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Facts About the Military Empire of Switzerland
- ginko 13y agoThis page needs cookies activated to be rendered correctly. Otherwise it ends after the introductory paragraphs.
- philip1209 13y agoSorry, it's running google page speed service. I can disable it.
- psuter 13y agoRegarding fact 1., consider that today 40% of those theoretically supposed to serve never wear a uniform for a reason or another (Roger Federer was famously deemed physically unfit). Switzerland still has an unusually large army, but it has been shrinking continuously for the last 20 years at least. Some of these "facts" are stories we tell tourists (and each other...), nothing else. (Edit: it seems the main source for the original post is a book from the early 80s. That explains a lot.)
- LiveTheDream 13y agoFact 3 is not accurate as of several years ago. Most Swiss soldiers no longer keep ammunition in their homes. These days only a few thousand do so.
- ekianjo 13y agoThe title is a little abusive, you cannot call a country an "Empire" if it does not have territories outside of its natural borders, obtained through conquest or colonization. Other than that: > Every Swiss military member must keep their service rifle and ammunition in their homes. They may be mobilized with 48 hours notice at any time. This is definitely true, and there are cases now and then or civilians using such guns in family-related crimes. Like homicide. 10% of the total population is I think way below the rate of civilians who can be recruited in the army in case of conflict vs other countries such as Israel, where both men and women are required to go for military service, if I recall correctly. South Korea is also one of the other countries which comes to mind.
- deleted 13y ago[deleted]
- mcv 13y agoI was under the impression that ammunition is not kept at home anymore, but they can quickly get it at a nearby barracks.
- daughart 13y agoThey can still buy private ammunition. I think you're correct that a personal military ammunition stock is no longer mandated by the state.
- bwilli123 13y agoa country built on profiteering from the corruption,theft and pillage and tax avoidance of other countries
- jotm 13y agoPretty smart, right? :-)
- asadlionpk 13y agoatleast its not a country built by invading weaker countries and stealing their resources every now and then.
- CHsurfer 13y agoI guess you mean profiting. Also, Is the US any better? Look at it from the Native American's point of view... Finally, information privacy (of which, secret bank accounts are one aspect) is pretty relevant topic today, and many people on this site would prefer to have more of it.
- acjohnson55 13y agoNot sure WWII neutrality is all that heroic. I guess it probably makes sense, with fascism looming on every border after the Anschluss and fall of the French Third Republic. But still, not what comes to mind when I think "heroism". This entry is pretty interesting to read: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Switzerland_during_the_World_Wars#World_War_II http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Switzerland_during_the_World_Wa...
- jotm 13y agoIt was pretty heroic for the country, though... It's easy to enter a war, it's very hard to stay out of one when you're in the middle of the war zone (they also profited from it).
- lostlogin 13y agoTheir banks heroically resisted back giving looted nazi money for 50+ years.
- mcv 13y agoNot fighting is more heroic than fighting for the nazis. With all the surrounding countries on the Axis side, I don't think they had any other options.