Switzerland in the First World War

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Wall painting on the Andermatt soldiers' parlor from 1917

Switzerland was not affected by an invasion during the First World War - although from 1915 it was completely surrounded by belligerent neighboring states . The First World War is also referred to as the 1914–1918 border occupation in Switzerland . The war years presented the people and the army with serious internal problems.

Military defense

With the Hague Agreement on the rights and obligations of neutrals in the event of war, signed in 1907, Switzerland took on the obligations of the law of neutrality : self-defense, equal treatment of those involved in war (also applies to the export of war material), no mercenaries for warring parties, no provision of territory for warring parties. The military readiness for defense had to convince the warring parties that Switzerland would not allow any evasion attacks by the respective opponent through its territory, so that they in turn would respect the neutrality of Switzerland and the Swiss border. Both warring parties were equally interested in the neutrality of Switzerland, whose militarily secured territory offered them welcome flank protection. The imperial maneuvers carried out by the 3rd Army Corps in lower Toggenburg in 1912 gave the German head of state the certainty that no French flank attack threatened over Helvetian soil.

Threat situation and defense disposition

The central fortress idea ( reduit ), which began in 1885 with the construction of the Gotthard fortifications and in 1892 with the modern fortress Saint-Maurice , lost its importance after 1900. With the construction of defenses along the national border, the entire territory was to be defended in accordance with the Hague Agreement. The central position was now viewed as a bridgehead over the strategic obstacle of the Alps and expanded accordingly.

After being elected Chief of Staff of the Swiss Army in 1906 , Theophil Sprecher von Bernegg assessed the threat to Switzerland because of the increasing tensions in Europe, and came to the following conclusions: Germany would not violate any Swiss territory on its own, while France would violate one An encircling attack through Switzerland could advance in the direction of the unfortified German southern border. The three-country border was then in the Jura near Bonfol , because Alsace was part of Germany. On the basis of this analysis, engineering officers worked out detailed plans for the key areas West ( Murten Fortification ) and North ( Hauenstein Fortification ), which were ready by the start of the war in 1914.

  • Fortification Murten: Reduit Mont Vully 1914–1915

  • Military road of the Hauenstein fortification

After the war it turned out that the French army had developed a "Plan H" (H = Helvétie) in December 1915 with a thrust through Switzerland towards southern Germany. Before 1914 the German General Staff had worked out the Schlieffen-Moltke Plan , which envisaged marching through Switzerland instead of Belgium to encircle the French army; but it was rejected early.

It also turned out that the Swiss General Staff, sometimes longer before the outbreak of war, sometimes shortly after the outbreak of war, either in the form of a draft contract (to be signed immediately by both sides if required), or then only as mere notes, agreed with the German military command in secrecy, in the event of one French invasion or march through the country, subordinate the Swiss army to the command of the OHL for defense . When the western front of the warring parties began to freeze in the course of the war, the local army command then realized that Germany, too, could potentially use Swiss territory for a southern bypass attack on France. The question of cooperation in the event of a German march through was therefore also submitted to France. This agreed, although the deal was only available in the form of notes; In addition, Germany was informed about the agreement immediately afterwards, but otherwise it remained secret here as well.

Shortly before the outbreak of war, fortification work began in the southern key area ( Bellinzona fortification ). The old dispositive south of Bellinzona was moved to the front by blocking it on Monte Ceneri , near Magadino and Gordola .

After the outbreak of war, the troops built field fortifications everywhere in the border areas. The Bellinzona fortification was supplemented by fortification of the San Jorio Pass . The Hauenstein fortification was built on the surrounding Jura heights as a bridgehead on the main north axis to protect the Olten railway junction and the Aare bridges . The Murten fortification was built on the main west axis as a barrier on the Bielersee - Murtensee - Saane axis . After Italy entered the war in 1915, the Umbrail Pass was fortified.

