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Originally Posted by Truth-Bringer
Let's take a look at Norway. Norway was neutral during WW1 and they DIDN'T get attacked in that war...
Regarding the second world war, Hitler's decision to attack Norway during WWII was actually thought about over a course of months. They almost didn't take the chance. But, again, Norway's problem wasn't that they were neutral, it's that they weren't neutral and demonstrably strong also. One cannot be a neutral passivist. One must be neutral, fortified, and have a heavily armed populace and a strong military.
As I stated earlier, the Swiss actually invited German generals into their country to observe their defenses. One of the Nazi generals later stated "We shall leave the little porcupine alone."
From the following link we see the Norwegians were not truly prepared for war as the Swiss were:
"The imminent threat of war in the late 1930s brought defence issues into the forefront of Norwegian political debate. The socialists had previously strongly opposed granting funds to the military, and were partly supported in this view by the Liberals."
We see also from the same source: "In occupied Norway civilian resistance grew from year to year. Secret military forces were also assembled and constituted something of a threat to the Germans." So they did start fighting back, but they were not prepared for this sort of resistance from the beginning. The Swiss were.
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being neutral and fortified would indeed increase your changes of not being attacked. but norway was still very important strategically, it cannot be said for shure that better fortification would have kept them neutral. their strategic position is crucial for the defense of scandinavia and thus their own. switzerland has never been usefull territory to dispose of in a war for europe