How did countries afford to stay neutral in wars, primarily WW1 and WW2?

Question

In WW2 the likes of Spain, Portugal and Switzerland remained neutral, how could these countries stay neutral?

What stopped the Axis powers from invading these countries to add to their countries?

In: 278

Answer 1

Remember the US was neutral for most of WW1, from August of 1914 to April of 1917. It built up its economy by selling goods to both sides.

The US really only joined the Allies when it became apparent that Germany wouldn’t be able to repay it’s war debits, and so finally had an interest to which side would win