Polish Winged Hussars?

Hmm. small horses, spears, no armour, no firearms. They doesnt look like guys who would be able to defeat winged husars, especially because they also fought tartars and knew that kind of enemy. And in close comabt i guess they would be smashed, no matter how good riders they were.

polish had large (really) horses

the armour of the bannermen was lght and effective, and thoroughly, I think they're the best worldwide, though they lacked lance-cavalry.

Circassians were light indeed, but keep in mind Hussars were not the only cavalry of Polish armies.

Originally posted by Mosquito Accidentally i found what was that. It was Dalmatian rider (maybe even Serb Usar) but in the Venetian serivce. They were called "stratori" or somthing like that.

You're thinking of the famous Balkan stradiotti, who were employed by the Venetians as a nice counter to Turkish light cavalry (akincis, etc).  These lightly-armored troopers fought with a light lance, a saber (sciabla), and sometimes a composite bow.  Alternatively, some stradiotti may have used the local form of straight, basket-hilted broadsword (the so-called schiavona).  They were comparable to Hungarian hussars and Spanish jinetes.

And speaking of "hussar", I'm not so sure if we have a definitive answer regarding the origins of either the word itself, of the type of soldier the word described.  AFAIK, the first troops called "hussars" were from Serbia, and they were light cavalry (as opposed to later Polish hussars).  This light type became understandably popular with the Hungarians, Transylvanians, Moldavians, etc.

As for the Polish Winged Hussars, their war record is definitely impressive, but they did indeed suffer defeats--witness the destruction of the Polish "Quarter" Army at Batoh by the Cossacks, in 1652.  It's also interesting to note that German cavalry (ritters or reiters--rajtars to the Poles) were actually paid more money than hussars were, by King John Casimir, after the fiasco at Batoh.

Peace,

David Black Mastro

Edited by Landsknecht_Doppelsoldner

Hello Landsknecht_Doppelsoldner (Cohort).

Here is Raf.S from THC forum.

Im glad that you decided to join this AE forum and hope that you feel well here.

Greeting from Luxor (Aegipt) to all of you and see you after ill come back home.

 

Actually, a great amount of Circassian riedrs were wearing heavy chain armor up until maybe late 18th century, they were noted to be the last heavy cavalry people(s) of Europe.

The helmet in the first picture looks almost Roman. The protruding visor, and the extended backflap resembles a legionary helmet.

Originally posted by Evildoer The helmet in the first picture looks almost Roman. The protruding visor, and the extended backflap resembles a legionary helmet.

 

Yeah, the helmet as well as the armour (anime type) is modelled as roman.

 

I think you've forgotten the Napoleonic Hussar. Under De LaSalle, they were the most feared units in Europe. They were better than the Hussars of all other europeans armies of the time and they have excellent combat record. Which Prince of Prussia did quarter master Guindet killed?

They were excellent soldiers especially 5th and 7th (Lassale's brigade) but they belongst to the another epoch....

BTW Guindey have killed prince Louis Ferdinand of Prussia at Saalfed

 

 

Edited by TJK

Originally posted by Evildoer The helmet in the first picture looks almost Roman. The protruding visor, and the extended backflap resembles a legionary helmet.

Well, Roman neck flaps were positioned in a more vertical manner(at least, from the Coolus onwards).  Not to mention that the 'visor' was positioned higher up in a Coolus or Imperial-Gallic helmet, and generally, didn't jut out near as much.

Not to mention that it lacks the curved ear guards(and I may have glossed it over a bit much, but do the cheek pieces seem to be so large that they don't allow room for an earhole in the Polish helmet?) of the Imperial-Gallic and Itlaic helmet designs.

Edited by Lannes

First appearance of hussars dates to 1514 at the battle of Orsza.

Originally posted by TJK Winged Hussars have became heavy cavalry after reforms of polish king Stephan Batory in the second half of XVI centaury. For about 50 years this formation was a king of battlefield able to crush every other or even combined formation. The best achievements were battle of Kircholm (defeat of 3xbigger Swedish army ) and battle of Klushino (defeat of 5xtimes bigger Russian army). After the reforms of Gustav Adolf western type infantry (especially Swedish) became nearly invincible for the sole cavalry action (including winged hussars). The position of the best cavalry of Europe was held however by winged hussars up to the neraly end of XVII centaury. In XVIII centaury this formation was just obsolete and with poor morale and trainning was only a "shadow" of  XVII centaury predecessors... So my answer is: "yes at all" for the period 1570-1620, "best in Europe" up to the 1683 and definitely "no" for the XVIII centaury... ..and I don't know how to vote