They Didn’t Attack Switzerland - great read

[dc dalton]

Happened across this article tonight about Switzerland and how they haven't been in a war since 1815. The reason I post this here is this paragraph:

The features of the Swiss system for keeping the peace are simple. They have a president with no power to declare war (of course ours can’t either, but no one has told HIM). They have a very small professional army, even small per capita. And they have very strict gun control. By which they mean that every Swiss male must have a gun, except for those who also have to carry a missile launcher or a mortar. Swiss women are not subject to compulsory military service, but many of them frequent the rifle ranges anyway. In the event of any attack on Switzerland, the whole Swiss population becomes the army.

Great read here: http://www.lewrockwell.com/walker/walker32.html

[Karl/PA]

There's a great story about the Kaiser visiting around 1912-13. He was reviewing the Swiss troops and stopped in front of a crusty old sergeant. He asked the sergeant if it bothered him that Switzerland was surrounded by an army twice the size of theirs. "Nein Herr Kaiser." Then what would the Swiss do if Germany decided to attack? The sergeant thought for just a second and replied, "That means that each soldier would have to shoot twice."

[knight0334]

The Swiss style is how this country is supposed to be.

A standing army is a risk to liberty and a tool of tyranny for which we must recognize as a threat to our rights.

[jon'76]

I agree completely ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^

[TonyF]

The fact that Switzerland has never been invaded or occupied might have something to do with the fact that every tyrant over the last 200+ years have had numbered swiss banc accounts.

[Dredly]

thats exactly the reason... the people planning on retiring after the war need a safe haven for their stolen money and items... Switzerland is loyal to the highest bidder

[Philbert]

The Swiss were strong-armed into economic concessions which made it less strongly in Hitler's interest to invade. The fact that they remained neutral at all while completely surrounded is impressive, and credit is due to their military strategy, but we would over-romanticize history by claiming that the deterrent of the citizen army was the only reason Switzerland was not attacked.

[762xIan]

but we would over-romanticize history by claiming that the deterrent of the citizen army was the only reason Switzerland was not attacked

Main reason...Geography

Look at the German defense of Italy in WW2, at the end of the war we had only advanced to Bologna in northern Italy. What held us up and aided the German defense? Terrain.

[Willie D]

The fact that Switzerland has never been invaded or occupied might have something to do with the fact that every tyrant over the last 200+ years have had numbered swiss banc accounts.

Yup. As much as I like my K31 I always cringe when people bring up the Swiss + Guns = No War bit. Germany could have steamrolled Switzerland had it chosen do so in WWII. As it happened they were more than happy to let the good aryan swiss launder their blood money and war spoils. Switzerland was aware at the highest levels of the German genocide machine and the Swiss ended up keeping hundreds of millions in Holocaust victim assets even when the war was over.

You can still buy asylum there if you are wealthy enough (like Marc Rich).

[PeteG]

Originally Posted by Willie D

Yup. As much as I like my K31 I always cringe when people bring up the Swiss + Guns = No War bit. Germany could have steamrolled Switzerland had it chosen do so in WWII. As it happened they were more than happy to let the good aryan swiss launder their blood money and war spoils. Switzerland was aware at the highest levels of the German genocide machine and the Swiss ended up keeping hundreds of millions in Holocaust victim assets even when the war was over.

You can still buy asylum there if you are wealthy enough (like Marc Rich).

I really like the way all you guys think. Not common on gun boards, I might add.

Invading Switzerland would have been a lot like the invasion of Crete; disproportionately expensive. I do think the cost would have been high in part because of terrain - but NOTHING substitutes for a determination to fight, coupled with the training and equipment to do it. (On Creete they had just about nothing to fight with; still, it was the last time the Germans attempted an airborne invastion.)

I also agree that Germany could have ultimately prevailed over Switzerland; but, in the end, war is always about people's stuff. Everyone wanted a place to stash their stuff, because all the big-shots knew darn well the whole matter was about wealth and power, and they wanted someplace to protect theirs.

Sure, the Swiss sold out anybody to anybody else, and continue to do so today. And who doesn't? They just don't lie about it as much as other peoples.

It is refreshing to occasionally look past all the excuses and window dressing that are hung in front of war (religion, honor, patriotism, nationalism, plug-in-your-undefinable-concept-here) and talk about what is actually going on.

"The first step to understanding [finding truth] is to call things by thier right names." -- Lu Tse.

"The first step to obfuscation is to start speaking in generalities." -- Peteg