Swiss Pikemen: Perhaps the Greatest Soldiers of Medieval Europe
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- čas přidán 23. 01. 2018
- / history_uncovered
The Swiss were always celebrated as some of the greatest warriors in the world. They gained great respect beginning with the ancient Roman army and especially from their foes in the Medieval period. The Swiss pike square formation became the model for the modern infantry regiment for nearly 200 years from the 14th to the 16th centuries.
They were the most sought after mercenaries in Europe and some leaders wouldn't take the battlefield without some in their ranks. Learn what tactics they used to successfully defend their homeland against all odds. Their legacy still lives to the present day as the Swiss Guard.
Music: Hiding Your Reality: incompetech.com (Kevin MacLeod)
It's over europe, switzerland has the highground!
lol Obi-One reference ahaha !!
Hyperion Prime So you think you know anything about war? Your just some 12 year old kid who thinks war is funny. People like you make the world a bad place...
Hyperion Prime you don't know anything about switzerland. You think it would be a good decision to go to war as switzerland against germany and italy. Clearly your lacking education. Kid.
Hyperion Prime Switzerland very much mustered up for WW2 but not to fight for any side but to protect its neutrality. They shoot down both, allies and axis (mainly germans) plains who invaded the swiss territory.
ibrahimovic93123 population doesn't mean much nowadays, a well trained and equipped force can do much better than a force that relies on numbers
Good video! Two major events are missing:
1) Sack of Rome in 1527, when the Swiss guards escorted the Pope to safety, most of them sacrificed themselves to buy just enough time for the Pope to escape. Only the 40 or so escorting the Pope survived.
2) The 100 Swiss guards who made the last stand at the Bastille to protect Louie XVI.
Well, it was at the Tuileries in 1792, which starts the beginning of the "Terreur", and they were 900. Most died because the King ask them to stop fighting.
I always wondered why the swiss were not conquered, especially during the Middle Ages. The explanation with the difficult terrain was never enough for me. After seeing your video, I begin to understand: the word Militia has a completely different signification for swiss. Usually militia is a bunch of not very equipped or trained people who have more the role of maintaining order. For the swiss, Militia were people who trained from infancy and fought alongside their family and neighbors, the same as the most powerful armies in the world, such as the macedonians.
Highly trained and motiveted. I belive the polish husars ruled for similar reasons. Most armies back then where made up of the different nobels but didn train to fight together since Björn (more likely they fought each other) And their morale wasn t as strong not ready to die for each other but rather flee and probably die anyway. In case of the husars it is said that not nessesary the enemie but often their horses fled because of the sound the husars wings made. Not sure if that is true or legend through.
Vlad Matei don’t wanna to take away any credit from the Swiss armed forces, but terrain was the biggest factor/reason in them not being conquered as often as other countries in Europe.
The reason is that every canton fought for each other if one was attacked. But for attacking themselves, it was different. Every canton looked after different purposes. So Bern and Freiburg looked to the west while Uri, Schwyz, Unterwalden looked to the South. When you want to gain a lot of territories, you must fight together. If not, you only gain small gains. For example, at Marignano, the eastern cantons fought while Bern, Freiburg and Solothurn just came back home.
@@MrPancake777 True, even the might Wehmacht never really dared to violate Swiss Neutrality to by pass the Maginot Line; it's just not feasible because of the Terrain, the region is literally a Tank Trap (even for horse drawn units).
The reason we swiss have the best cheese, the best chocolate, the best watches, the best medicine producing industry is very simple. My teacher always said listen boys. We swiss have no oil, no gold or diamonds, but we have our precision and our working attitude to make up for it! So always do your best and remember that! Precision and working moral!
When your military was so badass in the medieval era that no one wants to fight you till this day
It's mostly due to the mountains and rivers making any invasion a Thermopylae situation.
@@R3GARnator And the fact that you fight for home. Not for a new conquest of your Emperor you don't care about.
We still have one of the biggest armies in europe! in comparison with the size of the coutry and population. Our tanks and airfighters are quite operational while other countries have their vehicles out of order! Also note that quite all swiss men have their assault rifles stored at home. So they are mobilized in 10 minutes if needed. Also mention that every house has an air raid shelter. And there are thousands of anti tank-bunkers widespread in every mountain that look just like farm buildings. Do you now wonder why nobody ever invaded switzerland?
