Present-day Switzerland is since around 500 BC inhabited by the Celtic tribe of the Helveti. The area gets known as Helvetia and as a result of the Gallic wars it becomes under that name part of the Roman Empire from the 1st century BC until the 4th century. After the collapse of the Roman Empire the region is invaded by germanic tribes, like the Burgundians and the Alemans. From the eight century, when it becomes part of the Frankish Realm it shares the history of the southern parts of Germany. In the feudal German Empire the Habsburgs become in 1278 rulers of Austria, one of the German counties. Austria includes at that moment Uri, Schwyz and Unterwalden.

These cantons form a confederation agains Austria in 1291: Switzerland, but not yet under that name, has started to exist, still inside the German Empire. Between 1315 and 1388 the Swiss Confederates inflicts three crushing defeats on the Habsburgs, whose aspiration to regional dominion clash with Swiss self-determination. During that period, five other localities join the original three in the Swiss Confederation. Buoyed by their feats, the Swiss Confederates continuously expand their borders by military means and gain formal independence from the Holy Roman Empire in 1499. In the Peace of Westphalia treaties in 1648 the sovereign independence of the full members of the Swiss Confederation is recognized.

French revolutionaries, supported by Swiss revolutionaries, invade Switzerland and proclaim the Helvetic Republic as a French puppet state in 1798. Switzerland is re-established in 1803 as a French protectorate; canton sovereignty is largely restored. Finally in 1813 independence is restored. In 1848 after a brief civil war between protestant liberals seeking a centralized national state and catholic conservatives clinging on to the old order, the majority of Swiss Cantons opt for a federal state. The new constitution establishes a range of civic liberties and made far-reaching provisions to maintain cantonal autonomy to placate the vanquished catholic minority. The civil war brings the liberal Freisinn/Radicalisme (Freethinking, F) to power. The Swiss amend their constitution extensively in 1874, establishing federal responsibility for defense, trade and legal matters, as well as introducing direct democracy by popular referendum.

Freisinn remains the dominant current, and in 1894 it is organized into the Freisinnig-Demokratische Partei der Schweiz (Freethinking Democratic Party of Switzerland). This party has an abolsute majority until 1919. Since then other parties, like the Sozialdemokratische Partei der Schweiz (Social Democratic Party of Switzerland, SPS), the Schweizerische Konservative Volkspartei (Swiss Conservative People's Party, KVP) and since 1921 the Bauern-, Gewerbe- und Bürgerpartei (Peasants', Industry and Citizens' Party, BGB) become dominant and join the government (the KVP in 1912, the BGB in 1929 and the SPS in 1943). These parties are part of the executive Federal Council, of which alternating members are president for a year.

The KVP is renamed Konservativ-Christlichsoziale Volkspartei der Schweiz (Conservative Christian Social Party of Switzerland, KCVPS) in 1957 and Christlichdemokratische Volkspartei der Schweiz (Christian Democratic People's Party of Switzerland). The BGB merges with parts of the liberal Demokratische Partei der Schweiz (Democratic Party of Switzerland, DPS) into the conservative Schweizerische Volkspartei (Swiss People's Party, SVP). Women are granted the right to vote as late as 1971.