Talk:History of Liechtenstein

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Liechtenstein did not become sovereign in 1806. The Holy Roman Empire dissolved in 1806, but most its constituent territories were ALREADY sovereign. Modern conception of sovereignty wrongly distorts past reality.

You must understand the difference between the Emperor's suzeranity ('suzeranitaet') and the the princes sovereignty ('landeshoheit' or 'landesherrlicheit') (which was never questioned after the Liechtenstein dynasty first purchased the area).

This mistake exposes a fundamental lack of understanding of the political mechanisms of the Holy Roman Empire. The HRE was not an all powerful high-holy despot, but was more of a chairman-of-the-board, whos position allowed the German states to interact with each other in a set manner that none could misunderstand.

Lol, you must have read the date you gave in the World Almanac - that book is crap.

[edit] Liechtenstein army story

It says in the article:

In 1868, after the Confederation dissolved, Liechtenstein disbanded its army of 80 men and declared its permanent neutrality, which was respected during both World Wars.

But until I deleted it just now, it also said:

The Liechtenstein army had a successful time in World War I, the 60 men were sent to guard a little used Italian mountain pass and saw almost no action. On their march home, they befriended an Austrian who they took back to Vaduz with them, arriving in Liechtenstein a stronger force than when they had left.

which seems to contradict the earlier passage.

According to an item on this web page, the "Italian mountain pass" story did happen, but it took place in 1866, during the Austro-Prussian War (and it says 80 men left and 81 returned). The web page cites a Liechtensteinian source and names the pass, so I'm guessing that it's correct, but out of caution I'm just leaving the story out of the article. Someone can put it back when they've confirmed the facts.

66.96.28.244 06:18, 3 May 2006 (UTC)