The history of Polish winged cavalry

Throughout the19th century and 20th century, they continued to exist in romance and legend, enjoying the invincible reputation handed down by later generations. But the fact is that, like the armies of all ages, they not only won the joy of victory, but also tasted the bitterness of failure, especially when they met a well-trained musket team. Polish winged hussars should not be confused with another hussars, that is, hussars developed in Hungary are the ancestors of hussars who have been very popular in the armies of various countries, including the Polish army, since18th century. Polish winged cavalry also originated in Hungary, but they grew up in Poland and have undergone radical changes: they are no longer just lightly armed stragglers, but have excellently integrated the cavalry elements of the East and the West, and at the same time carried forward the advantages of local traditions and contemporary innovations. They are both heavy cavalry and light cavalry. Their armor is strong, fast and light, and they can choose different tactics according to the ever-changing needs of the battlefield. Wing cavalry are often organized into squadrons of 150-200 people, arranged in two rows, knees next to knees. Excellent equestrian can make them attack and charge in dense formation, and pike can ensure that the opponent is pierced first. Such a huge impact will bring a devastating blow to the enemy. After the charge, they entered the melee with swords or firearms. In this era, western European cavalry in breastplate and carbine are too accustomed to the rigid tactics of riding to the front of the front line and firing firearms, and then rushing back to the rear of the squadron. The bold charge of the flanking cavalry always beats them. At the same time, the winged cavalry can easily defeat the cavalry from the east, because the winged cavalry has the same speed and maneuverability as them, but it is better equipped and supported by firearms.

Until the end of15th century, Poland's armament and military strength were Western European-style, but at the same time, the inevitable political and cultural contact and contact with the eastern world began to quietly change the development direction of the Polish army. The military system of recruiting feudal nobles began to be replaced by the practice of recruiting mercenaries, both at home and abroad. In the war against the Grand Duchy of Moscow and Tatar Khan, King Aguilon of Poland and Lithuania reorganized the Polish army, making it more suitable for fighting on the vast grassland divided by swamps and rivers in the east. Actual combat has proved that the heavy cavalry in the Middle Ages were covered with layers of heavy armor from head to toe, and they were biased towards riding guns, which was not suitable for fighting in this terrain. In contrast, the Serbian and Hungarian hussars in Matthias Venus' era, a light cavalry, performed well against the Turks in this terrain, so this light cavalry was introduced into the Polish army. These hussars are mentioned many times in the manuscripts describing the Polish-Lithuanian army in the early16th century. The manuscript describes them as cavalry soldiers armed with spears, sabres and shields, and most of them are named "Racowie" (meaning in Serbian). Hussar or Gussar originally meant "robber" in Serbian, although there are also some Hungarian names. These hussars served not only in the Polish army, but also in the Holy Roman Empire. The most common images of Hungarian hussars can be found in woodcut illustrations in the works of the Holy Roman Emperor Maximilian I, especially in Theuerdank and Weisskunig. However, the best historical image of1hussars in the early 6th century comes from a wooden oil painting of 162cmx232cm painted around 1520.

This painting depicts 15 14. On September 8th, the Polish-Lithuanian coalition forces defeated Vassili III, the Grand Duke of Moscow, in the battle of Olsa. Generally speaking, oil paintings are faithful to historical facts, but the unknown painter seems to have artistically exaggerated the soldiers' armor and weapons. It seems that he must be familiar with the painting styles of Albrecht Dürer and Lucas Cranach. In the painting, the Polish-Lithuanian Coalition forces are composed of old-fashioned knights, infantry, artillery, light-mounted shooters and new-style hussars, while the Grand Duke of Moscow is a heavily armored Boyer cavalry. This painting depicts the image of the hussars at that time from many angles: three or four people lined up to cross the Dnieper River, charging, fighting and chasing. Riding a gun is their basic weapon. Different from the heavy-duty lance, this lance has the same thickness before and after, with a cross flag at the tip. When charged, the gun is either installed in the gap specially left by the shield, or it is held like this, "half above the horse's ear." Their shields are typical Hungarian style. This kind of shield is made of wood, with a special asymmetric shape, a sharp corner and a bright stripe. However, some hussars use French round shields with spikes in the middle. The sabers they use are also Hungarian. It's a pity that many scenes of using sabre are not seen in the painting, and most of them are inserted in a large scabbard covered with gold and embedded with silver. Some people, perhaps officers in the hussars, wear a scepter (buzdy-gan mace, from the Turkish word "cudgel") on their belts. Their mounts are covered with horse clothes, and the halter is heavy to chew. You can't see the shape of the saddle in the painting, but you can clearly see the stirrup. The stirrup is almost round with a small ball under it. The spurs look strange. They are fixed to the boots by a large piece of metal covering the rider's feet. We can't find any concrete objects similar to this, but there are some similar objects in Diu Lei's oil paintings and prints. Their headdresses can be described in many colors, and the most common one is a hat obviously made of black felt, similar to the Victorian top hat style. The lower part of the cap tube of this kind of hat is generally decorated with a gold-plated metal ring, and a bunch of feathers are inserted into the metal seat. In addition, there are various other styles in the painting: conical hat with the same feather, Hungarian flat-top hat with upright brim, hat with large pull ring and early beret which was quite popular at that time. The hussars in the painting don't need armor, but only rely on a short skirt joupanes with sandwich packing to provide some protection. A few hussars wear long-sleeved short cloaks, which are Hungarian-style clothes and are called "mente". Some hussars may be officers, and they still have decorative ribbons woven with horse hair around their necks.

