Switzerland In Focus - Discover Switzerland: Experience the Best of Switzerland - page 567

WWII likewise saw Switzerland remain neut-
ral, the country being largely unscathed bar
some accidental bombings on Schaffhausen
when Allied pilots mistook the town in north-
eastern Switzerland for Germany, twice drop-
ping bombs on its outskirts in April 1944.
Indeed, the most momentous event of WWII for
the Swiss was when Henri Guisan, general of
the civilian army, invited all top military per-
sonnel to Rütli Meadow (site of the 1291 Oath
of Allegiance) to show the world how determin-
ed the Swiss were to defend their own soil.

2 APPENZELL

3 VEVEY

4 MÜRTEN

5 SCHAFFHAUSEN

Give Cantons a Voice: The Constitution
In 1847, civil war broke out. The Protestant army, led by General Dufour, quickly crushed
the Sonderbund (Special League) of Catholic cantons, including Lucerne. The war only
lasted 26 days, prompting the German chancellor Otto von Bismarck to subsequently dis-
miss it as 'a hare shoot'. But for the peace-loving Swiss, the disruption and disorder were
sufficient to ensure they rapidly consolidated the victory by Dufour's forces with the cre-
ation of a new federal constitution. Bern was named the capital.

Switzerland's Würste Affair
Protestant Swiss first openly disobeyed the Catholic Church during 1522's 'affair of the sausages', when a printer
and several priests in Zürich were caught gobbling Würste on Ash Wednesday when they should have been fasting.

The 1848 constitution, largely still in place today, was a compromise between advoc-
ates of central control and conservative forces wanting to retain cantonal authority. The
cantons eventually relinquished their right to print money, run postal services and levy
customs duties, giving these to the federal government. However, they retained legislative
and executive control over local matters. Furthermore, the new Federal Assembly was es-
tablished in a way that gave cantons a voice. The lower national chamber, the Nationalrat,