The Swiss Army

The Swiss Army

In Robin William’s Live on Broadway, Robin laces into the Swiss as the “nice Germans” poking fun at their famous neutrality and their blend of French and German culture. Shouting “Some of you men have never opened Chardonnay under fire…” he point out the absurdness of any Army that has a wine opener on its knife.

My friends I can report that these stereotypes can be set aside. Because of its neutrality and economic prowess Switzerland has needed to adopt a strategy of defensive planning. Starting in World War II the Swiss government has set out simply to protect Switzerland and avoid alliances such as those that precipitated World War I.

The Swiss government has used their biggest resource to their advantage, Switzerland’s geography. A mountainous country they have used its limited travelable terrain to channel and funnel invading armies where they want as well as developing a series of mountain fortification throughout the country (see Mt. Pilatus entry). All bridges and tunnels (and there are a lot of them) in Switzerland are pre-wired with dynamite and other explosive charges allowing for the military to disable strategic roadways by blowing these vital transportation routes.

During World War II with the threat of Nazi invasion from the north and the west, and Italy on its southern border the Swiss government began installing hidden fortresses and fortification throughout the country. Camouflaged into the sides of mountains and hidden under barns these instillations give Switzerland a very valuable and out of sight defense system. Rick Steve even describes batcave like facilities where the Schweizer Luftwaffe’s (Air Force) fighter jets can take off and land from hidden facilities. With the end of World War II and the threat of Soviet aggression in Europe these hidden fortresses were continued on until modern day. In case of invasion the government can retreat to the heavily mountainous Berner Oberland region and hold out in a secure mountain fortress scattered throughout the region.

During our time in Switzerland the military presence was dramatic. In hind sight I can see that this would make sense, but at the time it was quite surprising. Switzerland’s neutrality has had many benefits to the country as a whole. As was stated earlier the Swiss have held out of any formal alliances for as long as possible. Refusing to join the League of Nations and later the UN, the Swiss have managed to stay out of NATO and even the EU in spite of a rapidly developing integrated European economy. The Swiss finally joined the UN on 10 Sep. 2002, but still refuses to join many other world organizations. As a result the Swiss military needs to only really concern it self with protections. They approach their military role the opposite of us. Rather than projecting their force through out the world as the United States does the Swiss are able to focus on their own defense. Consequently the nation has more military personnel at home who often will go home to their families at night. Therefore it isn’t uncommon to see a Swiss solider sitting at a train station one his way to work whit a sub machine gun slug over his shoulder.

A second and major factor is that according to the CIA World Fact Book “the Swiss Confederation states that "every Swiss male is obligated to do military service"; every Swiss male has to serve for at least 260 days in the armed forces; 19 years of age for compulsory military service; 17 years of age for voluntary military service; conscripts receive 15 weeks of compulsory training, followed by 10 intermittent recalls for training over the next 22 years; women are accepted on a voluntary basis, but are not drafted” (2005) Making military service mandatory for all citizens automatically puts more men in boots than an all voluntary service. We weren’t able to find out if there were options for community service such as Austria offers as an alternate to this compulsory service. In recent years protests (mostly by youth) have precipitated the government to reexamine its compulsory service, but have still opted to stay with its policies for now.

This neutrality has helped attract many international aid organizations to choose Switzerland as a base of operations. These organizations range from the European UN headquarters and International Red Cross both located in Geneva, many sports federations like the International Olympic Committee headquarters in Lausanne along with many other international sports federations ranging from baseball to archery.

The Swiss haven’t always been this peace loving. In fact there is a long tradition of mercenaries as a major Swiss export throughout European history. A heavily religious bunch, the Swiss have had strong ties back to the Catholic Church over the centuries. The Pope’s bodyguards are called the Swiss Guard and began as Swiss mercenaries. Even the Swiss flag bears a cross. During the 30 Years War primarily Catholic Swiss waged war on behalf of the Church on Protestant reformers throughout Southern Germany, Bavaria, Switzerland and Austria. The Swiss were even sell soldiers across the border to France during the French Revolution.

But I must say Robin is right about one thing; “When the world goes boom. The Swiss will be just asking: What was that?”

For further reading on the internet check out the following links:

• Rick Steve’s Europe: the Swiss Army


• CIA Fact book entry on Swiss Military stats