@@MrLoris85 luckily the airforce no longer works part-time too ;)
@@satanmhabite9573 We fought for our county, and we have been successful with that. That's why other kingdoms thought: "Well if we are not able to conquer them, we are going to hire them."
Luckily, in all contracts with other armies we agreed that when both combatting armies had swiss mercenaries, we could skip the battle without being punished for treason.
Swiss don't use the mountains to protect themselves. Their neighbours use their mountains to protect them from swiss.
Ādams Vizulis nah, they wouldnt be able to defeat any good army as they could only ambush their foe
dD Lithuania It was joke fellow Balt.
+dD Lithuania
They literaly defeated the best armies in Europe fam ....
I think he means any Good army in a location they don't live in - yes the swiss beat every single invading army - but they aren't conquers or expanders they basically live in a valley and know the terrain perfectly cause well they fucking live there - if they try to face some Turkish army in Arabia or a Teutonic Army in the Baltic states the story might end quite differently.
Not quite right, they have been hired by many rulers as mercenaries abroad. Not only the pope, but the French king guard for instance during the late monarchy was as swiss guard. The defeat of Marignan in 1515 (mentionned in the video) was also a contract with the Duke of Milan. So if they were only effective at taking advantage of their own landscape, it would be very unlikely that they would have been hired by foreign powers for so many centuries.
My grandfather is Swiss and I have Swiss citizenship. This just made me love my country so much more
Diin pfp hat e n3ger druf
I'm swiss and I have to thank you for this
Fuck switzerland
@@oltjseigrs614 lol the frustration
@@Pay2winboi frustration???
@@oltjseigrs614 then why you replied so sweetly?
@@Pay2winboi i hate switzerland is that a problem???
They still have that mobility just try to go on a hike in the mountains with a Swiss, you'll see :)
Not a fat swissy i assume
@@MyHentaiGirl you'd be surprised, I was
Actualy i was hike Last Weekend 😁 The Swiss were once very powerful in the battles, their blood wanted freedom! they died for us. the royal houses of europe despaired and lost precious treasures to the confederates! then they became greedy, like the dwarfs of Lord of the Rings! so the royal houses have just bought us! Now we have eaten fat. but I am grateful to our ancestors, the heroes of yesteryear, I honor them because they have shown me one; nobody stops a man or woman fighting for their freedom! Greetings from Switzerland
My Hentai Girl lol good point :) on the other hand Swiss are not Texans, not many of them are overweight
@@MyHentaiGirl Faster than you. xD
Excellent and non-enough mentioned topic! Thumbs up!
dont you mean underrated?
Like your Hannibal series?
@@AuChoco oft-overlooked?
As a swiss person, this video made me feel so patriotic and proud like never before
God mer genau so
You're country hasn't taken a meaningful diplomatic stance in 200 years and became synonymous with rich persons hiding/hoarding their wealth. So I'd temper the enthusiasm a bit.
@@jon00769 Switzerland never got rich because of hiding money of leaders. Switzerland was already rich when that happens. After Britain invested a lot in industrialization in the early 19th century, Switzerland did the same in investing massively in the industrialization of textile processing and got rich because of that. It is just untrue that Switzerland got rich because of Nazi Gold or someething. That is just spread by people that don't know the history of Switzerland.
@@jon00769Doesnt sound bad. I mean if u compare it to what atrocities other countries did in the past, this is nothing.
@@jon00769 I'd temper the jealousy a bit if I were you.
They're military geniuses, they brought back the ancient military tactic of the greek Phalanx against cavalry which was too overrated in the medieval era
Swiss saying: "Karl der Kühne verlor bei Grandson das Gut, bei Murten den Mut und bei Nancy das Blut."
Translation: "Charles the bold lost at Grandson his goods, at Murten his boldness/courage and at Nancy his blood."
Jesus, I remember this from my schooldays when we had to remember the War with Burgundy.
karl der kühne schiss ins grüne xD
derAedil macht eim grad stolz😀
derAedil even in English I have no idea what that means.Anyone?
Brian Drayton It is something like a riddle. Only works in German. In the first War Karl lost is stuff, in the second his will to fight and in the third he finaly died.
The Swiss really know how to defend themselves, make great watches and knives, run banks and make cheese.
you forgot the chocolate :-D
Ah ah ah ah
You forgot exporting mass quantities of raw resources to nazis and helping germans store gold and riches stolen from millions of murdered jews
@@seanchannie5822 so in your opinion where else would you trade if you're landlocked and surrounded by nazis on all sides?