  • Fortification Bellinzona: Flank Gallery Spina-Magadino, Monte Ceneri

  • Alpe di Gesero: Telephone soldiers at the parking service

Mobilization of the army

On July 31, 1914, the Federal Council ordered the army to be on standby and general mobilization on August 3 . The Landsturm units received the order to cover the mobilization and the deployment of troops. In the general election of August 3, 1914 , the Federal Assembly elected Ulrich Wille as Commander-in-Chief of the Swiss Army.

In the summer of 1914, the aviation pioneer Oskar Bider and a small group of trained Swiss pilots were called up with their planes near Bern. They formed the newly created air force with Bider as chief pilot.

The total number of the active field army was around 250,000 men and 77,000 horses. In addition there was the auxiliary service with around 200,000 men.

  • 15cm howitzers at Bülach ZH

  • Gun transport by train

  • Unloading of the mountain infantry in Flüelen UR

  • Pont Bataillon 2: Artillery when translating at Berken BE

Occupation of the border 1914–1918

Over time, waiting military service put pressure on militiamen's morale. In the first winter of the war, the general created the so-called lecture service to distract the soldiers from the monotonous everyday work and to further educate them about citizenship.

A soldier worked an average of around 500 days of service and received no compensation for loss of earnings , as the compensation scheme was only introduced during the Second World War . The troops set up welfare funds for soldiers in need, which were financed with the proceeds from the sale of the soldiers' stamps.

In order to do something about the unhealthy food and the poor accommodation of the soldiers, women founded the non-profit association for non-alcoholic meals for the troops in autumn 1914 . This association was transferred to the Swiss Association of Soldiers' Welfare under the leadership of Else Spiller in November 1914 . The aim was to provide the soldiers with inexpensive and healthy food and to counteract the widespread consumption of alcohol. As a result, around 1,000 alcohol-free soldiers' rooms were created in Switzerland by the end of the First World War , where soldiers could also spend their free time. Baked goods were particularly popular: they accounted for half of sales. The use of women in the soldiers 'rooms was also recognized by the army command, and from January 1915 part of the operating costs of the soldiers' rooms was taken over by the army. The employees (soldiers' mothers) were instructed "that you, like a soldier, should be faithful and conscientious about your duty". The soldiers' rooms were official storage places for the field post and offered the possibility of exchanging the laundry obtained from the war laundries. From 1916 onwards, Else Spiller also organized the welfare work of the official Swiss Armed Forces Aid . From 1916 to 1920, around 35,000 families who suffered from the loss of earnings of the mobilized soldiers received around 5 million francs, which came primarily from the national donation of women and the resulting national donation.

The greatest human casualties were caused by the Spanish flu , of which 1805 soldiers died, 926 of them during the operation against the general strike, which led to violent political conflicts.

The cost of occupying the border in 1914–1918 to maintain armed neutrality amounted to around 2 billion francs with federal income of between 100 and 200 million at the time.

  • Soldier's stamp For our soldiers : Help with haying, Battalion 51

  • Soldiers' room in the school room in Bonfol

  • Army bathing suit with showers and changing rooms, Bern

  • Transport of the wounded from the Theodul Pass

Incidents

Pruntrut was attacked twice with aerial bombs; on March 31, 1916 from a German aircraft, 1917 from a French one. Nearby, on October 9, 1918, a tethered balloon was shot down by a German aircraft and the observer was killed.

War economy

For highly industrialized Switzerland, the war brought a shortage of food and raw materials and a slump in exports and tourism . The food and energy supply in Switzerland depended 40% on imports. In order to secure supplies, the Federal Council took national economic defense measures . Despite tough negotiations with the belligerent parties, including those blocking neutral Switzerland, food imports fell from 1736 to 553 tonnes between 1913 and 1918 (decrease of 68 percent) and vital raw material imports fell by 49 percent from 5692 to 2780 tonnes.

