Hussite Wagon Forts - A Challenge To Heavy Cavalry In The Late Middle Ages | Late Medieval Warfare
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- čas přidán 7. 03. 2020
- The Hussite wagon fort, also known as Wagenburg answered a problem in late medieval warfare that puzzled military leaders of the time: how could infantry deal with armies of heavily armored knights on horseback? Initially the Hussite armies consisted mainly of ill-trained farmers and city dwellers, often only armed with the daily tools of your average farmer such as threshing flails, pitchforks but also polearms. But they made a virtue out of necessity and combined their farmers wagons, which they soon turned into war wagons, with early handheld firearms and small artillery and managed to defend successfully against well-trained and well-equipped knights.
Throughout the medieval and early-modern periods a number of strategies and infantry formations were explored to fight heavily armored knights effectively. One strategy was to choose the terrain of the battles with great care, to use field fortifications and bottlenecks such as the Scottish at the Battle of Loudoun Hill in 1307, the Flemish at the Battle of Kortrijk in 1302 or the English at Crécy in 1346. Another strategy was to deploy deep pike squares as did the Swiss at Nancy in 1477, the German Landsknechte at Bicocca in 1522 and the Spanish Tercio at Rocroi in 1643.
However, in the early fourteen-hundreds, the Hussite wagon fort was a particularly spectacular way of coping with knights. Contemporary historiography tells the story of the Hussite’s military innovation as follows.
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Sources:
Durdik, Jan, Hussitisches Heerwesen, Berlin (Ost) 1961.
Schmidtchen, V., Kriegswesen im späten Mittelalter. Technik, Taktik, Theorie. VCH Acta humaniora, (habilitation dissertationan at the University of Bochum1984), Weinheim 1990.
Schmidtchen, V., Karrenbüchse und Wagenburg. Hussitische Innovationen zur Technik und Taktik im Kriegswesen des späten Mittelalters. In: Volker Schmidtchen, Eckhard Jäger (Editors.): Wirtschaft, Technik und Geschichte. Beiträge zur Erforschung der Kulturbeziehungen in Deutschland und Osteuropa. Festschrift für Albrecht Timm zum 65. Geburtstag. Camen, Berlin 1980 (erschienen 1981), p. 83-108.
Delbrück, H., Das Mittelalter. Von Karl dem Großen bis zum späten Mittelalter (Geschichte der Kriegskunst, Band 1)., 1907. (NOTE: Delbrück is an important author for military history but often outdated due to the age of his books, so read this with care!)
Imagine being a famous knight anointed by the pope, the best rider in your kingdom, only to get vibe checked by a wooden box on wheels
@alvi syahri Not really, it's still almost 200 years until old fashioned knights became obsolete
@alvi syahri They were still relevant and dangerous guys like the Winged Hussars showed that they wee still effective. Its just that now Paper had been invented and you couldnt beat everything with Rock
@alvi syahri Not really.
Not just a wooden box on wheels, but a wooden box on wheels full of... PEASANTS!!!
Eric da' MAJ That's a winner right there.
I like the idea how this medieval war tactic eventually became a tactic in the wild west for the pioneers
Battle of Blood River
Some of them were Czechs.
@@MrMoskwitsch massacre of the blood river
But before that it became a standard tactic in the Wild East, with mobile fortifications used extensively by the Zaporozhan Cossacks and Muscovites against the Crimean Tatars and... each other.
Likely because of Native tactics which resembled ancient Europe
Fun Fact - the word Howitzer, started as Czech (Hussite) word Houfnice - the gun that was so inaccurate it was only effective at shooting to the crowds. Crowds are houfy in Czech, hence houfnice.
Same with Pistol. Original word is "Píšťala" (the flute). Comes from hussite bohemia as well.
There was a short German pause in between. So: Houfnice > Haubitze > Howitzer :)
@@tomaskoptik2021 russian has (had) cognate for pistala - "пищаль", but modern word for pistol (пистолет) is loaned, heh
@@tomaskoptik2021 That is disputed, though it is very possible.
@@TheBarser Slavic languages know this word, not only Czech. But the Hussite movement was a first documented case of massive firearms usage. It was these wars that helped to spread this word all around Europe. Without these wars there would probably be another word for pistol used today. There are some documented cases of german language adopting this word and passing it to the French etc...but as you say - nobody can say it with 100% certanity. Especially linguists :))
Best offense is a good defense, eh? At least until the cannons got bigger.
When both sides have cannons, advantage still goes to the defender, although fixed fortifications only work if the enemy can't bypass them. In the open field, you still have an advantage, if you position yourself well, and the enemy has to attack you.
Attackers have used this for millennia. Provoke an attack and destroy the attackers. The Mongols would pretend to retreat, just to provoke doomed attacks by over-eager enemies. So attack by provoking attacks!
@cristopher wong
PANZERKAMPFWAGEN
I would not consider this as defensive warfare anymore than roman legions were “defensive”. Anyway, I suspect it has more to do with successful use of mobility and logistics. Defense and offense are a state of mind, these guys are using defense offensively.
The millions of soldiers and claimed by No Man’s Land would tell you otherwise, and they had some big cannons.
Zombie Ranger canons don’t do much good without mobility
By changing the rules of combat, the knights now became the "untrained" units. They had no idea at the time of how to deal with the wagon forts, and the weapons being used.
Brilliant. Its like me coming to play checkers, but my opponent sets up chess game. I am done.
I need to do this trick next time I play checkers
Or more like, I came prepared to play chess and my opponent beat me with checkers
Haha exact’y, love the Chess reference
@@falloutworldrecord exactly. Or conkers.
Feel like you came for checkers and turn out to be Go.
This gives me a deeper appreciation of the war wagon units in Warhammer Total War. Real history is often better than fiction, just less accessible. Thanks for a bit of remedy!
Right? If only they weren't hot garbage! Still, it shows the original creators of Warhammer had a love of history!
