Page 77 - All About History - Issue 59-17

Phalanx formation
The Swiss fought in a square that could
protect itself in all four directions with an
equal number of rows and files. They drilled
regularly in their tightly packed squares so
that they could fight offensively. As a result
of their discipline and training, the Swiss
had high morale and were able to launch
fearsome attacks.

Battle of Sempach

canton of lucerne, SWitzerland, 9 July 1386

Written by William E. Welsh
hile the Hundred Years’ War tends to Emboldened by their growing power, the
dominate 14th-century history, the confederated cantons refused to swear an oath of
Swiss struggle to be free from the grip fealty to the Habsburgs. In 1385, Lucerne even raided
of Austria in the 1380s was also pivotal towns south of the Rhine that were controlled
W for Europe. The Austrians, led by the by the dynasty, deposing Habsburg officials and
mighty Habsburg dynasty, claimed lands south of destroying farms and crops. But when Lucerne
the Upper Rhine extending deep into the cantons seized the town of Rothenburg in December 1385,
of the rugged Northern Alps. This threatened the Duke Leopold III of Austria vowed revenge.
autonomy of the Swiss, who had largely been free of Leopold summoned vassals from Alsace, Swabia
feudal constraints in the Middle Ages. and Tyrol for a campaign against the Swiss. The
Rudolf of Habsburg, the first of the dynasty to Austrian army assembled in the town of Brugg
become king of Germany, substantially enhanced in Aargau in early July 1386 and marched 72.5
the fortunes of his family. In the closing years of the kilometres to Sempach in Lucerne. Leaving the
13th century he not only owned lands in many of majority of his untrained infantry to hold the town,
the Swiss cantons, but also gained the duchies of Leopold moved northeast, likely in the hope of
Austria and Styria through conquest. intercepting forces reinforcing it.
Among the Swiss lands that Rudolf’s descendents The Habsburg army collided with the Lucerne
coveted were the three rural districts of Schwyz, Uri contingent on 9 July 1386 outside the village of
and Unterwalden — the so-called forest cantons. But Hildisrieden. A desperate melee ensued with the
the fiercely independent people there had no interest Austrian knights fighting dismounted. Just when
in bowing to Rudolf’s family. In the face of Habsburg it seemed they had vanquished the Swiss army, a
aggression, they formed a defensive alliance in 1291, large body of forest canton reinforcements arrived.
an event that marked the birth of what we now call The well-disciplined, highly trained Swiss infantry
the Old Swiss Confederacy. exhibited their renowned powerful offensive
Duke Leopold I of Austria, Rudolf’s grandson, used action as they wheeled and struck the Austrians
a minor dispute over his rights to grazing lands in in the flank. Leopold was slain while leading the
Schwyz to invade the region but the commoners counterattack and his army quickly retreated.
ambushed and defeated his mounted knights at the While the modern, unified state of Switzerland
Battle of Morgarten in 1315. Armed with halberds, we know today was still hundreds of years away,
Militia service the Swiss showed no mercy to their enemy, cutting the Swiss won a decisive victory that furthered
The Swiss had a long tradition down high- and lowborn alike. Because of their the cause of their independence. The Austrian
of freedom that the Habsburg brutality and disregard for the rules of chivalry, the Habsburgs were forced to admit defeat and control
dynasty threatened to snuff Habsburgs learned to fear and loath them. of territories around the Rhine would collapse in the
out. To resist the Habsburgs The Old Swiss Confederacy expanded in the mid- coming years, granting Lucerne, Bern and Solothurn
and remain free from feudal
obligations, the Swiss cantons 14th century with the additions of Bern, Lucerne, unchecked expansion in the region. The Swiss
required all of their able-bodied Zug and Zurich. The mercantile, urban communities win also forced other states to acknowledge the
men to participate in their enhanced the Confederacy’s wealth and manpower Confederacy’s military prowess and their presence
respective militias.
and strengthened its military forces. as a growing European power.

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