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| 1564 |
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| Bern was obliged, under pressure from the Spanish power in Italy, to retrocede Gex and Chablais to Savoy. The Savoyards, supported by Spain and by the Catholic cantons, began a prolonged offensive against Geneva and Bern, which drove the Protestant cantons into the French fold. | 1 |
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| 1577 |
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| Opening of a seminary at Lucerne, marking the most active phase of the Counter-Reformation, directed chiefly by Cardinal Carlo Borromeo of Milan. | 2 |
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| 1584 |
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| Alliance of Bern, Geneva, and Zürich against Savoy and the Catholic cantons, followed by an alliance of the latter with Spain (1587). | 3 |
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| 1602 |
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| Savoyard attack on Geneva. This was frustrated, but one important result was the renewal of the alliance between the whole confederation and France (the Catholic cantons, however, retained also their alliance with Spain). | 4 |
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| 1620–39 |
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| Struggle for control of the Valtelline Pass, the most important link in the communications between Habsburg Austria and the Spanish Habsburg possessions in Italy. The pass was controlled by the Grisons League but in 1620 was seized by the Spaniards, who enjoyed the support of the Catholic faction (under Rudolf Planta). Thereupon Bern and Zürich sent aid to the Protestant faction, led by the pastor George Jenatsch (1596–1639). The Protestants were at first successful but in 1621 were expelled by the Austrians, Spain taking control of the pass. In 1625 it was seized by a Swiss force in French pay. Governorship of the duke de Rohan. But in 1637 Jenatsch, having turned Catholic in the interest of patriotism, secured Austrian aid and once more drove out the foreigner. By treaty with Spain (Sept. 3, 1639) the passes were left open to the use of Spanish troops. The war had been conducted by both sides with the utmost cruelty, typical of the Thirty Years' War. In that great struggle the Swiss Confederation remained officially neutral, being paralyzed by the division between Catholic and Protestant cantons. | 5 |
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| 1648 |
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| Nevertheless, by the Treaties of Westphalia, the confederation, owing to the efforts and diplomacy of John Rudolf Wettstein, burgomaster of Basel, was able to secure a European recognition of its independence of the German Empire. (See The Swiss Confederation) | 6 |
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