Not entirely surrounded by nazis and honestly it doesnt even matter its disgusting to even attempt to shy away from how fucked up it was
The duke of Burgundy was turned into Swiss cheese.
Fey the swiss people were tired of karls bullshit, so they put him to rest
He was an arrogant french snob who wanted to force our strong, bearded men to wear gay tiny moustaches.
The consequences of his plan: his laugh (honhonhonhon) was never heard again.
Greetings from switzerland ;)
When some peasant bois change the meta of Europe for hundreads of years...
Swiss Pikemen + Polish Winged Hussars = immortal army
Sebastian N
Two different time periods
@@johnwicksfoknpencil
No shit
Apache Warriors + Vietcong riflemen. your immortals are cut to pieces in an ambush before they even know whats going on. and dont tell me i cant use Vietcong on you. you didnt have to lump in Winged Hussars with a infantry force that existed centuries beforehand.
@@johnwicksfoknpencil actually the same time period. 16th century.
@@JM-dy4ty
Swiss pikemen had already passed their prime before the 16th century arrived
So called "Gewalthaufen", the main force. They were very effective but the mentality of knights at that time helped them as well. Every knight wanted to prove himself on the battle field and earn merits and respect. Consequently the knights didn't really collaborated and coordinated their attacks, which helped the Swiss forces.
Being of Swiss decent it fills me with pride to see this video.
I loved having Swiss Pikemen when I would play Medevil Total War 2.
Also I have seen the memorial for King Louis XVI Swiss Gaurd in Luzren. It was one of the most beautiful stone art works I have seen.
Thank you for sharing this and keep up the good work. 🇨🇭
Geb Inf 17/4 A ⚔ 🇨🇭 ⚔
Good to remember our ancestors.
Thanks for the great video 👍
Ter Inf ;-)
Damn, didn't know the Swiss were that strong. Thanks for uploading this!!!
When you said ruthless at the start I was like "yeah, sure, probably exaggerating", now I'm quaking in my boots at the thought of attacking the Swiss.
Essentially the Swiss reinvented the Greek Phalanx. Tactics and formations and weapons are to all practical purposes identical. Just the armour style distinguishing them. They would have been instantly recognizable to Spartans or Romans from 1500 years before. In the end, like their Greek counterparts they proved highly vulnerable to projectile fire due to their tightly packed formations. In ancient times dart throwers and ballista and arrows or slingers were used, in modern times matchlocks and cannon.
Arthur Brogden Pike formations were different to Alexander's formations , which had terrible mobility apart from forwards. The Swiss could go forward, wheel into a circle, stretch into a line, square up or hold the enemy at the line .
Do in large part because they weren't encumbered by 30+ lbs of Bronze Age shield, and their body armour would also have been much lighter as well.
The Swiss benefited from much lighter armour weight, stell vs bronze and the lack of extemely heavy full body shields used by the Greeks. The shields themselves weighed over 30 lbs and were extremely ackward to carry,
A typical hoplite shield (aspis/hoplon) weighed about 7 kilos, which is roughly 16 lbs. Shields used by Macedonian phalangites were even smaller and lighter, similar to a large buckler.
Arthur Brogden actually the formation isn't really just pikes or a Phalanx, the formation is called gwalthuffe respectively in standard german gewalthaufen which literally means forcemob.
The formation varied but generally included a shield of pikes at the flanks and in the back to render cavalery useless. In the midst a combination of (rarely) zweihänder and hellbards aswell as polearms, to crush enemy formations.
So bad ass, love this channel.
Wir sind ein einzig Volk von Brüdern!
We swiched from the halberd to the Sig 550 but our courage stayed the same!
Thanks for filling my day with national pride. You sir earned a sub today!
thierry gisler
Eidgenossen hebt die Hand, wir schnupfen jetzt für‘s Vaterland!
Eher uns die Kugel geben, als Ewig in der Knechtschaft leben! Wir Eidgenossen wollen schwören, uns gegen alle Feinde wehren! Und ist der Weg auch noch so schlimm, für‘s Vaterland liegt alles drin!
Priis!! 🇨🇭
Great video! Very interesting to learn about their history and the link between Swiss Pikemen and the Vatican City.