Shame the Total War ones don't have polemen in them like their tabletop models had. They're too fragile and not the mobile bulwarks they should be.
Great video about the tactical value of wagon forts :)
heeey, great games my dudes!
War Wagon DLC when?
@@DerOrk in KCD II husite wars
@Weedus same
New dlc’s please!!!!!!! I’ve bought em all and the ending made me sad. I wanted more.....
When the wagons speak Czech
Kai Houston a person of culture I see
@Kai Houston This is the song you are talking about. The title says "They who are the fighters of God". Enjoy. czcams.com/video/elskCac9wSI/video.html
@Kai Houston Yes, it was a battle near Domažlice, 4. crusade to Czech in 1431.
the Hussites were as Czech as queen of England is English
the queen of England is not English
she's from the bloodline of the house of Saxa Gotha, cadet of the house Wettin, holy roman emperors.
CZECH : ÚTOK!!!
English : ATTACK!!!
The Hussites invented the first APC
The ancient Chinese already used wagon forts against the xiong nu. With crossbows
Historical Archery That’s cool, do you have a video about that topic or sources you could recommend? It would be really interesting.
Hussites inveted first tank though. Iirc it was during siege of Kutna Hora where they left the city to create defensive line in front of it, only for citizens of that city to close gate after them, and open side entrance for enemy forces. With no way to retreat, with enemies moving into city and preparing to man the walls while main enemy force was starting to move to attack, hussites went full Eric Cartman on them.
ie: "Screw you guys, we are going home". They loaded everything and everyone onto wagons, including canons. Then they simply made column and drove straight through center of enemy army while shooting at them from everything they had including those cannons. Hilariously it worked. They managed to get away with very few casaulties.
@@Flow86767 czcams.com/video/iQ7jDwF2Z2w/video.html
@Joe Blow One of peculiar atributes of iron is that it is fucking heavy. Too heavy for wooden cart to carry as armor unless it would be too thin. It is the same reason why all larger shields are not entirely from iron.
Also remember, 15th century. No easy way to make large iron sheets to use as armor. It would be quite expensive and demanding for production (not impossible of course but definitely not cost effective)
As for those hussite wagons, they were actualy armored. Not with iron but with additional wood planks/sheets. Remember, armor does not equal metal.
So in other words, hussites were first who put cannons onto armored vehicles and used it in battle. Sucessfuly.
As a Czech I am amazed and impressed with your pronunciation. Czech is a hard language and you nailed it!
Actually žižka is not that difficult to pronounce once you know how to transcribe it. Jean Valjean also has ž. But yes, this was a good pronunciation.
Hard? It's damned impossible! There's a reason why the best Czech writers have used German, French, or even English (Stoppard) rather than their own lingo: writers want to be read!
@@alexanderhay-whitton4993 i think that was more because the czech language didn't realy evolve much after the 15th century (if i recall correctly). it took multiple generations of dedicated czechs to help the language catch up to the dominant of the time.but i do agree that writers want to be read.sorry for the long comment, i'm just passionate about our history.
Non-slavs have a problem with my name (Anže), Žižka had two 'ž'
@@milanbartu8699 Its the opposite actually. Czech has evolved much more since the 15th century than say Plish, Slovak or German. Reading 15th century texts is very difficult for the modern czech folk
To the wagon boiiiiiiss. The knights are nigh!!!!
The "Fyrd" or local militia weren't good in the field, but were great for defending fortifications. What an innovation to take fortifications with you!
Hussites weren't even a "fyrd". About half of them were poor people from cities. They were hard as nails after few battles, but in todays view most of them were homeless people...well at the start. While in army those mens found new way of live and call themeselves brothers.
Is fyrd still a word for militia in east europe? because i only know it in context of anglo-saxon militia. One of their very last appearances in history was with Harald II., when they faught in the battle of stamford bridge and after that, made haste to hastings to fight Wilhelm the Conqueror.
Once again an example for motivation and mindset being more important than equipment
Good point
Skills over gears
I´d phrase it a little different:
moral, discipline and tactics trumping skill and equipment.
The problem with many knights, but also professional soldiers was that they fought only for their personal glory and gains and not as a coherent army. Even when they did, it was often easy to break them up in individual units with their own goals.
@@edi9892 Things haven't changed. Also it sounds a lot like the Samurai (that also got tramped by the Ashigaru peasants)
I mean you have a point the Hussites were fighting for God and Communism. And religion and community were like 1st and 2nd most important things to a peasant.
Zizca was a genius. He was also blind in one eye and later the other. He never lost a battle.
I'm amazed, that you even know about him....
@@lucasholy7821 There's quiet a number of amazing generals in history that seem to have largely been forgotten outside of their home countries.
I guess history only considers generals to be relevant if they fought in the "important" wars. Whichever those are.
@@rockyblacksmith yah but that would be more about western ignorance...
Pretty sure they teach more about medieval France then same era India for example...without a doubt 50mil nation cant offer same as 1bn, but dont need to go that far....everything eastwards from germany is considered eastern Europe....in another words Russian history
@@lucasholy7821 Not sure what kids learn these days in history at school but we spent a fair amount of time learning about the Hussite uprisings back in the days. And I'm not from Czech either.
@@TerraPosse I would like to learn more about all of this as a kid. Here, in Poland, we had only a few sentences about Hussites and religious wars in general in our book but the teacher didn't explained the details to us. We could read only that there was a war at Bohemia, that Žižka was the leader o Hussites and that he fought at the battle of Tannenberg too (but we call it battle of Grunwald). And that Hussites was heretics... But I'm glad that I gathered more info about those times and wars now, because this is one of my favourite part of history - thanks to A. Sapkowski for his Hussite Trilogy ("Narrenturm", "Boži bojovnícy" and "Lux perpetua").
Hungarian kings were quick to employ these hussite tactics, and even hiring fugitive hussites, like John Jiskra, who became a famous captain of the Black Army under King Matthias.
The mobile, wagon riding, gun/crossbow wielding infantry was an excellent addition to the cavalry-heavy hungarian army. Kinda like mechanised infantry to modern tanks.
