World War II!?!?!?

Question

Durin world War II, Nazi German conquered France and Austria, and was allied with Fascist Italy. This meant that Switzerland was surrounded. Switzerlan neither allied itself with nor declared war upon Germany. Whats the traditional Swiss policy that explains this?

Answer 1

they had crazy geographic protection from many mountains so pretty much no one bothered that country.

Answer 2

Switzerland decided to remain nuetral. Any soldier who stepped foot on their land was imprisoned. During WWII it is interesting to note that the United States at first was neutral as well. Since the president of the time did not want us to be involved in a foriegn war. The Nazi's pulled us into it by setting U boats off the coast of America and stopping our trade with other countries.
Switzerland is still considered a nuetral country by the way. This is why they have international meetings at Lake Geneva. It is neutral ground. I can say though however that even though they are neutral, they do have one heck of a special forces unit, and they are known as some of the best mercenary soldiers in the world.

Answer 3

The Swiss remained staunchly neutral. They did not favour either side. Any military personnel that ended up in Switzerland were promptly imprisoned for the duration of the war. Although there are stories of deal made with both sides to release prisoners. The Swiss have a long tradition of having a very well trained army. And with little or no natural resources to speak of there's really no reason to invade and risk a bloody protracted battle. Also, the legendary Swiss banks and their complete anonymity allowed parties from both sides to hide funds for later use.

Answer 4

Strategically, Switzerland is not that important, unless you want to invade Italy. Having a secure banking system that is neutral to world politics is very desirable. This was the main reason. The Swiss took the policy that business goes on. It worked for them. Fair play.

Luck

Answer 5

Germany did not conquer Austria during the war it annexed it without a fight in 1938 with the help of Austrian Nazis.
Switzerland has been traditionally neutral and knows that it could not resist for long hostilities from its neighbours.
It has no strategic importance or natural resources so was not considered worth invading by the Nazis but it was useful as a point of contact with other countries.

Answer 6

In 1920 all major nations confirmed, that Switzerland's neutrality towards warfaring nations as fixed on the 1815 Vienna Conference on post-Napoleon international relations would still be respected. According to the V. and XIII. Hague convention concerning the rights and obligations of neutral states in land and naval warfare of 1907, neutrality includes some central contingencies like the internment of foreign troops, the prohibition of their passage or the prohibition of national supplies of war material to warfaring nations. Important ranges remained however excluded, in particular the whole private foreign trade, also the private trade with war material.

Answer 7

All it is explained from the neutrality of Switzerland and the convenience for the same Germany of having an oasis of peace in means of Europe, while round the war was fought....

Answer 8

Going off of what rohak said, in the early 19th century I believe, that all of the countries signed a treaty saying that no one will attack or invade Switzerland, mainly because that if it was taken over, the occupiers could attack in almost any direction.

Answer 9

neutral ? yes sure. They made money from all sides.

Please read your history books again; Austria was not conquered. They just opened their borders and became part of the 3rd Empire.

Answer 10

I don't believe Switzerland has a policy, it simply remained nuetral because no one would dare attack it - It's surrounded by a natural barrier, the Swiss Alps.

Answer 11

Switzerland is traditionally neutral - usually respected by all concerned