Switzerland

Swiss Confederation
Country
Continent:	Europe
Capital:	Bern
National Language:	German, French, Italian and Romansh
Government:	Federal semi-direct democracy under a multi-party parliamentary directorial republic
Status in OTL:	Active

Switzerland is a federal republic in the central European Alps, and shares borders with Germany, France, Italy, Liechtenstein, and Austria. It has traditionally remained neutral in wars, and has not participated in a war since 1815. It is the home of several international organisations, the Red Cross, among them. Although its capital is Bern, its most famous city is Geneva, which hosted the committee which drafted the Geneva Conventions, and was the headquarters of the League of Nations in the 1920s and 1930s.

Switzerland in Agent of Byzantium

The area of the Alps, hitherto regarded as a poor and marginal province, assumed a strategic importance when monks at the Monastery of St. Gall developed the devastating new weapon of hellpowder which enabled the Franco-Saxons to threaten the Roman Empire, until Basil Argyros succeeded in stealing it and redressing the balance.

Switzerland in "The Eighth-Grade History Class Visits the Hebrew Home for the Aging"

After the end of World War II, Otto Frank and his wife Edith moved to Switzerland.

Switzerland in The Hot War

Switzerland remained neutral during World War III. Consequently, U.S. and Soviet diplomats continued to talk to one another in Switzerland.

After the death of General-Secretary Joseph Stalin in 1952, Soviet diplomat Ivan Turginov quietly contacted American ambassador Richard Cunningham Patterson Jr. about President Harry Truman's offer for a return to the status quo antebellum.

Switzerland in "Les Mortes d'Arthur"

Switzerland continued its policy of neutrality well into the 22nd century. It remained independent of United Europe, although it maintained good relations with that country, having bought berths for two athletes on their space ship for passage to Mimas, a moon of Saturn, for the Sixty-sixth Winter Games.

Switzerland in Through Darkest Europe

The Swiss cantons provided a convenient route for Aquinist terrorists slipping from the German states to the Grand Duchy of Italy during the crisis of AD 2018.

Switzerland in The Two Georges

The Swiss Confederation was a European nation landlocked between France, Austria, the Italies and the Germanies.

Switzerland in Worldwar

Switzerland was able to avoid involvement in World War II, but joined the fight against the Race Invasion of Earth in 1942. In 1943, Swiss soldiers fought alongside German forces against the Race invaders based in Alsace-Lorraine, earning a fierce reputation among soldiers of the Race. Joachim von Ribbentrop won guarantees of Swiss sovereignty from Fleetlord Atvar at the Peace of Cairo in 1944.

Switzerland maintained its independence even after Germany annexed Italy and retook France, thereby completely encircling Switzerland. Some believed this to be the result of Switzerland's demonstrated willingness to resist Nazi invasion, making the subjugation of that country too expensive to be cost-effective.