Regions Switzerland

Survey Articles (Regional)

• Switzerland

  By Jakob Tanner

  

  As a neutral country, Switzerland was not involved in the devastating military conflicts of 1914-18. Nevertheless, concerning the economy, communications, diplomacy, secret services and war … READ MORE

  Regional

Regional Thematic Articles

• Commemoration (Switzerland)

  By Konrad Kuhn and Béatrice Ziegler

  

  This article examines how Switzerland has remembered and commemorated the First World War, during which the country maintained a state of neutrality but in which it was still manifoldly involved. It … READ MORE

  Regional Thematic

• Domestic Politics and Neutrality (Switzerland)

  By Carlo Moos

  

  Neutrality is a fundamental problem in modern Swiss history and played a pivotal role in both world wars. During the Second World War the danger came from the outside, while during the First World … READ MORE

  Regional Thematic

• Exile and Migration (Switzerland)

  By Anja Huber

  

  This article analyses Swiss migration policy and Switzerland’s role as a country of asylum from 1914 to 1918. Subsequent sections discuss the change in migration patterns; how political emigrants … READ MORE

  Regional Thematic

• Historiography 1918-Today (Switzerland)

  By Daniel Marc Segesser

  In a rapidly expanding universe of publications it is important to reflect from time to time. A history of the historiography of the First World War would not be complete without an analysis of … READ MORE

  Regional Thematic

• International Committee of the Red Cross

  By Irène Herrmann and Daniel Palmieri

  

  This article seeks to analyze how the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC), the oldest existing humanitarian organization, coped with the outbreak of the First World War and its aftermath. … READ MORE

  Regional Thematic

• Internees (Switzerland)

  By Thomas Bürgisser

  

  Swiss governmental and non-governmental organizations were intensely involved in humanitarian activities for the victims of World War I. From 1916 on, the country opened its borders to a select … READ MORE

  Regional Thematic

• Labour, Labour Movements, Trade Unions and Strikes (Switzerland)

  By Christian Koller

  

  This article analyses the development of the Swiss labour movement and working-class protest climaxing in the National General Strike in November 1918. Subsequent sections discuss the war’s social … READ MORE

  Regional Thematic

• Literature (Switzerland)

  By Nicole Billeter

  

  During the First World War, many authors from neighbouring countries who spoke out against the war and its enormous costs found exile in Switzerland. Given that Switzerland was torn between its … READ MORE

  Regional Thematic

• Swiss Companies in World War One (Switzerland)

  By Roman Rossfeld

  

  This article describes the business development and the opportunities and risks that Swiss companies faced during the First World War. Although the export industries that supplied essential products … READ MORE

  Regional Thematic

• Wartime and Post-war Economies (Switzerland)

  By Tobias Straumann

  

  Though Switzerland was not conquered, its economy was strongly affected by the First World War, negatively as well as positively. On the one hand, the import of foodstuff and raw materials … READ MORE

  Regional Thematic

• Women, Gender, Social Movements (Switzerland)

  By Elisabeth Joris

  

  This article explores the war’s impact on women’s economic and legal status in Switzerland, a country indirectly affected by the war. It examines the forms and directions of women’s … READ MORE

  Regional Thematic

Encyclopedic Entries

• Ador, Gustave

  By Irène Herrmann

  

  Ador was the third president of the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) and a Swiss minister during WWI. He displayed the charisma, the diplomatic skills and the decisiveness necessary to … READ MORE

  Entry

• Border Occupation (Switzerland)

  By Michael M. Olsansky

  

  Shortly after the outbreak of the First World War, the Swiss army moved into a staggered defensive position in the northwest of the country, facing the Franco-German front. The southern border was … READ MORE

  Entry

• Border Occupation (Switzerland)

  By Michael M. Olsansky

  Shortly after the outbreak of the First World War, the Swiss army moved into a staggered defensive position in the northwest of the country, facing the Franco-German front. The southern border was … READ MORE

  Entry

• Cendrars, Blaise

  By Laurence Campa

  The life and works of the poet Blaise Cendrars testify to a disturbing paradox: while encapsulating the trauma that was the result from his war experience, they also illustrate the creative virtues … READ MORE

  Entry

• Dada

  By Josepha Laroche

  

  Dada, a transnational movement of artists, was founded in Zurich in 1916. It disappeared in 1924, after a sham trial against Maurice Barrès in 1921. Far from pacifism, Dada declared war against war. … READ MORE

  Entry

• Discussion: Humanitarianism

  By Peter Gatrell, Rebecca Gill, Branden Little and Elisabeth Piller

  This is the first in what it is hoped will become a series of discussion forums hosted by ''1914-1918-online''. In this discussion forum, General Editor Peter Gatrell invited contributions that … READ MORE

  Entry

• Feminist Pacifism

  By Annika Wilmers

  

  A minority section of the women’s movements opposed World War I and organized the International Congress of Women at The Hague in April 1915. Its participants demanded women’s rights and more … READ MORE

  Entry

• Grimm, Robert

  By Adrian Zimmermann

  

  Robert Grimm was the most powerful socialist politician in Switzerland throughout the first half of the 20^th century. As the organiser of the Zimmerwald and Kiental Conferences, he was one … READ MORE

