The end of expansion: the turn of the 16th century
The Swabian War 1498-9
A turning point in relations with Empire came with the Swabian War, sparked when Maximilian I (himself a Habsburg, and later to be emperor) tried to introduce reforms that would bind the Confederates closer to the empire. Fearing the threat to their freedom, the Confederates made alliances with the three leagues which now make up the canton of Graubünden who also felt threatened by the Austrians. The fighting started in the Graubünden, but quickly spread, ending with a Confederate victory at Dornach, near Solothurn.
The Treaty of Basel signed at the end of the war implicitly recognised the Confederates' independence of the Empire.
Basel and Schaffhausen joined the Confederation as full members in 1501, seeing this as the best way to safeguard their independence against possible encroachments by the Emperor.
- "Wicked, coarse and contemptible peasants" - that was how Maximilian I (1459-1519) regarded the Confederates.
- Maximilian's father-in-law, Charles the Bold of Burgundy, had promised to put the Confederates back under Habsburg overlordship, but had instead been killed in battle with them.
- Maximilian himself was the last Habsburg to have any realistic chance of reclaiming his family's rights in what is now Switzerland. However, his attempt to bind them closer to the Empire provoked the Swabian war which gave them de facto independence.
Lithograph showing detail from Ferdinand Hodler's fresco, The Retreat from Marignano, used as exhibition poster© BPUG Zurich Graph. Anstalt J.E. Wolfensberger
Italian campaigns
After the Swabian War, Confederate expansion appeared unstoppable. As the major powers of Europe - the Habsburg Emperors, the Valois kings of France and the Papacy - fought over the prosperous cities of northern Italy, the Swiss were drawn into the struggle, partly on their own account, and partly through their mercenaries.
In 15 years of fighting over Milan, they initially helped the French, but went over to the Pope in 1510, seizing Milan from the French in 1512. The Confederation scored a second decisive defeat over the French at Novara in 1513, and appeared set to continue their expansion into Lombardy.
However, two years later the tables were decisively turned, when the French, with their Venetian allies, routed the Confederates at the Battle of Marignano, bringing their territorial ambitions to an abrupt and final halt.
Nevertheless, in the peace treaty that followed, the Confederates kept all of what is now Ticino, plus other areas of what is now Italy.
The Battle of Marignano is regarded as a turning point in Swiss history: not only did it end the Confederates' military expansion for ever; it was also the beginning of Swiss neutrality. Not that the Swiss stopped fighting: they stopped fighting on their own account, and instead hired their services out to foreign powers.
Links to other websites
- Commercial site dealing in Swiss military uniforms : illustrations from 1515-1918 Heinrich Baumgartner AG (in German)
- Did Leonardo da Vinci design Locarno castle? swissinfo (2006)
- History museum, showing how Swiss lived 1300-1800 Forum of Swiss History