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Writer's pictureGeorge Castrioti

November 15th, 1315 - The Battle of Morgarten

Conflict: Swiss-Habsburg War

Combatants: Austrians vs. Swiss Confederacy

Location: Switzerland

Outcome: Swiss victory


In an ill-fated invasion attempt, Leopold of Austria led approximately 8,000 men into Switzerland in November of 1315. The Swiss, with only 1,500 soldiers, ambushed the invasion force while caught between a lake and a mountain. Rolling boulders and tree trunks down onto the unwitting Austrian cavalry forced the horsemen back upon their own infantry. Swiss archers and halberdiers finished the task and drove the few surviving Austrians into retreat.


Battle of Morgarten by Johannes Stumpf

Points of Interest:

  • The Swiss supported the claim of Louis IV of Bavaria to the crown of the Holy Roman Empire. The Austrians supported the Habsburg Frederick the Handsome.

  • Archduke Leopold of Austria, the leader of the ill-fated invasion, was Frederick's brother.


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Sources:

Dupuy, Trevor N., Johnson, Curt, & Bongard, David L. (1992). The Harper's Encyclopedia of Military Biography. New York: Castle Books (HarperCollins).

 

Dupuy, R. Ernest & Dupuy, Trevor N. (1993). The Harper's Encyclopedia of Military History. New York: HarperCollins.

 

Eggenberger, David (1985). An Encyclopedia of Battles: Accounts of Over 1,560 Battles from 1479 B.C. to the Present. New York: Dover Publications, Inc.

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