Swiss Review / December 2021 / No.6 8 to countries involved in armed conflict. “And if the rules are followed to the letter as expected, we may no longer be able to deliver arms to the USA, France or Denmark either.” The industry therefore wants the federal government to provide certainty and, as Zoller puts it, “offer clear assurances that we will still be able to export to and cooperate with our international friends”. The restrictions affect around 200 companies that regularly apply for arms export permits from the federal government. According to government estimates, Switzerland’s security and defence industry employs between 10,000 and 20,000 people (subcontractors included), who also produce military goods that are not used in active combat and therefore cannot be classed as Swiss involvement in foreign armies Switzerland boasts a long history of military expertise. Hundreds of thousands of Swiss went to war for foreign powers until well into the 19th century. It was not until the birth of the modern federal Swiss state that curbs on mercenary activity were introduced. The Swiss confederacy longwanted to conquer foreign lands. This mindset changed at the Battle of Marignano in 1515, when the Swisswere ousted from theDuchy ofMilan and the expansion of the confederacy was stopped. Instead of fighting as soldiers for their homeland, young men were permitted to fight as mercenaries in foreign wars thereafter. Swiss mercenary activity peaked between the 15th and 18th centuries. For a long time, service in foreign armed forces represented Switzerland’s secondmost important economic sector after agriculture. Swiss officers would recruit farmers, grouping them into regiments to fight for countries including France, Spain, Austria, Savoy, Hungary and the Netherlands. The Swiss Guard continues to serve at the Vatican, where it has been responsible for protecting the Pope since the early 16th century. Escape from poverty coupled with a lust for adventure Mercenaries faced increasing curbs on their activity after the federal state was created in 1848. However, the French Foreign Legion continued to recruit tens of thousands ofmercenaries. Although Switzerland banned campaigns aimed at recruiting for armed forces such as these in 1859, the hiring of Swissmercenaries continued to be allowed until the 1920s. Other colonial powers like the Netherlands also relied on Swiss mercenaries. Some 7,600 Swissmercenaries fought in the Dutch colonial army between 1815 and 1914 in what is now Indonesia, says historian PhilippKrauer, who has been researching the story of thesemen in the Swiss Tool of Empire project. “Against the prevailing backdrop of mass poverty and emigration, 0 200 2010 2011 2012 2013 2014 2015 2016 2017 2018 2019 2020 400 600 800 Development of Swiss armament exports from 2010–2020 in million Swiss francs
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