🚩 Help support our channel by getting Atlas VPN for just $1.99/mo before the deal expires: get.atlasvpn.com/HistoryMarche 🚩 On 27 September 1605, King Charles IX of Sweden penned the following note in his diary: "Was fought the Battle of Kircholm. There many a brave hero fell due to his craven heart. I was hacked in the head but praise the Lord not hurt. I lost the battle." With these few words the king summed up what was perhaps the worst defeat in Swedish history. It was even more costly than the far-better-known Battle of Poltava, a little over a century later. And the battle was lost even though the Swedish army was three times as strong as the victorious Polish-Lithuanian army. Enemy casualties were minimal. It was a humiliating defeat.
Swedish viewer here. Great job on this video, indeed it was just an awful defeat, terrible waste of lives. Fun fact, the famous Swedish field marshal Lennart Torstensson was the nephew of the Anders Lennartsson shown in the video, however the uncle did not share his nephews excellent skills as a commander.
Hello! Cool videos! Please tell me how you make such a large and accurate map of Europe for video? Is it drawn in the program or is there a service where you can buy a map of Europe for your videos?
It's impressive and sad at the same time how Polish commanders were clever and able to improvise, but the State was so disorganised that couldn't pay its own troops. It was great victory, properly functioning state would make much more out of this victory than just a truce.
@@TindaIPSC I think I know why you made such a statement, you get annoyed to see everybody around saying that it was a Polish victory when in fact it was Lithuanian. Please tell me if I am wrong. The truth is it wasn't only Polish victory but it wasn't also only Lithuanian. The army of Chodkiewicz was constructed by Lithuanians and by Poles. Some of the officers were Polish, for example, Tomasz Dabrowa who held command of the left-wing or Wincenty Wojna leading hussars directly under Chodkiewicz. The old lists also indicate that at least half of the hussars were Polish. To make the point I will say that you are wrong by saying "No Polish involved in this particular battle" and also people who say it was Polish are also wrong. Back then Poles and Lithuanians were much closer and friendlier to each other than it is today.
@@1963921 Back then Poles and Lithuanians were not the same people. "Lithuanian" could be a balt, a slav, a jew or even tatar at some point. The duchy was multiethnic, and the vast majority were slavs(old belorussians). I have no clue how there exist people in this world who won't even look for info and are cool with spreading misinformation.
And this chance was wasted only because king Sigismundus was so stupid. He few years later he did the same after PLC conquered Moscow. When Russians agreed to make his son prince Vladislav their tsar Sigismundus refused again because didnt want Vladislav to convert into orthodox christianity and was rather expecting Russians to become catholics.
@@tomk3732 Polish king or King of Poland? There was only one Polish king - Jan III Sobieski, others were Lithuanians, Swedish, Hungarians, Ukrainians or Germans. And you are right Jan III Sobieski was great warrior but poor diplomat and administrator.
Winged Hussars did not lose a battle for over 100 years. At some point a fear of facing them make battle lost for WH enemies in their head before battle even begins. Mercenaries from Europe wanted guarantee in their contracts they won't be forced to fight against Hussars. I may be biased but I think Winged Hussars are the ultimate cavalry.
It was a heavy cavalry that moved like light cavalry. In addition, the Hussars took off in the fight against the infantry. One attack by 100 Hussars could kill 400/500 people. And there could have been several 2/4/6 attacks. As well as the number of Hussars could sometimes reach 1/2 thousand
This is what happens when nobles instead of paying for mercenaries to fight their wars, saddle a horse and do it themselves, paying for the equipment honing their skills training the hussar charge specified horses. You indeed resign before the battle because the enemy has a win ratio and K/D of MVP.
If both armies would have stayed in place.... It would have become an issue of who had more money, food and supplies.... But armies dont travel to battle just to stare at each other...
Greetings from Poland :) I've heard recently that Swedish historical reenactors visit Poland. Reportedly they even wanted to reenact winged hussars themselves :D
This is the story of the XVII century Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth. So many decisive victories, but rarely any was followed by successful campaign. Why? Because of nobles and the political system of the country. Polish Szlachta had too much power and was too reluctant to be more involved in the conflicts. As soon as bare minimum was achieved they just stop financing any expenses for army. It meant: almost no standing army, unmaintained defensive structures, poor logistics and ever deteriorating ability to conduct any military actions.
Because the Polish-Lithuanian union had a system based on noble democracy, which cared only about its own interests and was subject to corruption - Poland's biggest mistake.