In several documentaries I've watched they make note of the reputation of thec heavy Hungarian Calvary. Apparently they were feared for their skills, quality training and equipment. I haven't found many books about them and would like to know more.
@@olliefoxx7165 That's interesting. I always had the impression, that the hungarian light cavalry was the famous one. (horse archers, light hungarian hussars, and serbian style armoured hussars during the turkish wars)
@@benedeknagy8497 I would imagine since the Hungarians were (are) culturally excellent horsemen, they would make excellent knights as well. It is true that during the Dark Ages their horse archers were famous and during the Epi-Middle Ages and Early Modern Era it was their light cavalry, but it sort of makes sense that during this time they would be excellent knights.
@@benedeknagy8497 As I mentioned I had heard of them from a few documentaries. Obviously there's a lot I dont know and need to learn. Apparently the Hungarian were renowned horsemen.
@@olliefoxx7165 when it comes to modern western popculture the Polish Hussaria of the 16th and 17th century is outshining the Hungarian Hussaria.
Thinking about a series on the Hussite Wars, but I'd also like to do more on Gustavus Adolphus. Any thoughts? (Would be a few months off though).
Why not both??
more on rome? or ancient greece?
Gustavus
No problem learning about the Hussite Wars first but I'm just gonna be blasting Sabaton until you come around to our favorite Almost-the-Great Gustavus Adolphus.
:D
The "peasant levies" response to "chivalry" once they figured out that chivalry intended for them to be fodder.
"Cowards hiding behind wagons! Come out!"
"Okay. You take off all that armor and we'll come out of our wagons"
@Rob M wtf are you talking about? There's nothing wrong with his post.
@Rob M
I'm all against disgusting Marxists but there's little to no indication I see in his comment heh
Kinda reminds me of well-armed and provisioned British armies vs the almost rag-tag nature of American Rebels
@Rob M
weren't peasants tied to the Land their Lord owns, effectively also being owned.
Taxpayers are supposed to be able to move around..
..I guess we're "Free Range" :x
@ says Bernie voter? What a credibility you have, lol
@@manfredschultz9619 Peasants could move but Serfs had to stay.
BTW, Andrzej Sapkowski (Witcher's author) wrote trilogy about Hussite Wars, including some epic battles and skirmishes. Genre is low fantasy, but supernatural stuff doesn't affect historical events that much. Great read overall, should be translated soon
I still cannot understand how that old polish drunkard knows so much details from bohemian history :) His hussite trilogy is brilliant. Fantasy based on perfect knowledge of historical background...with so much regional details rooted in Czech/Polish/German reality of 15th century...simply amazing.
@@tomaskoptik2021 Being an asshole doesn't mean he can't be a brilliant writer :P
@@Artuditu123 Well, I don´t judge his personality, I am just mentioning his love for ale :) I remember when I was reading 3rd part of the Witcher pentalogy (freshly published at that time) and we were praying that Sapkowski will not die from drinking so he can finish the remaining 2 books :).
@@tomaskoptik2021 There is an interview with Sapkowski (published as a book, it's quite long), by Polish historian Stanisław Bereś. It's called 'History and Fantasy'. They discuss a lot of different topics including his books. He also talks a bit about his sources for writting the trilogy. However, as far as I know it's never been translated.
@@Szrama1123 Pitty, I will have to look for it, thank you. Basically what Sapkowski did is that he took the history and legends and made it work as if the legends were real...The only fantasy element in these books are actual legends and they work in this book as a reality....brilliant.
Every Mount&Blade wfas player : hey, i've seen this one
Lol i remember if you make your horse run fast enough it would jump off the fort lol. Still remember heatshooting cav using wheellock carbine inside the fort lol
and cursed them to the ends of the earth
I actually like wfas
There is a Warband multiplayer mod known as The Deluge
It's very interesting and awesome mod
Even if it's multiplayer only
However in Bannerlord
There is mod in the works
Known as The Deluge: With Fire and Sword
It expands the map and it's not only just multiplayer or just singleplayer, it's both! :D
"The best offence is a good defence."
- Rogal Dorn
I am going to fortify this position.
"Aw, for Terra's sake....That's not even how it goes."
- Little Kitten
A fellow man of culture.
Damn, you're right! They should have made him with a Czech accent! :D Although I still absolutely love the voice actor.
@@Epifairos Best voice actor. Followed by star child and Vect.
when you are talking about defensive warfare being better than offensive and tactics to bring down knights...i am all in :P [winks]
Yeah F nights
i am the offensive type and I like to penetrate usually at night
@@ConstantineJoseph that's a different penetration, that one pops cherries
Deepsilver needs to make a sequel to Kingdom Come Deliverance that takes place during the Hussite war. They touched on it a bit by capturing the general displeasure and unrest that preceded the conflict and in my opinion they did a great job at it.
And I would like Father Goodwyn to actually take part in the conflict, and you get to fight alongside (or against) him.
@@ILPYou Thanks I knew that didn't sound right when I typed it.
Didn't they say they're developing a sequel?
@@LordVader1094 When it was in kickstarter they said it will be a trilogy. Dont know though when the second and third part will be released.
@Chris Oly There were some bugs on release but it was still less buggy than Skyrim. And pretty much all significant bugs were fixed in later patches.
I love the fact that these wagons were basically like medieval tanks, with vehicle commanders, infantry dismounts, and firearms/cannons. It really goes to show how modern warfare can trace its roots back to old days.
More like APCs to me. Like Pandur II, for example.
Eh not really. Modern tanks were developed for a different purpose and evolved pretty quickly into something not properly comparable to these wagons. Tanks were developed to act as armoured cavalry, a role in which they specialise in modern warfare. High mobility & high firepower, vulnerable to dug in enemies with specialist counter-equipment. The modern comparison to the war wagon would be an ATGM, not a tank.
