ABSTRACT
Several factors have helped shape the special character of Switzerland. To quote a contemporary Swiss politician, what has characterized Switzerland has been the will to remain together, or, to use Charles Darwin's term, Switzerland has been a "Willensnation". In 1815, the peace settlement signed at the Congress of Vienna formally freed Switzerland from French domination and gave it the chance to establish a form of government that was truly its own again. According to the principle of neutrality, any European conflicts were to stop at the border of Switzerland, and Switzerland for its part was not to intervene in the quarrels of other nations. Besides, the religious war weakened both the spirit and the reality of Swiss unity, with Catholic cantons at times entering into alliances against Protestant, and Protestant against Catholic. But if the Swiss had no trouble accepting the idea of neutrality, they had a great deal of trouble with the Federal Treaty.
