Switzerland

Switzerland, German die Schweiz, French la Suisse, Italian Svizzera, and officially the Swiss Confederation (Confoederatio Helvetica in Latin, hence CH as its country code), is everyone's favorite tax haven. Perhaps literally the most democratic nation on Earth, it sits in the middle of the Alps and snubs its nose at the bureaucratic monstrosity known as the European Union. It has a cheese for every valley, a square flag flown by the most patriotic people in Europe, and great choclate. Switzerland has had a history of isolation "from it all," which one would expect given its location.

In Roman times, the region comprising modern Switzerland first belonged to the Celtic Helvetii tribe. Their name could be a compund of Celtic elements: *elu-et(u) "rich in land" (cf. Welsh elw "gain, profit" and Old Irish il- "many"). The lands belonging to the Helvetii were conquered and incorporated into the Roman Empire as parts of the provinces Germania Superior and Rhaetia (probably derived from Celtic rait "mountain land"). Like much of the rest of the Empire, this land passed into Frankish control, eventually ending up split up between the duchies of Burgundy and Alemannia (later Swabia). When the Holy Roman Empire emerged around the year 1000, these lands counted among its dominions.

The name Switzerland of course has nothing to do with the Helvetii, but comes from the little Alemanic communiy of Schwyz, which was one of the founding cantons of the Swiss Confederation in 1291 (along with Uri and Unterwalden [Nidwalden + Obwalden]), a loose community of self-governing entities. The name is first attested as Suittes in the 10th century, probably from Old High German suedan, "to burn," perhaps referring to the practice of burning the forest to build settlements and plant crops. After the Swabian War in 1499, when the Swiss achieved de facto independence from the Holy Roman Empire, the name of Schwyz was applied to the whole confederation. The English name comes from the obsolete ethnonym Switzer, from Alemannic Schwiizer, used to describe a resident of Schwyz. The adjective "Swiss," however, comes from French Suisse.


As the Confederation expanded, it remained a very loose Eidgenossenschaft (literally meaning an association by oath), with cantons run democratically, aristocratically, theocratically, and anything else you can imagine (but no kings). The Reformation assured that some of the cantons were safe havens for radical Reformers like John Calvin and Huldrych Zwingli.

And then the French Revolution spoiled the party: Revolutionary France conquered Switzerland and imposed the hated Helvetic Republic, stealing some land to boot (Mulhouse, for example). The Helvetic was a French satellite, but not particularly loyal, refusing to fight against the Russians and Austrians at the beginning of what was to become the Napoleonic Wars. When Napoleon finally came onto the scene, he brokered the Act of Mediation (1803), which established more or less the government of modern Switzerland, with a relatively stronger federal government, but largely self-governing cantons. It was also at this time that die Schweiz became the Standard German name of the country. In 1815, the Congress of Vienna fully recognized Swiss independence from France, and Switzerland's permanent neutrality was forst formally recognized by all parties. But just see what happens if you try to invade 'em ...

France

La France. Since Roman times, France has been a major theater of European history. In Classical times, the region covered by most of the modern Republic of France was Gaul, Gallia, which would become a Roman province. The name, which shares a root with other places dominated by Celts (Galatia in Poland, Galicia in Spain, etc.), but the origin of this name is uncertain. Some have proposed Proto-Celtic *g(h)al- "powerful," or that it is named for a Gallos River that is now unknown. In any case, this was the name of the country until the arrival of the Franks.

Roman Gaul was subdivided into three major parts: Cisalpine Gaul, Gallia Cisalpina, meaning "Gaul on this side of the Alps" was eventually merged into Italy. Narbonese Gaul, Gallia Narbonensis, covered a chunk of southeast France (modern Provence, Côte d'Azur, and Languedoc regions). It was centered on the city of Narbonne (L Narbo). It was also called Transalpine Gaul -- Gallia Transalpina -- ... guess why. The biggest part, which would become modern France, Belgium (Wallonia at least), and parts of Germany and the Netherlands, was called Gallia Comata, "long-haired Gaul," filled with what were to the Romans the equivalent a savage, hairy bikers.

It was this region which Julius Caesar refers to in his famous Gallia est omnis divisa in partes tres. Gallia Belgica was named for the Belgae (see Belgium), Gallia Aquitania in the southeast for the Aquitani (see Aquitaine), and Gallia Lugdunensis in the east for Lugdunum, modern Lyons (see Lyons).

But France, of course, is named for these Franks. The tribe was probably named for a type of spear called *frankon in Proto-Germanic. The Latin name for their land, Francia, referred simply to the territory of these ferocious barbarians. In the 3rd century, Francia was an triangle of land north and east of the Rhine. As the Franks expanded, the name did as well, but for a long time Francia and Gaul were used simultaneously, as the Franks themselves were a minority among the Gallo-Romans (And this is why the Frankish language is dead and modern French descends from the Vulgar Latin of Gaul).

In the 5th century, the Franks began to dominate northern Gaul, and in 486, Clovis I united much of Gaul. In good time he converted to Catholicism (not Arianism, the heretic faith of the Goths), made his capital at Paris, and founded the Merovingian Dynasty. The seed of modern France had been planted. By the time Charlemagne was crowned Emperor of the West in 800, the Franks were at the peak of their power. The Frankish Empire was divided up permanently after a civil war among his grandsons: Lothair got the central part, including the Low Countries, Alsace, Lorraine ("Lotharingia") Burgundy, and northern Italy; Louis the German received East Francia, which would eveolve into the Holy Roman Empire and modern Germany; and Charles the Bald got West Francia, which would become the core of modern France, including Aquitaine. Interestingly, France is still called Frankreich in German, which literally means "Empire of the Franks" (although the ethnonym is französisch, deriving from the Latin name).


West Francia crumbled in the early Middle Ages, with the various dukedoms struggling for power, making France a vague decentralized region -- a very violent place. Hugh Capet was elected as Rex Francorum ("King of the Franks") in 987. From that point on, the idea of la France was strongly associated with le roi, whose power (and France's) grew and grew until 1789 ... and it's been downhill ever since. We've gone back and forth from republic to monarchy, with an empire thrown in there under Napoleon, and couple of other revolutions and assorted radicalism, like the Paris Commune in 1871. As of today, June 19, 2010 at 7:35 pm (GMT +1), the Fifth Republic reigns, and they even have a smart logo that looks like an American sports league: