Battle of Morgarten 1315 AD - Rise of the Swiss

 

Battle of Morgarten 1315 AD - Rise of the Swiss

During one cold November morning in 1315, as Werner Stauffacher oversaw the construction of a makeshift blockade on a narrow Schwyz mountain road, out from the mist an arrow slammed into the palisade, carrying a message that said: “Go home, you cannot win this battle and you cannot win this war.” The Habsburg army was just ahead… Werner crumpled the message, looked up the road and told his men to get ready...

 “They’re here…”

 At the start of the 14th century, political realities in the Holy Roman Empire were harsh.

 For communities that wanted to maintain their autonomy, success on the battlefield was necessary.

 In the western Alps, the House of Habsburg sought to gain control over the Schöllenen Gorges and the Gotthard pass, which belonged to the Swiss Forest Cantons.

 This was one of the busiest trading routes within the Holy Roman Empire as it offered the shortest passage to-and-from Italy, over the Alps.

 Controlling and taxing it would’ve undoubtedly brought immense wealth to the House of Habsburg.

 However, to protect their interests, the Forest Cantons of Uri, Schwyz, and Unterwalden formalized a Confederacy in 1291 and were granted local autonomy within the empire by Holy Roman Emperors.

 This thwarted Habsburg plans, at least temporarily, but didn’t prevent the escalation of further disputes.

 One such dispute came in the form of Count Wernher of Homberg, who held a hereditary title to the jurisdiction over Einsiedeln Abbey, which was under direct protection of the Habsburgs.

 The Count was an ally of the Schwyz and they shared ambitions to strengthen their own influence over Einsiedeln, which brought them at odds with the Habsburgs.

 Complicating matters, Einsiedeln Abbey used its’ authority over surrounding alpine valleys to pressure farmers into focusing predominantly on cattle breeding, which fuelled the Abbey’s lucrative trading enterprise.

 Seeking to increase their cattle exports, the monastery forced its’ tenant-farmers to encroach on pastures that belonged to the canton of Schwyz,

 which evolved into organised cattle stealing.

 Meanwhile, Schwyz officials settled many of their own farmers in Einsiedeln’s unused dense forests, turning them into arable land.

 Over the years this dispute became a volatile border conflict.

 Then, after Emperor Henry VII’s demise in 1313, tensions with the Habsburgs rose further when the Confederates refused to support Prince Frederick the Handsome in his bid to the Imperial Crown.

 Fearful that the Habsburgs would appropriate their lands if they took power, they sided with Duke Louis IV of Bavaria, who guaranteed their autonomy.

 Matters finally came to a head on January 6th 1314, after the Schwyz lost a protracted court battle over the border dispute with Einsiedeln.

 In retaliation, Schwyz Landammann Werner Stauffacher launched an attack on the Abbey, plundering the monastery.

 This minor local dispute now became a part of a larger military conflict between Austria and Bavaria for the Imperial throne.

 The indecisive campaigning between Emperor Louis IV and Prince Frederick dragged on through 1314 and finally slowed towards the end of 1315.

 Duke Leopold I, Frederick’s brother and co-ruler of Austria, could now turn his attention towards the Schwyz and their allies.

 The sacking of the monastery was a smear on his reputation and a direct challenge to his role as Protector of Einsiedeln Abbey, and he was determined to subdue and humiliate the Confederates, whom he regarded as uncivilized mountain peasants.

 Although it was late in the year, there was enough time for a rapid campaign before the onset of winter.

 A quick expedition would nullify the threat posed by the Confederates and the plundering of their lands would secure supplies and funds for the Habsburg war effort against the Emperor.

 A two pronged attack was planned.

 Leopold gathered an 8,000-strong army at Zug, intending to attack Schwyz, while Count Otto von Strassberg commanded a force of around 6,000 at Interlaken and was tasked with striking Unterwalden.

 The Confederates joined most of their troops, totalling around 2,000 men, under the command of Werner Stauffacher, believing that the defence of Schwyz was crucial.

 The people of Unterwalden, having sent most of their fighting men to assist Schwyz, used the rest of their troops to garrison forts in key areas, against the Austrian attack from the west.

 The people of Schwyz did the same, fortifying key passes that could serve as entry points for the enemy.

 At the well defended town of Arth they manned the stone walls and towers with women and young boys, lighting countless watch fires to give the impression that their entire army was stationed in the fortified town.

 The ruse worked.

 Wanting to avoid a risky frontal assault against, what he thought, was the well-fortified Confederate army, Leopold marched out of Zug, heading south-east.