Great video, the Hussite Wars have interested me all my life. At medieval markets and in the theater I portray a Hussite fighter and therefore deal a lot with the topic, although it is largely unknown. Here in the border region between Bavaria and the Czech Republic, the Hussites are still well known today, which can be traced back to numerous battles in this area. The best-known in my region is the battle of Hiltersried (21.09.1433) in which "Pfalzgraf Johann zu Neunburg" defeated a Hussite army of 2,000 men. The aftermath of that battle partly contributed to the Hussite movement falling apart. Through the battle he received the nickname "Hussitengeißel".
I've watched quite a few videos about how peasant armies fought, and while they usually mentioned the tools that got adjusted to serve as weapons, this is the first time I hear about the wagon fort. Up to this point I only knew these from old western movies.
yeah, i think it's not a well know thing. that's why i wanted to do the video actually.
the hussite wars, in nutshell, is basically the reformation and guns before it was cool.
The South African boer farmers also successfully utilised ox wagons as a way of setting up a defensive position against the Zulu and Xhosa tribes : en.m.wiktionary.org/wiki/laager
@@HendrikBence Yep. "Die Slag van Bloedrivier" (The Battle of Blood River) is probably the most famous example in Boere-Afrikaner culture, where they defended against massed Zulu infantry (impis). A common theme in our folk history about the event is how the Boere men defended the edges of the laer, while the women and kids stayed in the centre and reloaded muskets for them.
Jan Zizka is a legend. Can you imagine killing 12000 enemy soldiers in one day battle? He was like Smaug beating down everything that opposed him. It was correctly said in this video that the faith was a HUGE factor in these battles. We were taught a song in elementary school that Hussites supposedly sang while marching to battle. It's all about god and fighting for truth, the same we see these days with Ukraine soldiers.
"... Žižka broke through the enemy lines and retreated to Kolín, but having received reinforcements he attacked and defeated Sigismund's unsuspecting army at the village of Nebovidy between Kolín and Kutná Hora on January 6, 1422. Sigismund lost 12,000 men and only escaped himself by rapid flight. ..." Source: Wiki
That was really interesting. I had never heard of such a tactician... brillant tactics for the age.
Zizka was never defeated in the battle and even west point teaching his tactics till now
There were 5 crusades against Hussites total, all defeated. In the last one the battle almost didnt happen as the invaders ran away even before seeing the Hussites. They only heard them singing while approaching the battle - it is a myth though, the most probable explanation is the Hussites arrived really quickly to the battlefield so the crusaders were not yet ready for the battle - they didn't even have their camp set properly. So they wanted to move it back which resulted in general retreat. In any case the will to fight was not really high after 4 previous defeats. Another thing was the Hussites were not only, but quite often lowborn and didn't respect the medieval code of honour on the battlefield - lets say if you were a knight, nobleman (anybody rich) you could expect being taken prisoner after the lost battle and sold for ransom. Well... not with the Hussites - they rather smashed your skull (if you were lucky) and didn't really care if you are a duke or a peasant - they treated everybody equally :) After the 5th crusade it was obvious that the military victory against the "heretic Hussites" is impossible. What followed were the peace talks that eventually did lead to an agreement, though only 1 out of 4 Hussite demands was met. The thing was Bohemia was rip apart during this time after decades of civil war so many - especialy those that were able to get some possessions or titles etc. accepted this way out. But another half - especially those more religious wanted to keep fighting. It eventually did lead to a big battle (1434 Lipany) where moderate Hussites and Catholics (former enemies) defeated the other radical Hussite wing. It was a battle where 2 formations with war wagons met - the moderate Hussites won due to a trap (feignted retreat) after a long standoff (no side dared to attack). Following their "good" traditon they mercilessly slaughtered almost all the radicals and all those who gave up were burned. Those that escaped (often used to be farmers / peasants but also craftsmen etc.) were fighting for such a long time in their life that they couldn't really return to original occupations - they often kept pursuing their new careers as really appreciated mercenaries abroad.
Hussites sort of invented the mobile fortress 👍
Kudos to Jan Ziska for creative improvisation and using his resources effectively.
The concept came to a "temporary" end with the development of powerful artillery, but came back in the 20th century in the form of tanks/armored vehicles.
I really like how you have managed to develop a style throughout your animations that makes this video for example really enjoyable to watch! Its also amazing how you integrate the animated elements into beautiful backgrounds!
*Hussite Wagons*
Time to play Age of Empires II & III again.
hey brother, well done. like... really well done. i think you'll definitely make it on youtube.
I really enjoyed the visuals and animations. This is something I haven't seen combined like that ( in one video). Normally somebody either has very nice maps and animations or beautiful pictures and characters.. you manage to combine both in such a cool way. It's even cooler to see that you still manage to have proper references so I could actually go look up the stuff!
This was a completely unknown tactic to me of medieval warfare. Great job and really informative with details!
Its impresive feat to defeat five crusade invasion with agriculture tools.
As a side note If I am not mistaket under Žižkas command Hussite never lose a single battle.
@@frozenjohny6001 Yeah, Žižka is one of seven never defeated in battle generals in history. Its only sad, that military schools don´t teach about him more, because he also made one of the first field books in the world and first organized tactical use of firearms.
"Circle the wagons" is heard even today in American business jargon, referring back to an Old West defence against the Indians during the last half of the 19th century. Very good presentation!
Hussite wagons are often compared to tanks, and its interesting how many parallels there are to modern warfare and yet how completely different the concept was.
Modern tanks were developed with an entirely offensive mindset. Their sole goal was to accomplish a breakthrough when machine guns and entrechments had made offensive operations at established frontlines extremely costly and difficult. In that sense war wagons are almost the complete opposite, designed to turn field battles into defensive ones.
And yet the way war wagons were deployed straight from the march bears a striking resemblance to the modern combined arms approch of mechanised divisions. In the end tanks also become an important defensive tool while war wagons became increasingly offensive (even if the accounts of using them to surround enemies may be imaginations, as you mention). So they did approach each other in their practical handling.
