Military history of Switzerland

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The military history of Switzerland comprises centuries of armed actions, and the role of the Swiss military in conflicts and peacekeeping worldwide. Despite maintaining neutrality since its independence from the Holy Roman Empire in 1499,^[1] Switzerland has been involved in military operations dating back to the hiring of Swiss mercenaries by foreign nations, including the Papal States.

Old Swiss Confederacy

Late in the thirteenth century, soldiers drawn from the cantons of Switzerland gained a military reputation throughout Europe. This reputation was earned as a result of their defense against the Austrian

The Swiss Guard has its origins in 1506 when Pope Julius II hired them as "bodyguards"; however the group of soldiers was large enough to be considered an army. This is appropriate, seeing as the Papal States took up one-third of Italy at the time, requiring extensive protection. The pope enlisted them, seeing as he believed they were the best at the time. Currently, it is illegal for Swiss citizens to join another country's armed forces except as members of the Swiss Guard protecting the Vatican.^[2] Military service abroad of dual nationals is permitted under certain circumstances.

Internal conflicts after the Reformation

The Swiss peasant war of 1653 was a popular revolt by the rural populations of several cantons. The rebellion was suppressed, but it led to a series of reforms. In 1656, tensions between Protestants and Catholics re-emerged and led to the outbreak of the First War of Villmergen. A new conflict in 1712 caused the Second War of Villmergen, which overturned the balance of power to the Protestant cantons. The religious conflicts were renewed in 1847, resulting in the Sonderbund War and leading to the formation of Switzerland as a federal state.

Helvetic Republic

In 1798 the French army

During the 1814-15 Congress of Vienna the neutrality of Switzerland was guaranteed by the signatories.

Birth of the federal state

In the

The first

Paragraph 19 of the revised constitution of 1874 extended the definition of the federal army to every able-bodied citizen, swelling the size of the army at least in theory from below 150,000 to more than 700,000, with population growth during the 20th century rising further to some 1.5 million, one of the largest armed force per capita.^{[citation needed]}

The World Wars

During World War I, Switzerland remained a neutral state. In World War II, Germany made some plans for the invasion of Switzerland, most notably Operation Tannenbaum, but these were never carried out. However Swiss air space was repeatedly violated, both by German and Allied aircraft.

World War I

A major

The third complete mobilization of the army took place during World War II under the command of Henri Guisan.

Switzerland's military strategy during World War II was essentially one of deterrence. The idea was to make clear to the Third Reich that an invasion would have a high cost. Simultaneously, economic concessions were made to Germany in the hope that the overall cost of a German invasion would be perceived as higher than the potential benefits. Despite this, it is clear that Hitler intended to invade eventually and that the Allied landing at Normandy as well as the difficulties faced in invading Russia were pivotal in merely delaying an invasion.^[4] After Switzerland was surrounded by German and Italian forces of Operation Tannenbaum, General Guisan revealed on 25 July 1940 at the so-called Rütli rapport, a meeting of the Swiss Armed Forces staff at the founding site of the Swiss confederation, that in case of attack the Swiss would only defend the high Alps including the important transalpine roads and rail links. As a last resort, the army would make these routes useless to the Axis by destroying key bridges and tunnels. This plan, known as the National Redoubt, meant that the populated lowlands – including the economic centres of the country – would effectively be ceded to the Germans and to the Italians. The gold reserves of the Swiss National Bank in Zürich were moved farther away from the German border, to the Gotthard Pass and to Bern.^[5]

Many billions of Swiss francs have been invested in building the fortifications in the mountains, which are partly still used by the army. The most important buildings of the

At the end of the 1950s, reflecting both the threat of possible invasion by the

In 1989, the status of the army as a national icon was shaken by a

In 2003, for the first time since 1815, Switzerland deployed troops on foreign soil. The Swiss Armed Forces deployed 31 soldiers to Afghanistan. Swiss participation in the

In 2016, the Swiss Federal Assembly voted to further reduce the army from 140,000 men to 100,000 men, reducing the time of basic training from 21 weeks to 18, but also to increase the military budget by 2.4 billion Swiss francs.^[13] In 2022, the Assembly voted to increase spending by 1.4 billion Swiss francs by 2030, or at least 1% of the country's GDP.^[14] The government planned to spend up to 50 billion Swiss francs on defense through the early 2030s.^[15] In 2024, the Armed Forces was projected to face significant funding shortfalls.^[16]

In 2019, Lieutenant Colonel Christine Hug became the first openly transgender officer in the Swiss Army.^[17]

See also

• History of the Swiss Air Force
• Battles of the Old Swiss Confederacy
• List of wars involving Switzerland

References