What Is Some History About Switzerland?

In late 1200 A.D. the territory was under control of Austrian earls, the Habsburgs. Three states (Uri, Schwyz, Unterwalden) agreed in 1291 to form a defence coalition - giving birth to Switzerland (name derived from the state of Schwyz, including the flag). Until today other regions joined the now named helvetic confederation giving an overall of 20 full and 6 semi-states (states are called cantons).
After 1291 Swiss troops fought against the Habsburgs (with great success) - appearing in 1339 for the first time with the white cross on red ground. The legend says the Austrian placeholder Gessler forced the Swiss shepherd Tell to shoot down an apple placed on the shepherd's son's head with a crossbow - as the Swiss didn't salute the hut placed on the public place, demonstrating the occupants' power. Tell hits the target, but is asked why he had taken two arrows - answering the second one would have been for Gessler in case the boy would have died. Tell is arrested, escapes and kills Gessler on the way throught the "concave alley".
This led to a period when Swiss were expensive mercenaries - fighting everywhere in medieval Europe... until the battle of Marignano in 1515 (the milanese wars). The french king Louis XII took Milan with 5000 Swiss mercenaries... leading to the opposition of the duke of Milan (Sforza family) himself supported by some thousands of Swiss mercenaries - did you ever hear of Milan beeing under Swiss control :) ? Swiss states and Louis XII didn't get to an agreement - the successor Francois I of France negotiated with the states leading to a controlled withdrawal of the majority of the Swiss troops - the other parts of the Swiss lost the following battle against France, the end of the era of Swiss mercenaries. The Swiss guards at the Vatican State are the relict of those times...
Looking at the religions in Switzerland and the distribution of the so-called roman catholics and the protestants, one sees that - while most countries in Europe are either the first or the second - in Switzerland the states are split unhomogeniously... as Switzerland was one of the driving forces for "Reformation" with Calvin and Zwingli...
Switzerland was conquered in 1798 by french Napoleon... again forced to give troops supporting the invasion of Russia. When Napoleon had been beaten and the powerhouses of Europe drawed a new continent, Switzerland was forced to declare itself as a neutral state (a "pillow" between the big ones). The last states joined Switzerland after 1800 - the state of Neuchâtel ("Newcastle") was long time under direct German control, leading to a "Swiss invasion". There is a story about a German general asking a Swiss officer what his troops would do, if Germany would attack with twice as many soldiers as the Swiss had - "we would have to shoot twice".
In 1848 began the famous era of Swiss politics... with the seven presidents (federal council) - at this moment all the members were "liberals". Much later "catholics" were allowed to join the seven (by voting)... hoping "liberals" and "catholics" would be strong enough to avoid "reds" (let's say supporting communism) in the council. Later "liberals", "catholics", "reds" and "workers & farmers" (the now known SVP party) formed the "miraculous 2-2-2-1 formula" of the council from 1958 until after 2000... Switzerland allowed women relatively early (somewhat in 1800) to apply for Universities... but female right to vote came relatively late (all compared to other countries in Europe) - other countries (like France) didn't allow to married women to work without the husband's permission until 1965 :(
The last legend of Switzerland is the opposition against Nazi-Germany during second world war - with the general mobilisation. It's not exactly known how much Germans were surprised seeing Swiss determination (luftwaffe vs. Swiss air force clashes, dynamite placement under bridges and in tunnels) to defend the country. The other side of the story are the bankers' and the industrials' dealings with Germany (and USA) during the war. Fact is there were German invasion plans... not beeing cancelled... but postponed and never realised at the end... giving this "white spot" Switzerland on any map of world war 2.