Chapter 14 Four ethnic groups with different languages ​​live in harmony

Switzerland is made up of 22 independent small republics (representatives of these small republics often gather in the capital Berne to discuss state affairs), and the image of a slovenly woman named Helvetia is often on Swiss coins and Swiss postage stamps Appears, therefore, that Switzerland customarily calls itself the Helvetia Confederation. During the world war, the majority of the country's population (German-speaking Swiss 70%, French-speaking 20%, Italian-speaking 6%, Leto-Roman 2%) had little or no regard for Germany. in favor of (although remaining absolutely neutral), a young man named Wilhelm Tell, an idealized hero who gradually replaced the goddess Helvetia (Wilhelm Tell, legendary Swiss hero, a A symbol of the struggle for political and personal freedom. According to popular accounts, he was a peasant in Uri, Switzerland, who lived in the late 13th and early 14th centuries and was forced to shoot an arrow at the apple on his son's head because of his contempt for the Austrian authorities. And He was arrested and imprisoned for threatening the governor with life and death. After successfully escaping, the governor was finally assassinated. This event was considered a signal that the Swiss people launched against Austrian rule———Translator’s Note).Because the goddess Helvetia, the figure of the poetess created by a famous artist in England in the mid-Victorian period, looks very English, I am sorry to say, at first glance.The dual nature of the Swiss Republic is clearly manifested in the change of portraits on coins and stamps (this phenomenon is not unique to Switzerland, and similar situations have occurred in almost all countries).But all this is irrelevant to other countries.To us outsiders, Switzerland is nothing more than a picturesque mountain country, which is what this chapter focuses on.

Stretching from the Mediterranean Sea to the Adriatic Sea, the Alps are nearly as large as the Isle of Great Britain and almost twice as long.Among them, the land belonging to Switzerland (equal in size to Denmark) has 16,000 square miles. On this 16,000 square miles of land, a variety of agricultural and sideline products are abundant, and forests, vineyards or small pastures cover three-quarters of the area.The other quarter was occupied by lakes or magnificent cliffs, which seemed useless to anyone.Thus, in terms of the number of people living per square mile (i.e. population density - Translator's Note), Norway has 22, Sweden 35, Switzerland 250, Germany 347, Belgium 655 ; but don't mistake Switzerland for just a giant mountain sanatorium, where nothing but hotels are tourists.Switzerland not only produces dairy products, the northern plateau between the Alps and the Tourau Mountains is the most prosperous industrial area in Europe, and it requires almost no raw materials.Switzerland's hydropower resources are of course extremely rich. In addition, it also enjoys geographical advantages, being just right in the heart of Europe.The finished products of the Helvetic Republic relied on this favorable location to continuously and silently import to more than a dozen surrounding countries.

The formation of such huge and complex mountain systems as the Alps and the Pyrenees has been mentioned above.Take half a dozen clean handkerchiefs, flatten them, stack them one on top of the other, and squeeze them toward the center, observing the folds, overlapping rings, and wrinkles created by this centripetal thrust.The foundation or the granite core (tens of millions, hundreds of millions of years old) is the table on which you do this experiment, and over millions of years, on top of these older layers, younger layers slowly fold, Odd-shaped peaks were formed, and after millions of years of wind, frost, rain and snow, the image of today appeared.

These giant folds were originally 10,000 to 12,000 feet high, and they gradually eroded into a series of parallel mountain ranges.But these mountains are entangled in the center of Switzerland (the village of Andermatt on the Gotha Pass) with another huge and complex mountain system (the so-called Gotha Mountains), so the Rhone River runs from the village of Andermatt. To the Mediterranean, the Rhine pours into the North Sea from the village of Andermatt, and many rivers also originate in the village of Andermatt, becoming the large and small lakes near Thun, Lucerne and Zurich in the north and the famous Italian lakes in the south. source of.The Swiss Republic was born between the glaciers, the cliffs and the deep valleys, the snow-capped mountains, the torrents of the mountain streams and the cold green waters of the glaciers.

Switzerland is able to seek independence and autonomy this time, thanks to its practical policies and special geographical environment.For more than a thousand years, these semi-civilized Swiss farmers have lived in the insurmountable deep mountains and valleys for generations, and have never been disturbed by powerful neighbors.If there is no looting, holding high the majestic banner of the empire would be of no value, the most it would be to snatch back two cowhide from these mountain savages.However, these savages are very dangerous. They know guerrilla warfare and push pebbles down from the top of the mountain. Once the armor is hit by these big stones, it is like hitting a piece of parchment, and it will immediately be shattered.For this reason, like the Indians behind the Allegheny Mountains in North America (the northwestern branch of the Appalachian Mountains in North America, which became an obstacle to the westward migration of immigrants in the early days of American pioneering——Translator's Note), the outsiders The world has completely forgotten these Swiss.

However, with the sharp increase in commercial trade in Italy before and after the Crusades and the gradual expansion of the power of the Pope, Northern Europe urgently needed a convenient passage from Germany to Italy, and the St. The trade route from Lake Geneva from Lyon to the Rhône valley requires a long detour) or the Brenner Pass, because of the almost unbearable customs duties to be paid on these two passes. At this time, farmers from the three forest states of Unterwalden, Uri and Schwyz (the name of the independent small republic and region of Switzerland) jointly funded (they were not actually rich) and joined forces to build a road from the Rhine The river basin runs directly into the Ticino River basin.To make a way in the rocks, when the pickaxes can't dig out the rocks that are too hard (to make a way in the mountains without explosives!), they make some narrow wooden devices, hang from the cliffs, and go around those obstacles. .On the Rhine, they also built several original stone bridges, but the stone bridges are useless at other times except for walking across these stone bridges in midsummer. 400 years ago, Charlemagne sent people to survey a road, but it was not completed.They restored part of the road.In this way, until the end of the thirteenth century, a businessman with a team of mules could travel from Basel to Milan via the Gotthard Pass without worrying that the mules would break their legs or be crushed to death by rocks.

