WEBVTT - What's the deal with Swiss neutrality? 0:00:01.480 --> 0:00:07.720 Welcome to Stuff you Should Know, a production of iHeartRadio. 0:00:11.480 --> 0:00:14.080 Hey, and welcome to the podcast. I'm Josh, and there's 0:00:14.280 --> 0:00:17.119 chalk and Jerry's here too, and this is stuff you 0:00:17.160 --> 0:00:18.760 should know, everybody. 0:00:19.079 --> 0:00:21.599 That's right, we're talking about one of the two things 0:00:21.640 --> 0:00:22.680 switzerm One is known for. 0:00:23.960 --> 0:00:30.240 What it's not cheese Okay, then chocolate, that's true. Three 0:00:30.240 --> 0:00:39.760 things okay, cuckoo clocks, four things, beautiful mountains, five things. 0:00:39.240 --> 0:00:42.760 Beautiful people, roasty, six things, seven things. All right, let's 0:00:42.760 --> 0:00:46.559 just cut to the chase. Then there's a lot to Switzerland, everybody. 0:00:46.800 --> 0:00:48.920 And this is just one of myriad things we could 0:00:48.920 --> 0:00:52.520 talk about, and that is Swiss neutrality. And I think 0:00:52.520 --> 0:00:57.000 this came to mind because of the recent talks between 0:00:57.040 --> 0:01:02.040 the United States and Iran and a new Switzerland had 0:01:02.440 --> 0:01:03.760 a role to play there, and I'm. 0:01:03.600 --> 0:01:07.000 Like, what the heck is up with that country? 0:01:07.319 --> 0:01:08.399 Did you say that out loud? 0:01:08.600 --> 0:01:11.199 I think I did, And Ruby was like, what country did? 0:01:11.920 --> 0:01:14.360 It's a good idea, Chuck. I had no idea about this, 0:01:14.400 --> 0:01:16.080 and I'm not sure if I ever would have thought 0:01:16.120 --> 0:01:18.959 of doing one on this, but it's actually pretty interesting. 0:01:19.360 --> 0:01:21.640 Yeah, and thanks to Olivia. But I now understand it. 0:01:22.280 --> 0:01:26.039 Yeah, and we should say that. Right before we started recording, 0:01:26.120 --> 0:01:29.640 Jerry announced that she is the Switzerland of stuff. You 0:01:29.680 --> 0:01:30.160 should know. 0:01:31.040 --> 0:01:32.160 Jerry likes to think she is. 0:01:33.880 --> 0:01:35.840 Well, then who would be the Switzerland? 0:01:36.240 --> 0:01:37.520 We have no Switzerland. 0:01:37.840 --> 0:01:38.760 Okay, who are you? 0:01:39.720 --> 0:01:41.800 Uh? I don't know. 0:01:42.200 --> 0:01:47.880 I'm a mix of Turkmenistan and Denmark. Okay, all right, great, 0:01:49.320 --> 0:01:51.160 And that's just where we're going to leave this, because 0:01:51.200 --> 0:01:53.440 let's get back to talking about Switzerland, which is, like 0:01:53.480 --> 0:01:57.560 you said, known for many things, and this neutrality thing 0:01:58.960 --> 0:02:01.840 I had no idea, but it is in stark contrast 0:02:02.040 --> 0:02:05.600 to how Switzerland used to be during the Middle Ages 0:02:06.000 --> 0:02:08.240 or medieval times, if you're one of those people who 0:02:08.280 --> 0:02:09.720 goes to medieval times. 0:02:10.000 --> 0:02:12.200 Yeah, and you know we should point out too, Switzerland's 0:02:12.240 --> 0:02:14.880 not the only neutral country. I think Livia found twenty 0:02:15.080 --> 0:02:19.760 to twenty five basically neutral countries around the world. But 0:02:19.840 --> 0:02:23.040 Switzerland it's a real like when you think of neutral countries, 0:02:23.040 --> 0:02:25.360 I think most people would say Switzerland because they've taken 0:02:26.560 --> 0:02:28.960 not just neutrality as a stance, but like a really 0:02:29.000 --> 0:02:33.400 active neutrality and like, hey, come and settle your warring 0:02:33.480 --> 0:02:37.320 disputes here in our friendly confines, or your financial disputes 0:02:37.320 --> 0:02:38.440 and our friendly confines. 0:02:39.320 --> 0:02:41.600 Yeah. As a matter of fact, Switzerland is the only 0:02:41.639 --> 0:02:44.200 country that comes to mind when I think of neutrality. 