AHC: Centralized Switzerland

Your challenge, is to have an independent Swiss state, which has to have either a centralized state, or power focused in one canton (like what happened in LTTW), with a POD no earlier than 1821.
 
Well, your choice of PoD after 1821 makes the easiest option - keeping the centralized nature of the Helvetic Republic - out of the question, sadly.

While this is really a very, very difficult trick, I'd say that the best option lies in the Sonderbund War. In the end, there was some maneuvering but not a lot of real battle, and the pro-centralization Radiacals took the day...but it's important to note that "pro-centralization" here meant being in favor of, well, basically what Switzerland is today as opposed to the very loose state it was before, which was almost more a tight system of alliances than a federal state.

But let's say that somehow the war becomes a "proper" civil war, long and full of many dead people and lots of devastation, it's possible that a victorious Radical faction, supported by other Liberals, could argue that only through a strong, centralized government, reining in all of the excesses of the cantons, can the Swiss people truly thrive...

Alternatively, I guess, have the Sonderbund War go as OTL, but have it be the first step in a trend of increasing centralization. Though this lacks the drama of a different PoD, I could easily see this happen pretty organically, to be honest. Over the second half the 19th century, Switzerland as a whole became more urban and less rural, industrializing at a decent pace. The fact that most Swiss infrastructure is going to be expensive and inter-canton alone seems to be a good way to start justifying an increasingly centralized government, and OTL we actually see this through the various revisions of the 1848 constitution, though they're pretty minor with respect to the original post (for the record, they did little things like guaranteeing full rights to all Swiss even if they aren't Christian - which was probably a response to an interesting incident involving an American Jew being forced to leave Neuchatel and the US getting pretty pissed off - and establishing the famous Swiss referendum). But maybe the Swiss don't stop in 1874 as OTL, or the constitutional revisions are a little stronger each time...I dunno. It seems to me today that the Swiss very much value their cantons, but it's definitely true that a banker in Zurich or a doctor in Basel values it less than a cowherd in Schwyz. I think it's plausible for an increasingly educated, urban, and internationalized Switzerland to also become increasingly centralized - especially once the federally run schools kick in.
 
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