Switzerland's anti-war policy helped preserve historical sites and ancient cities intact
We were sitting in a small café in the mountains of southern Switzerland, enjoying a local version of risotto cooked with local wine, surrounded by pleasing green slopes, and next to us lay a centuries-old hamlet where even now no one uses electricity. Both of my companions were Swiss, but one of them usually spoke Italian, while the other preferred German. For my sake, both switched to English, for which I was grateful. This happened more than once during my trip through this country, and I understood that I owed it to Switzerland's famous commitment to neutrality.
The hamlet where we had lunch had survived many wars on the Old Continent and remained completely untouched—simply because here, in Switzerland, there were no wars. Switzerland's borders are easily permeable. Europeans can cross them as easily as locals switch from one language to another, from one national cuisine to another. Even the way this country is organized can be seen as an embodiment of the idea of peaceful coexistence.
Speaking of the political system, it is direct democracy. From a cultural perspective, there are four language groups, and moving from canton to canton, you feel as if you are in a new country each time: sometimes it's Italy (Canton Ticino), sometimes Germany (if you're in Zurich), sometimes France (if you're in Geneva), sometimes the Romansh areas (Canton Graubünden).
And then, as I once again raised a forkful of risotto to my mouth, one of my dining companions suddenly uttered a phrase that jolted me out of my cocoon of complacency: Switzerland, he noted, this worldwide bastion of neutrality and peacemaking, was once a country of mercenaries.
The gears in my head clicked and turned. I remembered how yesterday I walked along the crenellated walls of the famous castles of Bellinzona, the main city of Canton Ticino, and thought about the Middle Ages, when the Milanese, the French, and the young Swiss Confederation fought over these places. Those stone citadels, now UNESCO World Heritage sites, remind us of the long history of struggle among tribes, cantons, and countries for control over strategically important Ticino and the pass to the Alps.
The Swiss have a rich military history, and they by no means always observed neutrality. However, ironically, it is the country's current anti-war policy that we must thank for tourists being able to see undestroyed evidence of distant history today.
“The fruits of neutrality are everywhere here,” says Clive Church, professor emeritus of European studies at Britain's University of Kent and author of several books on Swiss history and politics. “Tell me: where are the traces of bombing in any Swiss city?”
The answer is none. “Come to any city in the country, and it will appear before you as it became, gradually developing since ancient times—no one ever invaded it, destroyed it. The advantages of neutrality are very clear—the past is untouched.”
The professor is right—you clearly understand this when you stroll through Swiss cities that seem to have come into our world from an old fairy tale. The entire Old Town of Bern, the capital of Switzerland, is a UNESCO World Heritage site. It is full of historical sandstone buildings, romantic arcades and fountains, not to mention the famous clock tower built in 1530. At the opposite end of the country, in Switzerland's oldest city, Chur, you can see well-preserved fragments of Roman-era defensive structures. The three ancient castles of Bellinzona and the stone houses in the neighboring historical hamlets are also in excellent condition.
However, not all visitors to Switzerland know about its neutrality and military past. “I encounter two types of tourists,” says Lydia Muralt, a historian, guide, and co-owner of the travel company Lynvi Switzerland. “Those who don't know that Switzerland is a neutral country, and those who do. The first are very surprised when they hear that we are primarily neutral, and therefore it is almost impossible to find traces of war in our country. The second find it hard to understand the essence of our neutrality: does it mean we don't care about the world around us? Or do we simply have no opinion about what is happening in the world?”
Muralt told me that the Swiss government's website has a definition of the policy of neutrality, which I looked up. It turned out that in addition to the humanitarian aspect, which receives primary attention, several rules are listed: the country must refrain from participating in war, not allow warring states to use its territory, and not supply mercenaries to warring parties.
The last point is a clear reference to past events. In the Middle Ages, Switzerland knew how to win wars. It knew how to do it so well that it turned it into a business.
“Basically, mercenary services were provided for economic reasons,” says Laurent Goetschel, professor of political science at the University of Basel and director of the research institute Swisspeace. “The Old Swiss Confederation was a very poor country—its territory was unsuitable for large-scale agriculture, it had no access to the sea, no overseas colonies with their resources, so mercenary service became simply a source of income.”