Really? No mention of the hundred swiss who fought and died for the Kings of France? They deserve recognition.
Aaron Paul I’ve read that for centuries, the majority of France’s army was foreigners. Ex: In 1500s, their officers were 60%+ Germanic or Swiss
So Charles VII built arguably Europe's first standing army, which he used to win the hundred years war. His son, Louis XI largely disbanded it and relied on foreign mercenaries, which was somewhat unfairly chastised by Machiavelli in "The Prince".
French cavalry and artillery was always mostly french. Infantry during the italian wars was largely though not exclusively foreign mercenaries. The core of the french army at pavia for example, was the gendarmes, which was the heavy cavalry and was french. The infantry was mostly swiss and german mercenaries, with a good chunk being levees. I cant find a decent order of battle for later italian war battles, such as Marciano.
Mercenaries were quiet commonly used by all countries, up to the 30 years war. By that time, the french army had largely professionalized. Looking at the order of battle for Rocroi, for example, we can see a mostly french army. Some swiss, some scots and a few croatians, hungarians light cavalry. The Spanish army was far more diverse, being made up of german, italian, wallonian, burgundian, flemish, coratian formations, with a core of spanish tericos.
He did mention it but not directly. He did say many swiss were hired by other kings and nobles because enemies feared the Swiss, it was a symbol of power and "showing off" to have had Swiss on your side. Whether 10, 50 or 100. As soon as those bear banners flew, you knew you would not be given a chance to become a prisoner.
I like your style. and it's obvious that you put a lot of effort. keep up please, you'll be famous, I guarantee.
I see the effort you put into these videos, great job! You deserve a lot more subscribers.
Thanks. I try my best :)
I know that one day you´ll have over million subs if you keep it up like this.
We'll see.. CZcams seems to keep going out of their way to make it hard for smaller creators lately.
I had always wondered why nobody invaded Switzerland in either of the world wars. A reputation and historical respect like that lives on for quite some time.
Being up in the mountains makes it very defensible too. As well as the lack of any strategic resources big powers would want like iron, tungsten, oil.
You forgot to mention the Battle of St. Jakob an der Birs where a small force of a thousand or more Swiss pikemen fought against an incoming French army of over 30,000 and killed like 2,000 in the process, with the Swiss losing limbs or being struck with crossbow bolts still fighting to avenge their own deaths. Although the Swiss lost in here it intimidated the French when they heard there were 30,000 troops in Zurich and were forced to retreat.
Girom Christian Calica : yes that was here en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_of_St._Jakob_an_der_Birs. The French troops were the famous Armagnaks, an elite troop from 100 year war. The Swiss killed also many Scottish longbows. They killed more than the enemy. After 10 hours fight all of the 1500 were killed and the Armanaks retired. All Europe was astonished how strong the Swiss troops were.
Girom Christian Calica
Battle of Morgarten
Battle of Giornico
Battle of Näfels
Battle of Murten
Battle of Frastanz
Battle of Bruderholz
Battle of Sempach
Battle of Héricourt
Battle of Planta
Battle of Grandson
Battle of Nancy
Battle of Schwaderloh
Battle of Dornach
Battle of St. Jakob an der Birs
Morgarten, Sempach, Grandson and Nancy are some of my favorite battles.
Girom Christian Calica
Yeah. Bruderholz is Crazy too. Only one Swiss died.
W Wasser Armagnac was a political faction representing a noble house backed by France against the Burgundians,another political party of nobles helped by England,they were no special troops whatsoever.
Finally!!! Thank you soo much! Great work!
Keep up the good work! You're gonna be big.
Bazbattles covered the battle in which Leopalds army was destroyed, if anyone wanted to see it covered more in depth.
Well, not really destroyed. Leopold lost half of his army and other half escaped/.
Milan Pavlovic I mean it was destroyed as a force that day. It could be rebuilt. Routed sis perhaps the more accurate term but I’d blanked on it.
50% losses makes a force basically combat ineffective unless you inflicted equal losses to your enemy
I love his videos, same with Kings and Generals.
I would call that decimated
Excellent work this channel needs to grow
this has become my favourite channel good work :
Great video!
Europe needs these kind of men now.
If you are saying that European countries need to focus more on military, I am with you. However, I am not nostalgic for wars!
Millennium 7 * maybe he meant, europe needs more "manly" man i guess
@pantarhei you think those knights which scamed their own peasant population and invaded the swiss confederacy had the moral highground?
