Polish Hussars

[Domen]

Something about the training of Polish hussars and their horses (horse and hussar riding it, was an integral combat "unit" on the battlefield - with the exception of battles in which hussars fought dismounted):

"Candidates" for future hussars started to train very early. We have primary sources which confirm that boys as young as between 9 and 11 years old were already training the art of mounted combat with lance, as well as horsemanship in general. We know that Tomasz Zamoyski in his childhood and early adolescence trained "chasing the ring" and horsemanship at least once a week - every Thursday. "Chasing the ring" was a kind of military exercise the aim of which was to hit a small ring hanging on a string from a wooden pole, while charging at full speed.

Of course individual training did not stop in childhood. Men who were already serving in husaria, continued to train. Military exercises and various kinds of tournaments and competitions were the main way of spending time by hussars - "instead of wasting time for drinking" (as Żurkowski wrote about Tomasz Zamoyski and his soldiers in 1612 - when Zamoyski was already a commanding officer - Rotamaster / Rittmeiser / Captain - of a husaria unit).

During the campaign against Russia in 1612, Tomasz Zamoyski and his soldiers had training excersises every single afternoon (after dinner), unless there was a battle or a march taking place. After they returned back home from the Russian campaign, Zamoyski:

"Lived in his house during Spring and Winter, spending time on reading books, entertainments, riding a horse every day, even when weather was terrible, together with his soldiers - mastering chasing the ring and other wartime excersises during those rides."

When in 1618 Tomasz Zamoyski arrived at the concentration area of the Polish army together with his private units:

"He frequently trained chasing the ring with them."

In 1619 in the city of Kiev, Zamoyski organized large-scale military exercises for all soldiers in the area, which included competitions with prizes for the winners (among the prizes to win were various weapons, horses and other military stuff). Those exercises included both individual and unit (group) training and competitions.

So there were prizes both for individual soldiers, and for entire units to win.

There were also tournaments similar to Medieval jousting. Some primary sources say, that Polish hussars sometimes liked to organize such tournaments with use of sharp weapons (rather than specially blunted).

Antonio Ansalone in 1629 in his work "Il cavaliere descritto in tre libri" admired the great skill of Polish soldiers in mounted exercises with various weapons. He described the technique of using lance in combat by Polish soldiers and he said that for them, tournaments were the substitute of warfare. He mentioned old-style jousting "across the fence" (campo aperto) originating from Poland (?) and resembling a bloody brawl with use of sharp lances. At that time everywhere else in Europe such fights were fought with use of blunted lances. According to Ansalone the Poles considered such horse races and fights not as entertainment but as a pretext for bloodshed and risking their lifes for no reason.

Ansalone apparently did not made this up entirely. For example in 1633 several dozen duads of cavalrymen volunteered to participate in jousting with use of sharp lances in order to honour the coronation of the new king (Władysław IV Vasa). However, the new king forbidded them to organize this risky competition.

However, a similar competition took place during the coronation of Stephen Batory in 1576, in which both Poles and Hungarians participated and fought with use of sharp lances.

In 1592 similar fights with use of sharp lances took place during the wedding of parents of Władysław II (Sigismund III Vasa and Anna of Habsbourg) - there were such competitions as chasing the ring, chasing "the hand" and duels with use of sharp lances. As the result of the latter (duels with sharp lances), 2 of the particpants were severely wounded in their stomachs.

A similar casualty was suffered during a similar jousting with sharp lances druing the coronation of Henry III of France in 1574 - one of participants was hurt in his loins.

Lance was only one of many weapons in using which hussars were trained. Extensive and intensive training of husaria included also fencing with various weapons, using firearms (both pistols and long firearms), often even bows. And apart from horsemanship, training included also exercises aimed at increasing the overall physical function, fitness, athleticism of young candidates for hussars (and later hussars).

Aside from individual training there was of course also - already mentioned - group training (unit training).

High level of quality individual training was required from candidates for hussars already during recruitment to this formation. Group training - however - was something that young hussars learned already after becoming recruits to this elite cavalry force.

Bartosz Paprocki in his work from 1578 describes some of unit exercises practiced by hussars and their horses. Required skills of each hussar and each horse were for example:

- every hussar had to know his specific position in a battle formation of his unit
- they had to learn to quickly follow orders, swiftly move to ordered places and charge
- how to alter formation during charge, how to widen and tighten their ranks during charge
- how to quickly & sharply change directions of the entire unit's movement during charge
- how to ably reform from line formation to wedge formation and inversely while charging
- how to coordinate actions of units according to orders of the supreme commander

Paprocki also recommended to carry out such group exercises with as many units as possible on every single day during Winter camps and during peacetime in general.

Some other authors recommended such exercises to take place twice or once a month (which was probably more realistic than proposition of Paprocki to train this everyday).

