This article is about the specific polity Old Swiss Confederacy and therefore only includes events related to its territory and not to its possessions or colonies. If you are interested in the possession, this is the link to the article about the nation which includes all possessions as well as all the different incarnations of the nation.
If you are looking for the page with the statistics about this polity you can find it here:All Statistics
Was a loose confederation of independent small states that emerged slowly since the XIII century. It was nominally part of the Holy Roman Empire until 1648 when the Treaty of Westphalia ended the Thirty Years' War. It was a precursor of modern Switzerland.
Establishment
January 1292: The Schwyz Free Valley joined the Swiss Confederation.
Chronology
Interactive Chronologies with maps are available in the section Changes Navigation
Was a conflict between the canton of Zurich and the other seven cantons of the Old Swiss Confederacy over the succession to the Count of Toggenburg.
January 1441: During the Old Zurich War, the canton of Zürich, claiming the lands of the deceased Counts of Teggenburg, became a de facto independent state and went into war against the remnant Swiss cantons.
January 1447: The Old Zurich War ended in 1446 with Zurich being defeated and forced to join again the Old Swiss Confederacy.
Was a war between the Habsburg Domains and the Old Swis Confederacy.
August 1468: The Waldshut War resulted in almost no territorial changes. The only exception was the Lordship of Wessenberg south of the Rhine with the villages of Hottwil and Mandach, which was conquered by Bern and annexed to the Schenkenberg bailiff.
Was a conflict between the Burgundian State and the Old Swiss Confederacy and its allies.
June 1474: In the spring of 1475, Freiburg acquired the County of Illens an der Saane.
December 1474: At the end of October 1474, Bern occupied the dominion of Erlach on Lake Biel.
February 1476: Charles the Bold, Duke of Burgundy, took the town of Grandson, which was controlled by troops from Bern and Freiburg.
March 1476: In the battle of Grandson Charles the Bold of Burgundy suffered a defeat against the Swiss infantry.
July 1476: On July 25, 1476, the Peace of Freiburg ended the feud of Bern, Fribourg and Valais with the Duchy of Savoy. Duchess Jolanda, regent of Savoy for the underage Duke Philibert I, had to cede the lordships of Aigle and Erlach, and Illen's lordship in Freiburg. Murten, Grandson, Échallens and Orbe went to Freiburg and Bern as common dominions. The parts of Vaud occupied by Bern and Friborg also remained a pledge of the two cities until the payment of 50,000 guilders. The bishop of Sitten, Walter Supersaxo, who was allied with Bern, further annexed the governorate of St. Maurice in the Lower Valais, which was occupied by the Valais in 1475.
January 1477: Bern returned Vaud to the duchy of Savoy against a ransom of 50,000 guilders already in 1476.
January 1536: In the wake of the Swiss Reformation, Bern occupied Vaud and the city of Geneva in 1535.
Was the last major armed conflict between the Old Swiss Confederacy and the House of Habsburg.
February 1499: Swabian troops occupy the St. Luzisteig Pass and Maienfeld on February 7th.
February 1499: On February 11 and 12, the Confederates and the Grisons drove out the Swabian federal troops from St. Luzisteig and from Maienfeld.
Were a series of wars in Europe (and the overseas possessions of European countries) the 16th, 17th and early 18th that started after the Protestant Reformation. Although the immediate causes of the wars were religious, the motives were complex and also included territorial ambitions.
5.1.Second War of Kappel
Was an armed conflict in 1531 between the Catholic and the Protestant cantons of the Old Swiss Confederacy during the Reformation in Switzerland.
October 1531: As the Catholic cantons refused to help the Three Leagues (Drei Bünde) in the Grisons during the Musso war against the Duchy of Milan, Zürich promptly considered this a breach of contracts between the confederacy and the Three Leagues and declared an embargo against the five alpine Catholic cantons. Pressed by the food embargo, the Catholic cantons declared war on Zürich.
November 1531: The peace that ended the war, the so-called Zweiter Landfrieden (Second Territorial Peace), caused the dissolution of the Protestant alliance. It also prioritized Catholicism in common territories, but allowed parishes or townships that had already converted to remain Protestant.
5.2.Thirty Years' War
Was a war that took place mainly in central Europe between 1618 and 1648. The war began as a religious conflict between Catholics and Protestant in the Holy Roman Empire but then escalated into a conflict for the hegemony in Europe between Habsburg Spain and Austria, Sweden and France.
5.2.1.Thirty Years' War Minor Scenarios
A series of conflicts related to the Thirty Years' War.
