Swiss American Historical Society Review Volume 56 Number 3 Article 4 11-2020 The Swiss in the Swabian War of 1499: An Analysis of the Swiss Military at the End of the Fifteenth Century Albert Winkler Follow this and additional works at: https://scholarsarchive.byu.edu/sahs_review Part of the European History Commons, and the European Languages and Societies Commons Recommended Citation Winkler, Albert (2020) "The Swiss in the Swabian War of 1499: An Analysis of the Swiss Military at the End of the Fifteenth Century," Swiss American Historical Society Review: Vol. 56 : No. 3 , Article 4. Available at: https://scholarsarchive.byu.edu/sahs_review/vol56/iss3/4 This Article is brought to you for free and open access by BYU ScholarsArchive. It has been accepted for inclusion in Swiss American Historical Society Review by an authorized editor of BYU ScholarsArchive. For more information, please contact
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[email protected]. Winkler: The Swiss in the Swabian War of 1499 The Swiss in the Swabian War of 1499: An Analysis of the Swiss Military at the End of the Fifteenth Century by Albert Winkler Introduction By the end of the fifteenth century, the states of the Swiss Con- federation had enjoyed almost complete autonomy from the neighbor- ing feudal powers for generations. During the fourteenth and fifteenth centuries, the states of the Swiss Confederation were beset by external threats to their security, independence, and existence. The largest sin- gle menace to Swiss independence was the Habsburg family who often controlled their lands according to monarchal authority and a social structure which kept their subject peoples as unfree serfs.