Other skills practiced by hussars during the unit exercises were also, for example:

- mounted drill
- faked retreat
- gradual giving ground by reserve (perhaps to cover the withdrawal of main forces)
- changing the direction of attack while charging

=============================================

Regarding the most important question for this thread - the training of horses.

It is obvious that group maneuvers and exercises of Polish cavalry described above, included the training of horses. However, exercises described so far were mostly about various forms of maneuvring while moving at full speed, or rapidly changing directions during movements.

But Stanisław Dunin Karwacki in his "De ordinanda Republica seu de corrigendis defectibus in statu Republicae Polonae" witten between 1704 and 1710 (times when quality of training of Polish-Lithuanian hussars was rapidly declining and already much lower than even in the 1670s - especially when it comes to group training), postulated the following:

"(...) At least cavalry should carry out field exercises, which were practiced by our ancestors, in order to make both their horses and themselves more fit for battle and more accustomed to various weapons. As far as I remember, when late king John III Sobieski was on Winter camps with his army at Bracław in Ukraine, he organized such exercises for his soldiers with lances, sabres and other weapons typical for cavalry. In my opinion this should be introduced again instead of carousals. Thanks to that, both soldiers and their horses were more fit for battle."

This indirectly indicates, that there were also other types of exercises for horses (and men of course, because men controlled their horses) aimed at accustomming them to battle.

There are primary sources which mention that horses had to be accustomed to various things - like noises and effects of gunpowder weapons. There are sources - especially from the 16th century and early 17th century - which mention that horses used by Crimean Tatars were not accustomed to gun fire, and that's why Polish soldiers considered firearms to be so useful while fighting against Tatars. According to sources, Tatar horses repeatedly panicked or at least got nervous (and this was visible in their behaviour) on the noices and effects (such as smoke) produced by gunpowder weapons.

Horses used by Polish soldiers, on the other hand, did not react to gun fire, as they were already accustomed to it. Similar training could make the horses accustomed to other things.

Untrained and unexperience horses react to smell of blood in strange ways. Etc.

If horses can get accustomed to such things, they surely can get accustomed to other risks of battle, including charging into solid objects. Plus of course, horses with proper genetic predispositions are always selected for such training and for becoming battle horses, thus surely they are already since the very birth to some extent adjusted to their future tasks.

=====================================================

"Chasing the ring" attempted by a modern reenactor (historically, much longer lances were used):

[Domen]

Henry Brereton was a British soldier who - with 2,000 other Scottish and English soldiers - volunteered as a mercenary to the Swedish army of King Charles IX and in May 1609 came to Sweden.

Henry Brereton then fought against Poles in Russia, including the battle of Klushino in 1610.

Here is Brereton's description of the battle of Klushino from his "Newes of the present miseries of Rushia" (which can be found in a book from the links below):

http://archive.org/details/cu31924028446072

http://ia700309.us.archive.org/10/items/...446072.pdf



Brereton about Klushino ("Launciers" are Polish hussars):

[Macedon]

a

[Macedon]

Interesting stuff.. I hope you write more.

[Domen]

Ok. Thanks for copying this to a new thread - perhaps there it was indeed a bit Off-Topic.

[Robert Vermaat]

perhaps there it was indeed a bit Off-Topic.

And that's the best category for it.

[Domen]

Considering that this forum is only about Ancient history - perhaps yes.

But we were discussing the details of cavalry tactics - people were providing even comparisons to Napoleonic Era (when cavalry tactics had certainly also not much to do with that in the Antiquity).

[Vindex]

For interest (and not too OT for an OT Thread!!) modern cavalry training can include:

[attachment=6503]553461_339316886153246_1695555995_n.jpg[/attachment]



[attachment=6504]541652_446362945397011_1031061888_n.jpg[/attachment]

[attachment=6505]264748_456411747725464_545510348_n.jpg[/attachment]

[Sean Manning]

There are primary sources which mention that horses had to be accustomed to various things - like noises and effects of gunpowder weapons. There are sources - especially from the 16th century and early 17th century - which mention that horses used by Crimean Tatars were not accustomed to gun fire, and that's why Polish soldiers considered firearms to be so useful while fighting against Tatars. According to sources, Tatar horses repeatedly panicked or at least got nervous (and this was visible in their behaviour) on the noices and effects (such as smoke) produced by gunpowder weapons.

Horses used by Polish soldiers, on the other hand, did not react to gun fire, as they were already accustomed to it. Similar training could make the horses accustomed to other things.

Untrained and unexperience horses react to smell of blood in strange ways. Etc.

If horses can get accustomed to such things, they surely can get accustomed to other risks of battle, including charging into solid objects. Plus of course, horses with proper genetic predispositions are always selected for such training and for becoming battle horses, thus surely they are already since the very birth to some extent adjusted to their future tasks.

