Swiss people regard the battle of Morgarten as one of the noblest events in their stirring history. The small Swiss cantons, or Forest states, as they were often called, there successfully withstood the might of the powerful Austrians. It happened in this way: After the death of Henry VII, King of Germany, there was much confusion in central Europe, due to the fact that two men had been elected to succeed him, Louis of Bavaria, and Frederick the Handsome, of Austria. The Swiss canton of Schwyz began to attack the Abbey of Einsiedehn, which belonged to the Hapsburgs, of whom Frederick was the head. The Austrian ruler protested, and when he found that the rest of the Forest states sided with Schwyz, he vowed he would crush them. He gave command of his army to his brother, Duke Leopold, and the Austrians marched into Switzerland late in the autumn of 1315.

Duke Leopold divided his army, and sent one part of it, under Count Otto of Strasburg, to break into Unterwalden by the Brünig Pass. Two roads led from the town of Zug to Schwyz, and Leopold, probably through ignorance, chose the more difficult one for the troops of his own command. On November 15th he reached Ægeri, and marched along the shore of that lake, paying no attention to the enemy. He and his noblemen held the Swiss peasants in the greatest scorn, and his army was more like a hunting party than like troops ready for battle. They reached Haselmatt, and from there began to climb the steep, icy slopes of Morgarten, heading towards Schornen.

As soon as the Austrians were hemmed in by the lake and the mountains, an avalanche of boulders, rocks, and tree trunks came pouring down on the dense masses of soldiers. The Swiss peasants, few in number, knew that country well, and were posted on a mountain ridge that gave them complete command of the narrow pass of Morgarten.

While the confused Austrians tried to keep their footing the main Swiss army, from Schwyz and Uri, appeared on the other side of the pass, and rushed down upon their enemy. The Austrians were caught in a trap, and the Swiss mowed them down with their halberds, a weapon of their own invention.

In a short time the Austrian army was broken to pieces, many rushed into the lake, and those who were left fled back through the passes and out of the country. Otto of Strasburg, when he heard of the retreat of Leopold, turned back, and the forest country was soon free of all invaders.

The battle of Morgarten has sometimes been called the Swiss Thermopylæ, because a few men withstood such a great army. It was the first of a long series of great victories for the hardy mountain people, and showed them how they might maintain their independence from their vastly more powerful neighbors. The Swiss gave thanks to God for their victory, and declared that the anniversary of the battle should be a day of thanksgiving each year.

Morgarten itself is the name given to the pasture slopes that descend to the southern end of the lake of Ægeri in the canton of Zug. A monument to the victory stands near the Haselmatt Chapel, some two miles from the station at Sattel on the railroad line from Schwyz to Zürich.

Felicia Dorothea Ihmans

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