  Entry

• Influenza Pandemic (Switzerland)

  By Patrick Kury

  

  The Spanish flu, the heaviest influenza pandemic in history, coincided with the end of World War One. In Switzerland, the flu had an immense impact on the relationship between the army command, the … READ MORE

  Entry

• Island of Peace (Switzerland)

  By Béatrice Ziegler

  

  During World War I, the idea of Switzerland as a peaceful island was created and propagated by many means, for example postcards. After the end of the war, this metaphor gained the status of a myth, … READ MORE

  Entry

• Landesstreik (Switzerland)

  By Bernard Degen

  

  From 12 to 14 November 1918, a national general strike took place in Switzerland, in which around 250,000 strikers participated. The strike largely ran an orderly course and was terminated by the … READ MORE

  Entry

• Military Justice (Switzerland)

  By Sebastian Steiner

  

  In neutral Switzerland, the executive powers were strengthened more than in some belligerent countries. In a state of emergency, the military justice system played a crucial role; it not only acted … READ MORE

  Entry

• Neutrality

  By Samuël Kruizinga

  

  During the 19^th century, neutrality evolved into a set of legal and political tools designed to limit the impact of wars on the international system. This form of neutrality did not … READ MORE

  Entry

• Oberstenaffäre

  By Sebastian Steiner

  

  The so-called “''Oberstenaffäre''” (colonel’s affair) was a political scandal in Switzerland which erupted after details of a close cooperation between Swiss, German, and Austro-Hungarian … READ MORE

  Entry

• Oltener Aktionskomitee

  By Bernard Degen

  

  The ''Oltener Aktionskomitee'' was elected in February 1918 by the committee of the Swiss Federation of Trade Unions (''Schweizerischer Gewerkschaftsbund'', SGB), the executive board of the Social … READ MORE

  Entry

• Schweizerischer Vaterländischer Verband

  By Dorothe Zimmermann

  The Swiss Patriotic Federation (''Schweizerischer Vaterländischer Verband'', or SVV) was a private, right-wing association which was set up between 1919 and 1948 in response to the nationwide … READ MORE

  Entry

• Société Suisse de Surveillance Economique (SSS)

  By Florian Weber

  The privately organized SSS existed from October 1915 to July 1919 to prevent Swiss companies from forwarding goods and raw materials produced by the Entente to the Central Powers. The SSS grew from … READ MORE

  Entry

• Voices in the Storm (journal)

  By Nicole Billeter

  

  “''Stimmen im Sturm''” was a Swiss cooperative which published nine issues with decidedly Germanophile content. They not only defended the German war effort, but also argued against the French … READ MORE

  Entry

• Vollmachtenregime

  By Oliver Schneider

  

  During the First World War, the Swiss federal government imposed a state of emergency, which was established to ensure the maintenance of Swiss neutrality, supply and integrity. As the war … READ MORE

  Entry

• Vorarlberg Referendum

  By Wolfgang Weber

  

  The latter Austrian ''Land'' Vorarlberg saw the rise of a grass root movement for a political union with Switzerland between autumn 1918 and spring 1919. These ideas never materialized, however, as … READ MORE

  Entry

• Zimmerwald Conference

  By Bernard Degen

  

  Anti-war socialists from ten countries met in Zimmerwald in September 1915. They adopted a manifesto and founded the International Socialist Commission (ISC), with its headquarters in Bern. A … READ MORE

  Entry

• Züblin-Spiller, Else

  By Elisabeth Joris

  In the context of the Swiss organisation ''Schweizer Verband Soldatenwohl ''Else Spiller initiated facilities for soldiers providing alcohol-free catering (''Soldatenstuben'') and organized social … READ MORE

  Entry

See also

• International Law and the Laws of War

  By Jean H. Quataert

  

  The article examines international efforts to curb states’ war-making prerogatives in the second half of the “long” 19^th century. It captures new humanitarian sentiments circulating … READ MORE

  Thematic

• Labour Movements, Trade Unions and Strikes

  By James Thompson

  

  This article compares the history of labour movements during the war across a range of European countries. It charts the impact of the economic realities of the war upon labour and analyses the … READ MORE

  Thematic

• League of Nations

  By Anita Ziegerhofer

  

  READ MORE

  Thematic

• Negotiating and Mediating Conduct of War

  By Matthew Stibbe

  

  Many issues surrounding the conduct of war in the years 1914-1918 were impervious to international negotiation or mediation, due either to a complete lack of consensus or to an absence of trust and … READ MORE

  Thematic

• Red Cross

  By Cédric Cotter

  

  National Red Cross societies played a very important role in the First World War. They supported armies’ medical services, brought relief to prisoners of war and sometimes organized their … READ MORE

  Thematic

• Social Conflict

  By Claire Morelon

  

  This article deals with the nature of social conflict during the war. The length of the conflict and growing food shortages on the home front strained relations between individuals and between social … READ MORE

  Thematic

• Willingly to War. Public Response to the Outbreak of War

  By Jean-Jacques Becker

  

  It may surprise us to learn that some sectors of the European public were in favour of the war in 1914. The impact of modern weapons was not well understood and many people in the government, … READ MORE

  Thematic