Very interesting! My colleague Carolyn Willikes has found the same thing in her experiments: even seeing a horse with fancy decorations on its harness can unsettle another horse and make it flinch (see Herodotus' story about Cyrus spooking horses with camels). But if the horse has the right personality, she can train it to do most things by exposing the horse to the strange thing and showing it that the strange thing is not dangerous. One horse is not good at everything, but the ancients solved that by adapting their cavalry to the available horses.

[Robert Vermaat]

Considering that this forum is only about Ancient history - perhaps yes.

definately yes.

But we were discussing the details of cavalry tactics - people were providing even comparisons to Napoleonic Era (when cavalry tactics had certainly also not much to do with that in the Antiquity).

A chance reference to other periods is allowed, as long as the discussion keep on track. However, that's different from entire (long) posts about Polish cavalry only. Quite different.

[Domen]

A picture showing charging hussars. And from information posted above, as well as in this thread:

Page 7:

http://www.romanarmytalk.com/rat/17-roma...l?start=90

Page 8:

http://www.romanarmytalk.com/rat/17-roma...?start=105

Page 5:

http://www.romanarmytalk.com/rat/17-roma...l?start=60

It appears as an accurate image of a charge of hussars with long lances (many of hussar lances were over 6 m long - in the thread above on page 5 I provided sources), in a "knee to knee" close order:



And one more (by Mariusz Kozik) - hussars clash vs pikemen, broken lances and pikes can be seen:

http://www.mariuszkozik.com/wp-content/u...ia_Hot.jpg



Picture from the 17th century (battle of Klushino 1610 - charging vs enemy lines, part of which can be seen in the upper right corner of this cut fragment of a greater panorama image of the battle):



Another part of this panorama (hussars under Strus charging vs infantry under Taube):



One more part of this panorama - another pike-musket infantry unit defending behind a fence:



Battle of Kircholm 1605 - smashing a pike-musket unit (part of panorama by Pieter Snayers):

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pieter_Snayers



Another one - from the early 17th century (showing hussars during march):



And here while charging in loose order / loose formation (they could, however, alter their formation during the charge from initially loose to close order shortly before the impact / collision):



Charging enemy cavalry (painting by Kaczor-Batowski):

[Domen]

Hi guys,

Regarding those Polish-Lithuanian hussars again. Although they had many great victories against infantry, even pikemen, it is also true that they were often becoming hopeless when facing fortifications, even simple and easy-to-construct ones (but maybe not as simple as fences - this is what they were able to overcome in several battles). I even underlined several times, that various field fortifications and anti-cavalry obstacles, even hastily improvised ones, were historically very useful against heavy cavalry. Primary sources from the Ancient era also mention such fortifications constructed in some battles. And even in battles where they are not explicitly mentioned by sources, it is possible that they were used - especially by Romans, who were very good engineers. Also difficult terrain is something which is very helpful for infantry to survive attacks by enemy heavy cavalry and in case of some types of especially difficult terrain, it is something which can even render enemy cavalry totally useless.

Here is a good example of how a numerically superior infantry-based army could win a war over a large region (Livonia) by taking advantage of terrain, field fortifications, and capturing enemy strongholds (while the enemy had not enough infantry either to defend them or to recapture all them and to hold those which luckily could be recaptured):

Prince Krzysztof Radziwiłł describing his experiences from combats in Livonia against Gustavus Adolphus in period 1621 - 1624 and comparing his style of warfare to that of his father, Charles IX:

"(...) Deceased Carolus [Charles IX], whenever hearing about the presence of our forces, was immediately blindly leaving Riga and other fortresses with his forces, in order to confront us in the open field! But the sonny boy [Gustavus Adolphus] has realized what used to be harmful for his father; he is no longer willing to cast a dice hoping for a fluke, instead he is hanging on to fortifications. We have knocked some sense into him. (...)"

"(...) All he trusts are his Laufgraben, earthworks, bulwarks and cannons. (...) As long as we have shortage of infantry and war supplies, my army is forced to live from hand to mouth. (...) Fighting against his father was different, because his father [Charles IX] was bearding the lion in his den and facing us face-to-face in the open field, while this one is not drifting away from his fortifications farther than a span. (...)"

