When a Swiss Canton Betrayed Its Confederacy to Ally With the Habsburgs
The Old Zurich War was a brutal internal conflict that reshaped the Swiss Confederacy. Triggered by a succession dispute in 1440, Zurich turned against its peers, forging a controversial alliance with the Holy Roman Emperor. The resulting struggle involved mass executions, foreign mercenaries, and a hard lesson in political unity.
The conflict began in 1436 following the death of Count Friedrich VII of Toggenburg, who left no heir or will. Zurich, under the leadership of burgomaster Rudolf Stüssi, moved to claim the Toggenburg lands, directly challenging the interests of the cantons of Schwyz and Glarus. By 1438, Zurich had occupied the territory and attempted to starve its rivals by cutting off grain supplies. This aggression led the other seven cantons to expel Zurich from the Old Swiss Confederacy in 1440 and declare war.
Desperate to maintain its position, Zurich formed an alliance with Frederick III, the Holy Roman Emperor of the house of Habsburg. This move brought international powers into the fray. Frederick requested that Charles VII of France intervene, leading to the arrival of roughly 30,000 Armagnac mercenaries. These forces clashed with the confederates at the Battle of St. Jakob an der Birs in August 1444. Although the Swiss blocking force of 1,600 men was defeated, they inflicted 2,000 casualties on the French, prompting the Dauphin to withdraw his army from the conflict.
The war was marked by extreme violence, most notably the 1444 siege of Greifensee. After capturing the town, the confederates executed 62 of the 64 defenders, including leader Wildhans von Breitenlandenberg, an act widely condemned as cruel even by the standards of the era. By 1446, exhaustion forced a preliminary peace, and in 1450, a definitive treaty was signed. Zurich was readmitted to the confederation but was forced to abandon its Habsburg alliance. Ultimately, the war demonstrated that the Swiss Confederacy had evolved into a political entity that would no longer tolerate the separatist ambitions of its individual members.
Source: Old Zurich War
