Winged Hussars – Polish Cavalry – Sabaton History 053 [Official]

it was the most desperate hour for sabaton history and then the window source arrived [Music] contemporary spectators in the late 16th century wholeheartedly agreed that they had never seen such fine cavalry before nor could they indeed compare such splendor to anything else in Europe at the time on magnificent parade grounds the Polish Kings displayed the grandeur of their hasar x' clad in highly decorated carats ayna armor with saddles and reins embroidered in gold and precious stones they rode the finest breeds of horses donning costumes made of the skins of tigers leopards and wolves they held long Lance's with large colorful pennants at the tips and to top it all off and all inspiring pair of wings that arched from the end of their saddles over their heads fluttered proudly in the wind it is no wonder at so many romantic tales and a wide array of both true and fictitious legends had been spread around the courts of Europe of these men character of the Polish winged WA Tsar's was in fact a complex hybrid of Western and Eastern culture coming from the Polish Lithuanian Commonwealth geographically the largest country in Europe at the time originating in the heavily armored Knights of the region in medieval times they incorporated influences from Russia the Byzantine Empire and cavalry initially and later from the Balkans and the Ottoman Empire the influence from Serbian and Hungarian refugees settling there in the wake of the expanding Ottoman Empire began strongly influencing polish cavalry in the 16th century polish nobleman began creating the new heavy hasar who was equipped with male shirts large helmets the typical Balkan shields and long Lance's the Transylvanian King Stefan Batory further standardised the hasar ordering them to drop the shield in favor of a thick breastplate the new heavy hussars indeed became units with which to be reckoned on the battlefield against the Habsburgs Moldovans Muscovites and swedes polishes ARS achieved great triumphs over their enemies however by the 17th century the winged ho czars seemed to be more a product of a bygone age most European nations began abandoning the heavy Lancers in favour of Pike and firearm formations and a mix of various cavalry units the experience of the 30 Years War showed that a new era of massed firepower like the Swedish brigades of Gustav Adolf easily countered the direct charge of the Lancers was this the end of the Polish winged hussars polish Lithuanian Commonwealth faced crisis after crisis fighting invasions from the east from Tartars and Ukrainian Cossacks who destroyed many polish regiments it seemed like the wing to a czars were doomed to the dustbin of history crown Hickman and later King yon the third sobieski however thought differently in the face of the re-emerging threat of the Ottoman Empire's expansion from the Balkans into the heart of Europe new hussar regiments were to be raised reviving the spirit of the winged hussars once more sobieski called upon all worthy sons of Poland urging patriotic Nobles to voluntarily fight against the Ottoman menace and raise their own truth state in fact contributed very little in reality and the noble men and local leaders had to cover most of the expenses themselves it was advertised as a career investment though see they provided horses armor and weapons and they would serve the king and campaign and in turn were supposed to recover their investment with war booty and lucrative state offices granted by the monarchy the men accepted into his czars would make a contract where it would take them up to two and a half years to pay off their arms and weapons and if they survived that long they would earn themselves money and prestige it was a complex flawed system but for the time it worked the typical hasar 's or large protective helmets often embellished with ostrich feathers they were equipped with Hungarian style Sabres or polish straight swords and protected by a lobster style breastplate engraved with religious imagery now everyone is of course more interested in the history of the wings historians still argue though about the exact use of the wings by the 17th century they were usually mounted on the back of the saddle but the argument is whether they were actually worn in battle over just for show like the embroidered saddles and decorated swords or the expensive bows which were in turn exchanged for wheel lock pistols went on campaign sadly we are missing contemporary battle accounts in that regard but historians in favor of the battlefield theory emphasized that the wings were carried like the leopard skins into battle to frighten not just the enemy but also their horses easily affected by unusual sights they would come down on their enemies like predatory pegasi humor me okay predatory pegasi that's what they did the actual important symbol of the Polish hasar in the field however was his glance over five metres long 16 feet the Polish Lance was clearly a one use weapon it was made out of light would usually pine or fir and hollowed in parts to make it even lighter this was fitting for the hasar style of fighting it was often said that the Hazaras were only good for one day of fighting but that one day would be the decisive one and such a day came in the year 1683 in July the Ottoman army had once again march northwards threatening the Habsburg realms and the city of Vienna an estimated 170,000 Ottoman troops lay siege to Vienna easily outnumbering the mere 16 thousand regular defenders but despite the clear disparity of forces the Viennese defenders held out defying the Ottoman guns for weeks that heroic last stand however could not last forever as food supplies and the strength of the defending soldiers and citizens began to run out the 6th of September sobieski crossed the Danube north of Vienna with the force 20,000 strong he would honor his promise to the holy league to fight the ottoman menace once more at the same time a large holy roman imperial force under Sharla of Lorraine was marching south as well they would unite their forces under the command of the Polish King and among his men marched polish winged bazaars by this time Ottoman sappers had come dangerously close to opening up a breach for the Ottoman troops to take the city by storm digging tunnels beneath the walls and filling them with explosives was quite literally a burning fuse under the city the Ottomans would eventually be successful despite the valiant resistance of Vienna's inhabitants and it seemed their fate was already decided but then one day on the far-off horizon the winged hussars arrived