The wars of Kappel (''Kappelerkriege'') is a collective term for two armed conflicts fought near Kappel am Albis between the Catholic and the Protestant cantons of the Old Swiss Confederacy during the

Reformation in Switzerland The Protestant Reformation in Switzerland was promoted initially by Huldrych Zwingli, who gained the support of the magistrate, Mark Reust, and the population of Zürich in the 1520s. It led to significant changes in civil life and state matte ...

First War

The first conflict saw the establishment of the Christian Union (formed of cantons Lucerne, Uri,

Schwyz The town of Schwyz (; french: Schwytz; it, Svitto) is the capital of the canton of Schwyz in Switzerland. The Federal Charter of 1291 or ''Bundesbrief'', the charter that eventually led to the foundation of Switzerland, can be seen at the ' ...

Unterwalden Unterwalden, translated from the Latin ''inter silvas''(''between the forests''), is the old name of a forest-canton of the Old Swiss Confederacy in central Switzerland, south of Lake Lucerne, consisting of two valleys or '' Talschaften'', no ...

, and

Zug , neighboring_municipalities = Cham, Baar, Walchwil, Steinhausen, Unterägeri , twintowns = Fürstenfeld (Austria), Kalesija (Bosnia-Herzegowina) Zug (Standard German: , Alemannic German: ; french: Zoug it, Zugo r ...

) in order to stop the spread of

Protestantism Protestantism is a branch of Christianity that follows the theological tenets of the Protestant Reformation, a movement that began seeking to reform the Catholic Church from within in the 16th century against what its followers perceived to b ...

throughout Switzerland. The union was a rejection of Swiss leader

Huldrych Zwingli Huldrych or Ulrich Zwingli (1 January 1484 – 11 October 1531) was a leader of the Reformation in Switzerland, born during a time of emerging Swiss patriotism and increasing criticism of the Swiss mercenary system. He attended the Univ ...

's attempts at forced reformation.

Events

In 1529, after enlisting the help of the leaders of the forest cantons, Zwingli attempted to reform the cantons by force. However, the winning diplomacy of the Union forced the Protestants to not cross the border, postponing the conflict until 1531.

Second War

The canton of Zurich was the principal supporter of Zwingli and the movement of Swiss reformation. When they fought the Musso War against the Duchy of Milan, the member states of the Catholic Union refused to provide aid. Zwingli immediately sanctioned the Catholic cantons.

References

Kappel Huldrych Zwingli {{Switzerland-hist-stub