Swiss mercenaries

[1] They were notable for their service in foreign armies, especially among the military forces of the kings of France, throughout the early modern period of European history, from the Late Middle Ages into the 19th century.

Switzerland's military isolationism largely put an end to organized mercenary activity; the principal remnant of the practice is the Pontifical Swiss Guard at the Vatican.

Swiss mercenaries (German: Reisläufer) were valued throughout the kingdoms and states of medieval Europe for the power of their determined mass attack in deep columns with the spear, the pike, and halberd.

The warriors of the Swiss cantons had gradually developed a reputation across Europe as skilled soldiers,[1] due to their successful defense of their liberties against their Austrian Habsburg overlords, starting as early as the late 13th century, including remarkable upset victories over heavily armoured knights at Morgarten and Laupen.

The Swiss mercenaries, with their head-down attack in huge columns with the long pike, refusal to take prisoners, and consistent record of victory, were greatly feared and admired—for instance, the Italian diplomat and political philosopher Niccolò Machiavelli addressed their system of combat at length in the twelfth chapter of his literary masterpiece, The Prince (1513–1532).

Although often referred to as "pikemen", the Swiss mercenary units also contained halberdiers as well until several decades into the 16th century, as well as a small number of skirmishers armed with bows, crossbows, or early firearms to precede the rapid advance of the attack column.

The young men who went off to fight, and sometimes die, in foreign service had several incentives—limited economic options in the still largely rural cantons; adventure; pride in the reputation of the Swiss as soldiers; and finally what military historian Sir Charles Oman describes as a pure love of combat and warfighting in and of itself, forged by two centuries of conflict.

The Swiss were not flattered by the imitation, and the two bodies of mercenaries immediately became bitter rivals over employment and on the battlefield, where they were often opposed during the major European conflict of the early sixteenth century, the Italian Wars.

Although the Swiss generally had a significant edge in a simple "push of pike", the resulting combat was nonetheless quite savage, and known to Italian onlookers as "bad war".

Period artists such as Hans Holbein attest to the fact that two such huge pike columns crashing into each other could result in a maelstrom of battle, with very many dead and wounded on both sides.

Such deep pike columns could crush lesser infantry in close combat and were invulnerable to the effects of a cavalry charge, but they were vulnerable to firearms if they could be immobilized (as seen in the Battle of Marignano).

The Swiss remained primarily pikemen throughout the sixteenth century, but after that period they adopted similar infantry formations and tactics to other units in the armies in which they served.

In the end, as proven at Marignano and Bicocca, the mass pike attack columns of the Swiss mercenaries proved to be too vulnerable to gunpowder weapons as firearms technology advanced, especially arquebusiers and artillery deployed on prepared ground (e.g., earthworks) and properly supported by other arms.

Despite the end of their supremacy after the Battle of Pavia, the Swiss pike-armed mercenaries continued to be amongst the most capable close order infantry in Europe throughout the remainder of the sixteenth century.

Swiss soldiers continued to serve as valued mercenaries with a number of European armies from the seventeenth to the nineteenth centuries, in spite of extensive changes in tactics, drill and weapons.

The Swiss adopted the musket in increasingly large numbers as the seventeenth century wore on, and abandoned the pike, their ancient trademark, altogether at around the same time as other troops in the French army, circa 1700.

They also served in the New World: Samuel De Champlain's map of the Île Sainte-Croix (Saint Croix Island) settlement shows a barracks for the Swiss.

During the latter part of the 18th century, increasing reliance was placed on recruiting from the "children of the regiment" – the sons of Swiss soldiers who had married French women and stayed in France after their term of service had ended.

On the eve of the French Revolution the log-book of one Swiss regiment expressed concern that Franco-Swiss recruits were becoming prone to desertion as general discontent spread.

Upon Napoleon's return from Elba in 1815, the serving Swiss units were recalled to Switzerland on the grounds that a new contract signed with the government of Louis XVIII had now been rendered void.

[21] After the second Bourbon Restoration, a final capitulation was signed in 1816 for the recruitment of six Swiss regiments, four for the line infantry and two for the Royal Guard, with a nominal strength of 14,000 men.

The first regularly embodied Swiss regiment in the Spanish Army was that of Walter Roll of Uri (a Catholic canton), formed in 1574 for service in the Eighty Years' War.

[28] After initial attempts by the Dutch Republic to raise Swiss regiments during the Franco-Dutch War failed, the revocation of the Edict of Nantes in 1685 by Louis XIV of France prompted a feeling of common threat among Protestants.

[32] With the threat of a French invasion in 1748, the Netherlands concluded a capitulation with all Protestant cantons (except Basel) in addition to Glarus, Appenzell Ausserrhoden, St. Gallen and Neuchâtel.

[37] In addition to the Swiss cantons, Savoy employed a number of units from the Valais, a Catholic associate state of Switzerland, starting with the Kalbermatten Regiment in 1615.

[37] The Swiss also fought for the King of Sardinia in the War of the Austrian Succession, suffering heavy losses at the Siege of Villafrance and distinguishing themselves at the battles of Madonna dell'Olmo and Assietta.

[22] Some, such as Henry Bouquet and Frederick Haldimand (both from the Royal American Regiment), achieved distinction in North America and held high offices in the British colonial administration.

[42] Their behaviour on this occasion was criticized within Switzerland, which led the Federal Council in 1851 to ban all recruitment for foreign service and to demand the removal of the cantonal and national coats of arms from regimental flags.

[43] In 1687, a Swiss regiment of 2,500 men, recruited from the Catholic cantons of Central Switzerland, Solothurn, and the city of St. Gallen, was raised for Venetian service in the Morean War.

[43] Swiss mercenaries were also employed at various dates by Prussia, Brandenburg, Genoa, Portugal, Tuscany, Poland, Saxony, Denmark, Sweden, and Bavaria, among other states.