How and why did Switzerland become Neutral? (Short animated documentary)

Back in the day, the Swiss were famous for the quality of their mercenaries and their capacity to wage war. Nowadays its known for its neutrality and its lack of overseas (overland?) entanglements. So what changed? Why did Switzerland become neutral?

A special thanks to all of these Patrons below, without whom the show wouldn't be possible:

thypthon
Jens Koch-Nommensen
Øystein Alsaker
Sergio M. Vela
Heath Robertson
Steve Walker
Mcfeld
Jillbert
Sacred Funk Dragon
Dave Brondsema
Michael Kram
Hasmuffin
Franco La Bruna
Southside Mitch
Don Bonnigan
Azlow the Lion
Ian Whitcomb
John
Matthew Literovich
Ryan Schindeler
JakeBak0905
Ray Charles Barkley
Sean D.
Joooooshhhhhh
S. Marisol Asselta
Jane Sumpter
Joshua Rackstraw
Travis Mount
Ariel David Moya Sequeira
Shauna K
Samantha O'Leary
Steven Gibson
Alex Teplyakov
Piotr Wojnowski
Philip Yip
Balancewheel
imperialgerman
Shion
sharpie660
Aaron Conaway
Paul Munro
Jack Nelson
Arthur Hosey Jr.
Andreas Mosand
Porkmeister
Barry
Andrew F
Windischgraetz
Phoenix Fats
Nicholas Menghini
Shakira Graham
Vance Christiaanse
Jack Wicks
Andy McGehee
Jamie van Brewen
Andrea Dekrout
Tailsdoll
Joshua Schneider
Baste
Adrian Marine
D. Mahlik
Erik Hare
Christopher Godfrey
Konstantin Bredyuk
BeninPrince51
Zhao Liu
Roman Kynčl
Chase Labiste
Colonel Oneill
Contdoko12
zockotron
Sethars
Matthew Toles
Tactical_Jackal
Eugene Delacroix
Josh J
Ron Johnson
Shawn Morse
Dana Spurgeon
Katie Flinn
Emily Sissell
Allen Rines
Angel Aguiñaga
Wesley Helgeson
Chris Winther
Clayton Schuman
Michael Galloway
HelloAgain
Liam Gilleece
Historian22B.C
Sahni
Keith A. Layton
Mickey Landen
Emily Glover-Wilson
Tim Lane
Snowdon
Tiffany Twisted
Michael Myers
Vilena5
Bradley Backoff
Carl Blanton
Ciege Engine
Andrew Patane
Zach Rust
Victor Gomez
Serius_Loyola
Leena Al-Souki
Brian George
KNSTRKTVST
Harley Raptopoulos
John Garcia
Ryan Marinelli
Matthew O'Connor
Tim Stone
ARandomPaperClip
blaZzinG_FurY
Matt Reed
Theodosius the Elder
Robert Woodward
William Adderholdt
Matthew Maguire
Dullis
Wilhelm Screamer
JAY ALAN EDELMAN
Imperial Pony
Bartosz Zasada
Chris Weisel
Bernice
george tyler
LAMAR DANIEL-KELLY
Hexapuma
Colm Byrne
No way
Toshnika
Perry Gagne
Gnar Slabdash
Random Insanity
Juan Castillo
Ahmed Roshdi
Aaron Larrow
Greyceful
Curt Helmerich
Liquid Chief
Steve Bonds
Anthony McCann
C. C. C.
Andrew Niedbala
bas mensink
Abhijeeth
Warren Rudkin
Dexter_McAaron
Tino
B Dryad
Joseph Hutchins
Thomas McGill
Joel Cromwell
David Patrick Bucko
Raymond He
Oliver Jenner
Tim Sweeney
Clay Carroll
Magdalena Reinberg-Leibel
Tim Stumbaugh
Steven Mastronardo
David van Reyk
Joseph Reinsch
Chach
BattleGoat Studios
Ken Warner
Alex Slepak
Ned Burke
Stefan Møller
Nathan Ngumi
Daniel Orrego Melis
Sean Long
Käs
Christian Vasquez Leon
Melissa Prober
Adam Rabung
luvrhino
Sterling Archer
Burt Clothier
Bryan Linsley
Ali Sadighian
Bernardo Cavalcanti
Mars Project
Vegard Tønnessen
Ian Smith
anon
Bren Ehnebuske
Jonny Minogue
Yared Cristiano
David Spellmeyer
James
kevinh
Joseph Kerckhoff
Andrey Listochkin
Emily D
Matthew Trimborn
Benjamin Bowring
Richard Wolfe
Peter Marino
Alen
John Orr
Yosef Waysman
Michael Dierker
William Clark
Justin Pearson
Zach Weakland
Daniel D.
SirAlpaka
Brian Giordano
nullptr
JT96
Gordon Wilson
Mark Littlehale
Thomas Wang
Juan Benet
Yuichiro Kakutani
Jeffrey Schneider
LambOfLeg
Michael Cunningham
Matthew Bakke
Rob Rollins
Ball State
Kevin Phoenix
Joker 54
Joshua A Bishop
Mark Ploegstra
Azul Bravestrong
Wolf
Alex G.
Mr. Awesome
Pat Stahl
Mirza Ahmed
Eric Askins
Aiden Chappell
Ryan Haber
Tristan Kreller
אורי פרקש
Mik Scheper
I'm Not In The Description
Robert Brockway
mohd
Gregory Priebe
Roko Lisica
Manny F
Ryan Krug
Justin Pratt
Charles Doolittle
Phil and Lisa Toland
A. G.
Tyler Jenkins
Now Seibert
Shoenin
Jesse Plung
Sophie Winter
Dr. Sarno
Donald Weaver
John Gross-Whitaker
Franklin Sousa
Lech Duraj
Zachary Oertel
Douglas MacLean
Nathan Snyder
Riley davidson
Colm Boyle
Danny Anstess
George Caponera
Kinfe85
Seth Reeves
Rita Cragwall
Peter A Titov
FRANK A COBBINA
Dr. Howard Dr. Fine Dr. Howard
Peter Konieczny
Isabel Harrison
Ellen Teapot
Miky Hidalgo Morriss
Igor Stavchanskiy
Dan Reiher
Casey Frye
Will Sullivan
Romney Manassa
Bodo Nuber
Phillip Gathright
Andrew Sever
Heytun
Dr. Schtnizel
Ryan Lowe
Coper
Robin!
Lindorien
Paul McGee
Michael R Coates
João Santos
Abdallah Al-Ammari
O'Driscoll Boyo
Folling
Daniel O'Reilly
Stefano Deiana
Deadlock
Gezza The Random Reviewer
Michael Corson
Erik Carlsson
Kasi
M Scho
Olaf
Schwarzer Hai
Ben L
Tarsirrus
James
Rhys Little
Laura Jeal
Graham Law
Jackarice26
Farquhar Ramshackle
Gina Service
Harrison Tatem-Wyatt
Friedrich Demmer
zemnmez
Phil Johnston
Roberticus1992
James Ling
Tom Pollard
George Gremo
DarkLycan

