WITH allies like these, who needs enemies?

It was 10 years ago this month that the tiny Alpine nation of Liechtenstein was invaded by its nearest neighbour and apparent protector.

Yet, all was not as it seemed.

In the dead of night, 170 Swiss troops crossed the border and marched towards the country’s capital. The way eased somewhat by the fact Liechtenstein has no border guards and hasn’t had an army since 1868.

If you’d have picked a country to start a war, famously neutral Switzerland would not be it.

Indeed, Switzerland’s invasion was entirely accidental. It appears that Liechtenstein is so small that the peace loving country forget where it was. Nonetheless, it’s a mistake the Swiss keep making — 2007 was not the first time Switzerland have crossed their neighbour’s border. On other occasions they’ve even bombed them.

Far from being angry at the unauthorised push into their territory, though, the response from the Liechtenstein Government is somewhat stoic. “These things happen”, said the Government.

That Liechtenstein even exists as a sovereign nation is remarkable.

It came into being 1718, purely as a way for the wealthy Liechtenstein family of Vienna to attain power and status in the Holy Roman Empire.

So dismissive were the Liechtensteins of their tiny kingdom, perched on the river Rhine, it took a century for them to even pay it a visit. The Royal family only took up permanent residence in 1938. Yet somehow, while countries and empires — including the Holy Roman one — have slipped away, plucky Liechtenstein, remains.

The world’s sixth smallest sovereign state, just one twentieth the size of the Australian Capital Territory and with a mere 38,000 residents, lies sandwiched between rural corners of Switzerland and Austria.

But it punches above its weight as tax haven with the second highest gross domestic product in the world.

It is also the world’s number one producer of false teeth.

From the early 20th century, the country has looked towards Switzerland, not as its aggressor but as its protector.

“There are no guarded borders between Liechtenstein and Switzerland and you do not have to show your passport,” Donat Büchel, curator at the Liechtenstein National Museum told news.com.au.

The Swiss Franc has been the currency since 1924 and Swiss immigration officials conduct any border checks that are needed.

“Switzerland safeguards the interests of Liechtenstein’s citizens, so if I travelled to Australia and lost my passport, I would have to go to the Swiss embassy,” said Mr Büchel,

The two countries are undoubtedly close. But, on the night of 28 February and 1 March 2007, Switzerland got a little too close.

“The incident happened just before midnight. The 170 soldiers were recruits who were on a nightly training march from a base which lies very close to Liechtenstein,” said Mr Büchel.

Between the base and the Liechtenstein village of Balzers there was no border fence, just fields and forests.

“The weather was bad during the night the soldiers lost their way and entered Liechtenstein,” he said.

When the soldiers, guns strapped to their backs, eventually realised they had effectively declared war on a country, even one with no military, they hot footed it back to Switzerland.

The next day, in what must have been an uncomfortable phone call to the Liechtenstein Government, Switzerland confessed they’d invaded.

Which Liechtenstein, all things considered, took surprisingly well.

Marks Amman, an interior ministry spokesman, said nobody in Liechtenstein had actually noticed.

“It’s not like they stormed over here with attack helicopters or something,” he said at the time.

“No problem, these things happen.”

Mr Büchel summed up the mood at the time. “People laughed about it and then forgot it as Swiss soldiers more than once had crossed the border.”

That’s right; Switzerland really does keep unintentionally invading Liechtenstein seemingly unaware the country exists at all.

In 1968, the Swiss army actually lobbed grenades at the Liechtenstein skiing resort of Malburn in a live fire exercise gone wrong.

And on more than one occasion, while practising their flamethrower skills, the military have started forest fires in the country next door.

“Thankfully nobody was hurt,” said Mr Büchel.

Then there was the whole embarrassing incident with the watchtower.

“In 1992, five soldiers went on a training mission to (the town of) Triesenberg which is up the mountains and further away from the frontier,” he said.

“The soldiers erected a post in a house to supervise planes in the Rhine valley,” said Mr Büchel.

“But someone hadn’t realised Triesenberg is not located in Switzerland but in Liechtenstein.

“Neighbours of the couple whose house was occupied by the Swiss soldiers informed the mayor, who called the police”.

By the time the cops arrived the soldiers had realised that, like Dorothy in the Wizard of Oz, they weren’t in Kansas anymore, and made a dash for the border.

Just to make things really awkward, the incident coincided with the visit to the capital of Vaduz of a senior member of the Swiss Government who had to be informed of his country’s unwanted watchtower.

Perversely, Liechtenstein has now been invaded so many times, it actually invited a fake invasion to happen in 2012. Complete with armoured tanks, soldiers and explosions, Sony staged a war as a publicity stunt to launch a games system.

Perhaps the reason Liechtenstein is so chilled by its big neighbour’s repeated ignorance of their shared border is because, when it has really mattered, being close to Switzerland has been a boon.

In 1938, Austria, up to that point the home of the Liechtenstein family, was annexed by Nazi Germany.

The same fate could well have befallen Liechtenstein were it not for the fact it had begun to forge links with Switzerland.

“These close ties saved Liechtenstein during Second World War since Hitler decided that he would annex Liechtenstein together with Switzerland,” said Mr Büchel.

“Thanks to the Allied victory, that never happened.”

Today, Liechtenstein and Switzerland coexist quiet peacefully — invasions, grenade attacks and forest fires excepted of course.

Liechtenstein students go to Swiss universities, the football team is in the Swiss league and Liechtensteiners can use its Swiss hospitals.

The neighbourly way Switzerland solved the diplomatic crisis with the small nation next door was summed up in 2007 by renowned Swiss writer Peter Stamm in the International Herald Tribune.

“Invading Liechtenstein was admittedly a foolish thing to do, but at least the Swiss Army has shown it knows how to bring a failed military action to a happy conclusion.

“You just turn around and sneak back home as quickly and quietly as you can before anybody notices.

“And the next day you call on the head of the foreign territory and offer a formal apology.”

benedict.brook@news.com.au