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Flag of Switzerland (Pantone)

Swiss flag.

The place[]

Switzerland relief location map

Blank physical map of Switzerland's and Liechtenstein's landscape.

Ballistic_Test_Swiss_M1971_Steel_Army_Helmet

Ballistic Test Swiss M1971 Steel Army Helmet

Ballistic Test: Swiss M1971 Steel Army Helmet

LakeGenevaVeveyMontreux

Vevey on Lake Geneva and the Swiss Alps. Author: Shark at the Lithuanian language Wikipedia.

5727 - Schynige Platte - View of Lütschinetal, Mettenberg, Schreckhorn, Finsteraarhorn, Eiger

Mettenberg, Schreckhorn, Finsteraarhorn, Eiger, Männlichen, and the Lütschine Valley viewed from Schynige Platte, Switzerland. Author: Andrew Bossi.

Glarner Hauptüberschiebung am Segnes 2

Glarus thrust fault at Piz Segnes. Author: Hans G. Oberlack.

The Swiss Alps with some of the highest mountains in Europe, who's tops are on occasion covered in local glaciers and have lakes in many of there valleys. The Alps spread into neighbouring Liechtenstein, France's Savoy Region, the far south of Germany, the Austrian Tyrol and the upper reaches of northern Italy.

About ~60% of Switzerland is in the extremely mountainous mid and southern Alpine Mountains region. ~30% are hills and relatively flat valleys carved out by glaciers called "Mittelland" (English: Midlands) in the north and middle. ~10% come in the form a chain of older, Jurassic Era, mountains called the Jura Mountains that run through the north and along the western border, as well as partly over the border in to France. Basel is a small enclave of the Rhine River Valley, Aargau is a similar flat land and far south is pre-Alpine flat land.

Bern lies on the Swiss plateau in the Canton of Bern, slightly west of the center of Switzerland and 20 km (12 mi) north of the Bernese Alps. The countryside around Bern was formed by glaciers during the most recent Ice Age. The canton of Aargau is one of the least mountainous Swiss cantons, forming part of a great table-land, to the north of the Alps and the east of the Jura, above which rise low hills and wooded or farmed valleys.

Many mountains are very high, snowy and dificult to clime, The Eiger is a 3,970-metre (13,020 ft) mountain of the Bernese Alps, overlooking Grindelwald and Lauterbrunnen in the Bernese Oberland, just north of the main watershed and border with Valais. It is the easternmost peak of a ridge crest that extends across the Mönch to the Jungfrau at 4,158 m (13,642 ft), constituting one of the most emblematic sights of the Swiss Alps. The region around theses moutain are either of an Alpine or high mountain type climate.

The Swiss climate is generally temperate, but can vary greatly between the nations varied localities. It can range from from glacial conditions on the mountaintops to the often pleasant near Mediterranean climate at Switzerland's southern tip around Ticino canton. The large alpine type areas like Graubünden remain drier than pre-Alpine areas and as in the main valley of the Valais, were wine grapes are grown. The wettest conditions persist in the high Alps and in the Ticino canton which has both periods of heavy rain and bright sun from time to time

A Chinook Wind like weather phenomenon known as the föhn can occur at any time of the year and is characterised by an unexpectedly warm wind, with rain falling in in the south of the country and dry winds in the mountain and central plateau.

Zürich has, depending on the definition used, nominally an oceanic climate (Köppen Cfb), with four distinct seasons. The Foehn wind, which plays an important role in the northern alpine valleys, has also some impact on Zürich.

The climate of Geneva is temperate, oceanic (Köppen: Cfb). Winters are cool, usually with light frosts at night and thawing conditions during the day. Summers are pleasantly warm and winters are not to severe.

Zürich is the most populated town today with ~300,000 people and has been the lead population center a century. It is sometimes referred to as "Downtown Switzerland" for publicity reasons.

About 40% speak the local Züritüütsch dialect and a total of about 65% the population speak Swiss Standard German or it's dialects.

The plan[]

The Swiss did not want to be occupied by a foreign power ever again after the fall of Napoleon Bonaparte!

The Soviets considered them a Western proxy and in no way neutral due to their love of Western banking issues, so the Swiss thus feared that the Warsaw Pact would invade the to get hold both their cash and the strategic Alpine crossings. They knew the Soviets would like to hold what was the crossroads of Europe and spread out from their in to the rest of Europe. Zürich was the only known target in the 1960s and 1970s, but it was a long way down the Soviet target list. The towns of Lucern and Schwyz were also thought to be possible strategic targets according to both the Swiss and Soviet military planners.

Controlling these passes also remained a cornerstone of the Swiss strategy of neutrality by being useful to as many European nations as they could at any one time, with plans for a final retreat in to the higher Alpine mountains and around the strategic passes. A determined resistance war would then insure Swiss national survival.

Swiss attacked

Soviet targets in Switzerland.

.

The fortifications them selves[]

Infanteriewerk Sufers 00

Camouflaged infantry fortification in Sufers (machine gun bastion left, antitank gun right, housing and connecting tunnel underground).