[jfoster]

Fun fact: There is no legal mechanism for the Swiss government to surrender the country in the event of an invasion. The military was told in WW2 that any radio broadcast saying that the country was surrendering should be treated as enemy propaganda and simply ignored.

[TieisAwsom]

Fun fact: Switzerland had a Civil War between its provinces supporting a confederation vs a non-confederation, but many of it's provinces remained neutral in it's civil war.
Switzerland is neutral, even in it's *own war.*

[Jotari]

I never realized how hilarious it was that the UN had a major branch in Geneva while Switzerland wasn't a part of the UN for, like fifty years.

[AFGuidesHD]

"But it never happened for several reasons. First of all: they lost"

[polo]

Future Ideas:
Why isn't Sri Lanka part of India?
Why are there two Congos?
Why is the island of Hispaniola divided?
Why does Qatar exist?

[napalmblaziken]

I love that meme in the Fallout community where the world is a nuclear wasteland, but Switzerland is completely unchanged.

[Irdanwen]

As a Belgian, I thoroughly enjoyed the joke "getting Belgiumed" that was excellent! Nice video.

[vasikanpoikanen]

At the time of the First World War, Switzerland had a tiny standing army, but a populace of skilled riflemen.
In 1912, Kaiser Wilhelm Ⅱ asked what a militia of a quarter million Swiss would do if he invaded with and army of a half million Germans. Their response?

''Shoot twice and go home.''

[nickmacarius]

On this day in history, History Matters officially made "Belgium" a verb. Well done. 😂👍

[SeaGamerlife]

“Germany could also sell gold that it had uhhhh…’aquired’ to Switzerland”

Love this channel

[vortex]

Fun fact from my country : Before the beginning of WWII, Switzerland had a hidden alliance with France. France promised to help if Switzerland was attacked by the Germans. At this time, the Swiss knew that Germany was a true danger for the country. After the defeat of the Allies in Belgium and the Italy’s enter into war, Switzerland was surrounded by enemies. So, the swiss authorities decided to trade a lot (bullets, coal, iron and other chemical products) with its neighbors and granted favorable credits to Germany to avoid conflict.
Nazi Germany had many plans to conquer Switzerland, for example the Tannenbaum Operation. But it was clearly not a priority.

[WeekzGod]

"Switzerland was a mountainous land with little in the way of natural resources populated by a fiercely independent people who were mostly armed to the teeth." - Why I admire the Swiss so much summarized

[CG-yqxy]

Interestingly enough, Switzerland once considered building nuclear bombs as a means to guarantee it's neutrality during the cold war. While not following through, in 2018 Switzerland withdrew it's signature on the Treaty on the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons, thus leaving the door open for such a prospect.

[evilmountain]

One thing you didn’t mention: Swiss mercenaries were a mainstay in most European militaries early on in Switzerland’s (pre?)existence. The Swiss decided it was better to avoid fighting, because the people in their country who were best at that were… literally everywhere else

[ltm]

The fact that this 4 minute video taught me more useful information about my own country's history than all of the history classes we had to take throughout my Swiss schooling says a lot

[TyrannoJoris_Rex]

2:35 I always love the shots of opposing forces angrily staring each other’s blocky faces down XD

[diekojote]

Was hoping you could do a video on why the League of Nations was replaced with the UN and not reformed instead? Thank you, love the videos!

[somebody]

Not even 5 seconds in and already a joke about Nazi gold. I love this channel.

[rupert]

That sneaky gun at ~3:30 was great. I always really love the little details added.

[arval]

Hey history matters, I really love how you guys show us the sides of history that are not known throughout the world. It adds another layer to the story or the perspective of sides, teaching us what a country, person, and societies morals on things. Exposing the grey areas that are still lost to the public's eye, so I hope to see more of these wonderful gem videos in the future .

P.S : I have a video idea for you guys, what are the reasons for each country joining NATO ?