Originally posted by ShadowXIX
Im just having a problem seeing that since they were pretty much smack dab in the middle of the most massive war in human history and stayed neutral.
But incase of a WW3 they wanted to be able to lob some nukes around?
Perhaps their experience with World War 2 played a factor in their considerations into developing nuclear weapons. They had seen how other countries
which had declared their neutrality to Hitler, such as Norway, The Netherlands and Belgium, had been attacked by the Nazi forces. Given this, they may
have suspected that their neutrality would not defend them adequately in any future conflict between two dominant superpowers. Remember that even
though we know that the Cold War never became a "hot" war, they had no way of knowing this at the time.
Furthermore, they had seen the USSR lose 20 million of its own people in their struggle to defeat Germany. They may have considered the Soviets to be
a greater threat to Switzerland than the Nazis were, given that they were willing to risk so much to ensure their victory.
In my opinion, this is a possible reason for the Swiss to consider developing nuclear weapons. Perhaps they believed that their neutrality would
probably keep them safe, but that neutrality combined with a nuclear deterrant would offer even greater protection. As you said, with all the nukes
that would probably have been detonated in a major conflict between NATO and Warsaw, a small Swiss arsenal would probably prove to be a mild deterrant
at best. But I suppose, from their perspective, they have to do something.
[edit on 11/10/05 by Jeremiah25]