on September 12 Qingyuan sobieski and his winged hussars came to the relief of the besieged city the battle had begun the day before the troops of Charl of Lorraine were already punching hard into the Ottoman lines the Ottomans launched several counter-attacks held preventing the Imperials from breaking through Ottomans sappers currently were filling new tunnels with explosives trying to blow the walls but at the last minute these were found and destroyed by the Viennese defenders the next day as the Polish infantry joined the Imperials the wing drew Tsar's moved through the cover of the woods approaching the main turkish redoubt preparing for the decisive strike the deeply Catholic who Tsar's held a holy mass steeled themselves with prayer and their traditional battle hymn boga rose Itza Mother of God by 4:00 in the afternoon together with a group of Imperial horsemen Polish cavalry stormed down the hill in all they were 18,000 strong probably the largest cavalry charge in European history sobieski personally led the attack at the head of his winged WA czars at about a hundred paces the real charge began at 50 paces their horses were driven to full gallop as the wing to a Tsar's lowered their lances and smashed into the terrified defenders Lance's splintered horses trampled men beneath them soldiers were crushed and thrown aside the sight of impaled men before them terrified the men in the railroad units and their morale crumbled most of the Ottoman troops were not protected by plate armor and their formations broke apart some winged hussars dropped their broken lances and reached for the swords and sabers that hung from knots at their wrists others took up war hammers or pistols as they drove through the disordered enemy to safety they regrouped for another charge wave after wave into the Ottoman troops as more troops of the holy League joined the battle this passion coach offski in his song of Vienna liberated describes it so no sooner does a hasar lower his Lance then a Turk is impaled on its spike which not only disorder but terrifies the foe that blow which cannot be defended against or deflected off transfixing two persons at a time others flee and eager haste from such sight like flies in a frenzy after their decisive victory in the Battle of Vienna the fame of the Polish casares grew once more throughout Europe the Holy Roman Emperor personally invited them to his court for a demonstration of their skills and the Russians arm raised his own thousand-strong hasar army under a polish renegade vienna however despite being one of the greatest ones would also be one of the last victories the hasar is achieved soon afterward the commonwealth under pressure both from foreign powers and from within started coming apart the huge costs of defensive wars contributed to a general financial decline there were rebellions and it was it was hard to really afford the expensive with Tsar's anymore nonetheless the wind to a Tsar's managed to survive well into the 18th century and would be deployed in the great northern war but their decisive role on the battlefield lay behind them their imagery however survived and especially in the 19th century began to re-emerge as a symbol of Polish pride and identity remembering them from a time when indeed no finer cavalry than the Polish wing to a czars roamed the battlefields of Europe [Music] whether or not the window stars arrived this is the most requested song of all so far so far for the Sabbath on Easter since we started yep yeah and and this week actually it's not this today but this week actually is one year since the channel premiered last time last February 7th what you wanted the most we saved for one year anniversary how many winters are memes do you think that guess how many Sabaton winter sorrows memes there's been over the over the ages and ages there's a lot of some of the memes about this because it's so easy like you can do whatever like you say I was just out walking my dog so there's always opportunity for the winged resource to arrive in your life do you know how the meme started or Helen I think it's just because of the song yeah I mean we were like when we were working on writing the song and the lyrics we had this you know it's like that is so clear for it then the wing booths are surviving and it was just when we hit when we wrote it was a damn this is so perfect this is the catchiest moment of the album you know it's interesting because uh we're filming this just after the Sabbath on crew so this is still 2019 when we're filming this and you're seeing this in the future I like that you did two completely different sets it's really cool that's uh that's really something I mean on the some of them cruise we are we always tried to do something special because we don't have any big stages there yeah we don't we can't use any prior technical effects or anything because it's a so ship it's a it's a quite small stage and very intimate with it with the people that are fortunate enough to get a ticket in time because they sell out the instantly but when you were on the the shape and everything goes to hell yeah then the wing then the wings they did they totally arrived and it scared the crap out of us because suddenly eighteen thousand guys on horses turned up and we're on a boat so whoa boy they be everywhere yeah and that's gonna be a new mean when the 18,000 we decide arrived and we're this cruise I took this Amazon cruise like a bazaars party of 18,000 your tables ready bazaars note the winters ours have not yet arrived but they'll see what I did alright but this was pretty funny episode but it is a great song and it's a great story and yeah the memes have created the legend of the song now well thank you for today and thanks for one year of Sabbath on history yes thank you and please remain supporting it because we want to continue for much longer time you see we really enjoy doing that yeah alright see you next time [Music] all right everybody thank you for watching this week's episode and don't forget to subscribe become patreon and click the little bills and everything else that you need to do to become a fully supporter of this channel thank you for your support [Music]

Channel: Sabaton History

Views: 426,974

Keywords: Sabaton, Sabaton History, TimeGhost, Indy Neidell, World War Two, Documentary, Historian, History, Powermetal, Band, Pär Sundstrom, Joakim Broden, Winged Hussars, Polish Cavalry, Poland - Lithuania, Polish Hussars, Siege of Vienna, Vienna, Vienna 1683

Id: K_L5acJht3g

Length: 15min 33sec (933 seconds)

Published: Thu Feb 06 2020

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