The economic situation in Switzerland was endangered by the mutual blockades of the warring parties because they did not adhere to the rights of neutrals laid down in the Hague Agreement of 1907. Because of the shortage of raw materials and the dependence on food imports, foreign trade had to be maintained at all costs. Until the end of the war, the important branches of the economy were placed under state supervision in order to alleviate the shortage.

The Swiss economy was more involved in the production of war material for the foreign armies than it was later in World War II. Individual industries experienced a boom with partly unpleasant side effects. At the height of 1917 around a third of all workers (30,000 to 50,000 employees) in the metal, machine and watch industries were employed in ammunition production (ammunition components and fuses for artillery shells, etc.). After the outbreak of the gas war , gas masks were made for the entire Swiss army and, from January 1918, steel helmets.

To cope with the shortage, a state grain monopoly was introduced in 1915 to improve coordination and, from March 1917 to April 1920, rationing measures were introduced. Nevertheless, the poorly prepared national economic supply and war economy in 1918 led to a food shortage among the population. After the end of the war, experience with the dependence on energy imports ( coal ) promoted the expansion of electricity generation with local hydropower and the electrification of the railway network .

  • Rationing 1914–18, fountain in the Nordstrasse “Schindelhäuser” housing estate from 1918, Zurich-Wipkingen

  • Because of the shortage of coal, the population searches cinderpiles for fuel

  • Family looking for coal remains in 1918, Zurich- Aussersihl

  • Help with the hay, Battalion 58, Delémont

The sharp increase in federal spending on national defense, raw material supplies and the fight against unemployment while at the same time shrinking its main source of income ( customs revenue ) represented a financial policy problem for the federal government for which it was not prepared. The Swiss National Bank had to do the financing by discounting federal treasury bills and changing the Swiss Federal Railways. In addition to the shortage of supply, this led to an inflationary doubling of consumer prices by the end of the war. In 1915 the people voted for a one-time war tax ( military tax ), the first direct federal tax on income and property.

Domestic situation

The enthusiasm for war in Germany and France spilled over partly to Switzerland. Since French-speaking Switzerland sympathized with France and German-speaking Switzerland with the German Empire, a rift arose (Le fossé). In the first neutrality report of December 1, 1914, the Federal Council also emphasized the traditional relationships between the army command and the German command. In connection with this language group conflict, two newspapers have already been banned and five have been warned. The situation prompted Carl Spitteler to give the widely acclaimed lecture Our Swiss Standpoint on Switzerland's Neutrality on December 14, 1914, before the Helvetic Society :

“ I cannot take this (mood) contrast lightly. I am not comforted by being told that in the event of war we would still stand together like one man! This anyway is a bad connective word. Should we perhaps wish for a war in order to become more aware of our togetherness? That would be a bit of an expensive lesson "

- Carl Spitteler

Various incidents in the course of the war further exacerbated the tensions: while the population condemned the German Reich's violation of Belgium's neutrality, the Federal Council remained silent. During the exchange of information, two general staff officers had sent the German military attaché the news bulletin of the Swiss general staff, which was claimed, especially in western Switzerland, as the preference of the central powers over the Entente ( Obersten affair of 1915/16). An attempt to mediate peace by Federal Councilor Arthur Hoffmann during the war on the Eastern Front in 1917 was understood by the Entente and western Switzerland as a violation of neutrality in favor of Germany ( Grimm-Hoffmann affair ). In terms of peace policy, the rift manifested itself within the Swiss Peace Society, the largest pacifist organization in Switzerland. While the German-speaking sections presented petitions to the Bundesrat early on to intervene in peace in favor of a mutual agreement, from the point of view of the Welsh sections, after the German violation of neutrality in Belgium, no compromise had to be made with Prussian militarism.

