Mattia Mahon25.04.2024In April 1974, one of Europe's oldest dictatorships collapsed in Portugal. In Switzerland, people were worried about the future of Portugal. Not least because of the fragile political balance in southern Europe.
Noëmi Crain Merz09.04.2024The canton of Basel-Stadt had to wait a long time to be represented on the Federal Council. After the election of Hans-Peter Tschudi in 1959, it was 64 years before the next candidate from the city won a seat on the national executive body. Both events were cause for widespread celebration.
Michael van Orsouw05.04.2024Johann Bücheler was a regular carpenter from Kloten. In 1836, he was commissioned by the canton of Zurich to build a guillotine. That proved the end of “normality” as he knew it.
Helmut Stalder28.03.2024Lenin’s explosive ideology, which would go on to shake the world, was partly concocted in Bern and Zurich. Yet he considered his Swiss comrades social romantics and opportunists.
Sara Sigrist05.03.2024A broad cross-section of society came out in unity against the construction of Kaiseraugst nuclear power plant. The burgeoning anti-nuclear movement benefited from a high degree of media resonance.
Michael van Orsouw27.02.2024Alberik Zwyssig (1808–1854), the musical monk from Uri who composed the Swiss Psalm, had an unhappy life. And then, after his death, his remains were dug up and reburied during the Second World War.
Noah Businger08.02.2024Nowadays, the canton of Ticino is considered as Swiss as anywhere else in Switzerland. However, it wasn’t always like that: putsches, revolutions and independence movements once posed serious challenges to the status of the south-lying canton as part of Switzerland. So, how is it that Switzerland’s borders ended up south of the Alps?