5.2.1.1.Invasion of Franche Comté (Ten Years War)
Was French invasion of modern-day Franche-Comté, at the time a possession of the Habsburg, during the Thirty Years' War.
January 1645: Following a treaty concluded with Cardinal Mazarin in 1644, France committed to cease hostilities in Franche-Comté, in exchange for the considerable sum of 40,000 écus, thus guaranteeing the region's neutrality once again. The year 1644 thus marked the end of the Ten Years' War in Franche-Comté.
5.2.2.Franco-Swedish Period
Was the fourth main period of the Thirty Years' War. It started with the intervention of the Kingdom of France.
5.2.2.1.North German Front (Sweden)
Was the north German front during the Franco-Swedish period of the Thirty Years' War.
November 1648: When in November Gustaf of Sweden received a report about the signed peace, he ordered his troops to leave. Also the French troops started leaving the occupied territories in the Holy Roman Empire.
5.2.2.2.Rhineland Front (France)
Was the Rhineland front during the Franco-Swedish period of the Thirty Years' War.
January 1638: France occupies Laufenberg.
November 1643: Battle of Tuttlingen: a surprise attack by Imperial forces caused the French army to retreat across the Rhine.
May 1648: The French returned to Swabia and then to Bavaria. They defeated the Imperial forces at Zusmarshausen (May 17, 1648) and drove Maximilian of Bavaria out of Munich.
5.2.3.Peace of Westphalia
Were a series of treaties that ended the Thirty Years' War. Catholics and Protestants were redefined as equal in the territories of the Holy Roman Empire. There were major territorial adjustments. In particular, France, Sweden and Brandenburg had major territorial gains, and several religious territories of the Holy Roman Empire were secularized.
January 1649: Based on Gustav Droysen's Map of the Holy Roman Empire at the time of Thirty Years' War.
Were a series of conflicts between France and several European monarchies between 1792 and 1815. They encompass first the French Revolutionary Wars against the newly declared French Republic and from 1803 onwards the Napoleonic Wars against First Consul and later Emperor Napoleon Bonaparte. They include the Coalition Wars as a subset: seven wars waged by various military alliances of great European powers, known as Coalitions, against Revolutionary France - later the First French Empire - and its allies.
6.1.War of the First Coalition
Were a series of wars between the Kingdom of France (later the French Republic) and several European Monarchies. The French Revolution had deteriorated the relations of France with the other European countries, that tried several times to invade France in order to crash the revolutionary government.
October 1797: In 1797, the districts of Chiavenna, Valtellina, and Bormio, dependencies of the Three Leagues (an associate of the Confederation), revolted under the encouragement of France. They were quickly invaded and annexed to the Cisalpine Republic on 10 October 1797.
6.1.1.Rhine campaign of 1799
Was one of a series of battles in the Rhineland during the War of the First Coalition.
September 1796: The Austrians established a strong cordon that forced General Jean Victor Marie Moreau to shift his forces southward to the remaining bridgehead at Hüningen.
6.1.2.Rhine campaign of 1802
Was one of a series of battles in the Rhineland during the War of the First Coalition.
February 1797: The French handed over the east-bank bridgehead at Hüningen.
6.1.3.Treaty of Campo Formio
Was a treaty between France and Austria that ended the War of the First Coalition.
January 1798: The Treaty of Campo Formio was signed on 17 October 1797 (26 Vendémiaire VI). The treaty transferred the Austrian Netherlands to France. The territories of Venice were partitioned, most were acquired by Austria. Austria recognized the Cisalpine Republic and the newly created Ligurian Republic. Extension of the borders of France up to the Rhine, the Nette, and the Roer.
6.2.French invasion of Switzerland
French invasion of the Old Swiss Confederacy.
January 1798: French troops under general Ménard invaded Vaud.
April 1798: On April 12, 1798, 121 cantonal deputies proclaimed the Helvetic Republic under the auspices of the French occupying forces. The Helvetic Republic was a centralized state based on the ideas of the French Revolution.
January 1325: Bern annexes Laupen.
January 1332: Regensberg was a family of counts from the Canton of Zürich in Switzerland. The family had possessions in the medieval Zürichgau from the probably mid-11th century and became extinct in 1331 AD. With the extinction of the male line, the city republic of Zürich laid claim to the Regensberg lands and formed the Herrschaft Regensberg respectively Äussere Vogtei.
January 1333: In 1332, the city of Lucerne, trying to achieve Reichsfreiheit from the Habsburgs, joined the Swiss Confederacy.
