Who Were the Winged Hussars?How Were They Equipped?

How were the Winged Hussars really equipped? How did they fight? Let's find out.

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[alexanderren]

Armorer: "So do you want to be equipped as light or heavy cavalry?"

Winged Hussars: "Yes"

[DominikKost]

Fun fact, horses used by the Winged Hussars were of special breed that was sort of a military secret, so there was a law in Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth saying that if you sold a hussar horse to someone abroad, you would face capital punishment :)

[jakubfabisiak]

Metatron - the average cost (average) of a 17th century winged hussar's equipment, including at least two horses, but not counting lances, was on the order of 40kg of silver. An absolutely outrageous sum of money.

Also, the pistols they used were wheellocks, and they were held sideways to help ensure the spark fell in the pan while you were shooting from horseback.

You also forgot about the fact that the 6m long lances were held in a special harness (basically a leather cup, and heavy strap) mounted to the saddle, so that the horse's entire momentum was transfered directly to the back of the lance shaft. Record holder was some nameless Lithuanian hussar, who skewered six enemies with his lance simultaneously.

[cathay]

As a polish person i can say that every polish viewer of yours was jumping in excitement because poles absolutely love being mentioned by foereign countries and i dont even know why

[totoruever]

As a hungarian I really appreciate someone finally mentioning that we were one of the first nation with huszár army. <3

[LeHobbitFan]

Who were they? - Absolute badasses
How were they equipped? - Like absolute badasses ^^

[harfar]

Wings also made it seem like there was more hussars than there actually were. Another thing, the hussar's lances stayed light despite their huge length due to a special manufacturing method that probably included hollowing it out. And lastly, when mentioning that their armor was most likely bulletproof was one thing, the other was the incredible breed of horse they used, they'd often keep charging after being shot or otherwise even heavily injured, the horses would often drop dead after the charge was over instead. Both the lance making technique as well as the special horse breed they used were heavily guarded and exporting either outside of PLC was punishable by death!

[jvjv]

Then the winged hussars arrived
Coming down the mountainside
Then the winged hussars arrived
Coming down they turned the tide

[dragal]

I see winged hussars - i click the vid

[andso]

Many people are missing this cool point
"Towarzysz(Companion) usually wore a leopard (sometimes tiger, jaguar or lion) pelt over his left shoulder, or as often depicted in the surviving Podhorce Castle paintings, he had the exotic pelt underneath his saddle or wrapped around his hips. Wolf, brown bear and lynx pelts were reserved for leaders and veterans (starszyzna)."

[Berengier]

As someone from polish descent, as soon as I found out these people existed, they quickly became my favorite

[afinoxi]

That Sabaton reference though, smooth.

[aleksandersokal]

I am sorry Metatron but as I Polish person I have to correct you it was not 14, 000 Polish Winged Hussars at the charge in Vienna, it was in fact 2, 500-3, 000 Polish Winged Hussars at the front of the charge, 7, 500-8, 000 Polish Pancerny cavalry, 2, 000 Polish Light Cavalry, 3, 000 Polish dragoons (first time in Polish history used in a mounted charge) and 5, 000 Imperial cavalry. However, the hussars were the tip of the spear and did the bulk of the work at Vienna in the afternoon charge. As they broke the Ottoman lines and entered the enemy camp first. P.S.: Also some hussars did have gauntlets, we have some historical armour proof for that.

[CollinBuckman]

2:59 correction: only 3, 000 of the cavalry in the charge were Winged Hussars. The rest was a mix of other Polish and Holy Roman horsemen, such as Hungarian hussars and Lipka Tatars

[atrior]

Battle of Hodow, 400 winged hussars and pancerni (medium cavalry) comming from both the Redoubt of the Bastions of Virgin Marie and the Trenches of Holy Trinity defeated an army of 40.000 Tartar warriors as they stepped into Poland. *The most badass part is that the Polish troops after 6 hours of fighting in the village of Hodow (used as a fortified position) suffered quite few casualties compared to the Tartars, and when the ennemy's negociaters came saying basically "surrender, we have you 100 to 1" the polish commander responded "come and get us if you can !". The Tartar army left Poland shortly after.*

[wojciech]

As for the lances, these were actually the only part of Hussar's equipment provided by the crown. They were hollowed on the inside which not only made them lighter but counterintuitively more durable and sturdy, because a tube shape has better material strength qualities than a cylinder. When charging, the rear end of the lance was insterted into a leather strap connected to the saddle, not only did it move the impact force onto the saddle and the horse instead of the rider, but also when the lance was lowered it provided a force that countered the torque coming from the gravity pulling down on the front of the lance which basically halved the weight felt by the Hussar's hand. At the front of the lance there was also a banner, about 2-2.5 meter long that during a high speed charge flapped around in the wind creating a lot of noise similar to the whip's cracking.

[rohit_parashar]

I finally learnt what the strange figures from an old book were. I had seen these guys but I forgot what they were. Thanks Metatron.

[smilergrogan]

I'm an American of Polish descent maternaly (Third or fourth generation). I had heard a story that my grandmother had a relative that was referred to as a burgermeister, but I'm sure this was a kind of layman's term used. I only heard this once from my mother in reference to my dear grandmother as always possessing an air of superiority, although I never got that impression. So anyway, I was just killing time doing Google searches and found myself going 'down a rabbit hole' of Polish names and lineage. Both my grandparent's sir names were associated with Zslachta (Polish Nobility), as well as 'Voivod'. As I went further, I found my grandmother's maiden name, 'Orzel' (Polish for Eagle), was definitely held by a 16th century nobel family and was also associated with the Hussars. I one day will get a professional genealogical search done since what I was doing was just screwing around with Google gave me limited results. Thing is, since I've never heard this brought up in the family, I don't think anybody really knew about this and if they did, their American sensibilities downplayed it. Needless to say that knowing that one of my ancesters most likely took part in the Battle of Vienna, one of the most significant battles of Western Civilization is quite fun. By the way I really enjoy your podcasts. As a history buff myself, I appreciate your passion for history. One thing we all have in common is history. Sadly, I can't believe the level of ignorance the average American has of history be it local or world. Keep up the good work. You add knowledge to the world.

[mikedittsche]

Small correction. It is true that the noblemen would have to provide their own equipment and also equipment for their retainers. The 5-6m long hollowed out lance (kopia) however were provided by the crown.
Because these lances often broke upon contact, they had spare lances for the hussars and they often rode forth and back to re-equip and charge several times during a battle.
The long estoc like piercing sword (Koncerz) was essentially a backup for when the lance was broken.
They also frequently wore short armour piercing hammers (Nadziak).

[laszloattiladozsa]

Fun fact: Tolkien has been inspired to write the Rohirim's charge at Minas Tirith by the Battle of Kahlenberg (the relief of the Sieage of Vienna).