Why Switzerland Has 374,142 Bunkers (and likely more)

Thanks for watching! I made a poster about maps & i hope you like it: store.dftba.com/products/all-maps-are-wrong-poster

World: does something that is somewhat unstable
The Swiss: starts digging furiously

I’m an American and lived in Switzerland for several years. You have no idea how prepared they are for ANYthing and EVERYthing all at once. The Swiss think through everything very very thoroughly…. It’s not that easy to understand until you live there and are a part of their system that you realize they have thought of everything to guard against anything from minor pitfalls to major threats. It’s an astonishingly well-run, orderly, safe society.

We lived in Switzerland for 16 years. There was a bunker in the apartment buildings we lived in and in the house we lived in. The bunker in the house was inspected and tested about every 4-5 years and there was a signed sheet for completed and passed testing on the inside of the door, for every test since the house was built. If you built a home without a bunker, you had to pay your local municipality for the right to space in the municipality's general bunker... they all have one.
The bunkers are NOT just for protection from war - "traditional" or nuclear - they are also for protection from nuclear fallout in case one of many nuclear power plants goes kaboom. Because of the air filtering system, they also provide safety in case of a chemical tanker accident and other things that can contaminate the air where people live. Also, they would provide safe shelter in cases of extreme weather or run-away fires.... and, probably, the whole house falling down on top of them.

We also have a bunker with a circulating air filter (including the large yellow wrench 😊) installed in our house. It is used as a storage room and the racks are actually beds. We also have the army weapon that everyone stores at home and is allowed to keep when they finish their service. Many things are special in Switzerland that would be unthinkable in other countries.

Its always weird to hear people outside of Switzerland being so impressed by our bunkers, because I grew up with it and I thought every country runs like this^^.

Johnny meeting a fellow Map Enthusiast is pure joy. So happy you felt seen.

Dude that has to be the most interesting video I have watched in a long time. Great production and super informative/thought provoking. Thanks man!

Just love watching this vlog, it's like a free tour in Switzerland.
What an amazing country, it's my dream now to travel in Switzerland before I die

As a swiss and a soldier which got trained in swiss bunkers, i have to say this documentary is done very well. You educated a lot of people on a very interesting and mostly unknown topic and all that without being disrespectful against our National Security cause you didn’t got around and searched for the ones which are classified or tried to expose anything which isn’t known to the puplic.

Fun fact: In Zurich, where you met the historian, there are SEVERAL machine gun bunkers hidden, and also strategic explosive charges underneath the most important bridges. Some of the machine gun bunkers were even pointed at the lake, like at the entrance to that floating sailing club, behind you at 28:14, which honestly is beyond me as to why anyone would attack Zurich by lake. We use it for wine storage now :D

Are the Swiss actually dwarves?

This, hands down, is one of the best documentary posts on YouTube. This is not hyperbole whatsoever. It was astonishing in context, with cogent explanations, entertaining in a contributing way, and is produced with perfection e.g. one could say “it’s so Swiss.”

I know a fair amount about the bunkers and feel that the narrative here is spot on—or more precisely, each segment and location packed a salvo of information gunning for the passes of our curiosity.

And what can I say, after the good old U.S. of A, Switzerland is my second favorite country. I’m rather fond of their rail network and the terminal in Zurich.

But, I digress.

While watching this post I wondered about two things. First—how would the majority of Swiss bunkers withstand the 5,000 pound U.S. “bunker buster” bomb like the ones lobbed at Iraq in 2003?

Second, with such HUGE guns tucked inside mountain beaver conduits, how well and for how long can the rock withstand the repeated concussion and recoil of the cannon when they are fired…

…not to mention the decibel level, the deafening sound, of a firing gun echoing throughout the corridors of a bunker of any size?

With each kaboom upon firing would assuredly give everyone the bunker shakes—I mean, if you’ve seen “The Hunger Games” you know what I mean.

Finally, it’s been awhile since I’ve watched an “independent” YouTube post that gave me a bang for my YouTube “Premium” buck.

Bravo!

As a former officer in the Swiss army, I really enjoyed this, and wish you could see some of the stuff we have, like underground airbases complete with fighter jets hanging in the ceiling, maintenence tunnels, the insane fire suppression systems, and, as you showed it, the usual fortified maching gun position at the end of a tunnel.
Not used anymore nowadays and mostly cold war relics, but that would nevertheless make any insane James Bond villain hideout look like an amateurish Disneyland prop. Anyway, thanks for this, great work and hope you enjoyed Switzerland.😉😘

swiss army soldier here: very nice job of portraying the cultural aspect of why my ancestors chose to construct these bunkers. some higher ups in the army even bought some fortresses and use them as their private residence. seeing professional videos makes the alps look that much nicer and i thank you for that as well :)

I still desperately hope we will never have to use them but we are still prepared in the end as we always have been. (some political groups want them completely abandoned and i think thats a big mistake, especially under current circumastances).

a lot of history in this video, thank you for making it :) keep up the good work

I need to go bunker hunting in Switzerland now! thanks for sharing this master piece!

Production value is off the Charts. As a swiss i thoroughly enjoyed the video, but i wish you would have gone more into the redoubt tactic and what the swiss people were willing to sacrifice in case of invasion. keep it up!

This documentary is amazing, but please make each shot longer. Its such a fast chop between shots and you never allow enough time for shots to linger, so I feel like I'm missing so much and not letting me absorb this beautifully shot and framed images

this was brilliant, incredible editing and colors