# How military formidable are Sweden & Switzerland? How long for the US to bring them to heel? **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [December 16, 2016, 7:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-military-formidable-are-sweden-switzerland-how-long-for-the-us-to-bring-them-to-heel/774882 "2016-12-16T19:36:05Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 11\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![astro](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/9dc877/32.png) [@astro](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/astro)\ **Post date:** [December 16, 2016, 7:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-military-formidable-are-sweden-switzerland-how-long-for-the-us-to-bring-them-to-heel/774882/1 "2016-12-16T19:36:05Z")
Just curious. Per this thread [The United States and the Scandinavian Utopia](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?t=813082) These are non-aligned neutral countries. If they insulted Trump Steaks or did something equally provocative how long would it take for the US Military to conquer them? Are we talking days or weeks or an extended campaign? As they are non-aligned would any other countries rush to their defense? ---
**Author:** ![Telemark](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/telemark/32/372_2.png) [@Telemark](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Telemark)\ **Post date:** [December 16, 2016, 7:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-military-formidable-are-sweden-switzerland-how-long-for-the-us-to-bring-them-to-heel/774882/2 "2016-12-16T19:41:19Z")
> [@astro](#): > > If they insulted Trump Steaks or did something equally provocative how long would it take for the US Military to conquer them? Define “conquer”. If you want to bomb the crap out of their cities and military bases that would go fairly quickly, but it would take a very long time to completely destroy bases built deeply into the mountains. If we are willing to go nuclear it would be a matter of hours to launch the missiles. If you want to occupy and control the land, well, take a look at our other recent ventures. ---
**Author:** ![Gatopescado](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/gatopescado/32/5711_2.png) [@Gatopescado](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gatopescado)\ **Post date:** [December 16, 2016, 7:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-military-formidable-are-sweden-switzerland-how-long-for-the-us-to-bring-them-to-heel/774882/3 "2016-12-16T19:55:32Z")
As long as it takes to dial a phone. ---
**Author:** ![Trinopus](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/2bfe46/32.png) [@Trinopus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Trinopus)\ **Post date:** [December 16, 2016, 7:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-military-formidable-are-sweden-switzerland-how-long-for-the-us-to-bring-them-to-heel/774882/4 "2016-12-16T19:58:55Z")
> [@Telemark](#): > > Define “conquer”. If you want to bomb the crap out of their cities and military bases that would go fairly quickly, but it would take a very long time to completely destroy bases built deeply into the mountains. If we are willing to go nuclear it would be a matter of hours to launch the missiles. . . . How about a middle course? Surgical bombing to take out their electrical generation and distribution – black out their cities – and then settle down for a siege. Knock out water pumping to hasten the process. (Iran is also particularly vulnerable to this approach.) ---
**Author:** ![The\_Stainless\_Steel\_Rat](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/the_stainless_steel_rat/32/5727_2.png) [@The\_Stainless\_Steel\_Rat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/The_Stainless_Steel_Rat)\ **Post date:** [December 16, 2016, 8:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-military-formidable-are-sweden-switzerland-how-long-for-the-us-to-bring-them-to-heel/774882/5 "2016-12-16T20:07:44Z")
To try and give you a logical answer to what I personally believe is a silly question, like Telemark said, you need to define “conquer” first. I would note that getting to Switzerland either by air so land requires passing through (either on land or air) at least one other European nation (there are several possibilities) who might take exception to said conquering. As for Sweden, yes, you can reach it via the North/Baltic Sea(s), but Denmark, Norway and Germany for certain would not be happy about combat operations right off their coasts. But yeah, it wouldn’t be like send in a couple companies of Marines, but if we mobilized sufficient forces, we could do it. But like I said, it seem like a silly concept…but so was Trump when he announced in 2015, so who’s to say… ---
