The history of Liechtenstein, era by era

Liechtenstein’s history has a quirk that sets it apart from all its neighbours. The land was there for centuries, with its villages, castles and lords, but a country of that name didn’t exist until 1719, and it came about through a property deal. I break it into four eras, and with those in mind the trip makes far more sense.

Romans, counts and two lordships

The Romans conquered the area in 15 BC and folded it into the province of Raetia. The clearest trace is in Schaan, where the walls of a fourth-century fort poke out beside St Peter’s chapel, and I cover it on the page about the Roman fort in Schaan. Schaan sat where the road from Bregenz to Chur crossed another route, which is why it mattered even then.

In the Middle Ages the valley split in two. The County of Vaduz was created in 1342, and in 1396 it was confirmed as answerable to the emperor alone. To the north lay the Lordship of Schellenberg. The two came under one ruler between 1434 and 1437, and the division lives on in today’s Oberland and Unterland, still the country’s two electoral districts. These weren’t peaceful centuries. In the Swabian War of 1499 the Swiss Confederates destroyed Vaduz Castle, which was later rebuilt.

A family buys a country (1699-1806)

The Liechtensteins, rich and powerful in Austria and Moravia, needed land held directly from the emperor to earn a vote in the Imperial Diet. So the prince, Johann Adam Andreas, picked up Schellenberg first, in 1699, and Vaduz thirteen years later. In March 1699 an oath of fealty to the new lord was taken beside the church at Bendern, a place the tourist board presents as the country’s starting point.

In 1719 Charles VI merged the two holdings into a principality of the Empire named after their owners. The princes, mind you, stayed in Vienna. In 1806 it joined Napoleon’s Confederation of the Rhine, the step the princely house regards as the basis of its sovereignty. Then came the German Confederation in 1815 and a 19th century closely tied to Austria, with a customs union from 1852.

From Austria to Switzerland (1862-1945)

The 1862 constitution gave the people a voice through parliament, the Landtag, and in 1868 the country disbanded its tiny army, a story told on the Liechtenstein without an army page. In 1912 its first stamps appeared. The First World War changed everything. In 1919 Liechtenstein ended its customs union with Austria, in 1921 it adopted the constitution still in force, and on 1 January 1924 the customs union with Switzerland came into effect, with the Swiss franc as currency.

In 1938 Franz Joseph II settled in Vaduz, something no reigning prince had done before. He arrived after Germany annexed Austria, and the house credits him with keeping the country independent through the war. Liechtenstein declared its neutrality on 30 August 1939, though it lived alongside a local Nazi movement and in fear of invasion. The war’s last scene played out at Hinterschellenberg and the 1945 Russian crossing, in May 1945. You can read that chapter in Liechtenstein in the Second World War.

The country today (1950-2026)

The second half of the 20th century turned it into a strongly industrial country. Today industry accounts for 32% of jobs, a share the Office of Statistics calls exceptionally high by European standards. Its other reputation, as a place for secret accounts, began to change after the 2008 data scandal, which I cover in is Liechtenstein a tax haven? On the world stage it opened up step by step, joining the International Court of Justice in 1950, the Council of Europe in 1978, a currency treaty with Switzerland in 1980, the United Nations in 1990, the European Free Trade Association a year later and the EEA in 1995. Nationwide suffrage for women only came in 1984, and the margin in that men-only referendum was 119 votes.

Hans-Adam II came to the throne in 1989, the constitution was reformed in 2003 and since 2004 his son Alois has acted as regent. The country joined Schengen on 19 December 2011, marked its 300th anniversary in 2019, joined the International Monetary Fund in 2024 and in 2025 had Brigitte Haas take over as head of government. The latest chapter came on 15 August 2026, when the princely house decided that from now on the eldest child will reign, male or female.

How I’d read it on the ground

My advice is not to try to memorise dates. Hold on to the idea that Liechtenstein is the product of a purchase, a pact with Napoleon and a change of partner in 1924. With that in mind, Vaduz Castle, the hill at Bendern and the two ruined castles of Schellenberg stop being loose stones and start telling the same story. And if it rains, the LandesMuseum in Vaduz tells all of it indoors.