Editing Winterthur (section)

==History==
''[[Vitudurum]]'' was a ''[[Vicus (Rome)|vicus]]'' in what is now [[Oberwinterthur]] during the [[Switzerland in the Roman era|Roman era]] (first century BC to third century AD). It was fortified into a ''[[castrum]]'' at the end of the third century, apparently in reaction to the incipient [[Alemanni#Conflicts with the Roman Empire|Alamannic invasion]].

There was an [[Alamanni]]c settlement on the site in the seventh century.

In a [[Battle of Winterthur (919)|battle near Winterthur]] in 919, [[Burchard II, Duke of Swabia|Burchard II of Swabia]] asserted his control over the [[Turgowe|Thurgau]] within the [[Duchy of Swabia]] against the claims of [[Rudolph II of Burgundy]].

The [[counts of Winterthur]], a cadet branch of the family of the [[counts of Bregenz]], built [[Kyburg castle]] in the tenth century. With the extinction of the counts of Winterthur in 1053, the castle passed to the [[counts of Dillingen]]. Winterthur as a city (presumably on the site of a pre-existing village) was founded by Hartmann III of Dillingen in 1180, shortly before his death in the same year. From 1180 to 1263, Winterthur was ruled by the cadet line of the [[Kyburg family|House of Kyburg]].

When the counts of Kyburg became extinct in the male line in 1263, Winterthur passed to the [[House of Habsburg]], who established a [[count (nobility)|comital]] line of ''Neu-Kyburg'' in 1264 and granted [[city rights]] to Winterthur in the same year.<ref>Ernst Theodor Gaupp: ''Deutsche Stadtrechte im Mittelalter, mit rechtsgeschichtlichen Erläuterungen''. Erster Band: ''Die Stadtrechte von Straßburg, Hagenau, Molsheim, Colmar, Annweiler, Winterthur, Landshut in Bayern, Regensburg, Nürnberg, Eger, Eisenach und Altenburg''. Breslau 1851, S. 129–147, [https://books.google.com/books?id=sFEUAAAAQAAJ&pg=PA129 online] {{in lang|de}}</ref> From 1415 until 1442 Winterthur was ''[[Imperial immediacy|reichsfrei]]'' (subject only to the [[Holy Roman Emperor]]). However, in the [[Old Zürich War]] they lost this freedom and came back under the control of the Austrian Habsburgs. Needing money, in 1467, the Habsburgs sold Winterthur to the city of [[Zurich]].

[[File:Merian Winterthur 1642.jpg|thumb|Winterthur in 1642]]
While it was under the leadership of Zurich, Winterthur's economic freedom was restricted. It lost many of its market rights and the right to trade in some goods. This ended in 1798, when [[Napoleon]]ic troops took the town. On 27 May 1799, it was the site of the [[Battle of Winterthur]] between elements of the [[French First Republic|French]] [[Army of the Danube]] and elements of the Habsburg army, commanded by [[Friedrich Freiherr von Hotze|Friedrich, Baron von Hotze]] during the [[War of the Second Coalition]], in the [[French Revolutionary Wars]]. Because Winterthur lies near Zurich and at the junction of seven roads, the army that held the town held the access to most of Switzerland and points crossing the [[Rhine]] into southern Germany. Although the forces involved were small, the ability of the Austrians to sustain an 11-hour assault against the French line, on the plateau north of Zurich, resulted in the consolidation of three Austrian forces. This led to the French [[First Battle of Zurich|defeat]] a few days later.

[[File:Winterthur aus der Vogelschau 1850.jpg|thumb|Early-1850s bird's-eye view.]]
In the 19th century, Winterthur became an industrial town when companies, like [[Sulzer (manufacturer)|Sulzer]], [[Rieter]] and [[Swiss Locomotive and Machine Works|SLM]], built large industrial plants. Winterthur suffered severely from its investments in and guarantee of loans to the National Railway of Switzerland (a private enterprise). In 1878, Winterthur had to sell its shares in the line, and from 1881 to 1885 it was in great difficulties due to a loan of nine million francs guaranteed in 1874 by the town, together with three others in Aargau, to the enterprise. As the three co-guarantor towns were unable to pay their shares, the whole burden fell on Winterthur, which struggled to meet its liabilities. But it was assisted by large loans from the cantonal and federal governments.<ref>{{Cite EB1911|wstitle=Winterthur|volume=28|last= Coolidge |first= William Augustus Brevoort |author-link= W. A. B. Coolidge|page=735|short=1}}</ref>

The [[Great Depression]], in the 1930s, hit Winterthur extremely hard. Sixty percent of the total employees in town worked in the [[machine industry]]. Jobs became extremely hard to find. However, with the outbreak of [[World War II]], industry grew again in the city.

In 2008, Winterthur reached 100,000 inhabitants.
[[File:ETH-BIB-Winterthur-LBS H1-021022.tif|thumb|Aerial view (1958)]]