The Winged Hussars and the ‘Military Revolution’ in the East | Evolution of Warfare

The Polish Winged Hussars dominated the eastern European theaters of war for much of the early modern period. While the western European art of war of this period relied on infantry-heavy pike and shot tactics, eastern armies continued to rely on cavalry. On the battlefields of Italy, France, Germany, and Flanders, heavy cavalry such as knights and lancers found a counter in combined pikes and muskets. Western European battles, according to the historian Geoffrey Parker, were won primarily with infantry. In eastern Europe, by contrast, cavalry was still key. The Polish cavalry, most notably, not only frequently bested the Muscovites and Ottomans on their eastern and southern front respectively but also defeated western powers such as the Swedes under Gustavus Adolphus. Therefore, some scholars argue that early modern western military doctrine lacked a crucial component, namely a cavalry unit such as the Polish winged hussars that frequently and successfully charged home with steel in hand. It is not surprising that the winged hussars eventually influenced the western art of war; and they did so lastingly. To understand this development properly, the period between 1550 and 1620 is key. This video will look at how contemporary historiography discusses the early successes of the Polish-Lithuanian Hussars.

CORRECTION: We accidentally merged together a few lines about different light cavalry units and their origins (which were cut from the script in the end) with the origins of the hussars. That' s why it is messed up in the video. In the beginning they were exiled Serbian mercenaries (some sources also simply say "balkan". Also, the early Hussars were modeled off the Hungarian Hussars.

#history #education #sandrhoman

Our reading list on military history:

Bibliography:
Clifford, J. R., Tactics and the Face of Battle, in: Tallet, F., (editor), European Warfare 1350-1750.
Eltis, D., The Military Revolution in Sixteenth-Century Europe, London 1995.
Frost, R., Northern Wars, State and Society in Northeastern Europe 1558-1721, 2000.
Grbasić, Z., / V. Vuksić, L'âge d'or de la Cavalerie, 1989.
Kloosterhuis, J., “Cavalry” in: Encyclopedia For Early Modern History.
Love, R.S. «All the King’s Horsemen”: The equestrian Army of Henri IV, 1585-1598, SCJ 22 (1991), 511-33.
Meyer, H., Geschichte der Reiterkrieger, 1982.
Oeser, E., Pferd und Mensch. Die Geschichte einer Beziehung, 2007.
Parker, G., Dynastic War, in: Parker. G., (editor), The Cambridge History of Warfare, 2005.
Roberts, M., Gustav Adolf and the Art of War (first printed 1955), in: Essays on Swedish History, 1967.

[SandRhomanHistory]

CORRECTION about the origins of the hussars is below!

For all the people waiting for the meme: well, wait for it.

Also: These videos take us an immense amount of time to research, review, double-check and animate. If you think this work is valuable then please do consider supporting us on Patreon. My job at the university as a teaching assistant has come to an end (you can only do the job for 4 years). So a lot of my income is now reliant on YouTube. Also please let us know whether you would like to see more videos on warfare or more videos like the series on sieges where we do more story telling.

Edit 2: (correction) We accidentally merged together a few lines about different light cavalry units and their origins (which were cut from the script in the end) with the origins of the hussars. That' s why it is messed up in the video. In the beginning they were exiled Serbian mercenaries (some sources also simply say "balkan". Also, the early Hussars were modeled off the Hungarian Hussars.

[abelardgromnicki]

So a comment from Polish historian (me, greetings from Kraków guys):
The way our hussars charged was also very different from a medieval style charge- at the beginning a unit of polish cavalry is forming in a very loose formations- 100 horses in a 500 meters front, few hundreds meters from enemy ranks- way outside muskets fire range. Then they're slowly advancing and 100 meters from enemy ranks gallop begin. 20 (!) meters from enemy ranks hussars are closing their ranks from 500 to less than a 70 meters front in a full speed (cwał, faster than gallop). Enemy musketeers had no chance to fire effectivly in such a loose formation and once formation was close it was too late.

Prussian army made a trial at the end of XVIII (!) century- from 70meters only 60% of bullets shout from a battalion of musketeers hit a BARN SIZE target (25x2 meters) so effective range of early XVI-XVII century musketeers was around...20 meters.

So a key factor for a Polish Hussars strike was to attack the weakest point in enemy ranks with one massive strike, like German panzer formations in 1939-1942. Enemy simply couldnt stand that.

Another intresting fact missed in this great video- almost all of hussars beside of an arch has a pair of pistols or a cavalry musket as well.

But why Moskovites and other powers of the central/eastern Europe didnt muster their own hussaars regiments as well? Money, money, money. Equipment + a horse for a hussar was an equivalent in price to a FEW VILLAGES. Very- fu*king expensive. In XVII century Polish nobility was EXTREMLY rich- they didnt have to pay taxes (really :/) but instead they has to defend the country and service in a hussars regimant was a highest distinction. Plus cause of that they were trained in warfare basically from early childhood, while in the west armies consist in that period not rich nobility but poor pasants. Unfortunately for us constatn wars in XVII century ruined Poland economicly- XVIII century and a fall of hussars was a result of economic decline.



