Swiss neutrality

Swiss neutrality is Switzerland’s policy of not taking part in wars between other states. Its internationally recognized status dates to the Congress of Vienna in 1815.

Permanent neutrality: A state’s standing commitment to remain neutral in future conflicts between other states. Switzerland’s policy is a long-standing national example of this status.
Old Swiss Confederacy: A loose alliance of Swiss cantons that existed before the modern federal state founded in 1848. Its expansion and internal conflicts formed the background to Switzerland’s turn toward neutrality.
Sonderbund War: The 1847 civil war between Catholic conservative cantons and the Protestant-led Swiss federal majority. It was an internal conflict, distinct from the foreign wars neutrality addresses.
Swiss foreign policy: The principles and actions through which Switzerland conducts relations with other states and international organizations. Neutrality is one principle within a wider policy that also includes cooperation abroad.
Hague Conventions of 1907: International treaties that codified rules for warfare and the rights and duties of neutral powers. Their rules define obligations Switzerland must observe as a neutral state.
Battle of Marignano: A 1515 battle in which French forces defeated the Swiss Confederates near Milan. The defeat helped end Swiss campaigns of territorial expansion in Italy.
Franco-Prussian War: The 1870–1871 war between France and Prussia and its German allies. Switzerland mobilized and interned French troops who crossed its border in 1871.
International Committee of the Red Cross: A humanitarian organization founded in Geneva in 1863 to protect victims of armed conflict. Swiss neutrality helped make Geneva a hospitable setting for humanitarian diplomacy.
Swiss Armed Forces: Switzerland’s military forces, organized primarily to defend the country and its territory. Armed defense makes neutrality credible without joining other states’ wars.
Swiss Reformation: A sixteenth-century religious movement that divided Swiss territories between Catholic and Protestant communities. Confessional divisions made foreign alliances and internal peace difficult to manage.

Linked from 12 pages