Wilhelm Oechsli


Wilhelm Oechsli was a Swiss historian.
Oechsli studied theology and history at Berlin and Zürich, under Theodor Mommsen among others. In 1887 he took up the new chair of Swiss history at the Swiss [Federal Institute of Technology Zurich]. From 1893 to 1919 he was professor of history at the University of Zürich. He tried to popularize critical historiography, challenging the legendary traditions about the Swiss national past:

Works

  • Die Anfänge der Schweizerischen Eidgenossenschaft zur sechsten Säkularfeier des ersten ewigen Bundes vom 1. August 1291, Zürich: Ulrich, 1891.
  • Geschichte der Schweiz im Neunzehnten Jahrhundert, 2 vols, Leipzig: S. Hirzel, 1903
  • History of Switzerland, 1499–1914, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1922. Translated from the German by Eden and Cedar Paul.