January 1352: Zürich joined the Swiss Confederation.
May 1352: On May 1, 1351, Zug was finally completely surrounded by federal territory. On June 8, 1352, the Confederates besieged the city of Zug after the surrounding area had offered no resistance. When Duke Albrecht of Habsburg refused to send help, the city was handed over.
January 1354: Bern joined the Old Swiss Confederation in 1353.
January 1354: Solothurn becomes an associate of the Swiss Confederacy.
January 1383: Biel signs treaties of association with Fribourg, Bern and Solothurn.
January 1384: Selzach came under Solothurn rule in 1389.
January 1385: Mülner Lordship sold to Zurich.
January 1386: Threatened by the expansion policy of the city of Lucerne, the town of Sempach joined Lucerne on January 6, 1386.
January 1396: The Free Imperial Valley of Glarus becomes a member of the Swiss Confederation.
January 1398: In 1397 the castle of Unspunnen came into the possession of the Bernese.
January 1401: In 1400, Frutigen and other towns in the Bernese Oberland were incorporated into the Old Swiss Confederacy.
January 1403: Acquisitions of the Old Swiss Confederacy in the Zürichgau.
January 1404: Biasca was occupied in 1403 by troops from the cantons Uri and Obwalden.
January 1409: Bern bought Thun and Burgdorf, the most important cities of Neu-Kyburg, and the remaining towns of Neu-Kyburg by 1408.
January 1413: The Swiss conquered the Aargau. A large part became Bernese, while the County of Baden was subsequently administered by the confederation as a common property until 1798.
January 1416: Acquisitions of the Old Swiss Confederacy in the Zürichgau.
January 1420: The Swiss tried several times to undermine the Visconti power of Bellinzona and to take possession of the city and manors to control the transit routes south of the Alpine passes. They succeeded in 1419 not by force of arms, but with the purchase of castles of the Bellinzona from the De Sacco lords, who had owned them since 1403.
June 1422: The battle of Arbedo, fought on 30 June 1422, once again at the Campi Canini, and the harsh defeat of the Swiss confederates, sanctioned the definitive reconquest of Bellinzona by the Milanese Duchy.
January 1426: The Engelberg Monastery becomes an associated member of Swiss Confederation.
January 1437: In 1436, the county of Toggenburg became a protectorate of Schwyz and Glarus, as well as a subject of the Abbey of St. Gall. This was a significant development in the region, as these territories were part of the Old Swiss Confederacy at the time.
January 1440: Uri temporary occupies the region of Blenio (in modern-day Ticino, Siwtzerland).
January 1441: Uri leaves the region of Blenio.
January 1450: Uri temporary occupies the region of Blenio (in modern-day Ticino, Siwtzerland).
January 1451: Uri leaves the region of Blenio.
January 1454: Acquisitions of the Old Swiss Confederacy in the Zürichgau.
June 1461: Duke Sigismund of Austria got involved in a power struggle with Pope Pius II over the nomination of a bishop in Tyrol in 1460. The confederates took advantage of the problems of the Habsburgs and conquered the Habsburg Thurgau and the region of Sargans in the autumn of 1460, which became both commonly administered property. In a peace treaty from June 1, 1461, the duke had no choice but to accept the new situation.
January 1464: With the decline of the nobility in the 14th century and the growth of the cities, more and more areas of the Buchsgau came under the influence of Bern and Solothurn. Solothurn became lord of the Gäu in 1463, Bern of the Bipperamt, which still belongs to the canton of Bern today.
January 1467: Uri temporary occupies the region of Blenio (in modern-day Ticino, Siwtzerland).
January 1470: Uri leaves the region of Blenio.
January 1478: Based on Gustav Droysen's Map of the Holy Roman Empire in the XV century.
January 1479: Uri temporary occupies the region of Blenio (in modern-day Ticino, Siwtzerland).
January 1480: Uri leaves the region of Blenio.
January 1482: Freiburg joined the Old Swiss Confederacy in 1481.
January 1484: Sargans is sold to the Swiss Confederation.
January 1496: Biasca was probably annexed to the Old Swiss Confederacy together with the Blenio valley starting from 1495.
April 1500: Following the capture and execution of Ludovico Sforza in April 1500 and seeking protection from France, Bellinzona joined the Swiss Confederation on April 14, 1500. Bellinzona would remain under the joint administration of Uri, Schwyz and Nidwalden until the creation of the Helvetic Republic after the Napoleonic invasion of Switzerland in 1798.
July 1501: After the Swabian and Swiss wars in 1499, Basel turned to the Confederation, which it joined on July 13, 1501 as the eleventh place.
