Late Middle Ages · Europe · War
1476
Battle of Murten
June 22, 1476
The Swiss crushed Charles the Bold again, this time in an afternoon bloodbath beside a lake. Ten thousand Burgundians were slaughtered in the shallows and the reeds. Switzerland's pikemen became Europe's most feared infantry overnight. Charles, twice-beaten in one summer, began unraveling into monomaniac obsession. The speed of the Swiss attack became a textbook example of infantry shock tactics studied by military theorists for generations.