page_title: Polish hussars
section_title: History
hierarchical_section_title: Polish hussars / History
caption_attribution_description: English: Winged hussar, historical reconstructionБеларуская (тарашкевіца)‎: Крылаты гусар, гістарычная рэканструкцыя,Polski: Husarz, rekonstrukcja historycznaРусский: Крылатый гусар, историческая реконструкцияУкраїнська: Крилатий гусар, історична реконструкція
context_page_description: The Polish hussars, or Winged hussars, were one of the main types of Polish cavalry in Poland and in the Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth between the 16th and 18th centuries.
  Modelled on the Hungarian hussars, the early hussars were light cavalry of exiled Balkan warriors who were sent to Poland as mercenaries. Following the military reforms of king Stephen Báthory in the second half of the 16th century, the hussar unit was adopted by the Polish military and transformed into a heavily armoured shock cavalry. The husaria banners and units participated in the largest cavalry charge in history at the Battle of Vienna in 1683 and were the elite of Polish cavalry until their disbandment in the 1770s.
context_section_description: Hussars originated in mercenary units of exiled Serbian warriors. Serbian lancers, also called Racowie, were used to counter Ottoman sipahi and deli cavalry. The oldest mention of hussars in Polish documents date to 1500, although they were probably in service earlier. In the 15th century, light hussars based on those of Hungarian King Mathias Corvinus were adopted by some European armies to provide light, expendable cavalry units. The Polish Hussars were originally based on the Hungarian Hussars. The development of light cavalry in the Polish army in the 16th century was partly modeled after the Serbian light cavalry that appeared in Corvinus' army.
  Initially the first hussar units in the Kingdom of Poland were formed by the Sejm (Polish parliament) in 1503, which hired three banners of Hungarian mercenaries. Soon, recruitment also began among Polish citizens. Being far more expendable than the heavily armoured lancers of the Renaissance, the Serbian-Hungarian hussars played a fairly minor role in the Polish Crown victories during the early 16th century, exemplified by the victories at Orsza (1514) and Obertyn (1531). During the so-called "transition period" of the mid-16th-century, heavy hussars largely replaced armoured lancers riding armoured horses, in the Polish Obrona Potoczna cavalry forces serving on the southern frontier.
  
   
  The true "winged hussar" arrived with the reforms of the King of Poland and Grand Duke of Lithuania Stephen Bathory in the 1570s and was later led by the King of Poland and Grand Duke of Lithuania John III Sobieski. The hussars were the leading, or even elite, branch of cavalry in the Polish army from the 1570s until 1776, when their duties and traditions were passed on to the Uhlans by a parliamentary decree. Most hussars were recruited from the wealthier Polish nobility (szlachta). Each hussar towarzysz ("comrade") raised his own poczet or lance/retinue. Several retinues were combined to form a hussar banner or company (chorągiew husarska).
  Over the course of the 16th century, hussars in Hungary became heavier in character: they abandoned wooden shields and adopted metal-plated body armour. When Bathory was elected King of Poland and later accepted as a Grand Duke of Lithuania in 1576, he reorganized the hussars of his Royal Guard into a heavy formation equipped with a long lance as their main weapon. By the reign of Bathory (1576–1586), the hussars had replaced medieval-style lancers in the Polish Crown army, and they now formed the bulk of the Polish cavalry. By the 1590s, most Polish hussar units had been reformed along the same "heavy" model. These heavy hussars were known in Poland as Husaria.
  With the Battle of Lubiszew in 1577, the 'Golden Age' of the Husaria began. Between then and the Battle of Vienna in 1683, the Hussars fought many battles against various enemies, most of which they won.  In the battles of Lubiszew in 1577, Byczyna (1588), Kokenhausen (1601), Kircholm (1605), Kłuszyn (1610), Chocim (1621), Martynów (1624), Trzciana (1629), Ochmatów (1644), Beresteczko (1651), Połonka (1660), Cudnów (1660), Chocim (1673), Lwów (1675), Vienna (1683), and Párkány (1683), they proved to be the decisive factor against often overwhelming odds. For instance, in the Battle of Kluszyn during the Polish–Muscovite War, the Russians outnumbered the Commonwealth army 5 to 1, yet were heavily defeated.
  The role of the Hussar evolved into a reconnaissance and advanced scout capacity. Their uniforms became more elaborate as their armour and heavy weapons were abandoned. In the 18th century, as infantry firearms became more effective, heavy cavalry, with its tactics of charging into and breaking infantry units, became increasingly obsolete and hussars transformed from an elite fighting unit to a parade one.
  Instead of ostrich feathers, the husaria men wore wooden arcs attached to their armour at the back and raising over their heads. These arcs, together with bristling feathers sticking out of them, were dyed in various colours in imitation of laurel branches or palm leaves, and were a strangel
caption: A historical reconstruction of a Winged Hussar, 2013
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