The Principality of Liechtenstein, a five-by-twelve-mile independent State in the central Alps between Austria and Switzerland, is dogged but slow. Back in 1866, when Liechtenstein decided to join Austria and go to war against Prussia, its Army of
80 tall soldiers put on their leather helmets, marched off. But when they arrived at the front, the war was over: Prussia had won.
Since Bismarck considered Liechtenstein too microscopic to list in the peace treaty, the Principality technically continued, and still continues, at war with Germany. This is the oldest and most peaceful declared war in the world.* It is also probably the most one-sided in history. Despite this disparity, Liechtenstein is one little slice or territorial pie with plenty of German raisins in it (over 99% of its population ot 10,000 are of German origin) for which Adolf Hitler has not yet developed an appetite.
Last week the ruling sovereigns of these two warring States, Herr Hitler and Prince Franz Josef of Liechtenstein, sat down at a Berlin parley. Their subject of discussion: colonies. Prince Franz Josef's colony is a private estate in the Sudetenland, an estate considerably larger than his 5x12 country. Surprisingly for an enemy ruler who wants a colony or two for himself, Herr Hitler made no immediate demands on the integrity of the Prince's colonial empire.
* Only other declared war in existence is between San Marino and Turkey accidentally left over from the World War