A Larger Switzerland?

Zioneer

Banned
Is there any way to create a slightly larger Switzerland, while still leaving it neutral by the end of the Middle Ages?

I know that the Swiss had designs on a small part of Austria and/or France/Burgundy, so perhaps they could expand there, before ending their expansion?

And, how would this affect their legendary mercenary forces?
 
In the Middle Ages, the Swiss Union was a direct rival of the Habsburgs.
I was wondering for some time how to create a Switzerland which becomes an important
player inside the Empire, perhaps even gain the imperial throne.
Unfortunately, I haven't come up with more details.


Note, btw, that Switzerland was a tad smaller than today before Napoleon.
 
Vorarlberg voted overhwhelming at the end of WWI to join Switzerland. The Allies stopped it, but perhaps if they followed through more with that "grand" idea of self determination...
 
Is there any way to create a slightly larger Switzerland, while still leaving it neutral by the end of the Middle Ages?

I know that the Swiss had designs on a small part of Austria and/or France/Burgundy, so perhaps they could expand there, before ending their expansion?

And, how would this affect their legendary mercenary forces?

Well, the Battle of Marignano in 1515 effectively ended Swiss expansionism and their control over Milan. So most grand scale acquisitions would have to be made before their defeat. But even after that, the Swiss Confederacy controlled smaller areas beyond today's borders: Chablais (south bank of Lake Geneva), the Valtellina (south of Grisons), Val d’Ossola (south of the Simplon pass), and Pays de Gex (some villages west of Geneva). So it's quite possible that the Swiss hang onto these territories without causing too many butterflies. Here is a great map on Wikipedia: http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/Image:Territoriale-Entwicklung-CH.png?uselang=de
 

Zioneer

Banned
I mean the RL neutrality of Switzerland. You know, not participating in any wars, refusing to fight for either side, the neutrality that has been a Swiss trait since Napoleon?
 

Zioneer

Banned
No, what I mean is, I want to know if there is a possible way for Switzerland to be larger, land-wise, but ending up as mercenaries in the latter Middle Ages, and then becoming neutral in all conflicts after the 1800s or around that time.
 

Zioneer

Banned
I see, you want as little side-effects to history as possible.

Pretty much, yeah. :cool:

But now that you mention it, I think I'll change my question. Is there any way the early (1300s to 1500s) Old Swiss Confederacy could have become larger, maybe add a few Cantons or two?
 
Swiss Neutrality would be likely to happen regardless of whether they got more territory. Due to mainly religious and ethnic reasons, the Confederation could have fallen apart if they entered into any of their neighbors' wars.
 
Yeah, the Protestant Reformation scuppered any sort of real Swiss unity until the 19th century: added to the traditional squabbles between the more democratic and rural cantons and the more oligarchic city-based ones (the large territories of the canton of Berne were essentially a "mini-empire" ruled by the city of Berne), the Catholic-Protestant split made any sort of unified Swiss action impossible before the Napoleonic era. Neutrality under the circumstances was really the only plausible option.

Bruce
 

Susano

Banned
More to the point, the Protestant-Catholic divide made it practcially impossible to add new cantons, since neither side would agree to include a new canton of the "other side". And it also made joint efforts by the cantons to conquer new lands as vasall lands more or less impossible. So summed up, the religious divide really ended all chances at Swiss expansion.

Of course there is plenty to fudge around with during the reformation, so its certainly possible to make one side win out totally, leading to greater Swiss unity.
 
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