January 1502: Schaffhausen became a full member of the Old Swiss Confederacy in 1501.
January 1513: In 1512, Locarno, the Maggia Valley, Lugano and Mendrisio were annexed by the Swiss Confederacy. Subsequently, the upper valley of the Ticino river, from the St. Gotthard to the town of Biasca (Leventina Valley) was part of the Canton of Uri. The remaining territory (Baliaggi Ultramontani, Ennetbergische Vogteien, the Bailiwicks Beyond the Mountains) was administered by the Twelve Cantons.
January 1514: The canton of Appenzell Innerrhoden, like Ausserrhoden, has been a member of the Confederation since 1513.
January 1517: In 1516 Airolo was subjected to the Old Swiss Confederation.
January 1527: The Bishopric of Geneva/Genf joined the Swiss Confederation as ally.
January 1530: In 1529 the city of Bern acquired the village and Herrschaft of Signau.
January 1537: Lausanne was subject to Bern from 1536 to 1798.
January 1537: Gruyere was a Savoyard fiefdom until 1536.
January 1537: Conquest of Vaud by Bern in 1536.
January 1537: Monthey is conquered by Valais.
January 1548: Based on Gustav Droysen's Map of the Holy Roman Empire at the time of the Reformation.
January 1554: The lavish lifestyle of the Counts of Gruyeres gradually led to financial difficulties. After 1500, various areas had to be sold: the Lordship of Aigremont to Bern, the Lordship of Jaun and the Lordship of Corbières to Fribourg.
January 1616: In 1615 the city of Zurich acquired the County of Sax-Forstegg.
January 1657: On July 17, 1651, Count Johann Ludwig von Sulz sold the Rafzerfeld[20] with all sovereign rights to the city of Zurich and in 1656 the northern part of the county to the city of Schaffhausen, which had belonged to the Confederation since 1501.
January 1699: Sumiswald was sold to the city of Bern for 36,000 Reichs thaler in 1698.
Disestablishment
January 1798: The Treaty of Campo Formio was signed on 17 October 1797 (26 Vendémiaire VI). The treaty transferred the Austrian Netherlands to France. The territories of Venice were partitioned, most were acquired by Austria. Austria recognized the Cisalpine Republic and the newly created Ligurian Republic. Extension of the borders of France up to the Rhine, the Nette, and the Roer.
January 1798: French troops under general Ménard invaded Vaud.
April 1798: On April 12, 1798, 121 cantonal deputies proclaimed the Helvetic Republic under the auspices of the French occupying forces. The Helvetic Republic was a centralized state based on the ideas of the French Revolution.
Selected Sources
Articles secrets et convention additionelle du traité de Campo Formio. Retrieved on March, 24th 2024 on https://books.google.de/books?id=SStJAAAAcAAJ&dq=Trait%C3%A9%20de%20paix%20de%20Campo%20Formio&hl=de&pg=PA1#v=onepage&q=Trait%C3%A9%20de%20paix%20de%20Campo%20Formio&f=false
BURGSTELLE WESSENBERG. Burgenwelt. Retrieved on 5 April 2024 on https://www.burgenwelt.org/schweiz/wessenberg/object.php
Droysen, G. (1886): Historischer Handatlas, Bielefeld and Leipzig (Germany)
Droysen, G. (1886): Historischer Handatlas, Bielefeld and Leipzig (Germany), p. 48
Droysen, G. (1886): Historischer Handatlas, Bielefeld and Leipzig (Germany), pp. 34-35
Droysen, G. (1886): Historischer Handatlas, Bielefeld and Leipzig (Germany), pp. 38-39
Droysen, G. (1886): Historischer Handatlas, Bielefeld and Leipzig (Germany), pp. 42-43
Frieden von Campoformio. Retrieved on March, 24th 2014 on https://books.google.de/books?id=UbGMtENHaBIC&pg=PA9#v=onepage&q&f=false
Krumenacker, Y. (2008): La Guerre de Trente Ans, Paris, Ellipses, pp. 146-147
Köbler, G. (2014) Historische Enzyklopädie der Länder der Deutschen, Munich (Germany), p. 281
Schmiele, E. (1887): Zur Geschichte des schwedisch-polnischen Krieges von 1655 bis 1660, Berlin (Germany), p. 5
Zeller, O. (2024): La Bresse et le pouvoir: Le Papier journal de Jean Corton, syndic du tiers état (1641-1643), Dijon (France), p. 12
Old Swiss Confederacy