0:02:44.240 --> 0:02:49.839 I had honestly no idea that other countries were officially neutral. Yeah, 0:02:49.880 --> 0:02:51.560 like Ireland is Did you know that? 0:02:52.200 --> 0:02:53.160 No, but I believe it. 0:02:53.800 --> 0:02:57.639 Okay, well, at any rate, Yes, they are the standard, 0:02:57.680 --> 0:03:04.760 the gold standard, the Nazi gold state of neutral countries. So, 0:03:05.280 --> 0:03:07.960 like I said, the whole thing kind of, I think 0:03:08.200 --> 0:03:12.959 it was officially neutral as of like the eighteen teens. 0:03:12.840 --> 0:03:16.239 Right, yeah, and then eighteen fifty one, I think when 0:03:16.240 --> 0:03:20.600 they formerly became a country. But right, but yeah, but 0:03:20.600 --> 0:03:22.400 you promised talk to the Middle Ages. And it is 0:03:22.440 --> 0:03:25.600 interesting that we can go back to the thirteenth century 0:03:25.680 --> 0:03:27.120 to kind of see the beginnings of this. 0:03:27.960 --> 0:03:30.560 Yeah, apparently this is where William Tell comes from too. 0:03:31.080 --> 0:03:36.280 Did you know that? No? I know shamefully little about 0:03:36.280 --> 0:03:39.760 William Tell's I was reading I think it's swiss info 0:03:40.520 --> 0:03:45.320 ch They're like the English speaking outlet for Switzerland, and 0:03:45.360 --> 0:03:47.520 this article this guy was writing. He's like, we all 0:03:47.560 --> 0:03:49.480 know the story of William Tell, blah blah blah, And 0:03:49.480 --> 0:03:51.680 I was like, actually, I don't know anything that you 0:03:51.880 --> 0:03:52.520 just mentioned. 0:03:53.480 --> 0:03:55.320 Yeah, agreed. He has a heck of an overture, that's 0:03:55.320 --> 0:03:55.680 all I know. 0:03:56.520 --> 0:03:59.600 Yeah, apparently so I here in the United States, everybody, 0:03:59.640 --> 0:04:02.760 we're that William Tell shot the apple off of his 0:04:02.880 --> 0:04:06.280 kid's head to show off like his skills. Apparently he 0:04:06.440 --> 0:04:09.480 was forced to do that by some evil, evil Austrian 0:04:09.840 --> 0:04:13.760 like overlords who had taken over Switzerland. And William Tell's 0:04:13.800 --> 0:04:20.240 actually a resistance fighter who helped Switzerland overthrow those Austrian overlords. Fantastic, 0:04:20.839 --> 0:04:23.560 but he comes out of this time, right. So, Switzerland, 0:04:23.560 --> 0:04:26.800 like you said, until the eighteen fifties or sixties, was 0:04:26.839 --> 0:04:31.760 a confederation. It's still known as the Swiss Confederation of Cantons, 0:04:31.920 --> 0:04:37.039 which would be like states, provinces, maybe counties, but they're independent, 0:04:37.080 --> 0:04:42.120 little municipalities that all together form Switzerland or the Swiss Confederation. 0:04:42.480 --> 0:04:44.400 And that's where the whole thing starts. Back in twelve 0:04:44.520 --> 0:04:48.880 ninety one, there was an alliance between three of these cantons. 0:04:49.240 --> 0:04:55.000 Now there's like twenty five Uri, Schwitz, Schweits maybe and 0:04:55.240 --> 0:04:59.440 untor Walden Valden Walden, yeah, yeah, and they formed the 0:04:59.520 --> 0:05:01.080 valds Thought Alliance. 0:05:02.120 --> 0:05:08.280 Yeah, Stett Stett Voldstetta Alliance. 0:05:08.360 --> 0:05:09.800 I would say, I think I don't know if the 0:05:09.839 --> 0:05:12.760 East pronounce well, I know that that gives you a 0:05:12.760 --> 0:05:14.840 certain thrill, but I think the umlaut would make it 0:05:15.200 --> 0:05:16.880 a stett stett. 0:05:17.760 --> 0:05:19.120 Say it again, say the whole thing. 0:05:19.800 --> 0:05:25.280 The Woldschtez Alliance. These were basically free peasants at the time, 0:05:26.640 --> 0:05:29.800 and they you know, partially the reason this all goes 0:05:29.839 --> 0:05:32.640 down is because of their location in the Alps, kind 0:05:32.640 --> 0:05:35.800 of isolated from a lot of Europe. And so they 0:05:35.839 --> 0:05:41.040 were isolated, these free peasants from a lot of the. 0:05:39.520 --> 0:05:41.680 Feudal hierarchies all over Europe. 