“Everything about Liechtenstein is ridiculous. For a start it is ridiculously small – barely 1/250th the size of Switzerland, which is itself ridiculously small. Liechtenstein is the last remaining fragment of the Holy Roman Empire, and so obscure that its ruling family didn’t bother to come and see it for 150 years… Liechtenstein’s last military engagement was in 1866, when it sent eighty men to fight the Italians. Nobody was killed. In fact – you’re going to like this – they came back with 81 men, because they made a friend along the way. Two years later, realizing that the Liechtensteiners could beat no one, the crown prince disbanded the army.”
– Bill Bryson, Neither Here Nor There, p. 193