At the end of the 1930s, Nazi Germany began to carry out foreign aggression and expansion, expanding its own living space by plundering the land resources of other countries, launching an aggressive war that affected the whole world, and the Second World War began.
Landing battles
Suddenly, the Germans relied on blitzkrieg tactics. Soon the flood of war swept across the continent. At the same time, the anti-fascist camp opposed to Germany also "rose up", from the Atlantic to the Pacific, more than sixty countries and regions, more than two billion people were involved in the war.
World war ii
Of these, Switzerland was one of only a few countries that survived and were not drawn into World War II. It is worth noting that as a neighbor of Germany, the culprit of World War II, Switzerland has a very important strategic significance, it is located in the central and western part of Europe, east of Austria, west of France, north of Germany, south of Italy.
Switzerland
Such an extensive situation is not necessarily a good thing for Switzerland. As a geographical fortress and the junction of two opposing camps, Switzerland should have been a place of contention in World War II, but it miraculously avoided all wars. What is the case that even the always belligerent and aggressive Germany has not taken action against Switzerland in its immediate vicinity?
"Neutral" Switzerland
The most fundamental reason is Switzerland's complete "neutrality" status.
Neutral peace
So, what is a neutral state? The so-called neutral state means that a country can stay out of the war waged and waged by all other countries, without aiding or favoring either side of the belligerent. Then, this country can obtain the legal status of a "neutral country" and enjoy certain legal benefits.
According to the Fifth and Thirteenth Hague Conventions of 1907, the obligations of neutral States lie: first, neutral States cannot provide any direct or indirect assistance to belligerents in connection with war, and the avoidance of war assistance needs of other States in this process is called the obligation of avoidance.
Second, neutral nations must prevent belligerents from using their territories to wage war, a so-called obligation to prevent them. Normally, the obligation to prevent and recuse is also considered an obligation to be fair in order to guarantee "fair competition" between the belligerents.
Finally, neutral nationals who act in favour of a belligerent And thus suffer harm to themselves are not allowed to exercise their right of diplomatic protection and, to a certain extent, acquiesce in the punishment to which their nationals are subjected, such obligations are called acquiescence obligations.
At the outbreak of war, countries other than the belligerents may choose to remain neutral, and if they choose to remain neutral, a formal declaration of neutrality should be issued. Of course, in the course of hostilities, a neutral power can choose to revoke or change its neutral status. Thus, neutral countries are divided into wartime neutral countries or permanent neutral countries. The general choice of becoming neutral only in wartime is called a wartime neutral country.
Permanent neutrality, on the other hand, pursued a policy of permanent neutrality in both wartime and non-wartime, and only seven countries are currently recognized as permanently neutral, including Switzerland.
Unlike neutral war countries, which can change their attitudes at any time, as permanent neutral countries, they can also enjoy certain rights while assuming various neutral obligations. These rights include that no State may wage war against a permanent neutral State, nor may it coerce a permanent neutral State into participating in war or assume obligations and treaties of war.
World War II soldiers
Switzerland declared its neutrality as early as 1674 and has always strictly adhered to the obligation of neutrality. Thanks to Switzerland's unremitting commitment to its neutral stance throughout the year, it has gradually gained the trust and recognition of other countries.
Finally, at the Congress of Vienna in 1815, Switzerland was granted permanent neutrality through public European law, guaranteeing the inviolability and neutrality of Swiss territory by law. Until the end of world war I, Switzerland maintained its absolute neutrality, which further gained its recognition from other countries.
But just after the formation of the League of Nations, Switzerland suddenly decided to renounce its absolute neutrality and retain its conditional neutrality. At this time, although Sweden could not participate in the military activities of its member states, it was also obliged to sanction non-military actions against countries that violated the covenant. Unexpectedly, it was this change in Switzerland's neutrality that made it one of the targets of German occupation.
Switzerland watched as the pace of German aggression expanded step by step, annexing Austria to its east. At that time, the German army could cross Switzerland further west, and the German army in the north could also take the opportunity to send troops to attack Switzerland on both sides.
German artillery fire
Italy and France in the southeast are in the relationship between the opposing Axis powers, and the smoke and smoke are about to erupt, and the danger coefficient of Switzerland has soared. In order to protect itself and avoid the war, Switzerland quickly applied to the League of Nations to restore its status as an absolutely neutral country, thus escaping the disaster.
