Since its conception, Switzerland has been officially neutral when referring to any military action. Their reasoning behind this is because they thought that there needed to be a country in the middle of Europe that was neutral and never entered any wars. The government thought that if there is a power that is neutral then persecuted people could flee to Switzerland and find a safe haven. .
Though Switzerland is a neutral country, they do have a military air force, which is for their own protection. From their neutrality they have become excellent diplomats and help solve many conflicts including the Second World War. In World War II they deferred a little from their concept of neutrality. They helped the Nazis and Allies economically, with finances, and with military. .
The Swiss" economy was definitely effected by their neutrality. They were not enemies with any country, so they could have trading route with any country. At the start of WWII the Minister of Economy for the Swiss wrote a 1000 page book about how the Swiss traded more with the Allies and it also outlined their trading policies and reinforced their neutrality with respect to trading. In the beginning of the war the Swiss were trading with all countries. They traded all kinds of materials with the allies, including arms and detonators. Later after the Allies found that Switzerland was trading with Nazi, they put an embargo on them. So by the end of the war trade with the Allied Nations stopped completely. The trade relations with Nazi Germany was a lot better than that of the Allies. They signed an Armistice Agreement with Hitler to improve trade with the Nazi nations at the beginning of the war. Then later in the war, before the embargo, Germany would not let Switzerland t!.
rade military goods with any Allied Nation. "Switzerland traded machine tools, pharmaceuticals, chemicals, electrical power, and small arms with Germany" (The New Republic, PG 2).
