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 KZfaq. 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: Link www.patreon.com/sandrhomanhistory 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.

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"

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

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. Most HARDCORE Polish hussars battle? HODÓW. 100 Hussars + 300 lighter pancerni cavalry againsr 40000 tatars. OFC we won :) en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_of_Hod%C3%B3w Traditions of Polish lancers didnt die in XVIII century- in XIX century Polish nobility fought alongisde Napoleon against well, everyone in Europe doing some great job as well- en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1st_Polish_Light_Cavalry_Regiment_of_the_Imperial_Guard If You have any questions guys- feel free to ask. PS: The greatest source of infos about Polish Hussars are Radosław Sikora's books- he is a historian specialized in this field. Sadly his books are not translated into english (I guess) pl.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rados%C5%82aw_Sikora

Everybody gangsta until the winged hussars charge

Love You Poland From Hungary :)

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.

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.

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

Great video! Vivat Rzeczpospolita!

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"

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!

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.

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.

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.

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

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.

This channel really is a hidden jam

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

Good Hussar Talking. Hussar's pikes were drilled hollow to break on impact to prevent the horsemen to be de-saddled. Meaning, each horseman can do multiple impacts for as long as he survives attack. Pikes, by the King's order, were provided by the Kind of Poland and there were wagons of them provided at any major battle. So cycling with attacks, each hussars could strike multiple times using this strategy. There is way more to say how hussars train their horses and how they trained themselves. The battlefield tactics just hussars used is very cool and I wish perhaps you can make one movie about it.

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

The most effective point of winged hussars formation was absolute discipline and training for both: riders and horses. They could do maneuvres as formation like no any other cavalry units their times.

Amazing how they liked the sabaton song so much, they trained units to name them after it

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....

Minor terminology suggestion: Bows are loosed, not fired (most people mix these terms up). Still a great video.

The Hussars never attacked alone, they made the main central attack, but on the sides they had a medium-armed cavalry called "Pancerni" which was used for flanking and quick reaction after the main attack. The armored men usually constituted more than half of the mounted troops during the attacks, their origin was in the recruitment and they were often served by well-trained Cossacks, Ruthenians and Lithuanians.

One thing about Battle of Kircholm: Cossacs Cavalry was a name for polish medium cavalry, that has evolved from cossacs cavalry. But there were not Cossacs (even that there were Cossacs regiments in Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth). The right name is: Pancerni, or Towarzysze Pancerni (Pancerni Companions)

AND THE WINGED HUSSARS ARRIVE

>"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

Few facts about polish hussars: 1. Their armor was designed to bounce bullets from musketeers weapons. And it often did that. 2. Hussar horses were the most valuable piece of hussars equipment. They were a separate, unique breed between easter and western horses - strong, fast and resistant. And they were well trained from a foal so they could for example turn back in just 1,5 m area or charge in the crush (the hussar's charge was a horse next to a horse so close that you couldn't put a stick between them). 3. Hussars basically didn't wear wings. They are called "winged hussars" because of few meters long pennants attached to their copies which made a loud bang when horses galloped. And this noise and the movement of pennants was similar to a wings. Real hussars basiclly didn't have wings (only 3-5% hussars had one wing attached to the rear part of saddle) becouse wings made difficult to get on the horse. Wings attached to back of hussars is XIX century hoax. 4. Hussars used about 5 m long copies (sometimes even over 6 meters) so when galloping they were able to kill 3-4 people with one strike (they made shashlik out of enemies :D ). Then the copies broke and the hussars was returning for new ones. 5. They also used sabers (and hussar sabre is the best cold weapon ever created) or koncerz (one of this two, never both at once) and also flintlock pistols.

At the battle of Vienna when Winged Hussars attack the Turks, German & Austrian troops hold attack to admire this view because W.F. battle tactic was spectacular.

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

I think it's high time to adapt the "Then the winged hussars arrived" as a phrase regarding a deus ex machina situation. Pretty sure everyone already knows the context this lyric is used for.

Fantastic channel, thank you. Greets from a Belgian Historian.

