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human
ELI5: Neutral Switzerland - how did they do it ?

on the drive in to work this morning, i started wondering how Switzerland was able to stay neutral during world war 2 .  given the choice, i am sure that France, Poland, Czechoslovakia and the rest of Europe would have preferred that status.  Was it the terrain that made it difficult ?
gpt
The immediate cause of World War 2 was Hitler's desire to dominate the European continent.

However, domination doesn't necessarily require an invasion. Switzerland allowed the Nazis to continue banking with them throughout the war, and Swiss factories produced some vital military components for them too. Given that the Swiss were willing to freely offer that much cooperation, additional gains from invading and occupying Switzerland would not have been worth the cost.

Hitler wanted a similar arrangement with the United Kingdom, but the Brits were completely opposed to a German-dominated Continent.

>France

The Germans wanted French territory lost after WW1, which the French were unwilling to give up, and the French were historical enemies of Germany. The people of France would not have accepted neutrality and even if they had, the Germans never would have trusted a neutral France at their backs to stay neutral.

>Poland

One of Hitler's war aims was to depopulate Eastern Europe and repopulate it with German settlers. Again, this is something the Polish people never could have rolled over and accepted.

>Czechoslovakia

Ditto Czechoslovakia

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