Rapperswil in the context of Rapperswil-Jona

Lake Zurich (German: Zürichsee, Swiss Standard German pronunciation: [ˈtsyːrɪçˌzeː]; Alemannic German: Zürisee) is a lake in Switzerland, that extends southeast of the city of Zurich. Depending on the context, Lake Zurich or Zürichsee may refer to the entire lake or specifically to the section downstream of the Hurden peninsula and Seedamm causeway (between Pfäffikon and Rapperswil). In the latter case, the upstream part of the lake is called Obersee (lit. 'Upper Lake'), while the lower part is sometimes also referred to as the Lower Lake (unterer Zürichsee), respectively.

The Rapperswil Seedamm is the artificial causeway at the narrowest area of Lake Zurich between Hurden (SZ) and Rapperswil (SG). The structure contains two bridge segments and is approximately 1 kilometre (0.62 mi) long. The Seedamm carries a road (Hauptstrasse 8) and a railway across the lake, with the railway being used by the S5 and S40 services of Zurich S-Bahn and by Südostbahn's Voralpen Express.

The Melide causeway across a narrow section at Lake Lugano is comparable to the Seedamm.

The Obersee (Swiss Standard German pronunciation: [ˈoːbərzeː] , lit. 'Upper Lake') is the smaller of the two parts of Lake Zurich (Zürichsee) in the cantons of St. Gallen and Schwyz in Switzerland.

The Lake Zurich Navigation Company (German: Zürichsee-Schifffahrtsgesellschaft, ZSG) is a public Swiss company operating passenger ships and boats on Lake Zurich (Zürichsee) and the river Limmat in Zurich.The company's services connect lake-side towns between Zurich and Rapperswil/Schmerikon, in the cantons of Zurich, Schwyz and St. Gallen, as well as more tourist-oriented river cruises and boat services through the historic centre of the city of Zurich.

It is a member of the Zurich Public Transport Network (Zürcher Verkehrsverbund, ZVV) and transports over 1.5 million passengers every year.

Rapperswil Castle (Swiss German: Schloss Rapperswil) is a castle, built in the early 13th century by the House of Rapperswil, in the formerly independent city of Rapperswil.

The castle is located on the eastern Lake Zurich's western Obersee lakeshore in Rapperswil, a locality of the Rapperswil-Jona municipality in Switzerland's canton of St. Gallen.

The First Battle of Zurich, from 4 to 7 June 1799, forced French General André Masséna to yield the city of Zurich to the Austrians, under Archduke Charles, and to retreat beyond the Limmat, where he managed to fortify his positions, which resulted in a stalemate.

The first battle of Zurich saw Austrian attacks on strong French positions, which were captured but then had to be abandoned due to a French counterattack. However, previously in this battle, the Austrians were able to press the French back from one foothold (Schwamendingen) and to repel a French counteroffensive near Zurich, while Austrian assaults on three French staging areas (Rapperswil, Hirslanden and Fällanden–Pfaffhausen) failed. Charles prepared to continue the battle, but Masséna did not decide to do it and retreated, leaving many of his guns behind (178 pieces) at the mercy of the Austrians.