I remember the first time I learned about the Winged Hussars...it was our regular Sunday WRG Ancient's miniatures game back in the early/mid 80s. I was still in HS and didn't have the time or money to paint an army, so I just played whatever one of the players trusted me with. This day I was given two units, not many miniatures compared to what others were using, and Charlie, who owned the army, coached me on when, where, and how to use them. Armed with a composite lance, saber, sword, mace, two pistols, carbine, and a bow, when I charged I absolutely destroyed the enemy's left flank and cause it and part of the center to rout off the board. Two weeks later, it happened again. I was duly impressed.

These videos should be part of some digital "library" dedicated to historical knowledge. Absolutely amazing and informative!

Interestingly enough the same innovation in use of Cavalry Lance happened in the Mongol steppes roughly in the same time frame. Kalmyks and Oirats are quite known for their cavalry charges. Great video as always.

Sandrhoman: The Polish Winged Hussars and the "Military Revolution" in the East Sabaton: Hold my bier!

it is not only about tactics and how the army is armed, but it is all about fighting spirit

What a beautifully crafted video, great pleasure to watch! Thank you for your efforts.

With every new video you manage to further impress me...You offer unreal insight to History & Tactics simultaneously. You have an AMAZING talent for teaching & I hope your channel recieves the attention it deserves!

The quality of your channel and videos is amazing : congratulations!

finally the best history content returns =) and what a return it is!

It seems rather the opinions of some scholars were outdated than eastern military tactics...

Thankyou for this superb presentation, I do love the artwork

Man, is there a cooler mounted unit then the winged hussar? NO!

this channel is awesome the animations and graphics really help to understand much more than simpler ones ive seen on the same/ similar subjects. im sure it takes alot of time but its worth its weight

Thanks for making this bro! Love me some Husaria!!

Great stuff, finally some objective insights on east vs west tactics. One note - although since 1569 Poland and Lithuania formed The Commonwealth, armies were actually separate (even if, of course, shared design, weaponry and tactics). Thus, it was Lithuanian (rather than Polish) army at Kircholm in 1605 (and Karol Chodkiewicz was a Lithuanian hetman - perhaps thanks to that battle). It is also worth to mention that Hussars had a chance to demolish also German famous landsknechts - see battle of Lubieszów of 1577 and Battle of Byczyna of 1588.

I loved the backgrounds! I recognized some of them. Lovely!

Not one of them yelled "Kurwa!!!" while charging infantry... are you sure these guys, you showed, are poles...? But on serious note here- Hussars were, in a way, binding new with the old. As you said, they had a way to counter the Western tactics, but that came also out of medieal traditions of lance wielding. Tournaments or duels with blutned lances were very much a thing here way into XVIth century. The early hussars, that you mentioned, were fighting shoulder to shoulder with late very heavy polish calvary... early hussars were mercenaries, and they proved to be menace very quickly, so our kings sort of... "spent" them in campagins, while at the same time said very heavy calvary, that was useless in fighting Tatars and Moscovites, who wouldn't want to meet those tanks head on- rearmed and retrained in a"hussar" way. So in other words knights became hussars pretty muich within one generation time. Granted, they rearmed few more times, but noblemen, who served as hussars very often considered themselves to be knights, despite the fact this title wasn't in use anmore... In a way hussars were what was best in knghts mixed with what is best in soldiers. You have combat traning since early childhood, morale and suicidal courage of somebody, who thinks himself better and discipline and hard trained ability to manouver as one- legend says hussars learned how to charge in tight formation by placing a floren between their knee and the knee of rider to their right, and that at the end of the traning they had to show said coin to the commander as proofe, thei didn;t break the formation in any way. They also had to provide their own gear, which is very knight- like, and in return they got titles, or tax exeptions, or lad... And that is VERY knight- like. So it was modern army, with a lot of things attached, that screamed "medieval". Which is why they were always in such low numbers... Too much of a elite. You mentioned Kircholm, but i have better one for ya, a record charge- i told this story under so many videos, it is practically copy and paste at this point, but it is really good one and shows what kind of people these assholes were: in 1660 at Kutyszcze, Poilsh- Lithuanian army was chasing retreating Moscovite- Cossac army. Vanguard of my kinsmen was consiting of 140 hussars, under Wilczkowski. The rearguard of the opponents was made out of about 3000- 4000 of cossack light infantry and 1000 of Moscovite "Cuirassieurs"(they were heavily armored[as heavy as hussars, if not more- they had gauntlets and back plates and some degree of legs defense- hussars did not] mounted musketeers, but in the memoirs they were called "cuirassieurs")... So about 140 hussars, after quick, 25 km long march, suddenly comes up on this 5000 men... And what do they do? Charge. I mean, why not? We all are on our way to hell anyway... Second banner(unit) of hussars under Wyżycki, about same size as first one, rides up, sees what is happening, and they charge as well. Moscovite calvary just runs- through their infantry- hussars, chasing them, rides through te infantry as well. Mounted shooters manage to reach their entrenched positions- there were cannons there, and stakes and all kind of things, which would make hussars' job hard, so they decided to turn and ride away... Through the infantry. Again. If i remember correctly amount of killed was at 1500 to 2000, while hussars were mostly unscatched, only wounded... Charge was not really that important, in grand scheme of things, but had to be something to behold, when disproportion of forces was about 20:1. I mean, where is this blood, in this country now???