The 1970s to 80s present another moment where the fate of the two seperated. Just like war wagons, tanks were also believed to become increasingly obsolete in the face of ever-increasing firepower. But with composite armour and now increasingly sophisticated active protection systems, modern technology provided solutions that will keep tanks around for a good while longer.
Another frequently suggested historical lineage for the tank Da Vinci's proposal of a wooden tank with cannons. It is a much closer match for the original idea, as it was also designed to break the enemy front line to be closely followed by infantry. However the concept was an engineering nightmare that had no chance of realisation. It demanded a ludicrous number of cannons and would have been far too heavy to be moved from the protected inside. It also would have had an insane ground pressure and would have gotten stuck practically everywhere until the development of tracked propulsion.
Such a simple, yet brilliant design! I had never heard of these, nor did the idea ever cross my mind, but it makes so much sense! This is a fantastic mobile defense for the pre-gunpowder age. Cavalry can't very well charge a cart, and infantry couldn't effectively climb or move the carts without first overwhelming the entrenched resistance. You get all the advantages of a fortified position, with a mere fraction of the time and effort to erect, AND the ability to actually be mobile. I'm surprised these aren't talked about more.
Good video, but one slight note about the wagonburg setup is that the videos show wagons end to end but they were actually staggered on angles (you have one picture that shows that). Other things to note is that the Hussites were essentially pre-Protestant rebels, they shared the same arguments against the corruption of the Church as did Martin Luther but pre-dated Luther by 100 years (Had the printing press been around during their time things might have been different).
Jan Zizka was quite an exceptional general - he was a noble but also a bandit in his early years and learned a lot from those early days - such as his realization at Tannenberg/Grunnwald in 1410 that the only real defense against mounted knights are fortifications. He probably realized this at the first Hussite battle in Nekmer as he was leaving the town of Pilsen and he ended up setting the Wagons defensively. But Nekmer was actually more of a skirmish. Only a few months later after leaving Prague with his followers (approximately 400 peasants and farmers a handful of soldiers, 13 wagons and only a couple of mounted men) on his way to the town of Tabor which was an abandoned fortified town in a very strong defensive location and recently taken over by Hussite followers from Sezimovo Usti, Zizka fought the first major battle at Sudomer. His scouts had noticed that there were at least 2000 mounted men from Strakonice and the Pilsen landfrieden. Zizka realized that there was no way to make it to Tabor in time, so ordered the wagons be setup in a semicircle with a lake on one side, the other side was not actually a swamp but a carp pond that had been drained (which is how the carp are harvested in the area) so it actually looked more like a muddy field. It was a slog and they were heavily outnumbered (5-1) but they the won and were able to go to Tabor which became his main base for a few years. Only a few months later Zizka went to the defense of Prague and beat King Sigismund and his army which outnumbered the Hussites 10 to 1. Sigismund was the Hungarian King and brother of the Czech King Vaclav who had recently died and Sigismund claimed the throne. Sigismund was hated by the Czechs because he had promised Jan Hus safe conduct after he was summoned to the Council of Constance by the Church in Rome to answer for his supposed heresy. The Council of Constance also had to deal with the 3 popes problem. Hus was then arrested and burned at the stake (which is where you get the saying "your goose is cooked" Hus=Goose in Czech) and he became a martyr. Bohemia was put on a papal interdict - no marriages, christenings or burials were done by the church.
In any case Zizka was a founder of the modern army - he brought back the top down command system and organized the army in units of 10s and 100s (hence Hauptman or Captain) and never lost a battle. He also founded strict authority and rules of engagement which all modern armies have. He was a master of using the terrain - and while he was blind in one eye most of his life, he lost his other eye in a battle and was completely blind the last few years of his life where he won his biggest victories. There were 5 crusades organized against the Hussites in Bohemia and were all beaten back. Zizka died of the plague in 1424 and the Hussites split into two factions that eventually ended up fighting each other and finally the moderates allied with the royalists defeated the radicals in 1434 in Lipno. While Sigismund did return to claim the Czech crown he died shortly after and in 1450s the Czech chose a Hussite King George of Podebrady.
We get the term Pistol from the Czech word Pistala (which meant whistle and what the Hussites called the early handguns) and Howitzer from the Czech Houfnice cannon. Zizka collected as many handguns as he could. Zizka is considered by many military historians to be the first to use field artillery and one of a handful of the greatest generals. Good sources for Zizka and the Hussite revolution would be Frederick Heymann and recently another book came out Warrior of God (by Victor Verney). In Husitske Valecnictvi 1898 by Hugo Toman - the author believes that Zizka was influenced by the Roman Vegetius book De Re Militari.
Source: I'm originally from Tabor - Zizka's home base for the early years.
Another point about the wagonburg system - people mention below that it is only good until the enemy acquires bigger cannon. The fact is that at the time Zizka was using guns and cannons against mounted knights, and his enemies tried to organize the same way but essentially could not make it work. On the one hand he had highly motivated soldiers and his enemy was mounted nobility which tended to be highly individualistic and less organized than the Hussites. The Hussite revolution is not that well known in the west primarily because Bohemia was later taken over by the Catholic Hapsburgs of Austria and German historians tended to look down on that time. But Frederick Heymann Zizka's historian likens the Hussite revolution as one of the earliest in the wave of the revolutions the people, such as the American and the French revolutions.
Here is the 1950s Otakar Vavra's take on Sudomer. Interestingly the filmmaker scoured the country for horses and was able to get 500 in a battle that had up to 2000 at the time. czcams.com/video/WGfBUG44w8g/video.html
The unit is now available in the last expansion of Age of Empires 2: Definitive Edition!
@Facepalm Full O' Napalm but the DE hussite wagons can stop half damage of piercing objects, protecting units behind them, making wagons a lot more useful than korean war wagons
Man I freaking love your videos, the animated illustrations, interesting commentary, and accurate history
what a guy Jan zizka was. totally blind.
