So what happens, when in the course of events, a modern private military company contracted by one side of a conflict, confronts a private military company contracted by the other side on the field of battle?  What would that look like in modern times?  

     Of course who ever can pay the most, would conceivably get the best contract army, but if both sides could afford the best in the industry, what would that fight look like and what would be the deciding factors in victory?

   Well one case study that I stumbled upon, was the case of the Swiss Guard versus the German Landsknecht back during the early 16th century.  To sum it up, the Germans copied the model of warfare of the Swiss Guard, and then added new technology in the form of some really crude but effective muskets and cannons (arquebus and artillery), and gained as much field experience as they could when fighting other enemies to essentially prepare them for the eventual big battle with Swiss.  The Swiss Guard was defeated because of this preparation, technology, strategy, and because of their arrogance and failure to apply Kaizen to their organization.  

     The Swiss were successful for a long time, but they got cocky and just couldn’t believe anyone could defeat them.  Famous last words.  The Landsknecht built the better snowmobile, and knocked the king right off the mountain.  

   So to really boil this down, the Landsknecht were a better learning organization.  They identified the best model of operation (the Swiss Guard model), copied it to the point of even wearing the same types of showy uniforms, and also found the latest technologies and used those to great advantage on the field of battle.  It also took sound leadership to convince the troops that they could defeat the best of the best with that new technology and Swiss Guard-like organization and tactics. The Germans knew themselves and the enemy, and they won. Business can learn from this, and if a modern PMC ever has to fight another modern PMC on the battlefield, these very lessons will more than likely have to be re-applied to gain this victory. Especially now with the advent of the internet and the free flow of information–everyone has access to everything to include the best industry practices and successful models of operation.  I almost think warfare will boil back down to just being faster, more organized, and more efficient than the other guy, who will more than likely be using the same stuff and ideas as you.  The OODA loop will definitely apply.  That, and the ability to be more creative and forward thinking than the other guy.  

   I also look at this from a strategist’s point of view.  The Germans obviously had the Boydian style of thinking, when trying to figure out how to defeat the best of the best.  They would have been the ones to use a little Clauswitz, a little Sun Tzu, and whomever else to really seek out what works and take pieces of everything to build the army they wanted.  The prize for this battle, was increased reputation and more contracts for being the new leaders in the industry.  I guess the Swiss would get credit for being the first to use the fife (a dorky little flute) for command and control in their battle against the Germans. lol -Matt

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The Swiss (on the right) assault the Landsknecht mercenaries in the French lines at the Battle of Marignano.

The Swiss and the Landsknechts in the Great Italian Wars

     Until roughly 1490, the Swiss had a virtual monopoly on pike-armed mercenary service. However, after that date, the Swiss mercenaries were increasingly supplemented by imitators, chiefly the Landsknechts. Landsknechts were Germans (at first largely from Swabia) and became proficient at Swiss tactics to produce a force that filled the ranks of European armies with mercenary regiments for decades. Although the Landsknechts were never quite as redoubtable as the Swiss, they were much more readily available for hire, as after 1515 the Swiss pledged themselves to neutrality, other than regarding Swiss soldiers serving in the ranks of the Royal French army. The Landsknecht, however, would serve any paymaster, even, at times, enemies of the Holy Roman Emperor (and Landsknechts at times even fought each other on the battlefield, something the Swiss flatly refused to do in mercenary service). The Landsknecht assumed the bright, garish soldier’s outfits of the Swiss, and in fact soon outdid the Swiss in the flamboyance of their military dress.

     The Swiss were not flattered by the imitation, and the two bodies of mercenaries immediately became bitter rivals over employment and on the battlefield, where they were often opposed during the major European conflict of the early sixteenth century, the Great Italian Wars. Although the Swiss generally had a significant edge in a simple “push of pike”, the resulting combat was nonetheless quite savage, and known to Italian onlookers as “bad war.” Period artists such as Hans Holbein attest to the fact that two such huge pike columns crashing into each other could result in a maelstrom of battle, and ghastly casualties on both sides.

     Despite the competition from the Landsknechts, and imitation by other armies (most notably the Spanish, which adopted pike-handling as one element of its famed Tercios infantry formations), the Swiss fighting reputation reached its zenith between 1480-1525, and indeed the Battle of Novara, fought by Swiss mercenaries, is seen by some as the perfect Swiss battle. Even the close defeat at the terrible Battle of Marignano in 1515, the “Battle of Giants,” was seen as a victory of sorts for Swiss arms due to the ferocity of the fighting and the good order of their withdrawal. Nonetheless, the repulse at Marignano presaged the decline of the Swiss form of warfare — eventually, the two-century run of Swiss victories ended in 1522 with complete disaster at the Battle of Bicocca when combined Spanish and Landsknecht forces decisively defeated them using fortifications and new technology. It can be argued that it was arrogance — overconfidence in their own supposed invincibility — which defeated the Swiss as much as the armed forces of their enemies, for at Bicocca, the Swiss mercenaries, serving the French king, attempted repeatedly to frontally storm an impregnable defensive position, only to be mown down by small-arms and artillery fire. Never had the Swiss suffered such awful casualties while being unable to inflict much damage upon their foe. Arrogance and overconfidence were at play here, but another consideration was economic — many of the Swiss mercenaries were still farmers, and needed to return home from campaign quickly in order to work the fields. This meant they often rushed, unthinking, into ill-advised battles in the hopes they would crush the enemy of their employer, collect booty, get paid, and march home to work their fields.

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Tags: Building Snowmobiles, Germans, Landesknechts, PMC, Swiss, Swiss Guard