Which country started the ‘National Redoubt’, a defensive plan in the 1880s to protect against invasion?

The ‘Swiss National Redoubt’ was a defensive plan developed by the Swiss government beginning in the 1880s to respond to possible foreign invasion.

Expanded in the opening years of WWII, to protect its citizens, neutral Switzerland constructed fallout shelters also called bunkers. Fortified with thick cement walls, the bunkers were a way for the Swiss government to protect its citizens against any possible attack. Since the country sat between Germany and Italy, fears of a possible invasion were high as the Axis countries set their sights on using the alpine region as a passageway.

In response, the Swiss government fortified its mountainous borders in what was dubbed the “National Redoubt”. Although the exact number of military bunkers is not known, a common estimate is that there are around 20,000 military bunkers dotted around Switzerland to thwart any oncoming army.

When WWII ended, the Swiss government continued its defense strategy into the Cold War, and the bunkers served as protection against a possible attack from the Soviet Union.

By 1963, Swiss law required that all new buildings provide protective shelters resulting in a country pockmarked with fallout shelters. As of 2016, bunkers were still required by Swiss law, though members of parliament have recently tried, but failed to overturn the rule as of 2016.

As the shadow of war fades, some of the country’s former fallout shelters now house everything from museums to cheese factories.