Blind warriors seems to be a thing for the bohemians...
@@AGS363 yeah? there's another one? who?
@@davidjijo6657 John of Bohemia, a count of Luxembourg and a king of Bohemia, father of Charles IV, the HRE Emperor. Died at Crécy against English, a blind warrior king leading a charge after the battle was already lost. His honor didn't allow him to leave.
@@davidjijo6657 when john the blind was told the battle was lost... he said to his knights..."Far be it that the King of Bohemia should run away. Instead, take me to the place where the noise of the battle is the loudest. The Lord will be with us. Nothing to fear. Just take good care of my son."..... so the chained his horse btween two nights and charged... this last attcak suprised the english as they had already thought the battle was over and started to leave the formation to loot the dead... he almost broke the english line.... most of the czechs died in the suicidal charge
For the majority of his battles he had one eye. He even had a nickname one eye zizka.
Everyone gangsta, until you hear wagon singing kdož sú boží bojovníci
I've read other sources which claim that a great deal of the Hussite wagon forts' effectiveness had to do with the deeply ingrained stupidity of many of their opponents. Since their mobility was limited, the wagon forts themselves could not be used to launch rapid attacks on the enemy so Hussite leaders relied on goading enemy knights and men at arms into attacking them. The hot blooded, well armed and well armored, and arrogant "professionals" couldn't resist taking the fight to the peasants whom they considered to be their inferiors so they could be counted on to make headlong charges into the killing range of the hand guns and artillery and thus leaving themselves vulnerable to counterattacks by Hussite infantry and calvary.
There is no resource so reliable in combat as ordinary human stupidity, the oldest weapon.
Well, you've got to fight sometime. Anyone using the wagon tactic just has to attack something that the defender cannot afford to lose, in order to force them to battle. And then the wagon users can attack from a defensive position.
@@shorewall True. But my assumption is that the professional soldiers whom the Hussites routinely defeated should have had considerable experience in dealing with all kinds of defensive infantry formations as well as a wide variety of rudimentary and advanced field fortifications. Maybe I'm wrong and the Hussites' enemies were used to fighting opponents who used the same set piece tactics (mass shock action) as themselves instead of the flexible combined arms methods of the Hussites.
Ironically the end of Hussite wars was the battle of Lipany, where two Hussite armies faced each other (Radicals vs Moderates) with the same wagenburg strategy. The winning army applied the classical tactic of faked retreat - a bait which was swallowed. The Radicals opened their wagenburg in a pursuit of seemingly defeated foe and were destroyed as a result.
It's not stupid to force to attack on fort wagon when they are sitting on your vital supply route. You will be at a hard rock and a hard place. If you don't deal with it soon, you will definitely lose.
It was a bad idea throughout the middle ages to mess with Bohemians...
Heh, thank you from Czech Republic. I am proud on my ancestors for how stubborn they were. Sadly without good strong leader and clear goal we have national wide tendencies to constantly bark one on another and to keep arguing endlessly. I would love to see us to be united for common cause once again.
The defensive works of Czechoslowakia in the 1930s were so formidable that Hitler had to devise a trick to nullify them.
Cue the Munich Betrayal (agreement) of 1938, where both Britain and France refused to stand by their Czech ally and forced the latter to give up the Sudetenland, where incidentally most of the Czech defensive works were built.
And of course anyone knows the Czech Hedgehog.
At first a seemingly cute, completely stationary hedgehog that will rip open your landing craft or your tank when you try to move around one.
@@MrMajsterixx no doubt
Austria and Brandeburg; well that would be a suggestion.
Thank you for the time and effort put into these videos. Great warfare content is always needed
thanks!
Thanks for more content about the early modern period. I really like the era and not a lot of videos cover it. Please make more.
i love it that you produce more videos lately, and that you keep posting your sources unlike other channels. and the quality is always very good. could you perhaps make a video about the good parts of heavy cavalry in the period? it feels like we see only what was effective in countering them, im starting to feel bad for those guys
These videos are always so cool and well made, well done my man
Age of Empires 2 DE fans will like it :)
My ancestors, the Voortrekkers, fended off hundreds of attacks by various Bantu tribes with the "wagon-lager" strategy. Of course - the wagons were also their home on the Great Trek. They later forged special "fighting grates" to place between the openings between the wagon wheels so enemies couldn't enter. It has been recorded in diaries of the time that when an attack came, nearly every cast-iron pot was beaten into pieces and used as the shot for the old muskets to turn into very effective large-bore shotguns.
Wow, an amazing video. As a czech citizen I would only add that in the first battle Zizka used a trap. He seemingly left one of his flanks vulnerable to lure knights into the swamps. Or I was taught it that way in school.
thats what happened in AOE 2 in the Jan Ziska campaign, so i would guess so
On a less memetical note, this video is super cool! I've actually been working on a novel set in this time period for some time - it's such a fascinating time period, and not just in all the military revolutions brewing on the battlefield. There was so much change occurring in this twilight century of the Middle Ages - and better still, documentation is improving dramatically from just under a hundred years prior - there's so much more historical material to study. And the Hussite Wars in particular are a fascinating study into a different era of Christian thought - the Hussites took their faith so seriously (basic summary of Hus' views: communion requires both bread and wine; standard Catholic practice was to give the laity *only* bread) that they were willing to defend their convictions with their lives - because the alternative was eternal damnation.
Another random interesting note - the Hussite Wars are one of the few contemporaneously documented instances in the Middle Ages (from Early to Late) of women taking part in military operations on a significant level as combatants and not merely commanders (e.g. Joan of Arc, Matilda of Tuscany) or camp followers who did the cooking and tending and cleaning. Francis Lutzow wrote a quality book on the Hussite Wars that tackles it from a more general historical / political perspective, in the context of the fierce religious spirit of the time.
For those in this comment section that feel like reading that is. :P
One of Prague districts is named Žižkov after this brave man :) We also have a beautiful statue of him on his warhorse. Proud times in our history !