Hitler said "Die Schweiz, das kleine Stachelschwein, das holen wir im Rueckweg ein" (meaning basically, Switzerland we capture on our way home) . Hitler did not attack Switzerland at start for a reason. Every Swiss soldier, from the cook to the Supreme General (Swiss army only has Generals during war time) is a trained marksman. The idea would have been to allow German troops and tanks to invade, then blow up the bridges, trapping German forces. Remember, no resupplies can then reach German tanks, and tanks cannot enter forests, thus the Swiss would use guerrilla warfare against the Germans, plus snipe them from long range (Shooting competitions still tradition to this day). Germany would over time surely be able to conquer Switzerland but it would take them at least 5 years alone to rebuild the infrastructure needed for resupplies and they would suffer catastrophic losses. Hitler was pissed off, because Swiss General Guisan told him in the face that if Germany invades, it will be a bloodbath. Hitler was pissed because he had to go to Italy (his closest ally) the long way, as through Switzerland would have been really fast. Hitler learned from the Swiss.
PFG - 45 Ag. 042-IO
Well I‘m a patriot too. But we used to let German Soldiers travel with our trains through Switzerland to Italy. But yeah. We were dangerous. Guisan was one of the greatest Generals ever.
A German general asked a Swiss:
„What would you do if Germany invaded Switzerland with 1million troops and you had 1million troops too?“
The Swiss general said: „We would shoot once and go home.“
Then the German asked again:
„And If 2million invaded?“
„Then we would shoot twice and go home.“
So that‘s that with the marksman. :D
I am not aware to be honest about German troops using Swiss trains. Swiss border guards have shot German soldiers without mercy that entered Swiss territory, the relations between German and Swiss was actually not good at all. Guisan probably allowed wounded German soldiers through Switzerland, but as a neutral country he would not have been allowed to let German soldiers through.
Vara not only that. A colonel in Hitler's staff, who was a friend of Switzerland, advised not to attack Switzerland. because too many casualties and so the southern flank would be protected and Switzerland would resist even in an Allied invasion. Hitler was thus able to avoid losses and also use the swiss army for himself. The example of the 1,000,000 and 2,000,000 soldiers firing twice was during the "Imperial Maneuver" around the First World War.
Great video. Really informative!
good stuff, to the point, and informative
Charles: Hello There
Switzerland: Your a bold one!
I see...at least someone ended up using Alexander's pikemen style infantry...and to think it would work in Switzerland of all places...very interesting and intriguing indeed.
george haralampous Swiss pike formations were radically different to the phalanx of antiquity though, it would be more accurate to compare them to the highly mobile and versatile Roman Maniples, just with pikes. Where the Phalanx was nigh-impenetrable from the front but largely undefended from the flanks and rear, the Swiss could attack and defend in all directions, while maintaining the impenetrability afforded by having a wall of pikes.
. That's very interesting
Yeah, try to walk up a mountain, while an angry swiss with a halberd is attacking you from above. Thats the situation put short
Another gem of a video gotta say I love your channel
Love your videos
Thank you!
Greetings from switzerland.
In Medieval 2 Total War, I modded the Swiss Guard of the Papal States to have 5 health per soldier. Now they're almost invincible in battle and the Papal States have taken most of Europe. I think I made a terrifying mistake.
The strongest units in the game have like 2 hitpoins (Sherwood archers, bodyguard units, hashashim). 99% of the units in medieval 2 have only 1 hitpoint
That's good stuff right there. Thanks!
New favorite channel! More art history please
Good research. Greetings from Murten 🇨🇭
How could you end the video on that? You missed one out of the last stand of the swiss guard during the sacking of Rome when 189 swiss guardmens lined the steps to St. Peter's Basilica, holding off the Spainish long enough for the pope to escape with 40 other guards.
Ninjafox they werent Spanish they were unpayed luteran mercenaries spanish people would never attack the Pope
Well using the totally trust worthy wikipedia souce, Habsburg Spain is counted as one of the belligerents
Ninjafox they were unpayed mercenaries which were luteran meaning they werent from spain because spain is catholic so they were on their own in search of loot
Axel Ba Inaccurate, in addition to the german Landsknechts there were also six thousand Spanish soldiers under the orders of Charles of Habsburg who participated in the sack of Rome.