To be honest, Commonwealth in the first half of XVII century was functional and powerful state. Aside from dynastic struggle, Sigismund III was competent ruler. After wining the war with Muscovy and retaking Smolensk in 1634, Commonwealth reached his teritorial emphasis. Economy was growing, culture was strong. Good times. The state started to crumble after 1648, when attack from three sides (Sweden + Muscovy + Cossacs) in combination with major outbrake of bubonic plague happened.
Your supposition was not true. Keep in mind PLC was in very complex situation at that time. There were too many aggressive and strong enemies attacking PLC from all sides e.g. Ottoman Empire, Muscovy, Sweden, Crimea Tatars, rebel Cossacks, Transylvania, Prussia, Moldova, Wallachia, mutinied magnates, nobles and soldiers confederations. PLC few times was invaded from all sides, waged too many prolonged wars, had many internal conflicts, which divided society, drained finances, weakened forces and severely ruined country at that time. In such destructive conditions it is almost miracle that PLC survived that century. This was possible because PLC nobles continued to fight and liberated many occupied territories. Keep in mind PLC armies in huge part consisted of noble cavalry and commanders. Artillery, infantry and navy, where served also other classes, were not numerous. So, in fact nobles and their money saved PLC.
@@SurMikasMetin2PL It was put in place by King Sigismund II to prevent civil war after he died heirless. It probably would have been better in the long run to simply bite the bullet and undergo a succession war.
Companion cavalry , knights Templar cavalry Cossacks , mongols . To name a few cavalry I respect the most . Not that one I have failed to mention are anything but quality in there own right .
Numidian would be a good addition. While primitive when looking at the overall scope of cavalry, they really set a firm foundation with alot of victories.
When the winged hussars arrived A cry for help in time of need, await relief from holy league 60 days of siege, outnumbered and weak Sent a message to the sky, wounded soldiers left to die Will they hold the wall or will the city fall Dedication Dedication They're outnumbered 15 to one And the battle's begun
One of the most famous Polish victories in this period. The whole world was amazed and Chodkiewicz received grail letters from everywhere, among others from the Shah of Persia My proposals Kłuszyn 1610, Chocim 1621,
@@jn1205 Bo Szwedzi w XVII w łupili sami nie będąc łupionymi. Ponadto nie maja przeklętego położenia geograficznego na Nizinie Europejskiej dzięki któremu nie ominęły nas (wbrew naszej woli) wszystkie najkrwawsze konflikty zbrojne XIX i XW w z obu wojnami światowymi plus okres księżycowej gospodarki realnego socjalizmu. W takiej sytuacji to nie sztuka być bogatym jak pokazała choćby Szwajcaria
Varangian Guard or the Normans might have something to say about that :) Look up the Normans if you want to laugh really hard at what making vikings christian and giving them horses ends up looking like. Good lord their conquest of Italy is comedy gold.
The only thing that annoys me about this name is the wings. Of course, the hussars had wings, but they were not attached to the back, but to the saddle. it was a single, short wing strapped to the saddle at the back. in the thumbnail we see a wrong image of a hussar, hussars began to mount wings to the back only at the end of the 18th century, they did not do that before.
@@theggman111 There were many hussars units across the Europe. In PLC, in Hungary or in Serbia. So to distinguish them, PLC hussars are called winged hussars due to that extraordinary wings. Another name is Polish Hussars but then it suggests that it was mainly Polish which is wrong because it was made by Poles, Lithuanians and Ruthenians.
@@Kuzyn Yea, but not all of the PLC hussars were using wings. These on the back of hussar were only in late 18th century. Before that they had only one wing from the back of the saddle, but not all of them were using wings, there were no purpouse in using them. Thats was calling them "winged hussars" is stupid, especially calling 18th century light cavalery hussars. In Polish we have more names for that, Serbian "hussars" are called "racowie" or "serbscy racowie" (serbian "hussars") Name "hussar" is from Hungary, in Poland that have Been called "usarz" but when they have come to Poland, somewhere in year 1500, we added "h" that's why we call them "husaria" , from the "usaria" from Hungarian name, and this light hungarian cav in 18th century is called "huzar" (Just like you read name hussar) . Calling everyone on them a "hussar" is not so accurate.
The brilliant tactics used by Hetman Chodkiewicz translated into significant losses of the enemy. The Swedes, putting up fierce resistance, additionally increased them. The pursuit of numerous cavalry after the broken and defenseless infantry should also be added as it increased the losers’ losses. Despite these explanations, the total loss of 78% of the baseline state is still surprising and puzzling. More so because the winners counted 3% of the dead and 6% of the wounded.
