# Why didn't the Nazis invade Switzerland? **URL:** \ **Category:** Great Debates\ **Created:** [July 22, 2014, 12:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-didnt-the-nazis-invade-switzerland/693731 "2014-07-22T12:24:38Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![vontsira](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/v/51bf81/32.png) [@vontsira](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/vontsira)\ **Post date:** [July 22, 2014, 10:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-didnt-the-nazis-invade-switzerland/693731/21 "2014-07-22T22:23:41Z")
A rather fine alternative-history novel by C.J. Sansom – _Dominion_, published 2012 – premise, Britain and France agree to peace terms with Nazi Germany in summer 1940, and continue nominally independent, but essentially “client states” of Germany. Germany subsequently attacks the USSR, unleashing a war which looks like going on for ever. In this scenario – novel’s action taking place in 1952, and recounting Nazi Germany’s ultimately coming unstuck – part of the situation on the European continent described from 1940 on, features Switzerland ceasing to be, as an independent nation: it is carved-up between Germany, France, and Italy – Germany getting the largest part. I have to wonder whether Mr. Sansom has some kind of personal hate against Switzerland; whence in his novel, wish-fulfilment re same – “you smug bastards thought that you could stay safely up in your mountains, getting the best of all possible worlds while hell-on-earth erupted all around you; well, arseholes, pick the bones out of my scenario for you”. ---
**Author:** ![Little\_Nemo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/little_nemo/32/3120_2.png) [@Little\_Nemo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Little_Nemo)\ **Post date:** [July 22, 2014, 10:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-didnt-the-nazis-invade-switzerland/693731/22 "2014-07-22T22:46:06Z")
> [@Mr.Kobayashi](#): > > I can accept invading Belgium and Luxembourg to take out France, but for what reason did they invade the Netherlands (neutral during WW1), Denmark and Norway then leave the Swiss alone? The small countries in Europe all faced a choice in the thirties. They could arm themselves and resist a German invasion as much as possible. Or they could disarm and hope that by being peaceful Germany would leave them alone. Sweden, Switzerland, and Turkey all followed the armed resistance path. Denmark, the Netherlands, and Norway all followed the disarmament path. You can see what Hitler thought of peaceful intentions - it just made you an easier target. (Granted, countries like Poland and Yugoslavia also tried the armed resistance path and got invaded anyway.) ---
**Author:** ![Leaper](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/4bbf92/32.png) [@Leaper](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Leaper)\ **Post date:** [July 22, 2014, 11:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-didnt-the-nazis-invade-switzerland/693731/23 "2014-07-22T23:20:15Z")
> [@dougie\_monty](#): > > attacking Switzerland would be as foolhardy as attacking Russia–and Hitler probably knew it. But he DID attack Russia. 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![Guinastasia](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/guinastasia/32/5751_2.png) [@Guinastasia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Guinastasia)\ **Post date:** [July 22, 2014, 11:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-didnt-the-nazis-invade-switzerland/693731/24 "2014-07-22T23:30:35Z")
> [@Leaper](#): > > But he DID attack Russia. 🙂 Apparently he didn’t learn from Napoleon’s example. We all know how that usually works out. 😉 > [@dougie\_monty](#): > > Between that and the terrain, attacking Switzerland would be as foolhardy as attacking Russia–and Hitler probably knew it. Seriously, you’ve never heard of Operation Barbarossa? It was one of the major turning points in WWII! ---
**Author:** ![Elendil\_s\_Heir](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/7cd45c/32.png) [@Elendil\_s\_Heir](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Elendil_s_Heir)\ **Post date:** [July 23, 2014, 2:16am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-didnt-the-nazis-invade-switzerland/693731/25 "2014-07-23T02:16:36Z")
> [@vontsira](#): > > A rather fine alternative-history novel by C.J. Sansom – _Dominion_, published 2012 – premise, Britain and France agree to peace terms with Nazi Germany in summer 1940, and continue nominally independent, but essentially “client states” of Germany. Germany subsequently attacks the USSR, unleashing a war which looks like going on for ever… Robert Harris’s excellent alt-hist novel _Fatherland_ is set in 1964. Nazi Germany has conquered all of Western Europe, and is still fighting a relatively low-level war against what remains of the Soviet Union. The Cold War is between the U.S. and Germany, not the U.S. and the Soviet Union. Switzerland is a tiny neutral island in the sea of Nazi-occupied or -controlled Europe, allowed to remain so because of its usefulness for (as I posted earlier) banking, espionage and diplomacy. ---
