Switzerland’s Historic Neutrality: Why Doesn’t the Country Take Sides?

Switzerland is as famous for its neutral position in international affairs as it is for banking, chocolates, and alpine landscapes. Indeed, within Europe, Switzerland and Sweden stood at the forefront of longest-tenured neutral states. In modern terms, both countries emerged as neutral states after the Napoleonic Wars in 1814-1815.

Sweden, however, gradually joined international organizations and became a member of NATO in March 2024. On the other hand, Switzerland only entered the United Nations in 2002 amid intense debate and has thus far resisted any effort to join institutions like the European Union or NATO. But what is the history behind Switzerland’s enduring neutrality?

The Swiss were not always neutral. In fact, the Old Swiss Confederation or Confederacy was considered one of the most warlike states in early modern Europe. According to Douglas Miller and Gerry Embleton, their military successes had many admirers, including Italian Renaissance philosopher Niccolò Machiavelli, who dubbed the Swiss “the New Romans.”

However, the Swiss were not destined to forge a new Roman Empire. For example, the 1515 Battle of Marignano severely damaged Switzerland’s military mystique.

Until Marignano, the Swiss extended their territory into several areas of northern Italy. However, the bloody battle, which took place outside Milan, ended in a Franco-Venetian victory over the Swiss.

In the battle’s aftermath, the Swiss Confederation embraced neutrality. The 1648 Peace of Westphalia, which marked the end of the devastating Thirty Years War, officially recognized Swiss neutrality.

While the Confederation observed a neutral stance in international conflicts, this did not stop the Swiss from fighting. For instance, many Swiss continued to pursue military careers either individually in foreign armies or as part of mercenary units purchased by foreign rulers.

For example, France’s King Louis XVI’s ill-fated Swiss Guard during the French Revolution and the Vatican’s Swiss Guard are the two most famous examples of Swiss soldiers in the foreign service.

French Revolutionary and Napoleonic Switzerland 

Neutrality could not stem the tide of the French Revolution from reaching Switzerland. Indeed, the country became a battlefield as the French Revolutionary Republic’s armies battled Austrian and Russian opponents across Switzerland in the late 1790s.

General Andre Massena’s victory over a combined Russian and Austrian army at Zurich in September 1799 secured French influence in Switzerland.

Revolutionary France also oversaw the creation of a Helvetic Republic in 1798 with enthusiastic Swiss supporters. Yet, this did not guarantee Swiss support for French interests.

In fact, Napoleon believed the Swiss posed a challenge to French interests, especially involving access to Italy. As Andrew Roberts notes, Napoleon wrote in September 1802 that either a new pro-French Swiss government should be formed or there would be “no Switzerland.”

As a result, Napoleon announced the Act of Mediation in 1803. Alexander Grab explains this transformed Switzerland by creating a fragile central government and nineteen cantons. The following month, in October 1803, one of Napoleon’s future marshals, Michel Ney, led an army through Switzerland to impose French authority.

For example, Andrew Roberts says Ney’s army quickly occupied Zurich and crushed a rebellion in Bern. At the same time, Ney oversaw the installation of a pro-French government in the Swiss capital, Bern. Moreover, Ney extracted a hefty sum from the government to pay for this military operation.

While Switzerland remained officially neutral, the country was a French satellite state. For example, Switzerland furnished Napoleon’s army with thousands of troops. Alexander Grab says that 9,000 Swiss troops served in Napoleon’s army alone during the 1812 invasion of Russia. Only about 700 of those soldiers returned from Russia.

Swiss support for Napoleon ended after the battle of Leipzig in 1813. The following year, Austrian Chancellor Clemens von Metternich was furious that the Swiss decided to embrace neutrality rather than join the fight against Napoleon.

The end of the Napoleonic Wars in 1814-1815 brought sweeping changes to the map of Europe. Switzerland duly underwent considerable territorial and political change after the Napoleonic Wars. This change was set out during the Congress of Vienna, organized by the so-called Great Powers who had defeated Napoleon, namely Austria, Britain, Prussia, and Russia.

The recognition of Swiss neutrality was one of the many developments to emerge from the Congress of Vienna. Europe’s Great Powers, which came to include post-Napoleonic France, recognized Swiss neutrality largely thanks to the diplomatic efforts of Geneva’s Charles Pictet de Rochemont.

A New Switzerland in the Revolutionary 1840s

In the decades following the Napoleonic Wars, Switzerland endured internal turbulence and conflict within the diverse cantons. Indeed, much of Europe experienced economic, social, and political turmoil in the 1830s and 1840s.

Political and religious divisions within Switzerland ultimately led to a brief civil war in 1847. Although Otto von Bismarck dismissed it as nothing more than a “hare shoot,” the short war was significant for Switzerland. Although it lasted less than thirty days, the fighting produced a new constitution in 1848.

The new Swiss government, established in the aftermath of the civil war, was a federal system that retained traditional privileges and authority for the country’s diverse territories known as cantons.

