Neutral powers during World War II explained

The neutral powers were countries that remained neutral during World War II. Some of these countries had large colonies abroad or had great economic power. Spain had just been through its civil war, which ended on 1 April 1939 (five months prior to the invasion of Poland)—a war that involved several countries that subsequently participated in World War II.

During World War II, the neutral powers took no official side, hoping to avoid attack. However, Portugal, Sweden, and Switzerland all helped the Allies by supplying "voluntary" brigades[1] to the United Kingdom,[2] while Spain avoided the Allies in favor of the Axis, supplying them with its own voluntary brigade, the Blue Division. Ireland generally favoured the Allied side, as with the United States. The United States remained officially neutral until 8 December 1941, a day following the attack by Japan on Pearl Harbor.

The Lateran Treaty between Italy and the Holy See, signed in 1929, required that the Pope maintain "perpetual neutrality in international relations". Accordingly, Vatican City was officially neutral throughout the war.

Several countries suffered invasions despite their efforts to be neutral. These included Nazi Germany's invasion of Denmark and Norway on 9 April 1940—then Belgium, the Netherlands, and Luxembourg on 10 May 1940. On the same day, 10 May 1940, the British, having already invaded the Faroe Islands in April, invaded Iceland and established an occupying force (subsequently replaced by the then-neutral United States). The Soviet Union invaded Lithuania on 15 June 1940 and Latvia and Estonia on 17 June. In the Balkans, the Italo-Greek War began on 28 October 1940 and Yugoslavia was invaded in April 1941. Iran was also attacked and occupied by Britain and the Soviet Union in August 1941 and later declared war on Nazi Germany.

See also the histories of Afghanistan, Andorra, Guatemala, Liechtenstein, Saudi Arabia and Yemen during this period.

By country

Europe

Estonia, Latvia, and Lithuania

See main article: Estonia in World War II, Military history of Latvia during World War II and Resistance in Lithuania during World War II.

Iceland

Ireland

See main article: Irish neutrality during World War II.

Portugal

See main article: Portugal during World War II.

Colonies of Portugal:

Spain

See main article: Spain during World War II.

Operation Barbarossa shifted the main theater of war away from the Mediterranean, lessening Spain's interest in intervention. The less-relevant Serrano Suñer was still able to create the Blue Division, made up of Spanish volunteers to fight for the Axis. With the conflict decidedly turning in favor of the Allies, Franco returned the status of Spain to one of "vigilant neutrality" on 1 October 1943.

During most of the war, Spain had been a key provider of strategic tungsten ore to Nazi Germany. Amid heavy Allied diplomatic and economic pressure, Spain signed a secret deal with the United States and United Kingdom on 2 May 1944 to drastically limit tungsten exports to Germany and expel German spies from Spanish soil.[7]

Sweden

See main article: Sweden during World War II.

In 1943, the Swedish Armed Forces were much improved, and all such deals with Germany were terminated. Hitler considered invading Sweden, but when Göring protested, Hitler dropped the plan. The Swedish SKF company supplied the majority of ball-bearings used in Germany and was also important to Allied aircraft production.[8]

Swedish Intelligence cracked the German Geheimschreiber cipher and shared decrypted information with the Allies. Stalin was informed well in advance of Hitler's planned invasion of the Soviet Union but chose not to believe the information.

Danish resistance worked with Sweden to carry out the 1943 rescue of the Danish Jews by shipping them to Sweden. During the Liberation of Finnmark, Sweden sent Norwegian "police" troops over the border to link up with Allied forces. At the end of the war, Sweden was preparing to join the Allied invasion of Norway and Denmark if the occupying Wehrmacht forces rejected a general armistice.

Switzerland

See main article: Switzerland during the World Wars.

The Nazis looted the assets of their victims (including those in concentration camps) to accumulate wealth. In 1998, a Swiss commission estimated that the Swiss National Bank held $440 million ($8 billion in 2020 currency) of Nazi gold, over half of which is believed to have been looted. It is estimated that nearly 100ST of Nazi gold were laundered through Swiss banks, with only 4ST being returned at the end of the war.[9]

The Swiss military often opened fire on Axis bombers invading its airspace; Switzerland also shot down Allied planes over its territory on several occasions. Throughout the war, cities in Switzerland were accidentally bombed by both Axis and Allied aircraft. The Axis did have plans for an invasion of Switzerland, but Switzerland had formed complex fortifications and amassed thousands of soldiers in the mountains to thwart any Axis invasion.

Turkey

Microstates

Andorra
Liechtenstein

See main article: article.

Monaco

See main article: article and Monaco in World War II.

San Marino
Vatican City

Asia

Afghanistan

Bhutan

Iran

Saudi Arabia

Tibet

See main article: Tibet (1912-1951).

Yemen

Americas

Argentina

See main article: Argentina during World War II.

United States

See main article: Neutrality Acts of the 1930s.