If You have any questions guys- feel free to ask.

[peternagy]

Lengyel magyar két jó barát
Respect from Hungary
🇭🇺💪🔥🇵🇱

[Bolekh]

Lithuanian Hetman Jan Karol Chodkiewicz's famous quote during Battle of Kircholm when scouts reported him that countless Swedes are swarming towards them: "We will count them after we beat them"

[rarescenes]

Everybody gangsta until the winged hussars charge

[Tadicuslegion]

Winged Hussars: *Fade from memory save in Poland/Die Hard historians of the period*
Sabaton: I'm about to resurrect this unit's career

[zofifi]

Pictures of lances here are misleading. They were thin, composite of wood, linen fabric and glue, painted spirally, with tiny head and split 2 color 2, 5 m long pennants. It was kept not only by hand (too long for it) but the end of the lance was in leather sleeve linked by thong with front of saddle. So impact was taken over by horse - not the rider.
They were in three different lengths, depending on the type of opponent. The longest 6, 2 m against pikemen, shortest 3 m against light cavalry. Unlike other equipment they were provided by state and standardised. It was a common sight after battle to see 2 or more infantrymen impaled on one lance with record 6 in battle of Klushino.

[VentiVonOsterreich]

Fun fact: Polish lancers were so efficient with their lances on horseback that the last ever recorded cavalry battle was in 1920, and the last ever effective cavalry charge was in March 1945, both performed by Polish soldiers!

[JohnDoe-txlq]

I'm always amazed at how they managed to carry out these complicated battle plans, especially when the leaders can only see things from eye level and from a distance. It would be fascinating to see in real life how the soldiers were trained, how much they understood about what they were being told to do while in battle. You can't tell every soldier in advance "At this point in the battle, we will fake a retreat", timing is everything, the plan might change and you don't want any traitors to give away plans... so how do you prevent your own army from losing hope when told to retreat? There's only so much you can quickly signal with flags, sounds etc in a battle... you need a very disciplined army.

[Dusiek]

You missed the most important point related to lances. They were attached to saddle which took the whole energy from the impact. It gave enormous piercing ability - it was happed to be 2, even 3 soldiers pierced by one lance.

[krismr]

Worth to mentione a sentence from Gustavus Adolfus: "If i would have such a cavalery with my infantry i would be camping this year at Konstantinopol"

[danieldpa]

For “western” Europeans & Anglosaxons to admit that peoples in the central and Eastern Europe can invent something and be superior is a hard pill to swallow. They keep & cultivate this arrogance until these days.

[MichaelSemer]

As a half-Pole/American, I’m blown away learning about this aspect of Polish history.

[TheIronArmenianakaGIHaigs]

This comment section is going to have many Sabaton references :D

[ofsabir]

If you like this era of East European warfare, I highly recommend the game "With Fire and Sword".
It is an old game but it gives a feel of both role play and strategy game.

[MartinT]

The Dutch, Spanish, and Swedes were indeed revolutionizing warfare, but so were the Poles. They were just revolutionizing it in different ways.

[Artur_M.]

Awesome video! Probably the best about the Polish-Lithuanian hussars available in English. I'm very happy to hear that it will be continued.

There are two things that I would like to point out:
1. The iconic large double wings, strapped to the backs of hussars actually appeared quite late. For the majority of _husaria's_ exitance, it was rather a smaller single wing, more likely attached to the saddle. There is a whole debate about how much the wings were even used at all, outside of the parades.

2. The Polish-Lithuanian "cossack" cavalry was mentioned a couple of times in the video, it's worth to note that it was a different formation than the actual cossacks, recruited and formed in a similar fashion as the hussars, in time they became more commonly known as _pancerni_ (the armoured ones) or sometimes _petyhorcy_ in the Grand Duchy of Lithuania. They might be worth a closer look in the upcoming videos, as they outnumbered the more famous hussars in the Polish-Lithuanian armies in XVII century.
The actual cossacks, members of the militarized communities formed in the borderland steppe regions of both Muscovy and the PLC could probably get a video or even a series of their own. The Ukrainian Zaporozhian Cossacks, in particular, fought not only as light cavalry but also infantry, even excelling at it and using some of the tactics pioneered by the Hussites. They also conducted Viking-style sea rides on the Black Sea.

[Ussurin]

>"lancers are outdated"
>proceed to loose every war against modern to them lancers

You see, this is where you have goofed, you don't go against slav cavalry, they kept on winning battles even at beginning of WW2

[mariushunger]

Quietly the ground begins to shake, tranquilly the air trembles, soon earth begins to shake as slowly the whole world becomes turmoil, before the wall of winged hussars sweeps away everything in its way....

[zedhead]

The winged Hussars were the best heavy cavalry ever, in my opinion