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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.
On the 17 August the battle began, with the Swedish cavalry attacking the Polish hussars, since they had earlier began a retreat into the camp. The Commonwealth fought hard, but the Swedes were able to push them back. However, since night was approaching, Gustavus had to call off the battle for the next day. [7]
The Polish-Lithuanian forces numbering about 6,500 [1] –6,800 men [2] (of which about 5,500, or about 80 percent, were the famous "winged" hussars) under Hetman Stanisław Żółkiewski faced a numerically superior force of about 30,000 Russians under Princes Dmitry Shuisky, Andrey Galitzine, and Danilo Mezetsky, as well as about 5,000 mercenary units temporarily allied to Russia, under the ...
Archduke Stephen of Austria, Palatine of Hungary, in 19th-century Hungarian general's hussar style gala uniform; [1] with characteristic tight dolman jacket, loose-hanging pelisse over-jacket, and busby. A hussar [a] was a member of a class of light cavalry, originally from the Kingdom of Hungary during the 15th and 16th centuries. The title ...
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). By the reign of King Stefan Batory, the hussars had replaced medieval-style lancers in the Polish army, and they now formed the bulk of the Polish cavalry.
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).
[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]
At the same time, on the Swedish left, 650 hussars under Jan Piotr Sapieha charged. [3] After Charles sent in his reserve of 700 cavalry, Chodkiewicz sent in his reserves. The entire force of Swedish cavalry was finally put to rout, and in their flight, disordered many of their own infantry, leaving them vulnerable to the hussars' charge. [3]