That was really entertaining as well as educating, thanks for another great vid!
Your work is Incredible! Thank you for the Great Videos!
Jan Zika is one of the people that I researched highly. He is right up there IMHO to many of the Genuses through out history. He took unskilled soldiers and turned them into a effective fighting force.
Hussite characteristics in warfare - flexible, adaptable, sufficiently skilled in quality but also practical and affordable - just like CZs today.
Love the fact you have source to every single quote, really good job on this video.
Wow! This channel is fantastic! I salute you for your work. Also, subscribed. I look forward to seeing more of your work.
I'm loving the animation! Especially the horse trot!
Makes you feel kinda sad that they in the end lost despite being so much more motivated.
Did they lose though? I don't think so. After all hussites struct peace deal with pope which allowed them to teach their 'heretic' religion. That has never happened before.
@Fureori They lost their heresy doesn't exist anymore thankfully Holy mother church has outlived them . soon all that remains will be gone
"The 1991 census found 178,036 members of this church(modern hussite church) in the Czech Republic, which fell to 99,103 in 2001[7] and 39,276 in 2011.[8]"
"Overview. According to the 2011 census, there were 1.08 million Catholics in the country(Czech republic) representing about 1/10 of the total population"
Relations between the church and other members of the ecumenical movement are cordial, but remained strained with the country's Roman Catholic leadership. The first woman to become a bishop of the Czechoslovak Hussite church, Jana Šilerová, was elected to a seven-year term of office in April 1999. In January 1999, Catholic Archbishop Miloslav Vlk made a public statement of disapproval, warning against election of a woman to this position and saying that it would cause deterioration of ecumenical relations.[9] Following criticism by the Czechoslovak Hussite Church for interfering in its affairs, the Roman Catholic Church distanced itself from the archbishop's remarks and stated that it would exert no pressure against her election.[10] In 2000, Catholic representatives attended the consecration of Jana Šilerová as the Hussite Church’s first woman to become a bishop
Jan Hus is turning over in his grave
Their rebellion was a waste .
Actually Hussites won. In peace treaty, they got what they wanted. Religious freedom. In the future there was even a Hussite king George of Podebrady. Basically until 1620 Hussite faith was defacto main faith of Bohemian crown lands.
@@A.v.o.i.d "The 1991 census found 178,036 members of this church(modern hussite church) in the Czech Republic, which fell to 99,103 in 2001[7] and 39,276 in 2011.[8]"
"Overview. According to the 2011 census, there were 1.08 million Catholics in the country(Czech republic) representing about 1/10 of the total population"
Relations between the church and other members of the ecumenical movement are cordial, but remained strained with the country's Roman Catholic leadership. The first woman to become a bishop of the Czechoslovak Hussite church, Jana Šilerová, was elected to a seven-year term of office in April 1999. In January 1999, Catholic Archbishop Miloslav Vlk made a public statement of disapproval, warning against election of a woman to this position and saying that it would cause deterioration of ecumenical relations.[9] Following criticism by the Czechoslovak Hussite Church for interfering in its affairs, the Roman Catholic Church distanced itself from the archbishop's remarks and stated that it would exert no pressure against her election.[10] In 2000, Catholic representatives attended the consecration of Jana Šilerová as the Hussite Church’s first woman to become a bishop
Jan Hus is turning over in his grave
Their rebellion was a waste .
@@YusefYandron Personally, for me and people around me, Hussites are more national figure than religious one. We like Hussites because they fought against the tyranny of the church/foreign kings/emperors and not for their religion. Czech Republic is most atheistic country in the world anyway. Hussites are one of the reasons why Czech culture was able to survive 300 years of Hapsburg Germanization. I think that point of the Hussites for today Czechs is freedom and not adherence to some religious dogma.
Btw those 1M Czech Christians from my own experience often don’t even know difference between protestant, roman catholic and orthodox :-D They will just tell you that they are catholic but when you ask them about faith you realize that they are often more protestant than roman catholic.
I must say how much I enjoyed and learned from this video. It made me think about modern tank tactics and strategy. THANKS 😊
Very interesting; I certainly learned something there! Thanks for taking the time to produce such a well made and informative video! Liked and subbed! :)
The animation in your Video is just awesome!!
This feels like a bug exploit that broke the game meta and eventually got patched so it couldn't be done again.
I woudln't say bug exploit but a counter meta since after hussites these strats became new meta.
Cannons and probably torches might work but a heavy horse charge generally works only against lighter units.
coming soon from spiffing brit;
Late medieval warfare is EXTREMELY BALANCED, BREAKING THE GAME WITH WAGONS
@@Amadeus8484 ramming speed only works when you're heavier
@@Sapoman2211 Or much harder/stronger and hitting you in the softer/weaker part, you ever have a Dog run into your leg? It hurts even if they aren't heavier than you :)
Even better than usual! And on a fascinating subject, ideal for a figurinist like me, I do like painting this kind of unit...Great video, once again!👍👍
hey thank you! cool to see you stick around 👍
Learnt two new things today.Hussites and war wagons.Thank you.
Still in use today in cimbined arms warfare. The old west wagon trains did the same when they pioneered the western part of America.
Did not know this. Thank you for that.
you channel is exactly what I feel it missing with all this great history and military channels. Can you do a nice video on the balkanic mercenaries or stradiots in European warfare !
Best history of that era, most uderrated and deserves many movies and tv shows possible. Hussite wars and even Jan Žižkas history needs to be seen more !
Great as always, commenting for the algorithm. 👍
*hEyY hEnRy cOmE to sEe us!!!*
Amazing research and video! Additional compliments for always using the appropriate military vocabulary!
Well done, congrats to another great vid!
Russians used to use similar constructions against Tatars due to their advantage in artillery and the lack of good horses.