"(...) The old conceited impetousness of Swedish commanders is over, as well as their frequent defeats caused by that impetousness. That Swedish behaviour was until recently causing us to think that wars against this enemy can be swiftly won just with use of simple drive to confront them in pitched battles. (...) This is why we were not concerned about command skills of Carolus, because as soon as he got himself informed about the presence of our army somewhere, he was immediately abandoning sieges which were already in progress, as well as all other occasions, and blindly advancing with everything towards our forces to confront them in the field. On the other hand, his heir [Gustavus], unless he can be caught and harassed somewhere in an ambush or by sheer speed of unexpected advance, is securely sticking his forces with the sea, with castles, forests, marshes, entrenchments, cum summa rei he cannot be lured out of these places. Just like in the past Carolus was impetuous and seeking for all opportunities to confront us in the open, then now Gustavus is preferring to stay within his entrenchments and industries. (...)"

"(...) Nothing is encouraging Gustavus to wage war against us more than his understanding of the fact that we are relying on pitched battles and that we have problems with improving our old ways. (...)"

"(...) Either through forests or marshes Gustavus is approaching us, floating some of his men and cannons via water, leading the other part through land, so that I'm not able to attack him on his way, nor to interrupt his advance. But he is not even convinced of the natural defensive value provided to his men by these unapproachable places, which is why wherever his men are encamping, he orders them to dig trenches around their camp. (...)"

"(...) Since only he disembarked his forces at the coast, he has never encamped in a place and has never stayed with his army in an area, which would be favourable for us to attack. Now he is standing at the Musza river, surrounded from two sides by lakes and from the remaining two sides by forests and marshes several miles long, which are hard to cross even at Winter. (...) The enemy has with them 16 of large and smaller cannons, which indicates that they trust only in the strength of their entrenchments and their cannons. (...) His father was never waging wars like he does. (...)"

"(...) This enemy is no longer fighting against us like they used to fight before. They are not even thinking about a pitched battle in the open field. Quite the contrary, trying to avoid it, they are deliberately choosing the routes of their advance through dense forests, marshes, nearly impassable rivers and swamps. Gustavus is also sticking to the Dutch way of waging wars, he is reposing all his hope in strong entrenchments and firepower, to confronting which the current army of Your Majesty is not suitable, and this due to shortage of these things, which belong to such type of warfare, that is numerical amount of people, cannons, gunpowder, ammunition, spades, mattocks, etc. So if we need to fight against him for a longer time, then let me ask Your Majesty for reinforcements, especially for sending me more of combat-ready infantry (...)"

"(...) Your Majesty should realize, that Gustavus Adolphus doesn't even want to think about a battle in a flat field. This is why all of our hope is in having a sufficient number of infantrymen and diggers. These two things I need, as well as strong artillery, and with God's help, this enemy will quickly be confounded. With help of infantry and artillery, I can force this enemy to abandon his entrenchments, in which he trusts so much. As long as I can't force them to abandon their entrenchments, they are not only rejecting a pitched battle, but would even like to dig themselves a dozen or so fathoms below the ground level if they only could. And considering that methods of warfare applied by Gustavus in Livonia are so much different than methods of warfare which used to be applied by his father, we must also abandon our methods of the past and stop hoping for the return of old days, but instead we should defeat the enemy with similar methods to ones in which he is now trusting and which seem to be hard for us. Gustavus trusts only in his entrenchments and in his firepower, we can push him back from his trenches just with our own firepower. (...)"

"(...) I have just over 2,000 combat-ready troops, while enemy forces apart from garrison troops of all castles number 15,000 (...)"

"(...) There are only two ways of defeating this enemy. One of them is a battle in an open field, to which it is impossible to lure Gustavus and my scouts aren't indicating that this may soon become possible. The other way is to assault his blokhauzes, to do which we aren't ready. Thus I'd like to ask Your Majesty to reinforce me with more men, including especially strong artillery, wagon-drivers, gunpowder, money and other war materials. Please order to send to me these things, for we are not able to achieve anything, before we manage to push the enemy back from their bulwarks located on this side of the Dvina River and very well fortified. We cannot scare the enemy out of their bulwarks with our flags, we need strength to do this. (...)"

"(...) In order to beat the enemies, who are digging in the ground like a mole, during the next Spring, and to break into their sharp teeth, we need especially a lot of infantry, but also hussars to strengthen the army and cossacks to cut off enemy supply lines. These three types of troops are necessary for us to win. (...)"

"(...) Your Majesty, I just hope that you send me some servants, and especially infantry and artillery, for which I am frequently asking. I hope you will condescend to order to help me with these reinforcements. Because as long as I don't have these things in abundance, I won't be able to fight against him within his fortifications. Even when I have managed to regain castles, I had not enough troops to establish garrisons there and not even diggers to fortify them, so I left them behind empty and they fell into enemy hands again. (...)"

Primary source of these excerpts above:

"Dyskurs księcia Imci Krzysztofa Radziwiłła o podniesieniu wojny inflantskiej z Gustawem księciem sudermańskim, na sejmie warszawskim królowi Imci i wszystkim stanom koronnym do uważenia na piśmie podany w roku 1624"