**Author:** ![RickJay](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/bb73d2/32.png) [@RickJay](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RickJay)\ **Post date:** [July 23, 2014, 2:45am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-didnt-the-nazis-invade-switzerland/693731/26 "2014-07-23T02:45:04Z")
> [@Little\_Nemo](#): > > The small countries in Europe all faced a choice in the thirties. They could arm themselves and resist a German invasion as much as possible. Or they could disarm and hope that by being peaceful Germany would leave them alone. Sweden, Switzerland, and Turkey all followed the armed resistance path. Denmark, the Netherlands, and Norway all followed the disarmament path. That is simply not true. Norway and the Netherlands absolutely were not disarmed nations, not by a long shot. For that matters Denmark was not disarmed, either, though its tiny army and undefendable country didn’t stop Germany for even a day. ---
**Author:** ![Spectre\_of\_Pithecanthropus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/spectre_of_pithecanthropus/32/12343_2.png) [@Spectre\_of\_Pithecanthropus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Spectre_of_Pithecanthropus)\ **Post date:** [July 23, 2014, 2:45am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-didnt-the-nazis-invade-switzerland/693731/27 "2014-07-23T02:45:21Z")
> [@Elendil\_s\_Heir](#): > > Robert Harris’s excellent alt-hist novel _Fatherland_ is set in 1964. Nazi Germany has conquered all of Western Europe, and is still fighting a relatively low-level war against what remains of the Soviet Union. The Cold War is between the U.S. and Germany, not the U.S. and the Soviet Union. Switzerland is a tiny neutral island in the sea of Nazi-occupied or -controlled Europe, allowed to remain so because of its usefulness for (as I posted earlier) banking, espionage and diplomacy. And in this version of history Beatles still go to Hamburg between 1960 and the end of '62. I wonder if the point here was to suggest that by this time, even in a Nazi dominated Europe, the restrictions on popular culture would be loosened to an extent such that the Beatles, and everything that had led up to the Beatles, could still happen. IRL it did seem that popular culture/music restrictions became less strict in the years leading up to the end of the Cold War. That’s a great book by the way. ---
**Author:** ![Hector\_St\_Clare](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/b5ac83/32.png) [@Hector\_St\_Clare](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hector_St_Clare)\ **Post date:** [July 23, 2014, 3:31am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-didnt-the-nazis-invade-switzerland/693731/28 "2014-07-23T03:31:14Z")
Did Bismarck ever try to convince the Swiss to sign onto his vision of German unification? ---
**Author:** ![smiling\_bandit](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/e9a140/32.png) [@smiling\_bandit](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/smiling_bandit)\ **Post date:** [July 23, 2014, 3:52am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-didnt-the-nazis-invade-switzerland/693731/29 "2014-07-23T03:52:15Z")
> [@Hector\_St\_Clare](#): > > Did Bismarck ever try to convince the Swiss to sign onto his vision of German unification? Not as far as I know. However, the Swiss have never seen themselves as German nationals. They speak a dialect of German and may have done so in all of recorded history. However, while they did feud among themselves the Swiss have presented a semi-united front against outsiders for centuries. They didn’t create any great conquerers, but resisted all conquests, including cultural and economic ones. ---
**Author:** ![dougie\_monty](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/439d5e/32.png) [@dougie\_monty](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dougie_monty)\ **Post date:** [July 23, 2014, 4:00am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-didnt-the-nazis-invade-switzerland/693731/30 "2014-07-23T04:00:19Z")
> [@Guinastasia](#): > > Apparently he didn’t learn from Napoleon’s example. We all know how that usually works out. 😉 > > Seriously, you’ve never heard of Operation Barbarossa? It was one of the major turning points in WWII! A turning point indeed! Hitler should have known better. :rolleyes: ---
**Author:** ![Guinastasia](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/guinastasia/32/5751_2.png) [@Guinastasia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Guinastasia)\ **Post date:** [July 23, 2014, 4:02am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-didnt-the-nazis-invade-switzerland/693731/31 "2014-07-23T04:02:45Z")
Well, Hitler wasn’t exactly the military genius people think he was. Dude never learned the basic rule: never fight a two-front war. ---
**Author:** ![Little\_Nemo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/little_nemo/32/3120_2.png) [@Little\_Nemo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Little_Nemo)\ **Post date:** [July 23, 2014, 5:08am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-didnt-the-nazis-invade-switzerland/693731/32 "2014-07-23T05:08:13Z")
> [@RickJay](#): > > That is simply not true. Norway and the Netherlands absolutely were not disarmed nations, not by a long shot. For that matters Denmark was not disarmed, either, though its tiny army and undefendable country didn’t stop Germany for even a day. Not fully disarmed. But both countries made a choice to depend on their status as a neutral rather than arms themselves as well as they could have. The Dutch felt that Germany had not invaded them during the first world war so they figured they wouldn’t do it this time as well. The Norwegians felt that they were shielded by Sweden - they expected any invasion of Scandinavia would have to go through Sweden first and this would delay the Germans long enough to give Norway time to mobilize. ---