0:05:42.240 --> 0:05:45.640 And they were like in a good like geographic position 0:05:46.400 --> 0:05:49.320 because they were there in those mountain passes with Italy 0:05:49.360 --> 0:05:52.760 to the south and you know German speaking people's to 0:05:52.839 --> 0:05:56.280 the north, and so they were there as like hey, 0:05:56.320 --> 0:05:59.480 we're kind of here in the middle. So that kind 0:05:59.480 --> 0:06:01.760 of started the whole thing of like, hey, everyone wants 0:06:01.800 --> 0:06:03.560 to get along with them because they needed them. 0:06:04.000 --> 0:06:06.359 Yeah, they've they've from time to time served as a 0:06:06.440 --> 0:06:10.600 very useful buffer which has helped other outside nations support 0:06:10.680 --> 0:06:14.040 their bid for neutrality right and just to be left alone. Yeah, 0:06:14.080 --> 0:06:17.880 at the same time, that isolation, like you said, from 0:06:17.920 --> 0:06:20.320 time to time some of their neighbors would break it 0:06:20.360 --> 0:06:23.880 and try to basically take over Switzerland and in wood 0:06:23.880 --> 0:06:27.039 to varying successes from time to time. Like I said, 0:06:27.720 --> 0:06:31.320 but the isolation and the fact that they were mostly 0:06:31.360 --> 0:06:34.760 independent made Switzerland or still to this day, that gave 0:06:34.760 --> 0:06:41.440 them this fiercely independent streak as a nation that they 0:06:41.480 --> 0:06:45.080 see themselves as like it's a different thing. They're separate thing. 0:06:45.120 --> 0:06:49.120 They're nothing like a typical nation whatsoever. They're their own thing. 0:06:49.200 --> 0:06:51.000 And one of the big things, you can almost call 0:06:51.040 --> 0:06:53.760 it a brand, is their neutrality. 0:06:53.880 --> 0:06:54.360 That's right. 0:06:54.920 --> 0:06:57.200 And when they formed that Bulstead Alliance, it wasn't the 0:06:57.200 --> 0:07:00.640 biggest deal because that that had always kind of been 0:07:00.680 --> 0:07:03.440 the deal with them, So it was really just renewing 0:07:03.560 --> 0:07:06.400 these ties that had already been around for a long time. 0:07:07.520 --> 0:07:10.600 But everyone later on would say, oh, actually, that's kind 0:07:10.600 --> 0:07:14.200 of when Switzerland started coming together as what would later 0:07:14.240 --> 0:07:17.640 be a country. Yeah, And then more cantons came aboard, 0:07:17.720 --> 0:07:20.920 the alliance got a little bigger and started getting referred 0:07:20.960 --> 0:07:24.760 to as the old Swiss Confederation the new one that 0:07:24.760 --> 0:07:27.640 we have now, and that's when they started becoming like 0:07:27.680 --> 0:07:32.600 a real kind of piece of the military puzzle that 0:07:32.680 --> 0:07:34.000 was going on all around them. 0:07:34.680 --> 0:07:38.160 I'm very I'm certain when back in the thirteenth century 0:07:38.200 --> 0:07:40.600 they were confused when people called it the Old Swiss 0:07:40.600 --> 0:07:43.120 Confederation because it was present to them. 0:07:42.720 --> 0:07:44.520 They're like, what are you talking about. 0:07:45.000 --> 0:07:47.480 So it was around this time that the Swiss actually 0:07:47.520 --> 0:07:54.520 became militarily mighty. The Swiss actually were known for their 0:07:54.600 --> 0:07:59.360 warlike tendencies and their excellent fighting skills, so much so 0:07:59.520 --> 0:08:02.040 that as they kind of grew and started to take 0:08:02.960 --> 0:08:07.080 part in European wars during the medieval era. In the 0:08:07.280 --> 0:08:11.440 very very early modern era, apparently Niccolomachiavelli referred to them 0:08:11.480 --> 0:08:15.880 as the new Romans, this conquering group of incredibly well 0:08:15.920 --> 0:08:20.040 trained fighters that were willing to take on the world. Essentially, 0:08:20.200 --> 0:08:23.560 that's that was the image of Switzerland. It's like the 0:08:23.600 --> 0:08:25.720 total opposite of how we viewed Switzerland. 0:08:25.880 --> 0:08:27.560 Yeah, yeah, totally. 