Swiss Neutrality
How Switzerland became a neutral country
I recently had the thought, "Why is Switzerland neutral? I don't remember learning about that in history class?" So I looked it up. Here's what I found out:
The Swiss have been neutral since the signing of the Treaty of Paris in 1815, which ended Napoleon's Hundred Days campaign. During the Hundred Days, the Swiss government armed its foot soldiers with what they purported to be the "most dynamic, and useful piece of military technology ever created."
However, Swiss soldiers suffered the highest percentage of casualties in the documented history of war, losing a staggering 98% of its soldiers sent to fight in the Battle of Waterloo. At Waterloo, when the fighting turned to hand-to-hand combat, Swiss soldiers would brandish their newly developed weaponry, the Swiss Army Knife. Unfortunately for the Swiss soldiers, the enemy was not a handful of lottery scratch-off tickets, but instead the trained soldiers of the French army. I am honestly surprised that even 2% survived the bloodbath.
Hearing field reports of it's army's utter annihilation, the Swiss government quickly decided to remain neutral in all international conflicts from that point onward.
