Battle of Arbedo
| date | June 30, 1422 |
|---|---|
| place | At Arbedo in the Leventina |
| output | Milan victory |
| Parties to the conflict | |
|---|---|
|
Old Confederation : |
|
| Commander | |
|
? |
|
| Troop strength | |
| 16,000 | 2,500 |
| losses | |
|
? |
500 |
The Battle of Arbedo was held on June 30, 1422 between troops of the Old Confederation and the Duke Filippo Maria Visconti near the village of Arbedo in what is now the canton of Ticino in Switzerland . The battle was part of the so-called Ennetbirgische campaigns .
The people of Uri , who were supported by troops from Unterwaldner , Lucerne , Zug and Livin , were in charge of the Confederation . It was the first Swiss battle that was not fought as a liberation struggle against an attacker threatening the homeland, but aimed at regaining an area that the Confederates had acquired and lost outside their territory.
prehistory
In 1403 Uri and Unterwalden followed the call for help from the Leventina valley community , which wanted to break away from the Duchy of Milan. The Urners and their allies succeeded in conquering the Leventina (1403), Riviera (1407) and the Maiental (1416). The areas were administered as common dominions . The barons of Sax were in league with Uri and came into the possession of the city of Bellinzona , which blocks the exit from the Ticino valley . Between 1407 and 1419 Bellinzona was seen as facing site of the Confederation until 1419 Uri and Unterwalden city and county Bellinzona bought from the Barons of Sax.
When the balance of power in the Duchy of Milan had re-established after the death of Duke Gian Galeazzo Visconti , Milan took steps to recapture Bellinzona and the Ticino valleys.
On April 4, 1422, the Milanese troops attacked the city of Bellinzona and captured it.
Uri and Unterwalden, which were most severely affected, immediately prepared themselves for a campaign and crossed the Gotthard . This campaign found reluctant support among the Confederates and only a few federal troops supported it. The Confederates moved with about 2500 men before the city of Bellinzona and tried to recapture it, which they did not succeed. The Confederates then gathered in a camp a good two kilometers north of Bellinzona to wait for the other federal towns to be strengthened.
Meanwhile, enemy reinforcements were gathering behind the walls of Bellinzona. The confederates failed to take any precautionary measures, so security and guards were completely dispensed with and any reconnaissance in the direction of the enemy was not carried out. They had no knowledge of what was happening behind the protective walls of the city.
Slaughter process
In the early morning of June 30, 1422, Francesco Bussone da Carmagnola , the leader of the Milanese troops, launched a surprise attack on the federal camp. The almost 5,000 riders did not succeed in the attack despite the surprise effect, and the Confederates formed a narrow square and fended off the attacks by the riders. Caramagnola then deployed his infantry. When the Confederates realized that they had no chance against the likely six-fold superiority, they destroyed their guns and tried to make their way north. At the village of Arbedo they got stuck due to an embrace by the enemy. First they had to retreat to a terrace, and when they were further harassed they made an attempt to escape and managed to get to safety with the flags heading north. Further up the valley, they encountered reinforcements from the Schwyz and later the Zürcher .
At the end of the fight, over 500 of the 2500 Swiss were dead on the battlefield, including Landammans Roth von Uri and Peter Kolin von Zug.
result
Bellinzona and the lower Leventina remained with the Duchy of Milan and all Ennet mountain territories were lost. The confederates later recaptured them.
In terms of weapons, the inferiority of the Confederation was shown. With their short cutting weapons, halberds , battle hammers and pikes and the quality of the weapons they were far inferior. Because of the lack of long spears, they first had to stab the horses in order to be able to meet the riders afterwards.
Shortly after this defeat, a longer spear was introduced into the federal armament, which already proved itself in the Old Zurich War .
See also
swell
- Peter Dürrenmatt : Swiss History . Schweizer Druck- und Verlagshaus AG, Zurich 1963.
- Charles Knapp, Maurice Borel, Victor Attinger, Heinrich Brunner, Société neuchâteloise de géographie (editors): Geographical Lexicon of Switzerland . Volume 1: Aa - Emmengruppe . Verlag Gebrüder Attinger, Neuenburg 1902, p. 84 f., Keyword Arbedo ( scan of the lexicon page ) ..
- La redazione: Francesco Bussone. In: Historical Lexicon of Switzerland . April 25, 2005 , accessed March 16, 2020 .
- Hans Rudolf Kurz: Swiss battles . Francke Verlag, Bern 1962.
Web links
- Alain François Berlincourt: Arbedo, battle at. In: Historical Lexicon of Switzerland .