First War of Villmergen

First War of Villmergen
Part of European wars of religion
Painting of the First Battle of Villmergen by Franz Ludwig Raufft, c. 1700
Date 5 January – 7 March 1656 (2 months and 2 days) Location Old Swiss Confederacy Result Catholic victory Third Landfrieden Status quo ante bellum
Belligerents
Zürich Bern Schaffhausen	Lucerne Uri Schwyz Unterwalden Zug
Commanders and leaders
Hans Rudolf Werdmüller Sigmund von Erlach	Christoph Pfyffer von Altishofen

The First War of Villmergen^[1] was a Swiss religious war which lasted from 5 January until 7 March 1656, at the time of the Old Swiss Confederacy. On one side were the Protestant cantons of Zürich and Bern, on the other the Catholic cantons of Central Switzerland. The Protestants tried to break the political hegemony of the Catholics, that had been in existence ever since the Second Kappel Landfrieden of 1531. The casus belli was the expulsion and execution of Protestants from the Schwyz commune of Arth. The Zürcher unsuccessfully besieged the Central Swiss-allied city of Rapperswil and thereby drove their forces together. The Bernese were defeated and repelled in the First Battle of Villmergen. The Third Landfrieden ended the conflict and restored the pre-war balance of power.