Conclusion

Portugal, Spain, Sweden, and Switzerland held to the concept of armed neutrality, and continuously amassed soldiers to defend their nation's sovereignty from potential invasion. Thus, they maintained the right to become belligerent if attacked while in a state of neutrality. The concept of neutrality in war is narrowly defined and puts specific constraints on the neutral party in return for the internationally recognized right to remain neutral. A wider concept is that of non-belligerence. The basic treaty covering Neutral states is Convention V of The Hague Respecting the Rights and Duties of Neutral Powers and Persons in Case of War on Land (1907). A neutral country takes no side in a war between other parties, and in return hopes to avoid being attacked by either of them. A neutralist policy aims at neutrality in case of an armed conflict that could involve the party in question. A neutralist is an advocate of neutrality in international affairs. The concept of neutrality in conflicts is distinct from non-alignment, i.e., the willful desistance from military alliances in order to preserve neutrality in case of war, and perhaps with the hope of preventing a war altogether.

In a study of Spain, Switzerland, and Sweden during the Second World War, Eric Golson found that they engaged in economic realpolitik, as they traded with both the Axis and the Allied Powers.[21]

See also

References

External links

Notes and References

  1. Web site: 2020-07-04 . The Countries That Remained Neutral In WWII . 2022-11-02 . WorldAtlas . en-US.
  2. Web site: Neutral Countries in World War II . 2022-11-02 . worldpopulationreview.com.
  3. http://www.letton.ch/lvx_38.htm Estonian Neutrality Law of December 1st, 1938
  4. Web site: Neiburgs. Uldis. Soviet occupation. Latvijas Okupācijas muzejs. 17 December 2017.
  5. Book: Liekis. Šarūnas. 1939: The Year that Changed Everything in Lithuania's History. 2010. Rodopi. New York. 978-9042027626. 119–122. en.
  6. Ayer. 57. 105. 2005. 1 . Ángeles. Egido León . Franco y la Segunda Guerra Mundial . 41325295.
  7. Book: Moradiellos, Enrique. España y la segunda guerra mundial, 1939-1945: entre resignaciones neutralistas y tentaciones beligerantes . https://publicaciones.unirioja.es/catalogo/online/Historia_nuestro_tiempo_5/pdf/06_Moradiellos.pdf . Enrique Moradiellos. 72–73. Carlos Navajas Zubeldia & Diego Iturriaga Barco . Siglo. Actas del V Congreso Internacional de Historia de Nuestro Tiempo . Logroño. Universidad de la Rioja. 2016.
  8. https://www.econhist.gu.se/digitalAssets/1341/1341645_golson.pdf Did Swedish Ball Bearings Keep the Second World War Going? Re‐evaluating Neutral Sweden’s Role
  9. News: Nazi Gold and Portugal's Murky Role. 1 June 2011. New York Times. 10 January 1997. Marlise. Simons.
  10. https://1997-2001.state.gov/www/regions/eur/rpt_9806_ng_turkey.pdf Allied Relations and Negotiations With Turkey
  11. News: Streitwireless . Clarence . 10 April 1938 . GUARANTEE SOUGHT BY LIECHTENSTEIN; Principality Wants to Join Switzerland if Powers Fail to Back Independencece GERMAN INVASION FEARED . 16 May 2023 . The New York Times.
  12. Web site: . 31 December 2011 . Zweiter Weltkrieg . 18 November 2023 . . de.
  13. http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,818218,00.html ARGENTINA: Last of the Wehrmacht – Monday, Apr. 13, 1953
  14. Book: Tolstoy, Nikolai . The Secret Betrayal . Charles Scribner's Sons . 1977 . 0-684-15635-0 . English.
  15. Book: 382. The Asian Century: A History of Modern Nationalism in Asia. Jan Romein. University of California Press. 1962.
  16. Web site: Inside Tibet. https://ghostarchive.org/varchive/youtube/20211215/cBgP9CXnm7E . 2021-12-15 . live. 1943. National Archives and Records Administration via Youtube. July 12, 2010.
  17. Allén Lascano, Luís C. (1977). Argentina y la gran guerra, Cuaderno 12. «La Soberanía», Todo es Historia, Buenos Aires
  18. Carlos Escudé: Un enigma: la "irracionalidad" argentina frente a la Segunda Guerra Mundial, Estudios Interdisciplinarios de América Latina y el Caribe, Vol. 6 Nº 2, jul-dic 1995, Universidad de Tel Aviv
  19. Galasso, Norberto (2006). Perón: Formación, ascenso y caída (1893-1955), Colihue,
  20. News: Wings of Thunder – Wartime RAF Veterans Flying in From Argentina . . 6 April 2005 . 8 January 2008.
  21. Book: Golson, Eric. Economic History of Warfare and State Formation. 2016. Springer, Singapore. 9789811016042. Studies in Economic History. 259–278. en. 10.1007/978-981-10-1605-9_11. Neutrality in War.