 But he too sent deceptive diversionary infantry attacks against Arth, giving the impression of an impending assault on the town, while taking the main body of the army around Lake Ägeri, planning to attack the town of Schwyz, then swing north to launch a surprise attack on Arth fortification from behind.

 As they rounded the lake, the Austrians marched between the slopes of Morgarten Mountain and a flooded swamp further downhill.

 The road was narrow, probably only wide enough to accommodate two horses abreast.

 The column stretched for several kilometres.

 Heavy cavalry was in the front, with infantry following behind.

 Seeing that the road ahead is deserted, Leopold’s troops were confident that their superior training and better equipment, as well as a powerful contingent of heavy cavalry, including some of Leopold’s best knights, has intimidated the Confederates into retreating.

 The heavily armoured knights in particular felt that they had a score to settle with these upstarts who had long resisted Habsburg domination, having great disdain for the Schwyz peasants because they were of the lower class.

 Then, the vanguard came to a sudden halt.

 A crude, yet formidable barricade blocked their path.

 Officers ordered the knights in the front to clear the road, but it was obvious that it would take some time to dismantle the obstacle.

 Further back, word of the barricade was yet to reach the main body of the army.

 Not knowing that the vanguard came to a halt, the infantry kept marching forward, until nearly half of the troops piled up in a chaotic bottleneck at the front, with parts of the column so congested that the men barely had enough space to move at all.

 No one in the Austrian column noticed something moving in the trees.

 Most of the officers were busy trying to get the infantry to halt and pass the word to the rear to stop advancing.

 Then, stepping out of the treeline, Swiss Confederates began hurling stones, logs and arrows at the stunned Austrians below.

 Realizing he has led his troops into a trap, Leopold rallied his knights.

 But the head of the column was so congested that the horses could barely move, and with the flooded swamp behind them, and the Swiss throwing projectiles from higher ground, the Austrian vanguard was stuck.

 Being pummelled by projectiles and having nowhere to hide, panic soon spread among the troops in the front.

 Then, a screen of Swiss fighters appeared above the middle of the Austrian line.

 Fearing there may be more troops hidden on the slopes above them, much of Leopold’s infantry turned and fled back the way they came from.

 But for the mounted knights and infantry in the front, retreat was no longer possible.

 Seeing that large parts of the Austrian column was on the run, the Swiss militia charged!

 Though outnumbered, they moved quickly downhill, while Leopold’s knights tried to form a line.

 Rushing down the slopes, Confederates levelled their halberds as they closed the distance and plunged into the Austrian column.

 Almost immediately, groups of Swiss fighters punched through the thin Austrian line as the heavy cavalry, unable to manoeuvre, could not hold for very long.

 Confederates drove the knights from their horses using their long halberds, while staying outside of the reach of their swords, cutting right through Leopold’s knights with little-to-no losses.

 Some Austrian troops plunged into the flooded swamp, desperate to escape the onslaught.

 Most of them didn’t make it far in the cold water.

 Those mounted knights who still had a chance to retreat, routed in panic, along with Duke Leopold himself, trampling over their own infantry as they fled back up the road.

 By the end of the day, around 2,000 Austrian troops lay dead, including many prominent nobles and some of Leopold’s finest men-at-arms.

 The battle has been a resounding victory for the Swiss militia.

 With one Habsburg army destroyed, the Confederates rapidly marched west to meet the other invasion force advancing on Unterwalden.

 However, when Otto von Strassberg received news of Leopold’s defeat he abandoned the campaign and withdrew his troops.

 The victory of the free Swiss peasants against a competent feudal army, led by heavily armoured mounted knights was a stunning feat of arms.

 Being one of the first of its’ kind, the battle of Morgarten signalled the development of infantry and the decline of cavalry in the armies of Europe.

 For the next two centuries the Swiss continued to demonstrate that they could protect their lands and their privileges with their military prowess.

 The unity of the Forest Cantons at Morgarten demonstrated the benefits of their defensive alliance, and just twenty-four days after the battle the Confederates renewed their oath made in 1291 by concluding a defensive alliance at Brunnen, in the Canton of Schwyz.

 The "Pact of Brunnen" bound the three states to cooperate in military ventures, to aid one another in times of crisis, to guarantee peace among Confederate members, and to assure cooperation in all matters of foreign affairs.

 The “Eternal Alliance” of the Three Cantons formed the foundation of Swiss national identity, and over the next two centuries the Confederation would attract others to join, forming the alliance of the “Eight Cantons” that persisted throughout the Middle Ages, eventually evolving into the modern Swiss nation…