Facts About the Military Empire of Switzerland

The title is a little abusive, you cannot call a country an "Empire" if it does not have territories outside of its natural borders, obtained through conquest or colonization.

Other than that:

> Every Swiss military member must keep their service rifle and ammunition in their homes. They may be mobilized with 48 hours notice at any time.

This is definitely true, and there are cases now and then or civilians using such guns in family-related crimes. Like homicide.

10% of the total population is I think way below the rate of civilians who can be recruited in the army in case of conflict vs other countries such as Israel, where both men and women are required to go for military service, if I recall correctly. South Korea is also one of the other countries which comes to mind.

Regarding fact 1., consider that today 40% of those theoretically supposed to serve never wear a uniform for a reason or another (Roger Federer was famously deemed physically unfit). Switzerland still has an unusually large army, but it has been shrinking continuously for the last 20 years at least. Some of these "facts" are stories we tell tourists (and each other...), nothing else.

(Edit: it seems the main source for the original post is a book from the early 80s. That explains a lot.)

Fact 3 is not accurate as of several years ago. Most Swiss soldiers no longer keep ammunition in their homes. These days only a few thousand do so.

Not sure WWII neutrality is all that heroic. I guess it probably makes sense, with fascism looming on every border after the Anschluss and fall of the French Third Republic. But still, not what comes to mind when I think "heroism".

This entry is pretty interesting to read: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Switzerland_during_the_World_Wa...

a country built on profiteering from the corruption,theft and pillage and tax avoidance of other countries

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