Editing History of Switzerland (section)

=== Early Modern Switzerland ===
{{Main|Early Modern Switzerland}}

During the [[Thirty Years' War]], Switzerland was a relative "oasis of peace and prosperity" (''Grimmelshausen'') in war-torn Europe, mostly because all major powers in Europe depended on Swiss mercenaries, and would not let Switzerland fall into the hands of one of their rivals. Politically, they all tried to take influence, by way of mercenary commanders such as [[Jörg Jenatsch]] or [[Johann Rudolf Wettstein]]. The ''Drei Bünde'' of [[Grisons]], at that point not yet a member of the Confederacy, were involved in the war from 1620, which led to their loss of the [[Valtellina]] in 1623.

[[File:Leonhard Euler 2.jpg|thumb|upright|[[Leonhard Euler]] (1707–83), one of the most prominent scientists in the Age of Enlightenment]]

At the [[Treaty of Westphalia]] in 1648, Switzerland attained legal independence from the [[Holy Roman Empire]]. The Valtellina became a dependency of the ''Drei Bünde'' again after the Treaty and remained so until the founding of the [[Cisalpine Republic]] by [[Napoleon Bonaparte]] in 1797.

In 1653, peasants of territories subject to [[Lucerne]], [[Bern]], [[Solothurn]], and [[Basel]] revolted because of currency devaluation. Although the authorities prevailed in this [[Swiss peasant war]], they did pass some tax reforms and the incident in the long term prevented an [[Absolutism (European history)|absolutist]] development as would occur at some other courts of Europe. The confessional tensions remained, however, and erupted again in the [[First War of Villmergen]], in 1656, and the [[Toggenburg War]] (or Second War of Villmergen), in 1712.