Same Polish¬Lithuanian comonwelth were do against tatars. But more in hammer and anvil tactic
I wonder: What was the limiting factor to beefing up the wagons' defenses up once artillery got more powerful? Reinforcing the wood planks with metal or eventually going for full steel plate. I'd imagine the horses couldn't cope with a bigger and more heavy wagon and possibly the wheel/suspension technology didn't allow for more tank-like wagons. But I'd really like to hear a more thought through and educated take on this.
Man, just imagine an alternative history when the required advances were made fast enough to give us renaissance tanks able to take a hit from a contemporary cannon.
In this case, it's easy to think of all kinds of reasons why it would be too difficult. The hard part is sorting through and trying to see what is most decisive.
Mostly, I think it comes down to cost and opportunity. The wagons and horses are what they already had and adding a little bit of wooden framework to modify them was cheap and easy. Basically adding anything on top of that wasn't going to be practical if it also introduced new problems that needed to be solved. More horses or oxen could be used to pull heavier loads but adding more weight to the wagons requires a beefed up axle and thicker wheels to keep them from cutting into the terrain. None of those problems are insurmountable in theory but they would add problems and costs that the Hussites couldn't deal with. Obviously siege towers were a thing that existed at the time so it was possible to make massive, protected structures.
Another thing to think about is that tanks were originally built with a somewhat narrow scope in mind: breaking through the trenches. Engines, tracks, and mass produced steel plate already existed and was available. In the middle ages there was nothing like a vast front of stalemate that would inspire the idea for tanks.
Just to be sure, WW1 tank most deadliest enemy was the enemy artillery. In WW2 the tank killers were infantry and artillery. With today's technology, a direct hit from artillery still wipes a tank out existence.
@@blaisevillaume2225 An alternative defensive step up would be entrenchment. Would this have worked with wagon forts or would the wagons be redundant?
In naval combat casualties from cannon fire were mostly caused by wood splinters. It might be that wagons were a liability against larger guns.
@@thumper8684 Yeah, as far as I understood the video the wagons got shredded by more powerful artillery in the later years. So I was wondering, what would it take for the wagons's armor to keep pace with the power of guns and to keep the wagon tactics relevant for longer. The word "tank" is of course a bad fit for this machine as it would still operate as a mobile bunker of sorts. Just with longer shelf life than the actual historical Hussite wagons.
I randomly got suggested your content, I have no idea who you are...but as a french, I'm damn impressed by your french when you talk about french battles.
I've heard about the term "hussite war wagon" before, but hadn't known much about such a thing... now, after watching this, I want them to be featured in the next medieval strategy game for they are absolutely awesome!
(And going in a rather similar direction - although with different circumstances - as the awesome Roman army construction skills where they just set up forts, bridges and circum-/contravallations wherever they went.)
As far as I know, they will be part of an upcoming dlc for aoe2
@@exabyte9162 interesting... thx
Imagine a thrashing flail be a effective weapon, long reach and leverage, deal heavy blows, around shields and swords
Impossible to wield efficiently
@@skarsnikwarlordofeightpeak6883 What? They were peasants, they spent their whole lives wielding it efficiently.
@@ondras5241 Yes When Grinding Corn not When They were Cavin in Skulls
@@ondras5241 Have you ever Tried to wield one
Totally unpredictable and top heavy
@@skarsnikwarlordofeightpeak6883 Yeah, like every other polearm. And it's pretty predictable if you get used to how chain moves. It will be unwieldy for today's average person, but for someone who worked with it since they were 9
I'm gonna try this at home.
Amazing effort. Bravo 👏👏👏👏👏
bro this channel got my heart throbbing
They're making a movie about Jan Zizka.
its looks awful not gonna lie
@@blackwatchgrunt2702 I can't seem to find a trailer for it. I really like Ben Foster and he usually chooses interesting scripts. I'm hoping it is at least half decent.
@@olorin4317 I saw some photos and their armor is completly unhistorical. Sadly... again some fantasy shiet.
Interesting
Never heard of this
Tnx
These are beautiful visually as far as these short doc go
Thank you for this video. I never heard from the Hussites so it was quite interesting to know they even existed. Also their tactics were cool. When little I have watched many cowboy and indian movies where the cowboys made a wagon fort and always thought it was something invented around the time of the cowboys. But now I see it was much earlier invented.
cowboys were losers without pavises ;-)
So war wagons from Age of Empires 3 took inspiration from this
"defensive warfare was superior to offensive warfare"
*Rogal Dorn approves*
I love that your animation of 'fortifying' includes hitting a screw with a hammer
I've actually seen people try that, works about as well as you'd expect
0:42 I love how surreal some of these animations are. Just look at that horse go. I feel like I'm in another world.
Žižka was keading his army while completely blind!
Getting ambushed by a blind man.
That's soldering....
@@captainpinky8307 There are rumours till this day that when he was in death bed, his last order was to skin his corpse and make a war drum from his skin so that he could continue terrify enemies even after death
"The enemy is hiding ... in wooden bowxes!"
Must've been a spectacle... watching a fortress form right infront of your eyes. The kind of tales i would sing of in taverns, if i was a medieval bard.
Very interesting! Awesome pictures and especially animations!
Fitting that this gets released now, right after I buy a DLC for War Wagons in Total War: Warhammer 2. Lol
I like how Icelandic troops reached the Pannonian and Bohemian Plains
I appreciate the effort you put into pronouncing the names right
Outstanding information still applicable with modifications today in certain circumstances. We as a people fail to learn from history but such tactics would've potentially saved many lives in urban warfare like Fallujah or Ramadi. I possibly would still have brothers breathing that are gone had methods of combat been modified and applied to those theaters. Good stuff guys, keep up the research and posting, you have my like and subscription.
oh so that's why there are war wagons in Age of Empires III very cool
Ready for AOE2 Dawn if the dukes expansion
11:12 Until 15 September 1916 when the British deployed a modernized version at the Battle of the Somme. The British Mark 1. BTW great video. Very interesting especially the part about the use of screening cavalry being used to distract the enemy while the wagons made a circle
LOL the horse running animations is the most hilarious thing I love it. These animations are actually a really nice touch 👌 👍