Miragevortor

A Mirage IIIRS in front of the aircraft cavern Y in Buochs.

Passo San Gottardo Versante Sud

View from the St. Gotthard Pass down toward Airolo and the Leventina valley.

Work on the Swiss National Redoubt (Schweizer Alpenfestung or Réduit Suisse) system started in 1880 and in was in use until 2010, when the larger part was shut down. The Battery Motto Bartola was built between 1888 and 1890 and the Battery Foppa Grande was installed in 1953 and was deactivated in 1997.

Late Victorian stuff was built at Airolo, the Oberalp Pass, Furka Pass and Grimsel Pass, all in the central Alps. Additional positions were constructed in the area of Saint-Maurice, which had an army camp at the time, using then new mining and tunnelling techniques in the steep mountainsides of the glacial valley. This was started with the opening of Gotthard railway 1882. Some minor aditions were made to the camp in the run up tom WW1.

The Guisan plan was developed Swiss General Henri Guisan and involved extensive fortifications along the River Rhine and at Vallorbe in the Jura and in other places. A major fort was built at Vallorbe in the run-up to WW2. The Swiss had seriously fortified there nation ever since they learnt the Nazis were plaining to invade them in WW2. The gold reserves of the Swiss National Bank in Zürich were moved farther away from the German border, from Zürich to the Gotthard Pass and to Bern. Zürich was also accidentally bombed during World War II.

A dense network of passive and active barriers, hidden mountain bunkers along with and large and small fortifications allowed considerable flexibility in the disposition of Swiss forces, and thus represented an almost optimal scenario of defence in depth. Resistance armies would strike any invaders as well. This expanded massively during the Cold War!

The most important buildings of the Réduit were the fortifications of Sargans, St. Maurice and the Gotthard region. A lesser and older fort was at Vallorbe in the Jura.

By 1990, Swiss army intelligence which had built up files on nearly 8,000 "suspect persons" including "leftists", "bill stickers", "Jehovah's witnesses", people with "abnormal tendencies" and anti-nuclear demonstrators; all of whom had failed to meet the then Swiss national ideal- a bunch of isolationist, money worshipping, environmental inclined racists.

The Battery Motto Bartola was The Battery Foppa Grande was installed in 1953 and was deactivated in 1997 all of the installations were deactivated by 2010.

Related ideas[]

Nazi Germany had the in-built Alpine Fortress (Alpenfestung) zone and Cold War Austria had the Raumverteidigung (area defence) fortified zone in the Tirol.

Also see[]

Bevölkerungsdichte der Schweiz 2016

Population density in Switzerland (2016)

Ausländeranteil der Schweiz 2016

Percentage of foreigners in Switzerland (2016)

Karte Schweizer Sprachgebiete 2017

Official languages in Switzerland (2017): Peach= German (63.5%), Lavinder= French (22.5%), Green= Italian (8.1%) and Yellow= Romansh (0.5%).

How_Switzerland_Managed_to_Remain_Neutral_with_WWI_and_WWII_Raging_Around_Them

How Switzerland Managed to Remain Neutral with WWI and WWII Raging Around Them

Signup for your FREE trial to The Great Courses Plus here: http://ow.ly/dCMa30hIugB If you happen to like our videos and have a few bucks to spare to support our efforts, check out our Patreon page where we've got a variety of perks for our Patrons, including Simon's voice on your GPS and the ever requested Simon Whistler whistling package: https://www.patreon.com/TodayIFoundOut The Great Courses Plus is currently available to watch through a web browser to almost anyone in the world and optimized for the US, UK, and Australian markets. The Great Courses Plus is currently working to both optimize the product globally and accept credit card payments globally. →Some of our favorites: https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLR0XuDegDqP10d4vrztQ0fVzNnTiQBEAA →Subscribe for new videos every day! https://www.youtube.com/user/TodayIFoundOut?sub_confirmation=1 Never run out of things to say at the water cooler with TodayIFoundOut! Brand new videos 7 days a week! More from TodayIFoundOut Falling on Grenades: The Indestructible Jacklyn H. Lucas https://youtu.be/FAbQ_XCm3eI?list=PLR0XuDegDqP33-NUx7wuKb-3PDj-gRKgR Swift Nick Nevison and His Remarkable Dash to Secure an Alibi https://youtu.be/lGWTEIBa-kE?list=PLR0XuDegDqP33-NUx7wuKb-3PDj-gRKgR In this video: The tiny mountainous country of Switzerland has been in a state of “perpetual neutrality” since the major European powers of the time declared it as such during the Congress of Vienna after the end of the Napoleonic wars in 1815. Want the text version?: http://www.todayifoundout.com/index.php/2016/09/hollow-moutains-exploding-bridges-switzerland-neutral-long/ Sources: http://www.nytimes.com/2011/01/20/world/europe/20swiss.html?pagewanted=all http://io9.gizmodo.com/5919581/how-switzerland-camouflaged-its-ready-to-explode-architecture-during-the-cold-war http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/magazine-21379912 http://swiss-government-politics.all-about-switzerland.info/swiss-history-traditions.html http://www.history.com/news/ask-history/why-is-switzerland-a-neutral-country http://www.businessinsider.com/switzerlands-military-defenses-2012-6?IR=T https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/National_Redoubt_(Switzerland) https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Military_history_of_Switzerland https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Operation_Tannenbaum https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Phoney_War https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Switzerland_during_the_World_Wars https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Grimm%E2%80%93Hoffmann_affair https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Congress_of_Vienna https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Reformation_in_Switzerland https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Swiss_Armed_Forces https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Switzerland Image Credit: https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Karte_Helvetik_4.png https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Acte_de_M%C3%A9diation_mg_0643.jpg https://get.pxhere.com/photo/airplane-aircraft-vehicle-airline-aviation-flight-switzerland-ww2-bomber-takeoff-air-show-air-force-jet-aircraft-me-262-fighter-aircraft-military-aircraft-air14-payerne-knife-schmid-atmosphere-of-earth-aircraft-engine-618260.jpg https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:WW2_Dispositif_Limmat_map.jpg https://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Datei:Basel_Tattoo_(6).jpg https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Swiss_Shooting_(3),_Unspunnenfest_Interlaken_2017.jpg https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Panzerturm.jpg https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:ReduitSchweiz.gif https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Construction_site_of_the_army_in_the_Swiss_Alps._Since_the_time_of_the_Swiss_National_Redoubt_the_mountains_are_already_undermined._This_fact_is_utilized_by_private_companies_as_well_as_by_the_(19058147502).jpg https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Second_world_war_europe_1941-1942_map_en.png Music from Jukedeck - create your own at http://jukedeck.com.