^
Great video man. Subbed.
Very good video , I enjoyed .
Thats why we have a Swiss Guard at Vatican city...
@kane benjamite Pope Francis a Devil? Lol
@kane benjamite
Stfu heathen
@@Nnnnn636
Cringe Groyper
Switzerland Strong!
stronk*
The tower of Babel You dumb powerless little man...
You are here the pathetic Natzi...
Because he is swiss he is a natzi and a racist and should be judged about what his ancestors did? Every one’s ancestors were rapists murderers and racist and you are seemingly following this path.
You are the only racist in this commentary section you poor pathetic human being.
Singing is fun Thank you sir. If you want to hide your money from poor crooks like the Dick of Babel, you are always welcome.
That was an awesome video.
Wow, great video! You just gained a new subscriber! :-)
I would love to use swiss in Age of Empires II
You actually can :'D there is a mod called Realms on Voobly which has more factions like the Burgundians, the Bohemians, the Dutch, the Moors, the Balts or .... the Helvetians! They have a special unit which consist of 4 pikemen that you command as one unit - and they also say a few Swiss German words when you move them around. Their tech tree isn't amazing though, obviously they don't get Cavalier or Paladin (since their hobby is murdering nobility) - but some good countering units. I think skirms get a team bonus. And they also have the handcanoneer. So late game they are strong which kinda matches their historical highpoint in the 15th-16th century.
Personally I would have added a banking bonus for collecting relics or something... ;)
There's a mod called Age of Chivalry: Hegemony for the non HD version, you can play them there
play medieval:total war the first one and you can make huge armies with JUST swiss armored pikemen...its freaking amazing.
Quite right there!
Standings still and bunker down or only performing in their own terrain...against torn apart nations smaller than them or losely put together by stupid wannabe kings? You see, what happens if a united nation fights. It wasnt the number that made france invade them...it was the better, united army. If not everyone since 18:00 wouldnt simply dont care about the swiss to conquer it, it would have been easily...even back in the day. Fighting essentially against tribes and then even defensively only dont make them the worlds best force ever roamed the planet earth or something crap like that. It just shows a united landscape, fortified, trained to defend and humble to not want to expand...instead defending....and sure with well trained guards.
The others around it were far more active in totally different scales...it is not like suddenly a northern german tribe shows up. It was always neighboors and as the countryside doesnt favour large tribes (they expand somewhere else or simply dont care), it is clear that they only fought against minorities or losers. And rome didnt further try to invade senseless territory...otherwise they would had allocated more to get it.
first of all great video, very informational! But I dont know why you left out the glorious last stand of the swiss guard in 1527.
Beowulf210290 or didnt mention the first tactical retreat since the roman empire
OGman who watching this video wouldn’t. Their stuff is good
Probably because while they were certainly much braver and more skilled then their opponents they still were defeated. So that would defeat the point of the video if he included a defeat
Well, technically the swiss guard's stand during the Sacco di Roma in 1527 was a tactical victory for them, since they accomplished their primary goal.
This just astonishes me. After approximately one thousand years the pike phalanx comes back into military history as an effective fighting formation.
Thx, I learned something new today
So the Swiss were basically the European Spartans.... also This video is very well explained hope to see more like this !
no they weren't. They were brutes out of the mountains knowing little mercy but who actually attacked neighbouring reigns, and poor starving buggers who didn't have any choice but to turn into mercenaries for whoever paid them most.
Mina the fiddler
,,brutes out of the mountains knowing little mercy but who actually attacked neighbouring reigns''
well no shit but sounds just like the spartans if you ask me :,D
soooo... european mongols.
"European Spartans" wot spartans were not europeans??
YEAH BOI ! Switzerland nationalism intensifies !
Grimo Knobel
It‘s already at it‘s peak. ^^
Grimo Knobel
Eidgenossen hebt die Hand, wir schnupfen jetzt für‘s Vaterland!
Eher uns die Kugel geben, als Ewig in der Knechtschaft leben! Wir Eidgenossen wollen schwören, uns gegen alle Feinde wehren! Und ist der Weg auch noch so schlimm, für‘s Vaterland liegt alles drin!
Priis!! 🇨🇭
Hannibal Barkas oui monsieur !!!
Plutôt se prendre une balle, au lieu de vivre asservi.