Switzerland became well-known as a neutral state and a major hub for discussions surrounding international humanitarian law. Genevan Henry Dunant’s co-founding in 1863 of what would become the Red Cross would further strengthen Switzerland’s credentials as a neutral power.

Dunant lobbied for international agreements regarding sick and wounded soldiers. This led to the first Geneva Convention in 1864. For his role in organizing the Red Cross and Geneva Conventions, Dunant became a co-recipient of the first Nobel Peace Prize in 1901.

Switzerland’s geographic position and external events continued to test the country’s neutrality in the twentieth century. For example, the outbreak of the First World War in August 1914 shook Switzerland as it did much of the rest of Europe.

Indeed, many Swiss volunteered to join one of the opposing armies. Today, across Switzerland, one encounters memorials to Swiss soldiers who served and died in the two world wars. The country, however, remained neutral and helped organize Red Cross initiatives. Moreover, at times, Swiss troops became involved in border clashes.

The interwar years (between WWI and WWII) strengthened Switzerland’s neutral and international image. For example, Swiss cities like Lausanne hosted important treaty negotiations, such as the one that ended the Greco-Turkish War in 1923.

Geneva also became the headquarters of the forerunner to the United Nations, the League of Nations, in November 1920.

Switzerland’s neutral status and these interwar international peace initiatives did not prevent the country from being a possible target during the Second World War.

However, the army’s commander, General Henri Guisan, was determined to defend Swiss neutrality. In June 1940, Switzerland’s sovereignty and neutrality appeared in grave danger. For example, Fascist Italy’s entry into the war and Nazi Germany’s conquest of France meant that the country was now virtually surrounded by the Axis Powers.

According to Regula Ludi, in July 1940, Guisan gathered high-ranking Swiss officers in a highly choreographed ceremony at the Rütli meadow in central Switzerland. Rütli is the place in Swiss lore where the first Swiss Confederation was born in the thirteenth century.

At Rütli, Guisan declared his intention to defend the country in the event of an attack. The symbolism was clear: the Swiss commanding officer announced his resolve to save Switzerland from foreign invaders on the same site where the country’s history began.

Guisan’s declaration made him a national hero. His plan, known as Réduit national, called for concentrating over 400,000 Swiss troops into impregnable positions deep within the Alps.

However, General Guisan’s efforts did not wholly isolate Switzerland from the violence and destruction of the Second World War. For example, several Swiss towns and cities, including Schaffhausen, were bombed. Controversy long swirled around whether bombings of Swiss territory were intentional or accidental.

Moreover, the war gave rise to multiple controversies regarding Switzerland’s neutrality. Indeed, by the war’s end, Swiss neutrality became a massive diplomatic issue for the country. Regula Ludi explains that the Swiss ignored Allied warnings about Nazi looting as early as 1942. Even more damaging, according to Ludi, was the Swiss refusal to cut ties with Nazi Germany even after the latter no longer posed a military threat to Switzerland.

However, the most enduring wartime controversy involved the extent of Swiss cooperation with Nazi Germany. The refusal to sever diplomatic ties with the Nazis only opened additional questions internationally about Switzerland’s role in the Second World War.

Lawsuits against several leading Swiss banks in the 1990s by organizations like the World Jewish Congress brought international attention, renewed scholarly interest, and a historic settlement. As Ludi points out, the outcome damaged both Swiss banks and the country’s image as a neutral power. Scholars found that Swiss banks and Swiss authorities had not followed through on promises to identify heirless assets of Holocaust victims and transfer the funds to Jewish reconstruction organizations as agreed upon in 1946.

Further revelations included the extent to which Swiss authorities during the war suppressed information they deemed would be controversial domestically, including reports of Nazi atrocities. Ultimately, the lawsuit brought by the World Jewish Congress was settled in the summer of 1998.

Post-WWII Switzerland retained its neutral and international character. Indeed, it became a hub for international organizations as it had been in prior decades. For instance, one of the United Nations‘ four major offices is in Geneva today. The UN building there is the former headquarters of the League of Nations.

Regula Ludi points out that Switzerland’s history of neutrality and economic prosperity gave rise to the myth of Sonderfall Schweiz, or “Special Case Switzerland.” This view argues that Switzerland and its national history stand apart from the rest of Europe, mainly because of the long history of neutrality and support for humanitarian initiatives.

However, the 1990s scandals concerning Swiss banking and Holocaust victim assets called this story into question. What is more, Ludi says this controversy helped prompt a broader reexamination of different European governments’ relationships with Nazi Germany during the Second World War.

Moreover, the overview above makes it clear that while Switzerland’s experience in many significant events may differ from others, the country’s story remains deeply linked to that of Europe.

In other words, the Swiss have not been on the sidelines of Europe’s history, whether that story involves the French Revolutionary and Napoleonic Wars, the two world wars, and beyond.