➔ Switzerland's Old Order: Oligarchs and Enlightenment Before the Storm
| 5 minute read
After the religious wars settled down, Switzerland entered a long stretch of stability. Sounds good, right? Problem is, this stability was mostly about a small group of rich families locking everyone else out of power. Then getting surprised when people got angry.
Chapter 4 of A Concise History of Switzerland covers 1713 to 1798. The story of how the Swiss old order hardened, cracked, and finally collapsed when the French showed up.