Vive la suisse
(Now we need an Italian)
Grimo Knobel
And a rumantsch. ^^
Hannibal Barkas genau
Very cool piece of history. That's worth a sub.
excellent video!
Who would win?
A whole army of heavily armored knights // Some bois with long sticks.
Battle of Marignano
Those "bois" were professional mercenaries (heavy infantry)...
@@user-mc5ml6vq2n Artillery and a venetian relieve army we needed to defeat those Swiss who had stayed to fight the French.
Half of them had been paid off by France and they had left Milan, the late arriving didn't get any coin and thus they decided to give the French a beating.
High ranking French nobility perished in that battle. After the battle Francis I. paid off the Swiss Confederacy to make peace and France never questioned the Swiss claim to what is today the Cantone of Ticino.
Small addition: estimates of battle strengths at Morgarten were 8000~9000 Habsburgs, of which only ~2000 were knights and the rest ill equipped peasant levies, versus 1500~2000 Swiss. Leopolds army was stretched over kilometers, while the Swiss bulked up and crushed the spearhead of unprepared nobles, leaving the peasants and remaining noble Habsburgs to flee in panic. Casualties: ~1500 Habsburgs vs ~12 Swiss.
Numbers can't be proven though, as records of that time are sketchy at best. They're probably less spectacular in reality. Nonetheless an overwhelming victory. Ironic that they recognized and took advantage of a change in battle tactics with the implementation of the halberd, guerilla tactics and the forgoing of chivalrous combat, but later failed to see the effectiveness of gunpowder weaponry.
Argedon so...sketchy vatican records ?
Nah just exaggerated witness accounts embellishing the truth. One claimed there were 20'000 Habsburgs f.e.
Argedon Maybe that serves for a purpose, don't you think ?
they probably saw the advantage of gunpowder weapons, but had no chance to actually get it on large scale. Halberds and pikes where easy to get while gunpoweder weapons were still extremely expensive. After all, the reason why so many Swiss became mercenaries because they were extremely poor and had no choice. (they were usually second and third sons who could not inherit the farms from their families, so it was tempting to pick up a halberd or a pike and try your luck fighting the wars of other kings). It's not like Swiss people were war-hungry they just needed a way to feed themselves. Fighting a war is actually quite a good option for that: you win and get rich or you die and do not have to worry about anything anymore.
One of the reasons of the Swiss decline was the lack of flexibility in changing tactics and the disdainful attitude toward firearms. In the late records we find indeed some arquebuses in their ranks but in very low percentages.
As soon as firearms became reasonably effective, the large Swiss squares proved to be too vulnerable to artillery fire. In Novara, a battle won by the Swiss side, they suffered horrible losses because of the artillery but they kept going and steamrolled the Landsknechts anyway.
This channek will grow with great content like this!
Great video
so basically we are badass
No u guys are pussies
Merchant WarLord say that to a Swiss in his face he’ll break your jaw
were ;)
Merchant WarLord As Esteban mentioned, come to switzerland and say it right into my face you little dwarf!
@@Donknowww your country is now full of Arabs and refugees I ll see you guys in 50 years there will be no Swiss. This is sad so sad
>no mercy
Epic videos!
Glad I came across your channel. Thank you for sharing. Please recommend books you've used that would be great.
Yo únicamente voy a decir algo: Esto ha sido una Bicoca.
Jajajajaja...Muy fino.
Spartans of Medieval Europe, Infantry badasses before the age of infantry.
Excellent video
Great piece 👍
166 Habsburg descendants disagreed with this video !
Makes me proud to be swiss
I really wanted to talk more about the badassery of the Swiss military in the medieval era (based on my old vids) but you did it for me lol
Info is good, narration is something else
May I ask what are you planning next video being about?
What do you think I should do? :/
What about Czechoslovakian Legion in ww1, there were really important during Russian revolution and are one of the main reasons 1st Czechoslovakia was formed. Fun fact the only CS naval battle was fought in ww1 by CS legion at the Battle of Lake Baikal and there are a lot of stories about their deeds in Siberia.
Or about foreign soldiers serving in RAF and British army in ww2. They carried out fighting even after their countries capitulated.
Or maybe about the Great Siege of Malta. Just some suggestions.
I mention them in my Polar Bear Expedition video. I already have a good number of videos on WWI, maybe I'll come back to it after a while.
