Armed neutrality
This article is licensed under the GNU Free Documentation License. It uses material from the Wikipedia article "Armed_neutrality".

See also: Neutral country

Armed neutrality, in international politics, is the posture of a state or group of states which makes no alliance with either side in a war, but asserts that it will defend itself against resulting incursions from all parties.

The phrase armed neutrality sometimes refers specifically to the League of Armed Neutrality, an alliance of minor naval powers organized in 1780 by Catherine II of Russia to protect neutral shipping in the War of American Independence. There was an effort to revive this during the French Revolutionary Wars and the American Civil War.

Switzerland and Sweden are, independently of each other, famed for their armed neutrality, which they maintained throughout both World War I and World War II.

During the Second World War, Ireland stated that it would take the British side if invaded by Germany but the German side if the British stationed troops on Irish soil.