0:08:28.120 --> 0:08:30.680 And you know, they had some pretty decent military upsets 0:08:30.760 --> 0:08:34.480 leading up to the beginning of the sixteenth century, and 0:08:34.520 --> 0:08:36.520 that's when they started to kind of move away from 0:08:36.520 --> 0:08:40.920 that idea because there were some really big countries and 0:08:40.960 --> 0:08:45.000 countries getting together and like forming larger alliances around them, 0:08:45.040 --> 0:08:46.719 and they were, you know, they were still even though 0:08:46.760 --> 0:08:49.040 they had some military might, they realized they were probably 0:08:49.120 --> 0:08:52.800 smallish compared to other places that were popping up around them, sure, 0:08:53.480 --> 0:08:57.400 notably the Holy Roman Empire. Of course, France, Spain and 0:08:57.440 --> 0:08:59.920 Italy kind of all over the place over there trying 0:09:00.160 --> 0:09:03.439 to get at least control in the sixteenth century of 0:09:03.480 --> 0:09:06.800 the Duchy of Milan, and that's when the Swiss came 0:09:06.840 --> 0:09:09.600 out and they're like, hey, you know, the different cantons 0:09:09.600 --> 0:09:13.880 had different ideas on who they should support, which would 0:09:13.960 --> 0:09:17.840 kind of become a recurring theme of like who they 0:09:17.840 --> 0:09:20.839 should have allegiance to and not necessarily agreeing. So maybe 0:09:20.880 --> 0:09:24.920 remaining neutral was the best path of least resistance, I guess. 0:09:25.000 --> 0:09:27.720 But in this case, at the time, they started out 0:09:27.760 --> 0:09:31.840 backing France, then switched to the Italians, and then at 0:09:31.880 --> 0:09:37.199 the Battle of Mariniano in fifteen fifteen, the French kind 0:09:37.240 --> 0:09:40.839 of kicked their butts, the French and Venetians, and they 0:09:40.840 --> 0:09:44.520 were like, all right, we lost ten thousand infantry people, 0:09:44.640 --> 0:09:48.040 so like, maybe we need to really rethink putting our 0:09:48.160 --> 0:09:49.880 eggs in baskets of other countries. 0:09:50.200 --> 0:09:54.079 Yeah, ten thousand was half of the entire Swiss military 0:09:54.120 --> 0:09:57.720 force was killed at this one battle. So yeah, It 0:09:57.760 --> 0:09:59.640 was a really big deal, so much so that they 0:09:59.640 --> 0:10:03.439 were like, yeah, this whole warlike thing is not really 0:10:03.440 --> 0:10:06.199 working out all of a sudden, let's explore the idea 0:10:06.200 --> 0:10:09.319 of being neutral. And it wasn't just that, but from 0:10:09.480 --> 0:10:12.640 everything I've seen, that battle was a decisive turning point 0:10:12.679 --> 0:10:15.559 for the mentality among the Swiss about, you know, taking 0:10:15.600 --> 0:10:19.080 part in European wars. But there were other things that 0:10:19.200 --> 0:10:24.599 kind of contributed to that decision. One was the Protestant Reformation, 0:10:25.600 --> 0:10:29.600 because different cantons in different parts of the country supported 0:10:29.840 --> 0:10:34.560 or were Protestant or were Catholic, right, Yeah, And that's 0:10:34.600 --> 0:10:37.079 a very sticky situation when you're trying to keep these 0:10:37.120 --> 0:10:40.760 cantons part of a confederation. Right, there's no central government 0:10:40.800 --> 0:10:43.280 that's telling the cantons, no, you can't do this, No 0:10:43.360 --> 0:10:46.920 you can't do that. They're a confederation essentially, so they're 0:10:46.960 --> 0:10:50.440 all still quite independent, but they're all still also Swiss. 0:10:50.800 --> 0:10:53.880 So that in and of itself meant like, how can 0:10:53.920 --> 0:10:57.360 you participate in European wars when half of your cantons 0:10:57.720 --> 0:10:59.199 want to go to war with one another? 0:10:59.280 --> 0:10:59.439 Yeah? 0:10:59.520 --> 0:11:01.120 You know, in the wars out and the rest of 0:11:01.160 --> 0:11:05.600 Europe are about are between Protestants and Catholics like, you 0:11:05.679 --> 0:11:07.560 just can't do that. So the Swiss said, you know what, 0:11:07.720 --> 0:11:10.440 let's just stay neutral. And this is a good example 0:11:10.520 --> 0:11:14.560 of how being neutral has literally kept the country together 0:11:14.960 --> 0:11:18.400 many times over the years, Like where they're like, our differences, 0:11:18.520 --> 0:11:21.680 as our differences of opinion are too great right now 0:11:21.720 --> 0:11:24.079 among the Cans, so we're just going to not have 0:11:24.120 --> 0:11:25.920 an opinion officially as a country. 