Republic in 1797, and the Congress of Vienna likewise declined its restoration to Switzerland. While Switzerland accepted the loss of Chiavenna itself, theValle di Lei north of Chiavenna was indicated as Swiss territory on theDufour map of 1858. It was only in 1863 that Switzerland reached an understanding with theKingdom of Italy on the exact definition of theSwiss-Italian border.[2]
The Congress of Vienna distributed the remaining territory of thePrince-Bishopric of Basel (intermittentlyannexed by France) toBern andBasel.
The commune ofLe Cerneux-Péquignot had been part theFranche-Comté and as such of the kingdom of France since 1678. It was to be ceded to Neuchâtel according to the treaty of Paris of 30 May 1814, but the necessary border correction did not become official until 1 February 1819.Similarly,Rhäzüns was restored from Austria to Switzerland on 19 January 1819.
Switzerland in 1815 was still a confederacy, not a fully integrated federation. Thecanton of Neuchâtel joined in 1815 as a member of the confederacy but was at the same time a monarchy, its sovereign beingFrederick William IV of Prussia. Although Neuchâtel became a republic in a peaceful revolution in 1848, the same year Switzerlandbecame a federation, Frederick William renounced his claims in the area in 1857, after several attempts at counterrevolution culminating in theNeuchâtel Crisis.
A number of territorial disputes remained along theGerman-Swiss border, especially concerning the territories ofThurgau andSchaffhausen. The status ofTägermoos was settled in 1831, the precise borders of Schaffhausen in 1839, and the final remaining questions by 1854.[3]
WhenTicino chose to become part of the Swiss Confederation in 1798, the people of theItalianexclaveCampione d'Italia chose to remain part ofLombardy. In 1800, Ticino proposed exchangingIndemini for Campione. In 1814 a referendum was held, but the residents of Campione were against it. In 1848, during the wars of Italian unification, Campione petitioned Switzerland for annexation, but this was rejected due to the Swiss desire to maintain neutrality.[4]
AfterItalian unification in 1861, all land west of Lake Lugano and half of the lake were given to Switzerland so that Swiss trade and transport would not have to pass through Italy. Thed'Italia suffix was added to the name of Campione in the 1930s by Prime MinisterBenito Mussolini and an ornamental gate to the city was built, both in an attempt to assert the exclave's Italian-ness.
There remained some territorial disputes after the formation of the Kingdom of Italy, resolved in theConvenzione tra l'Italia e la Svizzera per l'accertamento della frontiera fra la Lombardia ed il Cantone dei Grigioni of 1863.[5] Since then, the internationalborders of Switzerland have been undisputed and, except for minor corrections, unchanged (the internal borders of thecantons of Switzerland have been subject to revision, mostly in the context of theJura question). Further Swiss-Italian treaties regarding the course of the border date to 1873/4,[6] 1936/7[7] and 1941.[8]
The part of theChablais region south ofLake Geneva was ceded to theKingdom of Sardinia by the Congress of Vienna, but declared a demilitarized zone, and Switzerland was granted the right to occupy both Chablais andFaucigny for its own protection in the case of war. In 1860, when France annexedSavoy from theKingdom of Piedmont-Sardinia,Napoleon III declared his intention to cede Chablais and Faucigny to Switzerland, but later reneged on the promise.[9] The Swiss authorities were themselves ambivalent on the matter, as they feared the destabilising effect the annexation of two Catholic provinces might have on interfaith relations within the country.[10] But popular opinion in Switzerland was outraged at Napoleon's breach of promise. Switzerland increased its military presence at the southern border to prevent clashes between Savoyard and Swiss irregulars. The crisis subsided gradually as it became clear that Napoleon adhered to the promise of neutrality for Haute-Savoie renewed in the Treaty of Turin of 24 March 1860. But Switzerland did not recognize the annexation of Savoy, and the status of Chablais was brought before thePermanent Court of International Justice several times between 1922 and 1932.[11]
In 1918 after the First World War, areferendum was held in the small exclaveBüsingen am Hochrhein in Baden-Württemberg in which 96% of voters chose to become part ofSwitzerland. However the change of country never took place as Switzerland could not offer anything suitable in exchange and consequently, Büsingen has remained anexclave ofGermany ever since. Later attempts to transfer Büsingen to Switzerland were also unsuccessful. The status of the municipality of Büsingen was however formally defined in 1967 through negotiations betweenWest Germany and Switzerland. Büsingen am Hochrhein officially became part of the Swiss customs area. It had been in ade facto customs union with Switzerland since 1947. At the same time, the West German exclave ofVerenahof, consisting of just three houses and eleven West German citizens, did become part of Switzerland.[12][13][14][15]
In a1919 referendum, 81% of the people ofVorarlberg voted to join Switzerland, but the effort failed because of the ambivalent position of the Swiss government and the opposition of the Allied powers.