  1. Cold War
  2. River Elbe Line
  3. Germany's Fulda Gap
  4. Swedish pseudo-neutrality
  5. North German Plain
  6. Finnish pseudo-neutrality
  7. Operation Northern Norway
  8. The southern Danube route
  9. Soviet/NATO invasion of Finland
  10. The week of war policy
  11. Operation Gladio
  12. Berlin Wall and Checkpoint Charlie
  13. Greece, Turkey and southern Italy
  14. Cold War secret police organisations
  15. How Governments become Authoritarian
  16. Nations in 1988
  17. Nations in 1991
  18. O.T.L. history notes
  19. Today's OTL types of economies, societies and regimes
  20. Why the USSR broke up in reality
  21. Seven days to the River Rhine (1979)
  22. French nuclear plans and the Force de Dissuasion
  23. Operation Square Leg (1980) and Exercise Hard Rock (1982)
  24. The Cold War upgrades of the WAB, BOB, JB, BLM, SPB, HB, DIH, TSB and Brünigbahn railways
  25. Swiss German
  26. Swiss Standard German
  27. German-speaking Switzerland
  28. Walser German
  29. Bärndütsch
  30. Züritüütsch
  31. Swiss French
  32. Suisse romande
  33. Swiss French
  34. Suisse romande
  35. Romansh
  36. Grisons(Graubünden)
  37. Swiss Italian
  38. Italian Graubünden

Links[]

  1. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/National_Redoubt_(Switzerland)
  2. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Operation_Gladio
  3. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Switzerland
  4. http://geography-landscapes.all-about-switzerland.info/
  5. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Foehn_wind
  6. https://www.zuerich.com/en#section-01
  7. http://www.myswitzerland.com/en-gb/zurich.html
  8. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Z%C3%BCrich
  9. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bern
  10. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Swiss_Plateau
  11. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Swiss_Alps
  12. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jura_Mountains
  13. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Geneva
  14. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aargau
  15. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Z%C3%BCrich
  16. https://www.wikiwand.com/en/Zurich_German
  17. https://www.wikiwand.com/en/Z%C3%BCrich
  18. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eiger
  19. http://www.nytimes.com/2011/01/20/world/europe/20swiss.html?pagewanted=all
  20. http://io9.gizmodo.com/5919581/how-switzerland-camouflaged-its-ready-to-explode-architecture-during-the-cold-war
  21. http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/magazine-21379912
  22. http://swiss-government-politics.all-about-switzerland.info/swiss-history-traditions.html
  23. http://www.history.com/news/ask-history/why-is-switzerland-a-neutral-country
  24. http://www.businessinsider.com/switzerlands-military-defenses-2012-6?IR=T
  25. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/National_Redoubt_(Switzerland)
  26. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Military_history_of_Switzerland
  27. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Operation_Tannenbaum
  28. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Phoney_War
  29. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Switzerland_during_the_World_Wars
  30. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Grimm%E2%80%93Hoffmann_affair
  31. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Congress_of_Vienna
  32. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Reformation_in_Switzerland
  33. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Swiss_Armed_Forces
  34. https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-europe-51487856
  35. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Switzerland
  36. https://www.swissinfo.ch/eng/politics/switzerland-will-remain-neutral---until-it-s-attacked/47437652
  37. https://foreignpolicy.com/2021/01/15/switzerland-neutral-united-nations-security-council-seat/
  38. https://lenews.ch/2022/03/22/swiss-neutrality-5-things-you-ought-to-know/
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