<Tr> <Td> <Ul> <Li> </Li> <Li> </Li> <Li> </Li> </Ul> </Td> </Tr> <Ul> <Li> </Li> <Li> </Li> <Li> </Li> </Ul> <P> The Protestant Reformation in Switzerland was promoted initially by Huldrych Zwingli, who gained the support of the magistrate (Mark Reust) and population of Zürich in the 1520s . It led to significant changes in civil life and state matters in Zürich and spread to several other cantons of the Old Swiss Confederacy . Seven cantons remained Roman Catholic, though, which led to inter-cantonal wars known as the Wars of Kappel . After the victory of the Catholic cantons in 1531, they proceeded to institute counter-reformatory policies in some regions . The schism and distrust between Catholic and Protestant cantons would define their interior politics and paralyse any common foreign policy until well into the 18th century . </P> <P> Despite their religious differences, and despite an exclusively Catholic defence alliance of the seven Catholic cantons (Goldener Bund), further major armed conflicts directly between the cantons did not occur . Soldiers from both sides fought in the French Wars of Religion . </P>

The swiss religious reformer who established the protestant reformation in zürich was