So this is why they are a neutral country :)!
enlighted Jedi
Hehe :-)
One of my best buddies is swiss. Hes a good pal, and tough as they come. Im a lean scotts irish, hes a big swiss dude with a beard. Good pals.
Chad Dixon You are good pals too :) Greetings from a swiss pall👋🏼 We both have celtic blood. You have more of it thats clear but i think we are like cousins :)
Wow I never knew any of this, that was awsome
The Swiss Guard of the Vatican even have their own epic rearguard story... It takes a lot of balls to be that tough, which is why they have to wear those loose pantaloons, I suppose...
I'm wondering if you might need to recheck your research. I'm pretty sure the Swiss used Swiss Army Knives in battle...not pike!
;o)
What do you think is on the end of that 20ft long stick?
halberds are multi use tho, you got an pike and an axe in one!
And I'm sure you can also open cans with them, use them as toothpick and what-not. XD
The halberds are heavier and much shorter
Robby House well, real swiss army knives have, aside from the traditional blade, can opener, corck screw etc, a deployable pike to counter cavalry.
The Renaissance wasn’t only a rebirth in art and culture, but also rebirth in the use and effectiveness of the military tactic of the Phalanx.
Can you recommend any kind of further reference material like books? I looked and there's not a lot here in the United States on the Swiss pikemen. Any help would be appreciated thank you
I can see where Games workshop got the empire from
Now i get why no one invades Switzerland
Well after all these years of watching history , i thought the swiss just liked to avoid trouble , i have just been enlightened, great history :)
Wow, very useful information. I had always wondered why the Swiss Guard defended the Vatican.
First of all, ancient Helvetii were a Celtic tribe and the medieval Swiss had very little in common with them. The Helvetii were thoroughly romanized after the Roman conquest. In the early Middle Ages the area of Switzerland was resettled by Germanic tribes, which mixed with the Roman citizens.
Secondly, Swiss pikemen were primarily a Renaissance unit, not a medieval one - they started using pikes in mass formations at the very end of Middle Ages.
Gniewko Drewnicki Please, i cant take it anymore. Helvetii*, not Helvetians
There, happy?
Resettled or just conquered and assimilated? Surely the latter because there are no massive population replacements since the Bronze Age. Things become very stable as wars become more about aristocrats conquering lands with workers than about workers conquering land to work themselves. And if you doubt me, I'd suggest you read on archaeogenetics.
Gniewko Drewnicki
Swiss Germans get a majority of their dna from the celtic peoples that where there before the germanic tribes , so your statement is false , medieval swiss and modern swiss have connections to the helvetii , the majority of haplogroups in Switzerland are celto-italic ones , such as R1B-U 152 , you are ignorant and not knowing of what you speak of . ~ a person of swiss descent .
Gniewko Drewnicki Swiss Germans obviously speak Alemannic (dialect of German ) but actually get very little dna from those people , Its kind of like with the Hungarians , they speak a Uralic language but actually have only around 1% - 0% of that dna from those people where they get their language from .
Gotta love Switzerland. They'll have none of that EU crap either.
@SabuPtolemy The EU is blackmailing Switzerland. Because we are not obeying, they threaten to cancel all bilateral agreements, which mainly manage how we live together as neighbours. e.g. allowing Swiss students to study in the EU and vice versa, shared research, trade, etc.
They wanna destroy our friendship, limit our possibilities and isolate us until we comply. The EU is not any better than the mafia and needs to be crushed. Liberation for the European states. Greetings from Switzerland
Really like your video! and i am definitely subscribing but if i may 2 pieces of advice which would make them better the helveti although always fun to hear about the classical era, they don't really have anything to do with the late medieval era swiss and try some more emotion in your voice especially with so many battles and dates it is hard to keep up especially for a non native english speaker. But really hope you are going to make more vids!
I mentioned the Helvetii because the people living in Switzerland were always known as great warriors. Sorry about my voice..lol. My next video I'll have a lot more emotion. It will be out in 3-4 days.
Very nice.
the Swiss "gewalthaufen" rules!
I never thought swiss is fearless and cunning
Europe has been a rough place over the last few thousand years. If the Swiss were a pushover, they would have been long gone by now. Since the German speaking Swiss are descendants of the Allemanic tribe they have a run that is lasting now for nearly 1700 years. I don't think they will disappear soon.
seems we rocks in swiss thx for pointed it : )
Can I please ask you how you do (or where you find) your maps ?