This channel is amazing and I love the style of animations.

Greetings form Poland. Nice video presenting one of our most glorious period in Polish military history :)

Great video! For completeness, will you do the Ottoman army later? That should round out the big armies of the early 17th century. Polish infantry would also be interesting to cover.

This period of time is so interesting. Thank you!

Learned a lot, thanks. Love your soldier animations.

Loved the video this is the best pike and shot channel I’ve ever scene well excluding this episode about super pony bois

Red Bull gives Polish hussars wings.

just... excellent work, man! fantastic!

Great video! Thorough preparation. Clear, precise and logical application. Fit to puprpose. Extermally efficient. Must have taken a lot of resources to prepare. Hence: a winged hussar of history videos. ;)

Will you make a video about the late medieval and early renaissance french gensdarmes ?

If the Polish military had been as outdated as people in the West claimed, the logical consequence would have been that they got conquered by other powers or pressed into paying huge tributes. As we can see in this video Polish cities got raided, but no major invasions were successful.

Well done vid! Highly informative and entertaining.

brilliant - I love your very informative films.

Love your channel especially the information is quite useful. I highly suggest to start doing Thirty Year's War Battles/Sieges series like White Mountain, Breda, Lutzen, Nordlingen, and Rocroi 👍

Please realize that Polish-Lithuanians fought on enormously VAST lands where mobility was the very key for success. This wasn't the Flanders wars where a town like Breda was the "focal point" of victory. A fort (no matter how strong) or even ten of them, had little value, because the country - especially in the South/Eastern provinces (the ones that were bordering the Turkish or Tartar lands) were ENORMOUSLY vast and also underpopulated. Study - for example - how the Cossacks from Zaporozhe used to make wars. They didn't rely too much on cavalry either - had big, very cracked infantry formations, but they wouldn't build permanent forts. The way they defended themselves against cavalry attacks - mainly Polish & Lithuanian cavalry! - was through what they called "TABOR" - i.e. - they would put all their wagons together - in a circle & chain them with heavy chains and use every tool at their disposal to inflict casualties onto the attacking cavalry. LONG STORY SHORT ... POINT OF ALL OF THAT IS - MOBILITY was the key to win wars on those lands and - truth be told ... still is.

Subbed, your pronunciation and pacing is impeccable thanks for the content. 🤙🏼

Wow, you are set out to be as big as Kings and Generals! Listen. I learn so much from these, they are amazing and the art design is excellent. Im so impressed.

Koncerz is more similar to estoc than to rapier. It's primarily thrusting weapon with pretty much none cutting or slashing ability. Winged hussars sabres were slightly heavier than those used by Cossacks cavalry or dragoons. Another important trait of sabres used in PLC by cavalry from late 16 century is that they were "one and half" edged. They had edge on the outside curved side of blade and about 1/3 of the other side of blade also had edge. This gave those sabres quite good thrusting ability while allowing for some back edge cutting attacks.

