First Villmerger War
| date | January 5, 1656 to March 7, 1656 |
|---|---|
| place | Switzerland |
| output | Victory of the catholic places |
| consequences | Preservation of Catholic hegemony |
| Peace treaty | Third Land Peace (March 7, 1656) |
| Parties to the conflict | |
|---|---|
The First Villmerger War was a military conflict in the Confederation that lasted from January 5 to March 7, 1656 . On the one hand there were the Reformed towns of Zurich and Bern , and on the other the Catholic towns in central Switzerland. The Reformed tried to break through the political hegemony of the Catholics that had existed since the Second Kappel Peace in 1531 . The trigger for the war was the expulsion and execution of new believers in the Schwyz community of Arth . The people of Zurich besieged the city, which was allied with the Central Swiss, without successRapperswil and thus tied their forces. The Bernese were defeated and driven out in the First Battle of Villmergen . The third country peace ended the war and restored the previous conditions.
Causes and Triggers
In the Peasants' War of 1653, when the authorities of the Reformed and Catholic towns took action against rebellious peasants, the confessional differences that had existed for more than a hundred years were only temporarily pushed into the background. In 1654, the mayor of Zurich , Johann Heinrich Waser, was commissioned to work out a plan to renew the alliance. However, the federal project of 1655 met with rejection from the Catholics, as they saw their supremacy threatened. The differences between the denominations came to light again.
In September 1655 the disputes escalated when Reformed people living in the Schwyz town of Arth fled to Zurich after the authorities had confiscated their property. Four of these " Nicodemites " were executed by the Schwyzers in the course of the Arther trade , and three more were handed over to the Inquisition in Milan . Zurich requested a special Diet in December, the punishment of those responsible, reparation and the resolution of the existing since 1586 Golden federal Catholics. When these demands were ignored, Zurich declared war on January 6, 1656.
The Catholic towns in central Switzerland assured Schwyz of their support. On the Reformed side, only Bern provided full assistance, while Schaffhausen only made troops available for defensive purposes. Basel , Freiburg , Solothurn , Appenzell Ausserrhoden , Glarus , the Drei Bünde and St. Gallen remained neutral .
Course of war
Just one day before the declaration of war Zurich contingents moved to Rheinau to the town along with the monastery Rheinau to plunder. On January 7th, General Hans Rudolf Werdmüller led the main power of Zurich to Rapperswil , where they began to siege the city. Small units took Frauenfeld , Kaiserstuhl , Klingnau and Zurzach , others holed up near Oberwil and Kappel am Albis . The Schaffhausen residents took up positions between Wädenswil and Hütten .
Bern only mobilized on January 8th and was initially on its own. Around two thirds of the soldiers were needed to secure the borders with the Catholic neighbors. The remaining soldiers marched towards Aarau under the command of General Sigmund von Erlach . Originally they wanted to unite with the people of Zurich, but they had tied up their forces in the unfavorable siege of Rapperswil . On the Catholic side, Lucerne took over the top military command . The troops from Lucerne and Zug not deployed to guard the border gathered in Muri and united with contingents from the Free Offices near Boswil .
On January 24, 1656, the First Battle of Villmergen took place . The Catholic troops surprised the Bernese army, which had arrived in Villmergen the evening before, and were able to drive them out despite their numerical and technical inferiority, which was mainly due to the lack of coordination on the part of the Bernese. After the people of Zurich attempted a final assault on Rapperswil on February 3, they broke off the siege without result. In the weeks that followed, there were minor skirmishes and attacks on the population.
consequences
France and Savoy acted as mediators between the conflicting parties. They concluded the Third Peace on March 7th . They assured themselves that the fighting would cease and granted amnesty for misconduct during the war. In addition, the troops were withdrawn, the prisoners of war released and the fortifications that had been built razed. Every place was given the right to maintain the status quo with regard to religion. Controversial issues such as compensation payments were transferred to an arbitration tribunal, but due to the disagreement of the panel, in many cases there was no result. The actual cause of the war, the reformed refugees from Arth, was not taken into account.
Essentially, the peace treaty confirmed the balance of power that had existed since the Second Kappel Peace in 1531, i.e. the political dominance of the Catholic towns within the Confederation.
See also
literature
- Hans Rudolf Fuhrer, Military Academy at the ETH Zurich: Villmerger Wars 1656/1712 . In: Military history at your fingertips . tape 19 . Military Academy at the ETH Zurich, Wädenswil 2005.
Web links
- Thomas Lau: First Villmerger War. In: Historical Lexicon of Switzerland .