Battle of Morgarten

Timeline

1. 1314–1315Schwyz and Einsiedeln · SwitzerlandThe people of Schwyz and the Habsburg-protected Einsiedeln Abbey had long clashed over pastures and judicial jurisdiction, including an attack on the abbey. Austrian Duke Leopold I therefore mustered knights and vassal troops, preparing to enter Schwyz along the lake valley to punish the three cantons and restore Habsburg authority.
2. 1315Morgarten pass · SwitzerlandThe three cantons' infantry occupied the narrow passage between the lakeshore and the hillside, waiting until the Habsburg column had entered before hurling stones and timber and closing into melee. The knights could not deploy a charge, and their formation collapsed between the slippery slope and the lake, with heavy casualties. The battle became the classic example of Alpine infantry using terrain and halberd melee against heavy cavalry.
3. 1315Brunnen · SwitzerlandSoon after the battle, the three cantons at Brunnen reaffirmed and strengthened the 1291 league: clarifying mutual defense and forbidding separate accommodation with the Habsburgs. The victory at Morgarten gave the Forest Cantons league real room to survive, creating the military and political preconditions for Lucerne and others to join in the 14th century and the Old Confederacy to expand.