0:11:26.559 --> 0:11:27.280 Yeah, for sure. 0:11:27.800 --> 0:11:30.480 Another thing that helped was they got a pretty sweet 0:11:30.480 --> 0:11:34.280 financial deal out of the end of the conflict with 0:11:34.320 --> 0:11:38.000 France in fifteen sixteen. That peace treaty gave them access 0:11:38.040 --> 0:11:41.560 to French markets. They had I think internally they were like, 0:11:41.840 --> 0:11:44.360 I'm not sure if they noticed, but we can do 0:11:44.440 --> 0:11:47.000 business with France now, and we could already do business 0:11:47.400 --> 0:11:50.760 business with other people, So let's just keep flying under 0:11:50.760 --> 0:11:53.160 the radar here financially speaking, because they've got the best 0:11:53.160 --> 0:11:55.440 of both worlds. So they had no one to like 0:11:55.520 --> 0:11:59.440 financial incidentive to bust up. Almost said bust that move, 0:11:59.480 --> 0:12:00.600 but that would be the right term. 0:12:00.679 --> 0:12:07.319 Ial think bus a move on French markets. Yeah, sure, okay, yeah, 0:12:07.400 --> 0:12:13.360 so yes, this is where their business image also started 0:12:13.400 --> 0:12:16.160 to Yeah, this is where the three piece suit was 0:12:16.200 --> 0:12:19.840 invented in the peace treaty between France and Europe in 0:12:19.880 --> 0:12:20.760 fifteen sixteen. 0:12:21.200 --> 0:12:23.160 And let's see, here's a great example. I have no 0:12:23.240 --> 0:12:25.040 idea whether to believe you or not. At this point 0:12:25.040 --> 0:12:25.920 in my life. 0:12:25.679 --> 0:12:27.360 I don't know whether to believe me or not. 0:12:27.440 --> 0:12:30.480 Even at least were aligned. 0:12:31.480 --> 0:12:33.839 So this is a I don't know if you're picking 0:12:33.880 --> 0:12:36.080 up on this, chuck. This is a time of frequent 0:12:36.160 --> 0:12:39.640 wars across Europe. And that's the problem. When you put 0:12:40.160 --> 0:12:45.880 authoritarian despots in charge with limitless riches. They the elites 0:12:45.920 --> 0:12:48.480 wanted to compete among themselves because they want to have 0:12:48.520 --> 0:12:50.640 the biggest castle, or I want to have the most 0:12:50.640 --> 0:12:53.120 people at my command. Yeah, I want to torture the 0:12:53.160 --> 0:12:56.200 most people, right, And they start competing with each other 0:12:56.320 --> 0:12:59.000 and they send their own people off to war with 0:12:59.040 --> 0:13:03.600 one another. It's a great lesson today. It was something 0:13:03.640 --> 0:13:06.720 to learn from, and it happened a lot during this era. 0:13:07.800 --> 0:13:09.559 Yeah, I mean, there were a lot of threats to 0:13:09.640 --> 0:13:12.440 kind of break up this neutrality. The Thirty Years War 0:13:12.600 --> 0:13:16.040 was a big one in sixteen eighteen because again they 0:13:16.080 --> 0:13:21.120 were divided sympathies I guess within those cantons, because what 0:13:21.160 --> 0:13:24.280 you talked about, but religion for the most part, and 0:13:24.760 --> 0:13:27.680 if you got involved in that war as Switzerland, that 0:13:27.720 --> 0:13:30.720 would have kind of torn apart this confederation that they 0:13:30.760 --> 0:13:33.360 had worked so hard to keep together. And so again 0:13:33.400 --> 0:13:35.000 they were like, hey, let's we got to keep a 0:13:35.000 --> 0:13:39.319 good thing going here. Let's remain neutral. And in sixteen 0:13:39.400 --> 0:13:44.760 forty six the Swedes were sort of threatening them, and 0:13:44.840 --> 0:13:46.839 so they're like, well, we need to at least have 0:13:46.880 --> 0:13:49.360 an army though for national defense. We can be neutral, 0:13:49.400 --> 0:13:53.040 but we can't be we can't be rubesure. So each 0:13:53.400 --> 0:13:56.040 canton had like quotas for troops that they had to supply, 0:13:56.200 --> 0:13:59.400 and that's when they were like kind of formed that 0:13:59.600 --> 0:14:02.880 army of for defense purposes, which still exist today. 