Session #3, in which Switzerland marches against the world in the name of neutrality, and bullies several small nations.
An office in the Swiss military headquarters in Bern:
General von Noname: Aide, draw up a declaration of war against Wurtemburg.
Aide: Yes sir, a DOW against Aus...did you say Wurtemburg? I thought we were marching against Austria to teach them a lesson about warmongering.
General von Noname: We were, but a meeting of the Tagsuntzag showed some ambivalance about doing so, as Austria is large and, quite frankly, frightening. Plus, their war of aggression against Poland is over, and their ally Hungary lost several territories, so the Stadtholder decided they had learned their lesson.
Aide: But why Wurtemburg?
General von Noname: Intelligence reports show that they have dropped one of their small German allies, likely refusing to defend them form aggression. Such an act requires them to be taught a lesson.
Aide: What ally was it?
General von Noname: Our spies...lost the papers on their former ally, but we do know they once had two and now only have one.
Aide: Maybe it was the ally that betrayed their alliance?
General von Noname: Of course not, now stop asking meaningless questions and start on that declaration!
Aide: *sigh* Right away, sir.
And thus the great Swiss-Wurtemburg war of 1474 began. Swiss allies Venice and Lorraine joined the war, while Wurtemburg only had Ansbach to rely on. The Swiss armies under the command of Stadtholder Stefan took an unusal tact, allowing Wurtemburg to siege Swiss provinces while they chased Ansbach's armies out of Lorrainse and cornered and destroyed them in Baden.
After a short siege Ansbach fell and they were forced to become a vassal and pay a tribute to Switzerland.
Venice then moved its armies into Switzerland to fight off the armies of Wurtemburg there, while Stefan marched into Konstanz and took it. In the end he was able to negotiate the handover of Konstanz to Switzerland and the vassalization of Wurtemburg. Swiss armies had proved their military prowess and taken their first step towards making all of Europe neutral by conquering it.
The next several years were spent recovering Switzerland's stability and searching for new alliances. Eventually an alliance with Bavaria was forged.
In 1477 a new Stadtholder, Alfred Brugger came into office. He was an adequate diplomat and administrator, but a poor general compared to Stefan. Nonetheless, he would lead Switzerland through far more wars than Stefan ever had. After less than a year into his term he had decided that Stefan was right. For Switzerland to become a force for neutrality she needed the respect of the major nations, something only attainable by becoming a nation powerful enough to bend others to its will. In December of 1477, he proclaimed what was to become known as the "Swiss Paradox", that to create peace in Europe in the future war now was required. That same month war was declared on the Palatinae and Alsace.
What Alfred didn't know was that Saxony, jealous of Switzerland's rise, had guaranteed one or both nations attacked. Using this guarantee as an excuse, they joined the war. On paper the Swiss alliance had the advantage in troop numbers, but Saxony would be far more active in helping its allies than the Swiss allies were in helping Switzerland.
After months of hard fighting Alsace and the Palatinate were vassalized, but at a great price. Saxony had defeated Bavaria and carved up their nation, taking Schwaben and Niederbayern. Venice attempted to help the Swiss armies, but things came to a standstill in southern Germany. The Swiss alliance was hampered by a lack of manpower, while Saxony's king had become the Holy Roman Emperor, and they seemed to have unlimited reserves from which to draw more soldiers.
It was decided a new tactic was needed. Although a poor commander of individual battles, Stadtholder Alfred proved quite adept at long term war planning. He knew to get any kind of peace with the Holy Roman Emperor a breakthrough was needed. Carefully avoiding Saxon armies, he marched to the capital of Saxony itself, taking it in a siege assault.
After several attempts at a white peace, it was realized that the leader of the Holy Roman Empire would require some sort of token payment to be able to end the war without losing face, especially after both the nations they tried to protect had been vassalized. So Switzerland offered to end the vassalization of Ansbach and pay some 50 ducats, gained in tribute from Alsace, to end the war. All in all Switzerland came out one vassal ahead, and managed to stand up to the Holy Roman Emperor. Desipte some frustration over a two year war resulting in so few gains, Stadtholder Alfred decided things had not gone too badly.