1st Edition
The Laboratory of Progress Switzerland in the Nineteenth Century, Volume 1
The Laboratory of Progress: Switzerland in the 19th Century tells the improbable story of how a small, backward, mountainous agricultural country with almost no raw materials became an industrial powerhouse, a hub of innovation, a touristic mecca and a pioneer in transportation – all in the course of a single century.
That a tiny landlocked country should become a dominant steamship builder for the rest of the world; that a country that had never seen a cotton plant should become the world’s second-largest textile producer; that a country with hardly any level terrain should come to boast the world’s most highly developed railway network; and that a country whose main export was impoverished emigrants should be transformed into one of the world’s major financial centres – these astonishing developments, among many others, are explored and explained, both through the specific stories of individual innovators and through a prescient analysis of the political, economic, societal and cultural structures that formed the context in which Switzerland’s astonishing transformation took place.
The book is a compelling read both for professional historians and for general readers with an interest in Switzerland; it highlights the roles of transport networks and individual pioneers in industrial and political development.
1 The Discovery of the Mountains
1.1 A Terrible Beauty: The Alps
1.1.1 The power of symbols
1.1.2 Ambivalence towards the majestic
1.1.3 Key points: An overview of trends and epochs
1.2 A Polyphonic Promotional Campaign: The Marketing of Switzerland
1.2.1 Grand Tours and pleasure journeys
1.2.2 Naturalists and scientifically motivated alpinism
1.2.3 Literati and philosophers
1.2.4 World literature
1.2.5 The Kleinmeister: Enthusiasm for Switzerland in the arts
1.2.6 Travel guides
1.3 The Development of Tourism
1.3.1 Routes and destinations
1.3.2 Accommodations
1.3.3 Travel reports and the tourist experience
1.3.3.1 Christoph Meiners in the Bernese Oberland
1.3.3.2 Zermatt: From parsonage to hotel
1.3.3.3 Mayr goes to the spa
1.3.4 Export product: Switzerland as chalet
1.3.5 On the history of the hotel industry: The beginnings
1.3.5.1 Inns and the first hotels
1.3.5.2 Grand Hotels
1.3.5.3 Mountain inns and hotels
1.4 Climbing and Hiking as Part of Elite Education
1.4.1 Scientifically motivated alpinism
1.4.2 Excursions as part of schooling
1.5 The Golden Age of Alpinism
1.5.1 The playground of Europe, or, the British occupation of the Swiss High Alps
1.5.2 Swiss mountain guides
1.6 Sightseeing in the Swiss Alps
1.6.1 Triumph and tragedy
1.6.2 Alpine literature
1.6.3 Summer tourism and hotels
1.6.4 The year 1863: Into the mountains with the SAC…
1.6.5 …and through Switzerland with Thomas Cook, all-inclusive
1.7 1865: The First Ascent of the Matterhorn
1.7.1 Whymper’s last chance
1.7.2 The ascent and the accident
1.7.3 A superficial investigation
1.7.4 Social hierarchy and authority
1.7.5 Size and heterogeneity
1.7.6 Deficient equipment
1.7.7 The cut rope
1.7.8 Disorganisation or calculation?
1.7.9 Scapegoats and white waistcoats
1.7.10 Monument and epigraph
1.7.11 Conclusion
1.8 The Belle Epoque
1.8.1 A time of superlatives: The apotheosis of pre-war culture
1.8.2 Glitz and glory in Montreux
1.8.3 Kursaals, casinos and orchestras
1.8.4 The rise of St Moritz
1.8.5 Winter tourism in Switzerland
1.8.6 From therapeutic baths to health tourism
1.8.7 International private schools
1.8.8 Regional differences
1.8.9 Will the king lay down his crown? Switzerland as a playground and refuge for monarchs
1.9 Art and Commerce
1.9.1 Literary tourism and the commodification of art
1.9.2 Critiques of tourism and technology
1.9.3 Critiques of gigantism
1.9.4 The dark side of modern customs
1.9.5 Hotels: Characteristic features and key figures
1.9.5.1 The provenance of the guests
1.9.5.2 Hotels and their capacities
2 New Beginnings: The Pull of the World
2.1 Forms and Phases of Emigration
2.2 Graubünden: The Best Confectioners in the World
2.3 Ticino: La Tristezza
2.4 Swabia: Child Slaves from Switzerland, Appraised Like Cattle
2.5 California: A Deceptive Eldorado
2.6 Zürichtal: The Catastrophic Trek to Crimea, 1804
2.7 Slavery in Brazil
2.8 The Long Way to New Orleans
2.9 Schaffhausen: Emigration Despite Industrialisation
2.10 Einsiedeln: Entrepreneurial and Cultural Expansion
2.11 Valais: Remaking Home on the Pampas
2.12 Exiled: The Eschers of Zurich
2.13 Ulrico Hoepli of Tuttwil: A Citizen of Switzerland and Italy
2.14 Heinrich and Christian Vögeli: The Modernisers of Serbia
2.15 Immigrant’s Son and President: Jacobo Arbenz of Andelfingen
2.16 An Argentinian Icon: Alfonsina Storni of Sala Capriasca
2.17 Josephine Gentinetta: A Goodbye Without Tears
2.18 Summary and Statistics
2.18.1 Peak emigration levels in the 19th century
2.18.2 A plea for cantonal and regional differentiation
2.18.2 Modes of emigration: Shifting trends
2.18.3 Reasons and root causes: The force field of migration
2.18.4 The Swiss character in foreign lands
2.18.5 Homelands old and new
Biography
Joseph Jung is Professor Emeritus at the University of Fribourg and the author of bestselling biographies of the preeminent Swiss politician Alfred Escher and his daughter Lydia Welti-Escher, among many other works. He has received numerous awards for his pioneering research into 19th-century Swiss economic and cultural history.
"Jung is an outstanding storyteller. Here he offers up an economic, transport, tourism and emigration history of Switzerland, well embedded in its context. The work is easy to read; Jung captivates the reader with his tales of the successes and failures of his pioneers."
Michael Kitzing, Friedrich Naumann Foundation, Germany
"This book presents the brilliant transformation of Switzerland in the 19th century, in which this country and its political system surpassed most other European nations in democratic progress."
Holger Böhning, Jahrbuch für Kommunikationsgeschichte
"An excellent, carefully illustrated and excitingly written panorama of an important chapter in Swiss history."
Jürg Müller, Schweizer Revue
