Military History of Liechtenstein

During the Middle Ages and Renaissance Liechtenstein often saw combat. The castle at the heart of
the country was twice ruined in sieges by the Turks in 1529 and 1683. The tiny nation (principality)
of Liechtenstein, currently ruled by Prince Hans-Adam II, gained its independence in 1806. It is a
landlocked mountain country bordered on the west by Switzerland and the east by Austria. Occupied
by French then Russian then French again then finally by German troops during the Napoleonic
wars, Liechtenstein has been free since 1813. It sent a 40 man detachment along with the forces
opposing Napoleon and it returned a year later with 41 men. When revolution broke out in 1848 in
the old German state of Baden the Liechtensteiner army took the field and helped restore order
there. In 1866 the country again sent its troops off to war against Prussia. Its entire army was sent
to guard Stilfser Joch (Passo Stelvio) against an enemy trust that never came. Accused of being a
cause for war between Austria and Prussia in 1866, an uneasy but bloodless state of war existed
between the Principality and Prussia (later Germany) for nearly sixty years before being settled by a
diplomatic note. In 1868, after joining in a trade union with the Austro-Hungarian Empire who
assumed responsibility for its defense, Liechtenstein disbanded its colorful peacetime army of 80
men out of financial considerations and declared its permanent neutrality. The army stacked its
retired weapons at its garrison of the Vaduz Castle and many of them remain in the collection there
to this day.
When World War One broke out the principality declared itself neutral however more than a
hundred of its men volunteered for the Austrian Army. Some 27 of these, including Liechtenstein
Prince Heinrich who served as a major in the Kuk's Dragoons in Russia in 1915, died under the
Austrian flag. Avoiding being ensnarled in World War One, Liechtenstein ended its treaty with
Austria and entered its current trade union with Switzerland in 1923. Hitler had designs to merge
the Germanic Liechtensteiners on his border into his enlarged Third Reich but no invasion took

place. World War Two went well for Liechtenstein and it escaped being successfully invaded by
anyone. A story does exist of a enterprising German SS company approaching the border in 1938 but
was peacefully repelled by a hardy priest, two policemen and troop of boy scouts armed with sticks.
It is known that no less than eighty young men from the principality served with the German military
during the war (including SS Unterscharfhrer Josef Nagele who served in the Deutschland regiment
of the Das Reich division). At the end of hostilities the country did provide asylum to 494 White
Russian men, women and children under the command of Maj. Gen. Holmston-Smyslovsky ( a former
member of the Tsar's Imperial Guards) who fought for the Nazis in 1945 and assist with their
immigration abroad. The Principality of Liechtenstein was the only country that did not forcibly send
these exiles back to the gulag and almost certain death in the Soviet Union. The little group included
Alexis Kaverda, who had assassinated Soviet ambassador Volkov in Warsaw in 1927 for helping to
plan the murder of Tsar Nicholas II. This little known piece of history was retold in the French movie
"The Eastern Wind" with Malcolm Mcdowell as Smyslowski.
https://www.doi.gov/restoration/
Switzerland is currently responsible by treaty for defense and also provides for border patrol.
Switzerland ironically has been the biggest threat to neutrality since then. In 1985, the Swiss Army
had to pay Liechtenstein several million dollars in compensation after rockets they fired during
maneuvers struck a forested area in Northern Liechtenstein and started a large fire. In 2006 the
country grew 2% by half a square kilometer after a more accurate survey of its borders. This survey
however did not stop foreign powers from invading. On March 1, 2007 a 171-man company of Swiss
Army infantrymen on maneuvers crossed two full miles into the principality before figuring out their
mistake. The Swiss were fully armed but carried no ammunition. Neither side considered this- the
first potential combat that either of these countries has seen in generations- as troubling, and the
Swiss soldiers were back over the border before breakfast.
The country is about the size of Washington DC and has a population of 34,000. Alois, the current
Hereditary Prince of Liechtenstein attended the the Royal Military Academy, Sandhurst in the
United Kingdom. He served in the Coldstream Guards in Hong Kong and London. The only armed
force in is its Landespolizei (National Police). The principality formed its police force in 1933. The
National Police formed the Intervention Unit, similar to a SWAT team in November 1989. This unit is
equipped with body armor and automatic weapons including Walther PP handguns, Heckler and
Koch MP5s, and Swiss SiG carbines. This small group, part of the 61-man National Police, plus 19auxillary police and eight municipal constables constitute the whole of the country's defense from
the wicked Swiss threat to the west. In 2003, the United States banned military aide to the
principality over a diplomatic issue.
Thankfully, in an emergency all Liechtensteiners under the age of 60 are liable to military service,
there are over 850 boyscouts (Pfadfinders) now, and the disbanded army's old weapons still hang in
the halls at Vaduz Castle.
water restoration
Embassy of Liechtenstein to the United States of America / Information on Liechtenstein
http://auto.howstuffworks.com/car-restoration.htm
Washington Post Article on Swiss Invasion
Deattie, David Liechtenstein : A Modern History. 2002

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