Switzerland

Conscription, also known as the draft in American English, is the practice in which the compulsory enlistment in a national service, mainly a military service, is enforced by law. Conscription dates back to antiquity and it continues in some countries to the present day under various names. The modern system of near-universal national conscription for young men dates to the French Revolution in the 1790s, where it became the basis of a very large and powerful military. Most European nations later copied the system in peacetime, so that men at a certain age would serve 1 to 8 years on active duty and then transfer to the reserve force. In the early 2000, Norway and Sweden became the first nations to conscript women on the same legal terms as men. Denmark has committed to implement a similar system shortly.

Conscription is controversial for a range of reasons, including conscientious objection to military engagements on religious or philosophical grounds; political objection, for example to service for a disliked government or unpopular war; sexism, in that historically only men have been subject to the draft; and ideological objection, for example, to a perceived violation of individual rights. Those conscripted may evade service, sometimes by leaving the country, and seeking asylum in another country. Some selection systems accommodate these attitudes by providing alternative service outside combat-operations roles or even outside the military, such as siviilipalvelus (alternative civil service) in Finland and Zivildienst (compulsory community service) in Austria and Switzerland. Several countries conscript male soldiers not only for armed forces, but also for paramilitary agencies, which are dedicated to police-like domestic-only service like internal troops, border guards or non-combat rescue duties like civil defence.

The Grisons (/ɡriːˈzɒ̃/; French: [ɡʁizɔ̃]) or Graubünden (Swiss Standard German: [ɡraʊˈbʏndn̩] ), more formally the Canton of the Grisons or the Canton of Graubünden, is one of the twenty-six cantons of Switzerland. It has eleven districts, and its capital is Chur. The German name of the canton, Graubünden, translates as the "Grey Leagues", referring to the canton's origin in three local alliances, the Three Leagues. The other native names also refer to the Grey League: Grischùn in Sutsilvan, Grischun in the other forms of Romansh, and Grigioni in Italian. Rhaetia is the Latin name for the area. The Alpine ibex is the canton's heraldic symbol.

The largest and easternmost canton of Switzerland, it is also one of the three large southern Alpine cantons, along with Valais and Ticino. It is the most diverse canton in terms of natural and cultural geography, as it encompasses both sides of the Alps and several natural and cultural regions. The diversity of the canton is often compared to that of Switzerland as a whole and warrants it the name of "Little Switzerland". The Grisons is bordered by four cantons as well as Austria, Italy and Liechtenstein.

Lake Constance (German: Bodensee, pronounced [ˈboːdn̩zeː] ) refers to three bodies of water on the Rhine at the northern foot of the Alps: Upper Lake Constance (Obersee), Lower Lake Constance (Untersee), and a connecting stretch of the Rhine, called the Seerhein (lit. 'Rhine of the lake(s)'). These waterbodies lie within the Lake Constance Basin (Bodenseebecken) in the Alpine Foreland through which the Rhine flows. The nearby Mindelsee is not considered part of Lake Constance.The lake is situated where Germany, Switzerland, and Austria meet. Its shorelines lie in the German states of Baden-Württemberg and Bavaria; the Swiss cantons of St. Gallen, Thurgau, and Schaffhausen; and the Austrian state of Vorarlberg. The actual locations of the country borders within the lake are disputed, with Austria, Germany and Switzerland all holding different opinions on the matter.

The Alpine Rhine forms, in its original course (Alter Rhein), the Austro-Swiss border and flows into the lake from the south. The High Rhine flows westbound out of the lake and forms (with the exception of the Canton of Schaffhausen, Rafzerfeld and Basel-Stadt) the German-Swiss border as far as to the city of Basel. The Leiblach forms the Austria–Germany border east of the lake.

The border between the modern states of Germany and Switzerland extends to 362 kilometres (225 mi), mostly following Lake Constance and the High Rhine (Hochrhein), with territories to the north mostly belonging to Germany and territories to the south mainly to Switzerland. Exceptions are the Swiss canton of Schaffhausen, the Rafzerfeld and hamlet of Nohl of the canton of Zürich, Bettingen and Riehen municipalities and part of the city of Basel in the canton of Basel-City (these regions of Switzerland all lie north of the High Rhine) and the old town of the German city of Konstanz, which is located south of the Seerhein. The canton of Schaffhausen is located almost entirely on the northern side of the High Rhine, with the exception of the southern part of the municipality of Stein am Rhein. The German municipality of Büsingen am Hochrhein is an enclave surrounded by Swiss territory.

The international border between the modern states of France and Germany has a length of 450 km (280 mi). The southern portion of the border, between Saint-Louis at the border with Switzerland and Lauterbourg, follows the River Rhine (Upper Rhine) in a south-to-north direction through the Upper Rhine Plain. The border then turns westward until it reaches the tripoint between France, Germany and Luxembourg.

Haut-Rhin (French pronunciation: [oʁɛ̃] ) is a department in the Grand Est region, France, bordering both Germany and Switzerland. It is named after the river Rhine. Its name means Upper Rhine. Haut-Rhin is the smaller and less populated of the two departments of the former administrative Alsace region, the other being Bas-Rhin (Lower Rhine), especially after the 1871 cession of the southern territory known since 1922 as the Territoire de Belfort, although it is still rather densely populated compared to the rest of metropolitan France. It had a population of 767,083 in 2021.

On 1 January 2021, the départemental collectivities of Bas-Rhin and Haut-Rhin were merged into the European Collectivity of Alsace.

Rheinau (German pronunciation: [ˈʁaɪnaʊ]) is a municipality in the district of Andelfingen in the canton of Zurich in Switzerland. It is located at a bend of the High Rhine, which forms the Swiss-German border in this area, and includes an island with an abbey. A bridge built in 1806 [de] links Rheinau to Altenburg, part of the municipality of Jestetten (Baden-Württemberg).

Stein am Rhein (Swiss Standard German pronunciation: [ˈʃtaɪn am ˈraɪn], lit. 'Stein on the Rhine'; abbreviated as Stein a. R.) is a historic town and a municipality in the canton of Schaffhausen in Switzerland. It is located at the outfall of Lower Lake Constance on the High Rhine river, about halfway between the town of Schaffhausen and the city of Konstanz.

The town's medieval centre retains the ancient street plan. The site of the city wall, and the city gates are preserved, though the former city wall now consists of houses. The medieval part of the town has been pedestrianised and many of the medieval buildings are painted with frescoes.

Rheineck is a municipality in the Wahlkreis (constituency) of Rheintal in the canton of St. Gallen in Switzerland.

Rheinfelden (Swiss Standard German pronunciation: [ˈraɪnˌfɛldn̩] ; Alemannic German: Rhyfälde [ˈriːfæld̥ə]) is a municipality in the canton of Aargau in Switzerland, seat of the district of Rheinfelden. It is located 15 kilometres east of Basel. The name means the fields of the Rhine, as the town is located on the High Rhine. It is home to Feldschlösschen, the most popular beer in Switzerland. The city is across the river from Rheinfelden in Baden-Württemberg; the two cities were joined until Napoleon Bonaparte fixed the Germany–Switzerland border on the Rhine in 1802 and are still socially and economically tied.