The Swiss were good at fighting, so this skill brought them good income for a long time—until they suffered defeat. The moment of truth came in 1515 at the Battle of Marignano, when the French and Venetians, armed with artillery and armored cavalry, routed the Swiss with their pikes and spears. Alas, battles are won by new technologies, not brave warriors. “After that defeat, they realized that no matter how brave a soldier you are, with a halberd against artillery you can do nothing,” says Church. “And they withdrew from any participation in European political squabbles.”
Instead, the Swiss began to provide their military services almost exclusively to France, which allowed them to stay in profit and also spared them from awkward situations they had occasionally encountered before—when Swiss mercenaries fought in both opposing armies. By then it had become clear that the Swiss had participated in too many wars, on the side of too many states, for it to be possible to choose just one and fight only on its side from then on... Moreover, each of the leading European powers wanted to annex Switzerland because of its strategically important location.
In 1814-1815, at the Congress of Vienna (a pan-European conference that produced a system of treaties aimed at restoring the monarchies destroyed by the French Revolution of 1789 and the Napoleonic Wars), the new borders of European states were defined. The continent had been thoroughly shaken during the French Revolutionary Wars (in which the Swiss served the French monarchy as bodyguards, including the last King of France, Louis XVI) and the Napoleonic Wars (when the French invaded Switzerland and destroyed the old confederation). And the Swiss came up with an elegant proposal that suited everyone on the continent at the time: let us be a neutral country.
As Professor Gottschel emphasizes, “your neutrality only makes sense when other powers recognize it.” The declaration of neutrality, drafted by Swiss diplomat Charles de Rochmont, was ratified at the Congress of Vienna. Since then, Switzerland has become what it remains to this day—a state that takes no one’s side.
At the Red Cross Museum in Geneva, another consequence of the country’s neutral status becomes evident: its involvement in humanitarian aid efforts around the world. It all began in the 1860s, when Geneva businessman Henry Dunant went to Italy on business. He hoped to resolve disputes over trade routes, but when he saw how horribly soldiers wounded in the bloody battles instigated by Napoleon III were treated, he decided to focus on creating an international humanitarian organization—the Red Cross.
By that time, Switzerland was doing quite well. The creation of the Red Cross increased international trust in the country, led to the drafting of the first Geneva Convention in 1864, brought it the Nobel Peace Prize in 1901, and endowed it with what Clive Church calls “soft power.”
But the subsequent world wars were a severe test for this new reputation—especially World War II, during which Switzerland kept Nazi assets in its banks, including so-called “Jewish gold,” and refused to accept Jewish refugees. “From a Swiss point of view, neutrality worked successfully to the extent that the country managed to avoid direct participation in hostilities,” explains Laurent Gottschel. “There has been much debate about this—especially regarding Switzerland’s role in World War II—but the country did not participate in military action.”
Such legalism, however, does not clarify for those who want to fully understand the Swiss position an interesting question: if the country is neutral, why does it need armed forces?
“Swiss neutrality has always been armed,” comments Clive Church. “Someday someone might attack, so you need an army to defend your country.”
The same logic underlay the creation of an extensive network of underground bunkers, hospitals, and shelters during World War II (many of which are still open to tourists). As for the modern armed forces, you are likely to encounter their representatives while traveling through the country. I once rode a city bus in Chur alongside cheerful conscripts, and in a Zurich square I watched a solemn ceremony where military school graduates passed the flag to new recruits.
To get a fuller picture of how modern Swiss neutrality works and what it brings the country, you can take a tour of the parliament building in Bern, visit the international research center CERN (half in Switzerland, half in France), and the UN headquarters in Geneva. Interestingly, Switzerland only became a UN member in 2002. Even more interestingly, it is still not a member of the European Union.
Or, while traveling through Switzerland, you can simply keep your eyes, ears, and... mouth wide open, so as not to miss anything that makes this state such a unique blend of cultures, languages, and cuisines that came here from the countries the Swiss encountered in their history, including on battlefields. And, by the way, be sure to try the risotto.
Billy COHEN.
Columnist for BBC.