A new survey suggests that the Swiss distinguish sharply between patriotic legend and the making of the modern state. In 1291 the three founding cantons of Uri, Schwyz and Unterwalden sealed the Federal Charter, laying the foundations of the confederation. Yet when Swiss people are asked when their country actually became a nation-state, most prefer a rather less romantic date.
Some 52% choose 1848, when the modern federal state and its first democratic constitution were established. Just 21% opt for 1291.
The preference is not evenly distributed. In German-speaking Switzerland 58% identify 1848 as the decisive year, compared with just 18% who choose 1291. The balance is less clear-cut in the French- and Italian-speaking regions. In French-speaking Switzerland 35% pick 1848 and 29% choose 1291; in Italian-speaking Switzerland the figures are 40% and 30%.
Age produces another divide. Among people over 65, 59% identify 1848 as the birth of the nation-state. Among 18- to 35-year-olds, only 43% do so. The youngest respondents are also the most likely to suggest a founding year other than either 1291 or 1848: 29% give another answer.
The Federal Charter of 1291 is a genuine medieval document, although it is loosely dated at the beginning of August. Historians generally treat the Swiss Confederation as something that emerged gradually, rather than as a state created in a single moment in 1291—for more information click here.
The same scepticism on the founding date extends to Switzerland’s most famous crossbowman. William Tell occupies a central place in the country’s founding stories, but most Swiss do not regard him primarily as a historical freedom fighter. Friedrich Schiller’s William Tell, first performed in 1804, helped turn the Swiss folk hero into an international symbol of resistance to tyranny. The drama recounts Tell’s defiance of Habsburg authority, including the famous episode in which he is forced to shoot an apple from his son’s head.
Some 37% of Swiss describe Tell as a legendary figure and another 28% as a character from Friedrich Schiller’s drama. Only 27% see him chiefly as the Swiss rebel who fought the Habsburgs, while a mere 5% regard him as the founder of the confederation.
Here, too, language and age matter. In French- and Italian-speaking Switzerland, 31% regard Tell as a freedom fighter, compared with 25% in the German-speaking part of the country. German-speakers are much more likely to associate him with Schiller: 33% do so, against 16% in French-speaking Switzerland and 14% in the Italian-speaking region. The survey suggests an obvious explanation: Schiller’s play is more firmly embedded in German-speaking culture.
Young people, meanwhile, are more inclined to take the heroic version seriously. A third of 18- to 35-year-olds see Tell as a freedom fighter, against just 17% of those over 65. Older respondents are instead more likely to regard him as a legendary character—43%, compared with 27% among the youngest—or to identify him with Schiller’s drama, by 35% to 20%.
Politics produces the starkest split. Among supporters of the Swiss People’s Party (UDC/SVP), 47% see Tell as a freedom fighter, making it the most popular interpretation, well ahead of the 25% who see him as a legendary figure and the 16% who think first of Schiller. Among supporters of every other party shown in the survey, Tell is primarily regarded as a myth. Only 11% of members of the Socialist Party and 23% of the PLR/FVP regard Tell as a defender of Switzerland against the Hapsburg rukers.
Switzerland’s national day compresses a complicated history into a memorable symbol. But most Swiss have no difficulty seeing beyond the narrative. The Federal Charter signed in 1291 still supplies the date for the fireworks. But for most Swiss, 1848 is a more meaningful founding date—and William Tell belongs more comfortably to legend and literature than to the historical record.
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