Editing Cantons of Switzerland (section)

== History ==
{{Main|Eight Cantons|Thirteen Cantons|Restoration and Regeneration in Switzerland|Switzerland as a federal state}}
{{Further|Flags and coats of arms of cantons of Switzerland}}

[[File:Karte 13 Alte Orte.png|thumb|360px|The "Thirteen-Canton Confederation" of the [[Old Swiss Confederacy]] (1513–1798)]]

In the 16th century, the [[Old Swiss Confederacy]] was composed of 13 sovereign confederate allies (the [[Thirteen Cantons]]; {{langx|de|Die Dreizehn Alten Orte}}), and there were two different kinds: five rural states ({{langx|de|Länder}}) &ndash; [[Canton of Uri|Uri]], [[Canton of Schwyz|Schwyz]] (which became [[Name of Switzerland|eponymous]] of the confederacy), [[Unterwalden]], [[Canton of Glarus|Glarus]], [[Canton of Appenzell|Appenzell]] &ndash; and eight urban states ({{langx|de|Städte}}) &ndash; [[Canton of Zürich|Zürich]], [[Canton of Bern|Bern]], [[Canton of Luzern|Luzern]], [[Canton of Zug|Zug]], [[Canton of Basel|Basel]], [[Canton of Fribourg|Fribourg]], [[Canton of Solothurn|Solothurn]], [[Canton of Schaffhausen|Schaffhausen]].

Though they were technically part of the [[Holy Roman Empire]], they had become ''de facto'' independent when the Swiss [[Battle of Dornach|defeated]] [[Emperor Maximilian I]] in 1499 in Dornach.<ref>{{cite EB1911|wstitle=Switzerland/History/Shaking off the Empire |volume=26 |short=x}}</ref>

In the early modern period, the individual confederate allies came to be seen as [[republic]]s; while the six traditional allies had a tradition of [[direct democracy]] in the form of the ''[[Landsgemeinde]]'', the urban states operated via [[Representation (politics)|representation]] in city councils, de facto [[oligarchy|oligarchic]] systems dominated by families of the [[patrician (post-Roman Europe)|patriciate]].{{NoteTag|[[Canton of Zug|Zug]] was the exception in this, in being an urban state and still holding a ''Landsgemeinde''.<ref>Jackson Spielvogel, ''Western Civilization: Volume I: To 1715'', (Cengage 2008), p.&nbsp;386.</ref>{{clarify|date=October 2014|reason=what does this source say exactly? it's true that these "republics" were de facto oligarchies, but this applies to both the rural cantons and the urban cantons, and this was indeed understood in the term "republic" at the time. So what exactly is this reference used in support of?
the text used to refer to "noble families", while in fact, the oligarchy was a matter of an urban (non-noble) ''patriciate''}}}}

The old system was abandoned with the formation of the [[Helvetic Republic]] following the [[French invasion of Switzerland]] in 1798. The cantons of the Helvetic Republic had merely the status of an [[Canton (country subdivision)|administrative subdivision]] with no sovereignty. The Helvetic Republic collapsed within five years, and cantonal sovereignty was restored with the [[Act of Mediation]] of 1803. The status of Switzerland as a federation of states was restored, at the time including 19 cantons (the six accessions to the early modern Thirteen Cantons being composed of former associates and subject territories: [[Canton of St. Gallen|St. Gallen]], [[Grisons]], [[Aargau]], [[Thurgau]], [[Ticino]], [[Vaud]]). Three additional western cantons, [[Canton of Valais|Valais]], [[Canton of Neuchâtel|Neuchâtel]] and [[Canton of Geneva|Geneva]], acceded in 1815.

The process of "Restoration", completed by 1830, returned most of the former feudal rights to the cantonal [[Patrician (post-Roman Europe)|patriciates]], leading to rebellions among the rural population. The [[Liberalism and radicalism in Switzerland|Radicals]] embodied these democratic forces calling for a new federal constitution. This tension, paired with [[religion in Switzerland|religious issues]] ("Jesuit question") escalated into armed conflict in the 1840s, with the brief [[Sonderbund War]]. The victory of the Liberal-Radicals resulted in the formation of [[Switzerland as a federal state]] in 1848. The cantons retained far-reaching sovereignty but were no longer allowed to maintain individual standing armies or international relations. As the [[revolutions of 1848]] in Western Europe had failed elsewhere, Switzerland during the later 19th century (and with the exception of the [[French Third Republic]], until the end of [[World War I]]) found itself as an isolated democratic republic, surrounded by the restored monarchies of [[Second French Empire|France]], [[Kingdom of Italy|Italy]], [[Austria-Hungary]] and [[German Confederation|Germany]].