Every Day Is Special: July 25 – Responding to Invasion and Fascism

July 25 – Responding to Invasion and Fascism

Posted on July 25, 2019

In the 1930s and 1940s, Europe and, indeed, the whole world was in a predicament: how could - how should - people and governments and armies respond to aggression and suppression?

It's an easy decision if a large, rich, well-armed nation is invaded by a puny army. Fight back, win, repel the invaders. Of course! (Strange how this situation pretty much never occurs.)

It's an entirely different matter if a much smaller nation is invaded by a powerful army with seemingly endless resources. And the "in between" scenario - nations that seem to have the same weaponry, similar numbers of people, and so forth - leaders and generals still have to consider very carefully how to respond to aggression. Because nobody wins in a long, bloody war.

July 25 is the anniversary of several WWII events that demonstrate different responses:

On this date in 1934, the Chancellor of Austria was assassinated in a failed coup attempt.

The chancellor was a man named Engelbert Dollfuss. He was very anxious (with good reason!) about Austria being taken over by Germany's Hitler and the Nazis. His response was to become the absolute dictator of Austria.

Wow!

Dollfuss decided to fight against totalitarian national socialism (the Nazis) and against totalitarian communism (Joseph Stalin and the Soviet Union) by becoming a totalitarian ruler himself!

Some of the steps Dollfuss took to establish himself as a dictator were to ban the Austrian Nazi Party, arrest known communists and socialists, and have police bar the door to parliament. He staged a session for lawmakers but invited only those from his own political party, and under his direction the lawmakers established a new constitution - thereby eliminating democracy in Austria.

Even though Dollfuss moved against
Austrian Nazis, he liked the ideas
of fascism and set up his own fascistic
political party, called Fatherland Front.

Ultimately, Dollfuss's response to the threat of Hitler and the Nazis was a losing strategy. There was civil war in Austria, Dollfuss was assassinated by Austrian Nazis (who were, themselves, soon executed by Austrian police), and in 1938 Germany annexed Austria.

On this date in 1940, Swiss general Henri Guisan ordered his army to resist German invasion - and he even made surrender illegal!

Germany, colored purple here, is about
nine times the size of Switzerland, which is
the orange colored nation just to the south.

Switzerland is a small nation - much smaller than Germany. It had had a policy of military neutrality since 1815 - although their peace-keeping neutrality was based on a peace treaty signed about 300 years before that! And Switzerland remained armed yet neutral during World War I.

In the 1930s, nobody in Europe needed to be reminded of Switzerland's no-war stance.

Switzerland is the brown spot fully within
all the red, which represents the Axis
lands (Germany and fascist Italy) and
Nazi-occupied lands.

The blue represents the Allied nations.

But saying that the nation was neutral and would not join in foreign wars did NOT mean that Switzerland had no weapons or army. Far from it - the nation had an army, a militia, with professional, trained soldiers storing their rifles in their own homes. In 1939 Switzerland mobilized for a possible invasion. Within three days 430,000 combat troops plus 210,000 people in support services (including 10,000 women) had been mobilized.

The Nazis drew up invasion plans, anyway, but kept putting off carrying them out. It was easier to NOT invade the well-trained troops in the mountainous land.

In a speech made to the entire Swiss Officer Corps, General Guisan firmly ordered resistance to any Nazi invasion. If they ran out of bullets, he said, soldiers were to use their bayonets. He said that Switzerland would never surrender to any invader - and that, even if there was a surrender announced on the radio, Swiss citizens should assume it was a trick and keep resisting to the end.

Guisan planned that, if there were an invasion, the Swiss Army would retreat high up into the Alps, where they would keep up resistance with guerrilla tactics and would maintain control of rail lines. There was also a plan for citizens to resist invaders and to keep communications open between citizens and the army.

Of course, there was no invasion. So armed neutrality did work - at least it did for the Swiss, during World War II.

On this date in 1942, the Norwegian Manifesto called for nonviolent resistance to the Nazis occupying their nation.

Norway had also announced neutrality when World War II broke out - but Hitler ignored the declaration and invaded. At first Norway resisted with military force - and even with aid from British forces - but the Nazis were able to successfully invade and occupied Norway after just two months of fighting.

French and Norwegian ski troops.
They were no match for the Nazi invaders.

Partly because the Norwegian minister of defense, Vidkun Quisling, was a traitor and worked with the Nazis!

However, the Norwegian people insisted that their former government, which had fled to England, was the rightful government. And King Haakon VII asked his people to stay safe, to not take up arms against the Nazi occupiers - but also to stay Norwegian, stay resistant by every non-violent means.

The Norwegian resistance ended up being one of the most effective in all of Europe. Some people spied on the Nazis for the Allied forces, and others were spotters who gave the Allies information about German warships. Some smuggled people in or out of Norway without the Nazis' knowledge - by land, through Sweden, or by boat, up to Scottish islands.

Some Norwegian resisters made and distributed illegal newspapers with news about the Allies. This kept people feeling like Norwegians and combatted Nazi propaganda. Also, the Nazi occupation forces spent so much time trying (and failing) to stop the illegal newspapers, they had a lot less time for other things.

Other things that helped Norwegians remember their national identity were secretly wearing signs to others - a red knit cap was one sign, or a paper clip on one's clothing, or the sign for the monarchy worn as a button or pendant. Sometimes the latter was scrawled on buildings with the word "live."

Monument to the Norwegian Resistance

One of the most important things that average Norwegians did was maintaining an "ice front" against the German soldiers. As much as possible, they wouldn't speak to a German. Most Norwegian people at that time spoke the German language - but they pretended not to. Norwegians also wouldn't sit beside a German on public transportation. Apparently being ignored, or treated as if they were diseased, really bugged the Germans, and they made it against the law to stand on a bus if there were seats available.

Even though some Norwegian people died in the initial invasion, most were able to persist, survive, and resist the Nazis. The rightful government, including King Haakon VII, returned, and Quisling and other Norwegians who collaborated with the Nazis were tried and punished. I would say that non-violent resistance was a good strategy.

Hopefully none of us will have to cope with invading armies. Certainly many of us worry about creeping fascism, and the dwindling of democracy, within our governments. It's a good idea to remember the lessons of history...