Swiss and German Mercenary Soldiers in Combat In this engraving from the 1520s by Hans Holbein the Younger, foot soldiers wield pikes, swords, and halberds in a disorganized way in fierce hand-to-hand combat that contemporaries called “bad war.” Holbein, who would later become famous as a portrait painter of English royalty and nobles, was living in Switzerland at the time, and was an eyewitness to religious violence. Units of trained Swiss pikemen, organized by their cantons, were hired by all sides in the political and religious wars of the sixteenth century because they were fearless and effective. Switzerland continued to export mercenaries until the nineteenth century.

(By Hans Holbein the Younger [1497–1543]/British Museum, London, UK/De Agostini/Getty Images)