Social tensions, general strike and Spanish flu

The social climate deteriorated during the war for various reasons: the shortage of food imports, rationing and massive inflation, as well as the loss of wages during active service, led to severe emergencies in the poorer sections of the population. Anger about war profiteers in industry and agriculture and pacifist currents ( Max Daetwyler , Romain Rolland ) on the part of the left spread. Specifically, 48-hour working hours and proportional voting for the National Council were required .

Against the background of this emergency and the fear of revolution among the bourgeoisie, the Federal Council, under pressure from General Wille, issued a massive military presence on November 6, 1918 to occupy the major cities. This was perceived as a provocation by the labor movement and led to the national strike , a general strike on which from November 12 to 14, 1918, around 250,000 workers and trade unionists from all over Switzerland supported a reform program (old-age and survivors' insurance, women's suffrage, etc. ) demonstrated. The massive military presence led to a rapid collapse of the strike movement.

  • Guard in the Federal Palace during the state strike

  • Security service of the army during the general strike on Paradeplatz in Zurich

  • Cavalry memorial on the Lueg, Emmental, Bern. Remembering the Bernese cavalrymen who died of the Spanish flu in 1918

  • Statistics of flu among postal workers

  • Telephone traffic restrictions due to the flu (French text)

In 1918 and 1919, the Spanish flu was rampant in Switzerland, as in much of the world . According to official statistics, 24,449 people, including 913 soldiers, died of the flu in Switzerland between July 1918 and the end of June 1919. This corresponds to 0.62 percent of the total population in 1918. In the absence of a medical reporting requirement, it is assumed that the number of unreported cases is large. As a result of the many cases of flu, federal companies such as SBB or PTT were able to restrict their services. The audience was z. B. called to call only in emergencies.

Humanitarian action

The First World War was a major challenge for the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) , which it was only able to master thanks to the close cooperation with the national Red Cross societies. In addition to the humanitarian services, the International Central Office for Prisoners of War established in October 1914 , which by the end of 1914 already employed 1,200 volunteers, proved its worth. Your search files with over 4.8 million prisoners of war are now part of the world document heritage . From 1916 to 1919 the central office was housed in the Musée Rath in Geneva . These humanitarian efforts were recognized internationally with the award of the 1917 Nobel Peace Prize . There was also the “Investigation Center for Missing People, Winterthur”, which was set up on the initiative of Julie Bikle .

  • Central information center of the International Agency for Prisoners of War of the ICRC (AIPG)

  • Agent's Bureau for Prisoners of War, Geneva

  • International Central Office for Prisoners of War 1914–1923 in Geneva

  • Index cards in the Geneva Red Cross Museum

  • French soldiers are repatriated in Geneva

On the basis of the Hague Agreements, the Federal Council concluded agreements with Germany, France, Great Britain, Austria-Hungary and Belgium, which enabled 68,000 wounded and sick soldiers on both sides to recover in neutral Switzerland from 1916 to the end of the war. German soldiers with lung damage were interned in the Swiss mountain health resorts via Konstanz. From 1915 to 1919, around 80,000 seriously wounded prisoners of war who were no longer fit for service were exchanged via Switzerland, later over 500,000 evacuees and tens of thousands of internees were repatriated. The French-speaking Swiss writer Noëlle Roger described these humanitarian actions in detail.

  • Warehouse with bread reserves for returning French prisoners of war in Basel, where they were fed during the transit of their railroad trains.

  • British internees' dormitory, Lucerne

  • Einsiedeln war memorial: Germans and Austrians who responded to the call of their fatherland

literature

Regional studies

  • Erika Hebeisen , Peter Niederhäuser, Regula Schmid (eds.): War and crisis times. Zurich during the First World War. 2nd unchanged edition. Chronos Verlag, Zurich 2014, ISBN 978-3-0340-1221-8 .
  • Historical Association of the Canton of St.Gallen (Ed.): 1914–1918 / 19 Eastern Switzerland and the Great War. Appenzeller Verlag, Herisau 2014, OCLC 878375956 .