It is said that as early as 1331, monks of the church opened a hotel on the St. Gotthard Pass. Although the hotel was not opened to businessmen until 1820, it soon became the most lively route in the North-South trade route. Of course, despite the hard work of great benevolent people like Unterwalden, Uri and Schwyz, they only ask for a little in return. With the promotion and steady income that the city of Zurich brings, a new sense of independence is gained.This sense of independence also has a lot to do with their daring to openly rebel against the Habsburgs.Interestingly, the Habsburgs also had Swiss peasant ancestry, but this fact has never been touched on in any genealogy.Habichtsburg (meaning "Eagle's Nest") is the old nest of the Habsburg family. This castle is located at the confluence of the Aare and Rhine rivers. Their family tree is stored in this castle.

Unfortunately, it's all pretty tedious.But it was the real revenues from the busy international trade routes of the Alps, not the bravery of the fictional William Tell, that laid the foundation for the modern Swiss Republic.Built on the most efficient "public school" system in the world, the republic was an interesting political experiment.This political system is so perfect and works so effectively, if you ask a Swiss, who is the president of Switzerland?They still have to think about it before they can answer.Because Switzerland is managed by the Federal Parliament—an organization similar to a committee. This parliament has 7 members and elects a new president every year (usually taken over by the vice president of the previous year).According to tradition, not the constitution, each president is held by people from different regions in turn. For example, people from the German-speaking region in the first year, people from the French-speaking region in the second year, and people from the Italian-speaking region in the third year, and so on. cycle down.

The Swiss president is also very different from the American president.The Swiss Federal Council manages the country through seven members, and the Swiss President is only the interim chairman of the Federal Assembly.The president is both the presiding officer of the Federal Conference and the head of foreign affairs.There is no "White House" in Switzerland, not even a fixed presidential residence, which shows how insignificant the status of the president is.If you want to entertain distinguished guests, you have to hold a banquet in the Ministry of Foreign Affairs.Sometimes the banquet is not at all the grand and grand scene that should be held for the reception of the presidents of France and the United States. Instead, it looks like a festival party in a small mountain village.

Switzerland's administrative management system is too complex, so I won't go into details one by one.But people who visit Switzerland often find that there is an honest and wise person in many places. This person is always supervising. Is everything done?Has it been done wisely and honestly? Let's take a look at the railway construction in Switzerland.Of course, there are plenty of difficulties and obstacles in this job.Two major trunk lines run through the Swiss Alps, connecting Italy with Northern Europe.Paris, Dijon, Lyon and Turin (the ancient capital of the Principality of Savoy) are connected together by the Seines Mountain Tunnel.The Brenner railway line passes through the Alps and directly connects southern Germany with Vienna, and this railway line does not even have a tunnel.The Simplon Railway and the Gotthard Line have to climb hills and pass through tunnels.The Gotthard Line was built earlier. Construction began in 1872, and it took 10 years to complete and open to traffic. It took 8 years to dig the tunnel alone, but the tunnel is 9.5 miles long and is located at an altitude of 4,000 feet.The spiral tunnel from Wassen to Göscheche deserves more mention than this one.Because the valley is too narrow, even a single track cannot be laid, so the railway has to climb through the middle of the mountain in a spiral manner.In addition to these special tunnels, the Gotthard line has 59 tunnels (some a mile long), 48 normal bridges, and 9 viaducts.

The Simplon Line is the second important trunk line through the Alps.The Simplon Line runs from Paris to Milan, passing through Dijon, Lausanne, the Rhône Valley and Brig. In 1906, the Simplon Line was officially opened to traffic. This year happened to be the 100th anniversary of the completion of Napoleon's Simplon Highway.The famous Simplon Highway was the largest highway construction in the world at that time, including 250 large bridges, 350 small bridges and 10 tunnels.The Simplon Line project was a little easier than the Gotthard Line.The Simplon line first climbed slowly in the Rhone Valley, until it reached an altitude of 2,000 feet, and then entered the tunnel.It's a two-track tunnel that's 12.5 miles long.The Lötschberg Tunnel (nine miles long) is also double-tracked and connects northern Switzerland with the Simplon line and western Italy. The Pennine Mountains are the most dangerous and narrow mountains in the Alps, and the Simplon Line is the railway that passes through the Pennine Mountains.The environment of Pennine Mountain is very complex. There are at least 21 peaks on a narrow square platform, all of which are above 12,000 feet above sea level, and there are torrents pouring down from 140 glaciers.These torrents often destroy railway bridges minutes before an international train passes by.But despite these unexpected floods from time to time, no major crashes involving fatalities have occurred, largely thanks to efficient Swiss railway workers.As mentioned earlier, this republic, although somewhat rigid and rather bureaucratic, does not leave anything to chance.Survival in Switzerland is too difficult, too difficult, too insecure, so a gentle philosophy of life such as "rarely confused" cannot be allowed to exist.For everything, no matter when and where, there is always someone watching, watching, and guarding carefully. However, the brilliance of art cannot be produced in this high school principal's tradition of punctuality and efficiency.In the world of literature and art, the Swiss have made no achievements, whether in painting, sculpture, or music.However, there have been too many "art" countries in the human world, and they have maintained stable political and economic growth and development, but only a handful of countries can proudly declare themselves. Moreover, the Swiss system is still Can ensure that every family is happy.What else can we say?