Two hundred years ago, Switzerland was acknowledged as a neutral state in the Treaty of Paris. Like a Chihuahua defending its territory against a pit bull , Switzerland only grew more ferocious in the face of an outsized menace. The Swiss Army can be mobilized in half an hour. The neutral state gave safe haven to 10, Hungarian refugees, and leveraged what power it had to penalize the Russians — by not letting them ski. Granting asylum to political refugees has long been a Swiss hallmark, and one of the ways Switzerland influences global politics despite its neutrality.
Its reputation as a safe haven for the persecuted save its dismal record with Jewish refugees during World War II is so well known that at this time last year, an Ethiopian pilot hijacked his own Rome-bound flight and landed instead in Geneva, where he requested asylum to escape persecution in his home country. The reckoning came at the Battle of Marignano in when the French and Venetians arrived with artillery and armoured cavalry, and the Swiss brought pikes and spears.
Sadly, technology had passed them by. So when the Congress of Vienna met in —15 to sort out European peace after the French Revolutionary War during which the Swiss had continued to serve as hired bodyguards for the French monarchy, including the last king, Louis XVI and the Napoleonic Wars during which the French invaded Switzerland and broke up the old confederacy , the Swiss put forth an elegant win-win solution for the whole continent: let us be neutral.
This validation was key. It started back in the s when Geneva businessman Henry Dunant went on a business trip to Italy. At this point, things were going well for Switzerland. This hair-splitting leads to one the most confusing things to outsiders about Switzerland: its army.
That same logic led to the construction of an extensive network of bunkers, underground hospitals and shelters during WWII — some of which travellers can visit today, including those at Vitznau , Vallorbe and Sasso San Gottardo. I rode city buses with exuberant gaggles of young conscripts in Chur, and I got to watch a graduating class pass the flag to incoming cadets in a gallant ceremony in a Zurich square. Anyone can tour Parliament in Bern for insight into domestic politics ; the international research centre CERN , which is half in Switzerland and half in France to see how the policy has led to advances in science ; and the United Nations offices in Geneva.
Interestingly, Switzerland only became of a member of the UN in And even more interestingly, it is still not a member of the European Union.
For centuries, the tiny Alpine nation of Switzerland has adhered to a policy of armed neutrality in global affairs. How did it earn its unique place in world politics? The earliest moves toward Swiss neutrality date to , when the Swiss Confederacy suffered a devastating loss to the French at the Battle of Marignano. Following the defeat, the Confederacy abandoned its expansionist policies and looked to avoid future conflict in the interest of self-preservation. Switzerland maintained its impartial stance through World War I, when it mobilized its army and accepted refugees but also refused to take sides militarily.
In , meanwhile, the newly formed League of Nations officially recognized Swiss neutrality and established its headquarters in Geneva.
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