Web links

Commons : Switzerland in the First World War  - collection of images, videos and audio files

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Law of neutrality ( Memento of the original from October 29, 2013 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. (PDF; 1.86 MB) @1@ 2Template: Webachiv / IABot / www.vbs.admin.ch
  2. ↑ Neue Zürcher Zeitung (September 1, 2012): Kaiserwetter
  3. ^ Fortification Hauenstein: History
  4. ^ Edgar Bonjour: History of Swiss Neutrality , Volume II, 1970.
  5. ^ Cindy Eggs, Suzanne Schär Pfister: Swiss Association of People's Service (SV Service). In: Historical Lexicon of Switzerland .
  6. ↑ a b Georg Kreis: Island of insecure security, Switzerland in the war years 1914–1918, Zurich 2013, p. 183.
  7. ^ Elisabeth Joris: reinterpretation and fading out. Depoliticization of women's engagement in World War I in memorabilia, in: The forgotten war, traces and traditions of Switzerland in World War I, Baden 2014, p. 143.
  8. ↑ Switzerland in the First World War ( Memento of the original from May 14, 2013 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. (PDF; 6 kB) @1@ 2Template: Webachiv / IABot / www.isme.ch
  9. ↑ Archived copy ( Memento of the original from April 2, 2015 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. Federal Archives , E 27/1357.  @1@ 2Template: Webachiv / IABot / www.kleinluetzelbunker.ch
  10. ^ Sandro Fehr: Yearbook for Economic History. University of Bern 2015
  11. ^ Peter Dürrenmatt: Swiss history. Schweizer Druck- und Verlagshaus AG, Zurich 1963
  12. ^ University of Zurich: Switzerland in the First World War
  13. ↑ Sandro Fehr: The vulnerability of the chemical industrial base of armaments and war in Switzerland during the First World War , in: Rudolf Jaun, David Rieder (ed.): Swiss armor. Politics, Procurement and Industry in the 20th Century, Baden 2013, p. 33.
  14. ↑ Stefan Hotz: Zurich in the First World War: The fight for bread, potatoes and milk In: Neue Zürcher Zeitung of September 14, 2016
  15. ↑ Federal finances in the mirror of history  ( page no longer available , search in web archives )  Info: The link was automatically marked as defective. Please check the link according to the instructions and then remove this notice.@1@ 2Template: Dead Link / www.dievolkswirtschaft.ch  
  16. ^ Tensions in World War I - Once upon a time there was a language rift in Neue Zürcher Zeitung from January 4, 2016.
  17. ^ Encyclopedia First World War , Verlag NZZ, 2003.
  18. ^ Carl Spitteler: Our Swiss point of view
  19. ↑ Jean-Luc Rickenbacher: "For peace in a time of war": Swiss Peace Society and organized pacifism during the First World War . In: Historical Institute of the University of Bern (Ed.): Berner Studies on History, Series 5: Era of the World Wars . tape 1 . Bern Open Publishing, Bern 2018, ISBN 978-3-906813-70-7 , p. 163 .
  20. ↑ Patrick Imhasly: The Spanish flu - a forgotten catastrophe In: NZZ on Sunday 6 January 2018
  21. ↑ PTT archive: Epidémie de grippe et service telephonique. Organizational measures taken by the Telegraph Directorate during the flu epidemic, 1918 ( scan from Wikimedia Commons )
  22. ^ Ralf Seuffert: Constance. 2000 years of history. UVK Verlagsgesellschaft, Konstanz, 2nd edition 2013, p. 194.
  23. ↑ Marcelin Oliver Draenert: The internment of prisoners of war in Switzerland. In: War surgery and war orthopedics in Switzerland at the time of the First World War . Dissertation Ruprecht-Karls-Universität Heidelberg, Philosophical Faculty, History Seminar, Heidelberg 2011
  24. ↑ Zürcher Rotkreuz Zeitung of October 4, 2014: Activities of the Red Cross in Switzerland during the First World War.