rise

As early as the first half of the 16th century, several squadrons of hussars began to wear armor, which may be to let them replace the role of heavy knights who had quietly withdrawn from the battlefield at that time. We can see the whole process of the hussars being turned into winged cavalry in the archives and lists of the Polish army at that time, and these materials are well preserved, because at that time these files were the basis for paying compensation and pensions to soldiers after losing equipment or casualties. At first, only the most important weapons of cavalry were recorded, including helmets, chain mail, shields and spears. By the second half of16th century, sabre, straight knife, javelin, tomahawk, bow and quiver were recorded in the literature. In the archives after 1550, the use of fur of leopards, tigers, bears and wolves is also mentioned. According to these data, hussars wear a special cloak on their shoulders when they don't wear animal skins. This cloak is called "killm". In the historical materials of the same period, the earliest wing ornaments of winged cavalry also appeared. These wings are made of eagle feathers, crane feathers or ostrich feathers. If ostrich feathers are used, they are usually dyed red, green or blue. There is no doubt that these wings are imitations of Turkish Deli cavalry, but their style is original in Poland. Their main body is a straight piece of wood, painted red or wrapped in crimson velvet, and covered with copper skin. Drill a row of holes of moderate size on the wood strips, and insert feathers into these holes to form a huge wing. A metal rod is riveted at the lower end of the slats, and the metal rod is inserted into the socket on the back armor. In the16th century or even later, some winged cavalry were not equipped with armor (see Figure 4), so if soldiers were not equipped with armor or wore back armor, they could insert one or a pair of wing ornaments on the rear axle of the saddle. Just because the wing ornaments fixed behind the saddle will hinder the horse from crossing, others can only do it for the soldiers after they get on the horse. In fact, unarmed winged cavalry is not uncommon. Stefano della Bella carefully observed the cavalry in the visiting Polish delegation in Rome and Paris in 1633 and 1645 respectively. He made a beautiful bronze plate depicting a winged cavalry without armor, but there was a tall ostrich feather wing behind the saddle (see Figure 5). It seems that at that time, armored and unarmed winged cavalry existed at the same time, and only the wing decoration was the symbolic feature of this unit. On the other hand, the exact function of this wing ornament has not been fully explained yet. Some people say that in battle, the rustle of wind blowing over the wing ornaments can scare off enemy horses, but even the sound made by thousands of wing ornaments at the same time will be drowned in the huge noise on the battlefield. Others explained that this kind of wing ornament can protect the eastern cavalry, especially the lasso attack used by Tatars, but after a good exploration, you will also eliminate this explanation. In fact, the clearest and only function of this wing ornament is to create a strong visual and psychological impact. A warrior in layers of armor, with huge wings behind him and the fur of a beast on his shoulders, all these images give people an extraordinary sense of sacredness and can arouse swirling emotions in the viewer's heart: fear, respect, hostility or admiration. On the battlefield, it is hard to say that these heavy and huge things fixed behind the rider can really play any role. Perhaps, we can infer that few winged cavalry-if not at all, maybe they will dress up in big battles-carry these winged ornaments on the battlefield, but they are mainly reserved for use in parade grounds or celebrations.

In any case,/kloc-Not long before the 6th century, most winged cavalry became fully armed soldiers, but these heavy equipment and ornaments in turn dragged down their actions. Just when the outdated heavy cavalry seemed to be ruthlessly eliminated, Bathori, Duke of Transylvania, was elected as the king of Poland in 1576, and carried out in-depth and effective reform of the Polish army. Stephen Bartoli is a commander-in-chief with outstanding military genius. He launched a series of wars against Moscow tile principality and won brilliant victories, and also planned a huge expedition against Turks. But just as the expedition was about to begin, the Polish king died suddenly and failed to see the realization of this great goal. As a result of Bartoli's reform of wing cavalry, a new army with great flexibility and high discipline was established. In terms of equipment, he permanently abandoned the old heavy helmets, wooden shields and big saddles along the way of medieval knights and replaced them with "Qi Skag" (Zi sch&; AumlGge, at that time, was a light helmet with an open face, with a lobster-shaped laminated neck protector and a single nose protector passing through the brim of the helmet, or other styles of light helmets, with chain mail and light semi-long armor on the outside, or special saddle stirrups with only semi-long armor and chain armrests, with a strong oriental style, and long-necked spurs. Sabre is still the main weapon in melee, but nowadays, in addition to sabre, wing cavalry often tie a heavy sabre next to the saddle (German: pallash, Polish: Koncerz, which is actually a kind of barbed sword similar to estoc in western Europe, which is very useful when charging, and sabre is beneficial to melee). There are two revolvers or a revolver in the holster in front of the saddle Warhammer and scepter are also officers' favorite weapons. The length of the spear was shortened, and a long spear flag was hung at the front end. In the charge, countless bright flags flapped and fluttered, which was a magnificent and terrible picture in the eyes of the enemy.