Neutral nations during war time?

[bustergutt]

A thought just popped into my head!
What is the general law/meaning of a neutral country during war time? Hitler never invaded or ruled a neutral country in WW2, they seemed to be out of bounds, no go areas! So why didn`t all leaders of the world nations proclaim their lands neutral? Hitler would have been thwarted in his planned world domination and countless lives been saved. Or wouldn`t it have been that easy?

[treacle-tart]

Hi Buster,

Hitler invaded several neutral countries and this is the problem with declaring neutrality - it doesn't actually stop tanks!

In WW2 the countries that managed to remain neutral did so more because of their location than because of any respect for their declared status.

Bekki

[bustergutt]

Thanks Bekki,
That plan wouldn`t have worked then! Good job Churchill was in power at the time and not me.

[treacle-tart]

Hi again Buster,

Well it might have worked for a while but afetr invading France I think Hitler would still have invaded Russia and without the troops needed to protect the Channel he might have beaten them.

If so, what then? There would just be us, Ireland, Switzerland , Spain and Portugal left as neutral. I think he would have come after us sooner or later since we would be a potential threat even if we were neutral.

Interesting thought ! Bekki

[Toureman]

Being neutral does not mean anything, a neutral country is a lot easier to invade than one that puts up resistance.

In hitlers case he invaded the countries that had resources he wanted and to increase his territory, any other countries he attacked were the ones that declared war on him.

Once he had disposed of them he would have taken over the neutral countries easily, so the neutral countries actually helped him at the start.

[suffragette]

Sadly, neutrality is rarely enforceable. Belgium was neutral before WWI, but this was brushed aside for strategic reasons.

During WWII, Swedish neutrality was also under threat. Initially, the Germans would only allow Swedish neutrality to remain in operation if German troops were given access to Swedish ports and railway systems, which the Swedes acceded to. The Swedes were also in two minds about remaining neutral when the Russians invaded Finland.

Sweden was also considered a viable staging post by allied commanders for an invasion of Denmark and the Germans once again considered invasion to prevent this.

Neutrality enabled the Swedes to liase between the axis and the allied powers, but their neutrality would probably be ignored in any future conflict because it is now accepted that Swedish diplomats spied for the allies when visiting Germany.

[JillP]

They also 'Liberated' Norway.

[Bigun1_6605]

Neutrals always take two parties: one to say I'm neutral; the other to leave them alone. In WWI the scandanavian countries stayed neutral, while in WWII Finland, Norway, Denmark, and Holland lost that option.