**Author:** ![Little\_Nemo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/little_nemo/32/3120_2.png) [@Little\_Nemo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Little_Nemo)\ **Post date:** [July 23, 2014, 5:11am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-didnt-the-nazis-invade-switzerland/693731/33 "2014-07-23T05:11:36Z")
> [@Hector\_St\_Clare](#): > > Did Bismarck ever try to convince the Swiss to sign onto his vision of German unification? I doubt he would have wanted the Swiss if they had offered. Bismarck was a Prussian and he wanted a Germany where Prussia was the dominant power. That’s why he didn’t want to include the Austrians in his Germany. The Swiss would have been the same thing. Bismarck preferred a smaller Germany he could control rather than a bigger Germany that might slip from his grasp. ---
**Author:** ![OurLordPeace](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/e8c25b/32.png) [@OurLordPeace](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/OurLordPeace)\ **Post date:** [July 23, 2014, 5:47am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-didnt-the-nazis-invade-switzerland/693731/34 "2014-07-23T05:47:05Z")
Let’s remember also that, in addition to the reasons mentioned above that made Switzerland a hard target, public opinion in general was thoroughly anti-Nazi. The Swiss Nazi Party barely got off the ground. There were Nazi sympathizers around, to be sure. ---
**Author:** ![dougie\_monty](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/439d5e/32.png) [@dougie\_monty](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dougie_monty)\ **Post date:** [July 23, 2014, 3:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-didnt-the-nazis-invade-switzerland/693731/35 "2014-07-23T15:05:38Z")
> [@Guinastasia](#): > > Well, Hitler wasn’t exactly the military genius people think he was. Dude never learned the basic rule: never fight a two-front war. Unless you are a great big country like The United States. Then you can fight a two-THEATER war. ---
**Author:** ![Guinastasia](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/guinastasia/32/5751_2.png) [@Guinastasia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Guinastasia)\ **Post date:** [July 23, 2014, 9:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-didnt-the-nazis-invade-switzerland/693731/36 "2014-07-23T21:59:16Z")
> [@dougie\_monty](#): > > Unless you are a great big country like The United States. Then you can fight a two-THEATER war. Well, number 1, we were’t trying to invade two fronts at once – we were helping to defend. And number 2, it wasn’t occurring on our turf, which helped. Hitler was basically going all over the place. ---
**Author:** ![CarnalK](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/carnalk/32/486_2.png) [@CarnalK](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CarnalK)\ **Post date:** [July 23, 2014, 10:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-didnt-the-nazis-invade-switzerland/693731/37 "2014-07-23T22:06:58Z")
> [@Guinastasia](#): > > Well, number 1, we were’t trying to invade two fronts at once – we were helping to defend. And number 2, it wasn’t occurring on our turf, which helped. Hitler was basically going all over the place. Think you should stop now. The fact is the U.S. fought a two front war and definitely invaded Europe. Don’t try to be a military historian. ---
**Author:** ![dougie\_monty](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/439d5e/32.png) [@dougie\_monty](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dougie_monty)\ **Post date:** [July 23, 2014, 10:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-didnt-the-nazis-invade-switzerland/693731/38 "2014-07-23T22:37:41Z")
> [@Guinastasia](#): > > Well, number 1, we were’t trying to invade two fronts at once – we were helping to defend. And number 2, it wasn’t occurring on our turf, which helped. Hitler was basically going all over the place. “Mud on your face, you big disgrace…” ---
**Author:** ![Little\_Pig](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/c57346/32.png) [@Little\_Pig](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Little_Pig)\ **Post date:** [July 24, 2014, 8:16am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-didnt-the-nazis-invade-switzerland/693731/39 "2014-07-24T08:16:01Z")
FWIW - This [link](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Portugal) says that Portugal was one of only five European countries to remain neutral in World War II. I count six but some say Sweden was iffy. Switzerland Andorra Liechtenstein Portugal Spain Sweden - though [its neutrality during World War II has been disputed.](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sweden) ---
**Author:** ![here\_and\_there](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/f07891/32.png) [@here\_and\_there](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/here_and_there)\ **Post date:** [July 24, 2014, 9:54am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-didnt-the-nazis-invade-switzerland/693731/40 "2014-07-24T09:54:59Z")
> [@RickJay](#): > > while Spain refused to help him at all. Just another myth… see: Spanish SS (“blueshirts” or something…) [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-didnt-the-nazis-invade-switzerland/693731.md?page=1) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-didnt-the-nazis-invade-switzerland/693731.md?page=3)