0:14:03.040 --> 0:14:05.360 So yeah, they created an army in sixteen forty six, 0:14:05.400 --> 0:14:08.880 and then two years later really big thing happened. It's 0:14:08.960 --> 0:14:12.360 just enormous. I'm really impressed. There is this guy named 0:14:12.600 --> 0:14:18.760 Johann Rudolph vechtein Yeah, sounds great. He was the mayor 0:14:18.800 --> 0:14:22.840 of Basil, right, and the Thirty Years War came to 0:14:22.880 --> 0:14:25.800 an end in sixteen forty eight through the piece of Westphalia, 0:14:26.480 --> 0:14:31.360 and vechtein Stein showed up to the piece of West 0:14:31.360 --> 0:14:34.920 Fallia Treaty negotiations. He said, I'm glad you guys are 0:14:34.920 --> 0:14:38.640 doing this. This is fantastic. Keep up the good work. Also, 0:14:38.680 --> 0:14:41.120 I want to talk to everybody about something, even though 0:14:41.160 --> 0:14:44.440 I'm just the mayor of Bosel. I want to make 0:14:44.480 --> 0:14:48.320 sure that Switzerland is represented here because we're just neutral 0:14:48.760 --> 0:14:53.000 and we think that we should no longer be under 0:14:53.080 --> 0:14:56.760 the thumb of the Holy Roman Empire. We think that 0:14:56.840 --> 0:15:02.400 we should have recognition as an dependent nation and also 0:15:02.480 --> 0:15:05.040 we want to be neutral too, And he got it 0:15:05.160 --> 0:15:09.920 passed through, like he gained recognition from these major powers 0:15:09.960 --> 0:15:13.680 of Europe that Switzerland was now its own country. Holy 0:15:13.800 --> 0:15:16.480 Roman Empire, Sorry, you just lost Switzerland. 0:15:17.280 --> 0:15:19.720 Yeah, I mean that was I'm not sure how he 0:15:19.760 --> 0:15:21.320 pulled that off actually at the time, you know. 0:15:22.160 --> 0:15:23.880 With a lottery chocolate I'll tell you. 0:15:23.800 --> 0:15:26.200 That, yeah, and cuckoo clocks. 0:15:27.520 --> 0:15:30.000 So about one hundred years after that, there was another 0:15:30.120 --> 0:15:33.840 threat to their neutrality. This was seventeen nineties, late seventeen 0:15:33.920 --> 0:15:40.160 nineties when the French Revolutionary Republic and Austria and Russia 0:15:40.200 --> 0:15:42.520 were going at it and they kind of eat that 0:15:42.600 --> 0:15:48.160 battle into Switzerland some and I think after that victory 0:15:48.160 --> 0:15:50.880 that was like seventeen ninety eight, close to eighteen hundred, 0:15:51.480 --> 0:15:56.600 the French government created the Helvetic Republic assistern Nation, and 0:15:56.640 --> 0:15:58.160 that covered a lot of Switzerland. 0:15:59.240 --> 0:16:01.680 Yeah. They basically, he said, oh, we just happened to 0:16:01.680 --> 0:16:05.280 create this country that just is within the borders of Switzerland. 0:16:05.280 --> 0:16:07.920 Sorry, Switzerland, see some overlap there, guys. Yeah. 0:16:07.920 --> 0:16:10.480 They basically turned it into a territory. And this is 0:16:10.520 --> 0:16:14.600 pretty much par for the course for Napoleon. He really 0:16:14.680 --> 0:16:16.560 kind of sealed the deal when he sent an army 0:16:16.600 --> 0:16:19.600 to occupy Switzerland, I guess to protect his new made 0:16:19.680 --> 0:16:22.520 up country of Helvetic. I want to say Helvetica is 0:16:22.560 --> 0:16:28.840 so bad. But he essentially plundered Switzerland for the next 0:16:29.080 --> 0:16:35.240 decade in resources and humans. And actually, when he invaded 0:16:35.320 --> 0:16:38.760 Russia in eighteen twelve, he brought some Swiss troops with 0:16:38.840 --> 0:16:41.040 him and they did not do very well there. 0:16:42.040 --> 0:16:45.280 Yeah, they sent nine thousand troops in seven hundred only 0:16:45.320 --> 0:16:49.840 seven hundred came home. Yeah, you know, the tide finally 0:16:49.840 --> 0:16:52.600 turned against Napoleon, and so they were like, all right, thank. 