Why, then, did Germany want to invade Switzerland, and why did it not? - You know, in the face of Nazi Germany, which is bent on aggression and expansion, absolute neutrality is not a gold medal for immunity. Belgium, which was also an absolutely neutral country during World War II, did not escape the clutches of fascism, what saved Switzerland?
Why did Germany want to invade Switzerland?
First of all, in terms of geographical location, Switzerland's military strategy is of extraordinary significance. After Germany took Austria to the east of Switzerland, and attacked Switzerland all the way west, it could encircle France in its sphere of influence.
However, Hitler, who had always believed in nationalism, initially did not dislike Switzerland, because the main ethnic group in Switzerland was German-speaking Germanic descendants, so Hitler regarded the Swiss as a Branch of the Germans who were "cognate" with the Germans.
Hitler
Although Germany did not resent Switzerland, this did not prevent Hitler from trying to take Switzerland for himself, which was "also Germanic". Especially when Germany discovered the Swiss people's antipathy and hatred for Nazi totalitarian rule, the Nazis also took a certain counterattack against the "anti-German sentiment" in Switzerland.
Germany first attacked the Swiss democracy and tried to subvert the Swedish regime in Sweden. After some maneuvering, Switzerland, which had always been politically sensitive, smelled the hostility of Germany, so Sweden began to apply to the League of Nations to restore its status as an absolutely neutral country.
Swiss people
Perhaps it was the Swedish people's "anti-German and anti-Nazi" ideology and the ambition to take over all of Europe in one fell swoop that made Hitler begin to formally consider the possibility of invading sweden - even when Germany invaded Poland, Sweden reiterated its absolute neutrality, but the ambitious Hitler still set up a battle plan code-named "Christmas Tree" to prepare for the capture of Switzerland.
But after Some Deliberation and Weighing the Pros and Cons by Hitler, the project, code-named the "Christmas Tree," was not implemented.
Why didn't Germany invade Switzerland?
The main reason is that the "cost performance" of Encroaching on Switzerland is not high. Switzerland is mountainous, the terrain is complex, easy to defend and difficult to attack, which is not conducive to Germany's implementation of the best "blitzkrieg" tactics, and it is not conducive to German armored combat, it is difficult to lay down Switzerland in a short period of time, and it is often easy to be thankless.
At the same time, the Swiss government had long been aware of the tension in the international situation, and had been fully prepared to resist aggression since Hitler came to power in 1933.
While constantly reaffirming its neutral position, Switzerland has also strengthened the combat training of its soldiers and measures for external defense, formulated and improved strategic plans to prevent German invasion, and could blow up at any time the two transport tunnels connecting Germany and Switzerland: the Gotthard and Simplon tunnels.
Dunkirk
This also makes it more difficult and costly for Germany to attack Switzerland. Therefore, Hitler did not intend to immediately gnaw the "hard bones" of Switzerland.
Moreover, Germany's goal of occupying the superpowers has not been carried out: since the Dunkirk evacuation, Germany's main energy has been focused on the occupation of Britain and the Soviet Union, two great powers with greater economic value and resource returns. What Germany did not expect, however, was that it had not had the time or opportunity to attack Switzerland until it was defeated in the Soviet Union and was counter-attacked.
Soviet-German war
In addition to the difficulty of Playing switzerland, in fact, Switzerland is not as neutral as it seems, at least its attitude towards Germany is very ambiguous. Economically, the trade cooperation between Germany and Switzerland has a long history, and even until the outbreak of World War II, Switzerland also provided loans to Germany of up to 100 million Swiss francs, and also sold electricity to Germany, allowing Germany to continue to maintain industrial production.
In addition, some swiss precision watch factories also supply precision parts to Germany, allowing Germany to manufacture weapons of war. At the same time, Switzerland refused to help the persecuted Jews, shutting out more than 100,000 Jews and embezzling Jewish property, even handing it over to the notorious SS. It was not until after Germany's surrender that Switzerland formally ceased these acts.
So, perhaps considering the cooperation between Switzerland and Germany, in order to be able to continue to profit from it, Hitler did not choose to invade Switzerland in the end.