The Swiss government expressed willingness to consider the accession of Vorarlberg to Switzerland, mostly in order to prevent its incorporation into Germany.[16]
Changes to the Swiss border made after 1945 include the addition of theLago di Lei barrage to Switzerland in the 1950s,[17] and the exchange of an area of 1,578 square meterswith France in 2002.[18]
Since the formation ofBaden-Württemberg in 1952, there have no longer been any serious political scenarios of southern German territories seceding to Switzerland. The idea was revived, at least in popular discourse, in the context of growingEuroscepticism since the late 2000s.[citation needed]
A poll byORF radio in October 2008 reported that about half of the population ofVorarlberg would be in favour of joining Switzerland.[19]
In theSwiss parliament, a 2010 motion was submitted byJurassian representativeDominique Baettig and co-signed bySVP party chairmanToni Brunner. The motion proposed to offer territories adjacent to Switzerland the "Swiss model of sovereignty" as an alternative to a"creeping accession" of Switzerland to the "centralist"European Union.[20] As possible candidates for accession, the motion namedAlsace (France),Aosta (Italy),South Tyrol (Italy),Jura (France),Vorarlberg (Austria),Ain (France),Savoy (France),Baden-Württemberg (Germany),Varese (Italy),Como (Italy) "and others".[20] The motion was widely seen as anti-EU rhetoric rather than a serious proposal. In a statement of 19 May 2010, theSwiss Federal Council recommended its rejection, describing the motion as a "provocation".[21] It argued that its adoption would be considered an unfriendly act by the countries surrounding Switzerland, and that it would also be at odds withinternational law, which in the government's view does not provide for a right tosecession except in exceptional circumstances.[20]The topic attracted the attention of the European media.[22][23][24] The media went on to report a high level of apparent popular support for joining Switzerland in the territories in question (as reflected in Internet polls and comments):[25][26]
InSardinia, theAssociazione no-profit Sardegna Canton Marittimo was formed in April 2014 with the aim of advocating Sardinia's secession from Italy and becoming a "maritime canton" of Switzerland.[29][30][31]
Die Welt in June 2014 based on an OECD study published an article arguing thatSouthern Germany is more similar to Switzerland than to Northern or Eastern Germany. In the wake of the article, there were once again reports on high levels of support for accession to Switzerland in Southern Germany.Schwäbische Zeitung reported 86% of participants in an online survey expressing approval.[32]
Also in 2014, there were reports of a movement inSouth Tyrol (headed by a South Tyrolean living in Switzerland) proposing annexation by the Alpine country.The 6th "Global Forum Südtirol" held inBolzano was dedicated to the question.[33]
In 2017, a petition with 700 signatures was submitted to Federal Council askingValtellina (part of theProvince of Sondrio) to be accepted as a canton or as part ofGrisons. Until 1797, the region was part of theThree Leagues and then became part of Italy (via theCisalpine Republic).[34]
In 2018, the Swiss Head of theDepartment of Foreign AffairsIgnazio Cassis, answering to a parliamentary question by the national councillor Marco Romano, declared as "imaginable" the transfer of the Italian exclaveCampione d'Italia to theCanton of Ticino.[35] The declaration was made a short time after the bankruptcy of theCasinò di Campione. The undersecretary of the Italian Minister of the Interior Stefano Candiani replied that Campione d'Italia is Italian territory without any doubt.[36]
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