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The Polish hussars (/ h ə ˈ z ɑːr s /; Polish: husaria), [a] alternatively known as the winged hussars, were a heavy cavalry formation active in Poland and in the Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth from 1503 to 1702. Their epithet is derived from large rear wings, which were intended to demoralize the enemy during a charge.
Polish Winged Hussar, wings visible. Painting by Aleksander Orłowski. 1503 saw the formation of a first hussar unit in Poland. Being far more manoeuvrable than the heavily armoured lancers previously employed, the hussars proved vital to the Polish victories at Orsza (1514) and Obertyn (1531).
[47] [48] Sobieski led the charge [19]: 661 at the head of 3,000 Polish heavy lancers, the "Winged Hussars". Lipka Tatars who participated on the Polish side wore a sprig of straw in their helmets to distinguish them from the tatars fighting on the Ottoman side. [49]
Other unofficial symbols feature visual personifications, music of Chopin, polonaise and mazurka dances, animals such as the European bison or the white stork, apples, red poppy flowers and religious insignia of the Roman Catholic church. [1] [2] [3] Several have been popularised in recent years, notably the winged hussars. [4]
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The winged hussars developed in the second half of the 16th century and were inspired by very similar Hungarian armoured hussars, a lance-wielding and armoured offshoot of the more typical, unarmoured, light cavalry hussars (which originated in Serbia and Hungary and eventually appeared in Poland as well by the early 16th century).
Since the mid-18th century, skull and crossbones symbols have been officially used in European militaries as badges on uniforms. One of the first regiments to adopt them was the friderizian Hussars in 1741, also known as the "Totenkopfhusaren." From this tradition, the skull became an important symbol in German and later international militaries.
[12] [13] [15] National units included the Winged hussars and lighter Polish pancerni and Lithuanian petyhorcy with some light cavalry units, with infantry being the distant second in reputation; whereas the foreign units centered around infantry and artillery formations, with dragoons gaining prominence from the 1620s, and reiter cavalry soon ...