Perhaps surprisingly, this is a historical fact. I think that the king of Sweden disregarded Hetman Chodkiewicz, who had a lot of experience in fighting battles. In addition, he could not wait forever, because Sweden was not ready for such a war at the time. On the other hand, infantry coming under the heavy winged hussars? It must beg for misfortune. Big mistakes of King Charles.
The explanation is relatively simple. Winged Hussars with armour able to withstand poor musket fire that was inaccurate and limited. The Winged Hussars used Kopia(lances) that were 6+metres long whereas the Swedish infantry had pikes rarely longer than 3-4 metres so Polish Winged Hussars could impale the infantry front ranks, discard their Kopia, go back to supply wagons, grab another Kopia and charge again again impaling 1-2 or sometimes more infantry ranks repeating the process until the infantry was defeated and turned to run. The Winged Hussars would then simply go after then and cut them down with sabres etc As for Swedish cavalry(mainly Reiters) were useless against Winged Hussars as again after one shot the Hussars would impale them as the Swedes only had swords as defense. People forget the Winged Hussars horses were also specifically bred for battle and could turn quickly as well as gallop a long distance compared to the horses used by the Swedes. Once the ranks turned and fled it is not hard to understand the losses suffered by the Swedes and explains the low losses of the Commonwealth troops. The Commonwealth troops are charging towards an enemy with its back to them therefore no opportunity to damage the Commonwealth troops. The Winged Hussars once won a battle against Russians and Tatars where the Hussars were outnumbered 40 to 1 so being outnumbered 3 to 1 by the Swedes was not a difficult victory to undersdand. Once the Swedes lost the high ground advantage and the Hussars having that high ground advantage victory was a formality for the Commonwealth troops.
It was standard eastern tactics. Chodkiewicz fought like a Turk or a Mongol. It was standard for him. The description here is not exactly good - the Swedish horses retreated through their own infantry destroying formation - there were no squares. This mass of infantry out of formation was ... executed by Polish cavalry. Especially by Hussars which were elite soldiers. Each Hussar equipment and training was worth around his weight in silver - or around 150k USD + in today's money. Back then when people lived on literally next to nothing this was uber expensive guy. Thus they were killing machines. Against cough in the open, without formation infantry they did within 30 min cause 1000s of deaths.
@@LithuanianBear This guy was Lituanian, and serve under Lituanian part of the union for Swedish monarchy... Sounds 👍👍👍👍 So basically Swedes beats themselves in this battle, using Lituenians to reclaim charge in Sweden
my direct ancestor is Jan Firlej, Grand Marshal of the Crown of the Kingdom of Poland, in my house there is still his Kontusz and sabre, the seal with which he signed the establishment of the Polish-Lithuanian Union. In my uncle's house, also Firlej, there is almost a complete hussar armor of one of our ancestors.
@@MrElmas02 I guess it's because of attitude of modern Poland and Lithuania towards Commonwealth's legacy. I had countless arguments with Lithuanians who claimed that their land was just occupied by Poles. They kind of forgot that most of Grand Duchy was modern Belarus and Ukraine lol
History of Poland throughout the age : absolute feats of courage, ingenuity & brilliance, but wasted by basically inept politicians, and political infighting. The form of the government changes, the reality remains. When will we collectively finally start learning from History and change that ?
It is a bit oversimplified. We had many great politicians. Our victories wouldn't be possible without them (probably, some of our today's politicians will be remembered as good ones, too...). I suppose that the tragedy of Poland lies precisely in the source of its greatness: our culture is based on maximalist understanding of freedom. We created a state proclaiming liberties as uncompromised, as those of the later USA. But, unluckily, lying, not on a separate continent, but in the centre of Europe, between other powerful countries, not interested in such amount of liberty, but in efficiency, instead.
@@kacpersokoowski5208 "I suppose that the tragedy of Poland lies precisely in the source of its greatness: our culture is based on maximalist understanding of freedom." At a time when serfdom was the reality for the vast majority of the population of Poland?
@@hammarby1169 Don't believe in this Soviet communist anti-Polish propaganda 🙂. Poland's history is widely slandered (not only in the East but also in the West) because of its beauty and freedom. Serfdom was an honest deal between peasants and the noblemen. It was a form of payment for using land. When in the XVIII-th century peasants were given possibility to pay in cash, they all preferred to pay in work. As one nowadays libertarian politician has counted, today a Polish taxpayer works more days of unpaid labour than a XVII-th century serf.
@@hammarby1169 You're picking on. We learn about Athenian democracy in schools, even though there were plenty of slaves and the women also had nothing to say. These were the times when only the nobility was the nation. And in Poland there were relatively many nobility, about 10% of the population.
