It was thus in times of war that the 'federal cross' was first used, so that combatants could easily recognise one another on the battlefield. Later, in and , General Niklaus Franz von Bachmann gave his troops the white cross on a red background as a rallying sign.
In , the motif of the federal seal which was first affixed to the Federal Charter included a raised white cross with arms of equal length on a red background surrounded by the cantonal coats-of-arms. Subsequently, it was under the leadership of Guillaume-Henri Dufour that a military flag common to all of Switzerland was adopted in , 49 years before the Federal Council specified that the four branches of the cross, equal in length, must also be one sixth longer than they are wide.
Meanwhile, during the period of the Helvetic Republic — , Napoleon Bonaparte imposed on Switzerland a tricolour of green, red and yellow, which was abandoned immediately after the fall of this regime. The resemblance between the Swiss flag and that of the Red Cross is striking. Originally, the cross reached to the edge of the banner also in Switzerland, like in the scandinavian flags. Some people think Switzerland was the first modern democracy in history. This is only half of the truth, actually.
While people in some cantons and cities could indeed participate in the political process, a majority of Switzerland's inhabitants had no political rights at all until the Swiss Revolution of eliminated the old structures and replaced them with a centralistic democracy according to the model of the French Revolution Corresponding to the revolutionary fashion, the Helvetic Republic also had a tricolor , that is a flag in three colors:.
Extreme centralism, however, did not work well in Switzerland and in Switzerland returned to a federalistic system while keeping up to the revolutionary principles of freedom, equality and solidarity. Six new member cantons former territories without political rights were admitted to the new Confederation.
In three cantons returned to Switzerland that had been annexed by France Napoleon! The revolutionary green color of is to be found on the coat of arms of the cantons member states St. After the French military dictator Napoleon was defeated by the european powers in , conservative politicians in Switzerland tried to restore the old political institutions. The Helvetic Tricolor was abandoned and William Tell then interpreted a revolutionary hero, was banned from Switzerland's seal and replaced by the white Swiss Cross on red background.
In some batallions of the Swiss army adopted a flag with the Swiss Cross instead of the traditional regional flags. Not everybody in Switzerland was pleased with that, however.
The old white stripes on uniforms were replaced by red armbands with a white cross. These armbands were in use until the beginning of World War I After the french July Revolution of , liberal politicians regained strength in Switzerland and demanded for more centralistic institutions. Therefore also the question of uniforms and a common flag for all swiss troops was discussed in the 's. In finally, the flag with the Swiss Cross was introduced for all troops. The later general Dufour was an advocate of this flag.
By replacing the cantonal banners in the Swiss Army, the Swiss Flag was a key element in the process leading to national instead of cantonal identity and in the strenghtening of central institutions of the federal state created with the federal constitution.
When the International Committee of the Red Cross as a permanent, neutral institution to take care of military and civil persons wounded or imprisoned in war was founded on the initiative of Henri Dunant a merchant from Geneva, Switzerland and swiss general Dufour in , Dufour proposed the reversal of the swiss flag red cross on white ground as an emblem.
The current design of the Swiss Coat of Arms has been officially used since The music of the anthem has been composed by Alberich Zwyssig. The original German lyrics of the anthem had been written by Leonhard Widmer. Since, Switzerland has four national languages, the original German lyrics have been translated into the other three national languages. Charles Chatelanat translated the lyrics into French: "Cantique Swisse". Camillo Valsangiacomo translated the lyrics into Itlalian: "Salmo Svizzero".
Flurin Camathias had translated the lyrics into Romansch: "Psalm Svizzer". The anthem was officially adopted on April 1, The current official currency of Switzerland is the Swiss franc Fr. The smaller denomination that is a hundredth of a Swiss franc is known as Rappen in German , as centime in French , as centesimo in Italian , and as rap rp.
The coin-issuing privilege is held by the Swiss Confederation. However, the federal Swissmint produces coins on behalf of the confederation. The Swiss Confederation has assigned the task of distributing coins to SNB, via its network of bank offices. The Swiss franc banknotes include 10 francs, 20 francs, 50 francs, francs, francs, and francs.
Swiss banknotes feature all the four national languages Germany, Romansh, French, and Italian of Switzerland. The official name of Switzerland is the Swiss Confederation. Before , Cantons and 75 additional entities used to issue their coins.
There is still debate going on about the origin of the red color used in the flag. Some believe that it symbolizes the blood of Christ, whereas some assume that it represents the color of the old Bernese flag.
One unique feature of the Swiss flag is that unlike other flags in the world, which have a rectangular shape, this particular flag is square-shaped. However, in events such as the Olympic games, the Swiss representatives wave a rectangular flag to keep with other nations. The proposed symbol was the inverted version of the Swiss flag.
So, the Red Cross flag would consist of a red cross on a white banner. Though, to this day, these symbols are often confused due to their similarity. However, there is a difference between these two flags. The cross is red, and the background is white. Switzerland has not fought in a military war for a very long time.
To be more exact, Switzerland has not been part of any war in years. In , it declared a state of neutrality, where Switzerland proclaimed that it would remain neutral in any future armed conflicts between states.
With this, Switzerland and its flag became a symbol of peace, security, and equality for human lives. The Swiss flag is protected by Swiss law.
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