The Hussar charge of 1683 is one of the greatest things in history.

Iam building & painting a winged hussars army for table top wargames at the moment. Your video has really inspired me, thank you. Great video

Great video and very informative 👍

Thanks, a very interesting presentation. However, the Polish infantry formed a critical component of the Polish armies in spite of their small numbers. They were used to fix or disrupt enemy formation and break field fortifications, allowing commanders to use the hussars to maximum advantage. This happened at Chocim and Vienna where infantry cleared the way for the cavalry. At Lubieszow, the Polish hajduks engaged the landskneckt at close quarters and allowed the cavalry to outflank and break the Danzig army. Similarly light cavalry were used to outflank and disrupt enemy positions.

There are two aspects of warfare : Tactical and Strategic. It seems to me that the winged hussars were a balance between the two aspects. A heavy and alround fighting formation and a fast scouting, foraging and raiding party. Unfortunately they were very expensive and in small numbers.

Making a video on the winged hussars was smart for getting views. I applaud you

Nice video. Winged hussars are everyone's favourite.

Excellent heavy cavalry !!! Essencially a knight that cut weight to gain more battlefield mobility + much longer lance => effective against PIKE INFANTRY. But carried enough armour protection to dominate in a cavalry melee => effective against other CAVALRY. Therefore could beat lighter cavalry head-on (like the knight) and also (unlike the knight) perform effective flanking moves against pike infantry.

Amor patriae nostra lex.! happy new year from Poland bro !

You guys do such an amazing job with your videos.

Great content man

There were lot of reasons why hussars were much more effective in combat than western lancers. In addition to other reasons kopia's used by hussars were about 2 meters longer and that made a huge difference against pikeman. Kopia is a type of lance but it is quite different than western lances. Kopia's were hollow inside so they could be longer and still lighter and with greater range of motion. Also they could do huge damage there were occasions when single hussar run through 6 enemy soldiers at once with his kopia ( eastern lance) also hussar sabers were better than both eastern and western sabers of the time. Because they had strengths of both.

The "primitive" parts of Eastern Warfare had more to do with their social and economic organization than their weapons and tactics. The Winged Hussars were nobility, men born and raised to the saddle. They were organized along feudal familiar lines. They were paid for using a system of feudal levies. By contrast, in the West, infantry came from urban populations first, they were commoners, they were organized corporately/institutionally and paid for by a sophisticated financial system. But geography played the greatest role. Even up to WWI, war in Western Europe was dominated by slow moving infantry war that devolved to static warfare, while the East was dominated fluid open field warfare that became static only around fortresses and cities. Horses are just more useful in the wide areas of the East than in the congested lands of the West.

GREAT quality video, thanks!!

Great video man.

This video was great. I really enjoyed it. I heard that the Polish Winged Hussars were able to make a strange and unsettling sound as they charged. But that hasn't been proven effectively. But I wish it had been.

The first time I heard about the Hussars was in a Mount and Blade game They had interesting wings and they were extremely fast

Fantastic channel! Subscribed!

Great, great job !! Please a video of the janissaries........

Poles are born fighters. The equipment and tactics are important, but... The key is the spirit of this brave and great nation.

Very nice video, the evolution of warfare in eastern Europe (16/ 17th century) is a topic I found extremly interesting. One minor thing: Wouldn't the use of term "Hussaria/ Husaria" (to name the polish heavy cavalery in this time period) be a more fitting description (over "winged hussars/ hussars") as it avoids the confusion with early or later units called "hussars" and also go around the whole debate if these soilders were actually wearing "wings"? And to answer the question from your: I personally prefer the videos with a broader context (like this or your video on the black riders) where you only pick special events to give examples for something.

Tremendous work!

Thank You !

Gonna be honest i find the cavalry knights with wings on their backs very badass, polish people must be very proud.

the hussars were supported by lighter cavalry, the so-called panzer and Tatars

Everything you make is awesome 😎

One of the best KZfaq channels

“Why Russia has large tank reserves”

the secret weapon of the winged hussars was the fact that THEY LOOKED BADASS

Very good video and story line. Congratulations!

Great Video