PUB - Publikationen an der Universität Bielefeld

##### On Equal Footing with the Great Powers: Swiss Military Attachés as Wartime Observers in 1897 in Greece and the Ottoman Empire In the 1890s, the arms race between the Great Powers alarmed the military in Switzerland and sparked lively debates about the future orientation of the army. In this context, military events elsewhere seemed a valuable source of inspiration. Thus, when a brief war broke out between Greece and the Ottoman Empire in 1897, the Swiss general staff sent more official observers to the battlefield than any other army. This article investigates why Swiss officers were so invested in a military theater in distant Thessaly. By examining the linkages between the Swiss Confederation and the ‘Orient’, the present article shows how military professionals contributed to Switzerland’s global entanglement. It thereby extends recent research on Swiss global connections during the ‘long 19th century’, which has thus far mostly concentrated on the foreign engagement of civilian actors. While Switzerland’s neutrality and lack of international representation made it difficult to carry out the missions, transnational networks and interactions helped Swiss military attachés during their journeys. Through the analysis of the actors’ comparisons, the final part of the paper demonstrates how Swiss officers used their observations of foreign battlefields to give voice to their political views, both in national debates and in international military competitions.