0:16:52.400 --> 0:16:55.040 God, we got rid of this guy. Yeah. And so 0:16:55.320 --> 0:16:56.560 after the Battle of. 0:16:58.160 --> 0:17:01.840 Leipzig in I believe eighteen thirteen, they were like all right, 0:17:01.920 --> 0:17:05.280 we're back to being neutral again. We do have our 0:17:05.320 --> 0:17:08.880 military force, but we're not gonna fight anymore. And in fact, 0:17:09.040 --> 0:17:13.080 in December of eighteen thirteen, when the Austrian Imperial Army 0:17:13.520 --> 0:17:15.080 was like, all right, we want to march through your 0:17:15.080 --> 0:17:17.920 country to go to France, They're like, fine, go right ahead, 0:17:17.960 --> 0:17:19.119 we'll just let you do that. 0:17:19.280 --> 0:17:22.440 Yeah, they just turned their backs and whistled. So one 0:17:22.480 --> 0:17:26.760 other thing happened. There was another another guy named Charles 0:17:26.920 --> 0:17:31.320 Pictet de Rochemont, and also in eighteen thirteen, during the 0:17:32.520 --> 0:17:36.879 peace treaty that ended well Napoleon's reign, I guess essentially 0:17:37.800 --> 0:17:40.320 he showed up and he said, also, we want to 0:17:40.320 --> 0:17:42.720 make sure that we're still getting recognized. We're now the 0:17:42.760 --> 0:17:46.159 Swiss Confederation. And everyone said, you mean the old Swiss 0:17:46.160 --> 0:17:50.199 Confederation and de Rochemont said, no, no, this is brand new. 0:17:50.400 --> 0:17:53.080 It's a new Swiss Confederation. You guys are gonna love it. 0:17:53.600 --> 0:17:57.320 And he was first just the mayor of Geneva, which 0:17:57.359 --> 0:18:01.439 was actually a city state, independenceay state, part of a 0:18:01.480 --> 0:18:05.520 canton now and I guess he did such a good 0:18:05.600 --> 0:18:08.600 job that he ended up representing Switzerland as a whole. 0:18:09.200 --> 0:18:13.239 And this is where their perpetual neutrality was established at 0:18:13.240 --> 0:18:15.600 the eighteen fourteen Congress of Vienna. 0:18:16.680 --> 0:18:18.600 Yeah, that's right, and that was it. 0:18:18.680 --> 0:18:23.399 I mean people generally look back to eighteen fifteen as 0:18:23.440 --> 0:18:28.160 like that's when everything really officially kind of started. When 0:18:28.160 --> 0:18:30.600 they became a unified federal state in eighteen forty eight, 0:18:30.640 --> 0:18:32.920 was when the final stamp was stamped. 0:18:33.080 --> 0:18:37.160 Right, So now we've reached the point where modern Switzerland 0:18:37.280 --> 0:18:40.560 is born and it is officially neutral. It's a sovereign nation, 0:18:40.720 --> 0:18:43.840 but it's still a confederation. Don't forget that. 0:18:43.840 --> 0:18:46.120 That's right, and that is where we're going to take 0:18:46.119 --> 0:18:49.240 a break and we'll be right back with more Swiss 0:18:49.280 --> 0:18:50.240 neutrality right after this. 0:19:10.920 --> 0:19:14.440 So, Chuck, we're in Switzerland now. It's a nice established 0:19:14.480 --> 0:19:19.440 country and part of it is very lovely. Part of 0:19:19.800 --> 0:19:22.520 what you said it needs and should have is a 0:19:22.520 --> 0:19:25.840 military for defense, and still today it has a military. 0:19:25.880 --> 0:19:30.080 In fact, I believe this month the military assembled like 0:19:30.200 --> 0:19:35.640 four thousand troops along the border to basically just keep 0:19:35.720 --> 0:19:38.680 any of the ne'er do wells at the G seventh 0:19:38.720 --> 0:19:42.320 summit spilling over, because the G seventh summits in France 0:19:42.400 --> 0:19:46.679 right now, that's right, But there I guess military presence 0:19:46.720 --> 0:19:50.360 states back I mean much further obviously, but the modern 0:19:50.440 --> 0:19:53.560 version of it is from like the nineteenth century, I think. 