**Author:** ![control-z](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/eada6e/32.png) [@control-z](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/control-z)\ **Post date:** [December 16, 2016, 8:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-military-formidable-are-sweden-switzerland-how-long-for-the-us-to-bring-them-to-heel/774882/6 "2016-12-16T20:40:28Z")
A land invasion of Switzerland would be pretty difficult, since much of the terrain is very mountainous and they have their tunnels and bridges rigged with explosives. Plus every able-bodied young male goes through mandatory military service. ---
**Author:** ![Flyer](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/flyer/32/7298_2.png) [@Flyer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Flyer)\ **Post date:** [December 16, 2016, 8:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-military-formidable-are-sweden-switzerland-how-long-for-the-us-to-bring-them-to-heel/774882/7 "2016-12-16T20:54:21Z")
> [@The\_Stainless\_Steel\_Rat](#): > > To try and give you a logical answer to what I personally believe is a silly question, like Telemark said, you need to define “conquer” first. > > I would note that getting to Switzerland either by air so land requires passing through (either on land or air) at least one other European nation (there are several possibilities) who might take exception to said conquering. As for Sweden, yes, you can reach it via the North/Baltic Sea(s), but Denmark, Norway and Germany for certain would not be happy about combat operations right off their coasts. > > But yeah, it wouldn’t be like send in a couple companies of Marines, but if we mobilized sufficient forces, we could do it. > > But like I said, it seem like a silly concept…but so was Trump when he announced in 2015, so who’s to say… From the perspective of the US military, fighting Sweden + Denmark + Norway would be only slightly more difficult than fighting Sweden by itself. Germany would be a significant problem only if we were planning to invade German soil. They don’t have much of a force-projection capability. ---
**Author:** ![Tom\_Tildrum](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/e95f7d/32.png) [@Tom\_Tildrum](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tom_Tildrum)\ **Post date:** [December 17, 2016, 3:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-military-formidable-are-sweden-switzerland-how-long-for-the-us-to-bring-them-to-heel/774882/8 "2016-12-17T15:10:16Z")
> [@control-z](#): > > A land invasion of Switzerland would be pretty difficult… Then we shall take them by sea! ---
**Author:** ![astro](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/9dc877/32.png) [@astro](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/astro)\ **Post date:** [December 18, 2016, 1:28am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-military-formidable-are-sweden-switzerland-how-long-for-the-us-to-bring-them-to-heel/774882/9 "2016-12-18T01:28:38Z")
> [@control-z](#): > > A land invasion of Switzerland would be pretty difficult, since much of the terrain is very mountainous and they have their tunnels and bridges rigged with explosives. Plus every able-bodied young male goes through mandatory military service. Just to be clear you are you saying they have their strategic access infrastructure permanently rigged with explosives “just in case” or that they would potentially rig them with explosives in the event of an invading army? ---
**Author:** ![Trinopus](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/2bfe46/32.png) [@Trinopus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Trinopus)\ **Post date:** [December 18, 2016, 2:37am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-military-formidable-are-sweden-switzerland-how-long-for-the-us-to-bring-them-to-heel/774882/10 "2016-12-18T02:37:13Z")
That’s one of those military secrets that Switzerland won’t tell anyone. (But, since no invasion is at all likely, probably the wiring and switches are in place, and the actual explosives are in bunkers somewhere conveniently nearby. Having explosives permanently emplaced in the bridges would not be in the best interests of traffic safety…) ---
**Author:** ![Hari\_Seldon](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/hari_seldon/32/5173_2.png) [@Hari\_Seldon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hari_Seldon)\ **Post date:** [December 18, 2016, 3:00am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-military-formidable-are-sweden-switzerland-how-long-for-the-us-to-bring-them-to-heel/774882/11 "2016-12-18T03:00:27Z")
> [@astro](#): > > Just to be clear you are you saying they have their strategic access infrastructure permanently rigged with explosives “just in case” or that they would potentially rig them with explosives in the event of an invading army? They certainly did during WWII, according to my Swiss friend. They also threatened to blow up the train line between Germany and Italy. But they allowed trains between Germany and Italy so long as Germany didn’t invade. The are said to have mountain redoubts under their mountains to which their armies can retreat.