Canton Bern (BE)

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History of Canton Bern: Chronology
DEUTSCH / ENGLISH / FRANÇAIS / ITALIANO
   
1191 Foundation of the city of Berne by Duke Berchtold V of Zähringen.
1218 Confirmation of municipal rights to the city by King Friedrich II (German Empire).
1255 Berne seeks protection of the Dukes of Savoy.
1289 Siege of Berne by the Habsburg armies.
1300 Beginning of territorial expansion beyond the city boundaries.
13th & 14th century Establishment of treaties and alliances between cities controlled by Burgundy and Berne.
1328 Purchase of the city of Thun.
1339 Battle of Laupen (rural gentry resists the city).
1353 Berne joins the Confederation:  "eternal alliance with the Founding Cantons".
1386 Battle of Sempach (territorial expansion: Seeland and Oberland).
1397 Trade agreement with Lombardy through the Bernese Oberland.
1415 Conquest of Aargau with the other Confederates.
1421 Justinger writes chronicle of Berne.
1445 Oberland peasants revolt against Berne.
1474 - 1477 Burgundy Wars (1476 Battle of Murten). First conquests in the Romandie.
1499 - 1515 Milanese military campaigns (Bernese fight against Bernese).
1515 Luther's book of the Indulgence is published in Berne.
1528 Introduction of the Reformation (destruction of many artifacts in the Bernese cathedral).
1536 Conquest of Vaud (taken from Savoy).
1591 - 1646 Tax unrests.
1648 Separation from the German Empire.
1653 Peasant War.
1654 Due to the indebtedness of the Count of Greyerz, various territories are taken over by Berne.
1664 Berne returns Savoy territories.
1798 Invasion by the French revolution army. Fall of the old Berne.
1803 Napoleon’s Mediation Act gives Berne a new constitution.
1814/1815 Fall of Napoleon. The Bernese patricians return to power and grab control over a large part of the old diocese of Basel during the Congress of Vienna.
1831 End of the patrician rule over the State. Liberal, representative-democratic Constitution.
1846 Radical Constitution.
1848 Selection of Berne as Federal Capital.
1852 Beginning of the development of the railroad network, in parts as Bernese State Railroads.
1848 Completion of the Federal Parliament Building, first National Exhibition.
1868 - 1891 First Jura-waters correction.
1874 Civil marriage becomes mandatory.
1877/78 Governmental crisis, resignation of the Cantonal Government as consequence of a financial affair triggered by bad railroad investments.
1881 Berne receives the first national telephone system.
1893 New Constitution.
1895 National Library in Berne: the Helvetica Collection.
1897 Establishment of the National Farmer's Association (Bauernverband).
1898 Construction of the Hagneck power station, origin of "Bernische Kraftwerke AG (BKW)" (Bernese power plant corporation). Opening of the Swiss National Museum.
1902 Inauguration of the extension to the Federal Parliament Building.
1907 Swiss National Bank in Berne.
1911 Lötschbergtunnel breakthrough.
1913 Opening the Bernese Alpine Railroad (BLS) through the Lötschbergtunnel.
1914 2nd Swiss National Exhibition in Berne.
1918 Establishment of the Farmers, Trade and Citizen’s Party (Bauern-, Gewerbe- und Bürgerpartei, BGB) by Rudolf Minger.
1922 First elections to the Canton Parliament according to the system of proportional representation.
1925 Start of construction for the Oberhasli power plants.
1928 1st Swiss Exhibition for women workers in Berne.
1947 Moeckli Affair and beginning of the arguments between people faithful to Berne and separatists in the Bernese Jura.
1959 Scanty refusal of a people's initiative for a popular vote on the separation of the Bernese Jura - which was approved in the districts of Delemont, Franches-Montagnes and Porrentruy.
1962 Opening of the first highway section in the canton of Berne (Berne-Schönbühl).
1962 - 1973 Second Jura-water correctionn.
1968 Introduction of women’s voting rights at the district level.
1970 Jura receives the right for self-governement.
1972 Start-up of the nuclear power plant in Muehleberg.
1974 - 1975 Popular votes on Jura self-governement.
1979 Establishment of the Canton of Jura, consisting of the three northern districts Delemont, Franches-Montagnes and Porrentruy, which are detached from the Canton of Berne.
1984 Financial scandal, triggered by auditor Rudolf Hafner.
1986 Election of Leni Robert as the first female Governing Councilor of the Canton of Berne.
1992 Completion of the project to double the tracks for the entire Lötschberg railroad.
1993 Acceptance by the voters of the new Cantonal Constitution. Effective as of 1.1.1995.
1994 New law for the political cooperation of the Bernese Jura and the French speaking minority of Biel-Bienne; the Regional Council replaces the Association of Municipalities of the Bernese Jura.
1994 The district of Laufen transfers to the Canton of Basel-Country (BL).
1996 The municipality of Vellerat, previously part of the district of Moutier in the Bernese Jura, transfers to the Canton of Jura.
1996/97 Judicial reform and reorganisation of the district administration.
   

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