0:19:54.160 --> 0:19:58.000 Yeah, And you know, they have to abide by certain 0:19:58.080 --> 0:20:00.440 rules that have happened since then, like the the Hague 0:20:00.440 --> 0:20:04.160 Convention nineteen oh seven. If you're a neutral country, which 0:20:04.200 --> 0:20:06.280 I guess there's like twenty three or so now that 0:20:06.320 --> 0:20:09.960 we've learned that, they can't fight in a war. They 0:20:09.960 --> 0:20:13.720 can't support any other countries warring parties. They can't send 0:20:13.720 --> 0:20:17.240 them weapons like most other countries do. They can't send 0:20:17.320 --> 0:20:20.840 money to help out in a war. They can't say hey, 0:20:20.880 --> 0:20:24.879 we'll host a base here, or your foreign troops can 0:20:24.920 --> 0:20:28.680 stay here for a little while. So, you know, they 0:20:28.680 --> 0:20:31.880 have to remain truly neutral under the Hague Convention, which 0:20:31.920 --> 0:20:34.200 they were. I'm sure they were quite delighted to make 0:20:34.240 --> 0:20:39.800 it official. But they again they've maintained that army because 0:20:39.800 --> 0:20:43.800 they have to have their own defense. And also we 0:20:43.800 --> 0:20:46.600 should point out that the Swiss army knife kind of 0:20:46.600 --> 0:20:50.480 came around in the nineteenth century, the eighteen eighties. It's 0:20:50.480 --> 0:20:52.320 like a literal, you know, if you didn't think the 0:20:52.320 --> 0:20:54.520 Swiss had an army, they had a knife named after them. 0:20:55.480 --> 0:20:57.000 Yeah, of course they had an army. 0:20:57.240 --> 0:21:00.760 For sure, and I mean it really is this army knife. 0:21:01.119 --> 0:21:03.680 They just call it the army knife. I'm guessing in Switzerland, 0:21:03.720 --> 0:21:07.760 but everywhere army knife, Swiss army knife. Yeah. Like the 0:21:07.800 --> 0:21:08.320 cake roll. 0:21:09.800 --> 0:21:11.920 God, I forgot about the cake roll that's another thing. 0:21:12.400 --> 0:21:14.840 Yeah. Well, I don't know that they know that Little 0:21:14.880 --> 0:21:19.200 Debbie is putting their name on its cake rolls, because 0:21:19.200 --> 0:21:23.400 I think they would have a problem with that. Yeah, yeah, 0:21:23.440 --> 0:21:25.479 look it up, Switzerland, You're not going to be happy. 0:21:26.280 --> 0:21:31.000 So World War One was a threat. Obviously all of 0:21:31.040 --> 0:21:34.680 Europe was fighting, but I don't believe Switzerland was drawn 0:21:34.680 --> 0:21:37.840 into it much. World War Two was a much greater threat. 0:21:37.880 --> 0:21:41.199 They had to work much harder to stay neutral and 0:21:41.280 --> 0:21:46.120 to keep the other countries out. And when Germany occupied France, 0:21:46.160 --> 0:21:49.840 all of a sudden, Switzerland was surrounded by the Axis 0:21:50.440 --> 0:21:53.680 and it was a very nervous time. And they managed 0:21:53.720 --> 0:21:58.800 to to amass an army of I think four hundred 0:21:58.840 --> 0:22:02.320 thousand troops in the Alps, and they let everybody know 0:22:03.119 --> 0:22:06.040 we're staying neutral, but if you come here, we're going 0:22:06.080 --> 0:22:09.920 to beat you badly. And it generally worked. I saw 0:22:09.960 --> 0:22:15.280 that they were accidentally bombed several times that other powers 0:22:15.359 --> 0:22:18.040 basically said, oh, we didn't mean to bomb you, sorry, 0:22:18.080 --> 0:22:20.199 but you know, we killed a bunch of your people. 0:22:20.880 --> 0:22:22.679 But for the most part, you know, it worked in 0:22:22.720 --> 0:22:26.120 that they were never invaded by anyone. 0:22:26.240 --> 0:22:26.960 Yeah, for sure. 0:22:27.840 --> 0:22:30.080 You know, just because your neutral doesn't mean that you 0:22:30.200 --> 0:22:32.639 have like you're not taking part in anything to do 0:22:32.720 --> 0:22:35.040 with the war. So they've as you'll see, you know, 0:22:35.040 --> 0:22:36.800 we'll talk about a little later. They have a long 0:22:36.840 --> 0:22:42.359 tradition of receiving refugees like war refugees, but kind of 0:22:42.400 --> 0:22:45.000 shamefully like the US and a lot of other places 0:22:45.040 --> 0:22:48.000 during in the aftermath or during World War Two, they 0:22:49.000 --> 0:22:51.800 they prevented a lot of Jewish people from from the 0:22:51.840 --> 0:22:54.960 Holocaust from finding refuge there. So that's that's one of 0:22:54.960 --> 0:22:56.040 the sort of dark spots. 0:22:56.400 --> 0:23:00.359 Sure. And then still today, if you are a man 0:23:00.480 --> 0:23:03.600