Same Old Europe

Swedes and the Swiss are fine folks, I'm sure. But few consider during WWII, they were neutral. Neutral against Nazis. They boasted of that policy of neutrality throughout the Cold War against the Soviet Union. Neutral against the 'Evil Empire' and proud of it.

It worked out well for Switzerland and Sweden. Both sold raw materials and provided other support for the Third Riecht and were basically left alone, so long as they didn't cause trouble.

The Poles, Danes, Belgians, British, the Dutch all fought, most with no hope of even slowing down the blitzkrieg. Even the French fought for a couple weeks, back then.

At the conclusion of the war (i.e. victory) Switzerland's and Sweden's cities were intact and their casualties minimum. This seems to be the lesson many Europeans learned from WWII.

Do Swedes and the Swiss ever allow themselves to wonder how long Hitler would have left them alone had he been victorious and others not fought in their stead? Imagine how it would stick Hitler's craw, every time he would look at a large wall map of Europe and saw one big "Germany" as his eyes were immediately drawn to the two tiny pockets of appeasers.

Here's the real lesson they learned; It's easy to be neutral when others will fight for you.