Why has Switzerland traditionally been a neutral country?
This small multi-lingual country, of a little over 7 million people, has four national languages, German, French, Italian, and Romansch. Swiss Standard German is written and used in formal situations, while the (significantly different) dialects commonly spoken are called “Swiss German”. The country is bordered by Germany, France, Italy, Austria, and Liechtenstein. It dates its independence to 1291; historically it was a confederation, and it has been a federation since 1848, with a current division into 26 cantons. Switzerland has a strong economy in finance and banking, rates highly in international economic standards despite its small size, and maintains a long and strong tradition of political and military neutrality. This background allows Switzerland to host various international organizations, such as the United Nations, which, though headquartered in New York City, has many departments in Switzerland. The safety, security, and scenic beauty of the country, for walking, hiking,
Switzerland has been a neutral country probably to avoid the fates of Belgium and the Netherlands which became battlegrounds for the competing powers of France,Prussia and Austria on the continent. Neutrality guranteed Switzerland 500 years of internal stability,political,economical and social growth. Switzerland was traditionaly ruled by a theocracy of Calvinist who find little comman ground with fellow Protestant states of Northern Germany and Scandinavia and certainly none with the Catholic states of France and Spain.This kept them aloof of the various religious wars than devastated Europe in the wake of the Reformation. After a history of being dominated by a strong nehibour (Austria) the Swizz probably choose neutrality as a way to guarentee their fragile independence.
