Swiss arms and armour

The German Landsknechte, who imitated Swiss warfare methods during the early 16th century, also used the pike, supplemented by the halberd.

Bern in the Burgdorferkrieg of 1383–84 used medieval types of catapults and battering rams, but for the first time also cannons and early handguns.

Consequently, substantial reserves of arms and armour were accumulated in the armouries of the Swiss cities during the Thirty Years' War, especially by Zürich and Solothurn.

By contrast, the population of the rural cantons in the conflicts of the Early Modern period was often armed with simple and ad hoc weaponry, especially clubs, and maces such as the spiked morning star.

This was the case in the Swiss peasant war of 1653, and again in the Stecklikrieg uprising of 1802, called after the eponymous Stäckli "club" carried by the insurgents.