Another great Polish-Lithuanian Commonweath video by the amazing HM. The battle of Kircholm was the beginning of the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth's Golden Age & the rise of the Polish Hussars in European history. In 1610, they would see more success & recognition of the results of the Battle of Klushino (which HistoryMarche covered a while ago). However, the battle of Kircholm would highlight the one weakness that would plague the Commonwealth until its neighbors partitioned it in the 18th century. The Polish suffered from similar domestic dissensions as their Austrian neighbors in the South, which created a lot of destabilization across the Commonwealth. Thus, foreign influence began to spread within it's own borders. The Polish military could only maintain it's limited forces for only a certain time to meet it's opponents on the battlefield, Hence, the focus on the Winged Hussars cavalry units/tactics to charge their enemies, and to counter their Russian & Ottoman counterparts in the East. In addition, the religious schisms and the fractured political system played a role that would see the Commonwealth's unique European identity overtaken by its rivals. Similar to how Prussia would dominate the Austrians much later after the fall of the Holy Roman Empire by Napoleon & how they became isolated from their former allies during the Crimean War.
PLC had two biggest issues: no naval units and obsession about Swedish throne from Vasas. Whole Vasa dynasty used PLC as a tool to take over Swedish throne, which was impossible to do because PLC didn't have real naval force, only some mercenaries. How are you supposed to fight against the biggest naval force on the Baltic without ships? Also Sweden many times proposed to settle the dynastic issue and even join them in attack on German states, but Vasas always refused. And everything ended with Swedish Deluge which basically destroyed PLC economy.
Rather a beginning of an end. My dissertation from political philosophy degree was about polical thought in the country in that time. It turns out that the Polish-Lithuanian noblemen who at the beginning of the XVIIth century were old, educated, often in Italy etc. were very displeased in generation change that happened in the country, and called the young noblemen 'image-lickers'. Thing is, the old guys were very highly educated in political philosophy, ancient history, were taught to be open-minded, and the young ones were indoctrinated by counter-reformation action of the catholic church. 'Image-licker' was an insult suggesting that the young noblemen at the time had no knowledge and would pray to mere images and statues without understanding.
Small notion: The city of Gothenburg on the western coastline of Sweden wasn't founded until 1622 by Gustavus Adolphus, who was Sigismund's cousin and the grandson of Gustav I Vasa.
Although im a big fan of all the similar history/military channels, History Marche has by far the best narrator of all the channels, imo. Very captivating voice and narration, that keeps you on the edge of your seat. Just incredible👍👍.
for anglo saxon area favourably forgotten. Your vision reach only to the Channel and colonies. The pivotal events in history of Europe took place here on the West and Central Europe
I can see that there have been comments expressing disbelief about the successes of the hussars. How about some more shocking examples? The battle fought on June 27, 1581 in the outskirts of Mogilev (today Belarus). At that time, less than 200 hussars defended the city against 30,000 Muscovity troops of Ivan IV the Terrible for 7 hours. After a few hours, the Hussars were helped by about 300 light cavalry riders. And then, unimaginable, they managed to drive the enemy out of the city! Of polish 200 hussars, no one was killed near Mogilev. For the truth, I must honestly point out that the armies of the Grand Duchy of Moscow were similar in tactics, composition and equipment to the Tatar armies and when the hussars received support, simply a panic broke out among the Muscovites.
Dziękuję za opowiadanie o wielkiej historii mojego kraju, wspaniałych bitew i dowódców, wiem że jest ta historia prawie nie znana na zachodzie, robicie świetną robotę 👍
@@gregoriannrex5351 dziękujesz za opowiadanie wycinka z historii Polski ,a wszyscy mają to gdzieś. W USA nawet nie ma takiego przedmiotu w szkołach, za dużo narodowości tam mieszka.
The Polish Winged Hussars are one of the best military units in history at this time, together with the Spanish Tercios and the two dominated their respective conflicts in defense of their kingdoms, during two of the most convulsive centuries of humanity, until the two armies were losing relevance at the end of the 17th century. It would have been spectacular to see how unstoppable an army of Spanish Tercios would have been, accompanied by winged Hussars, I am not afraid to say how unstoppable this combination could have been; And if these heroes of Catholicism were pitted against the heroes of Protestantism, which would be a combination of the Dutch and Swedish Army (the best Protestant armies of the time), we would have perhaps the most spectacular battle in history on our hands, no matter which one was the winner (because in the 16th century and the middle of the 17th, there were no fiercer warriors than those of these four countries).
Meanwhile France casually dominating the fuck out of Spain during its golden age and forcing it to adopt very defensive formations because French heavy cavalry was no joke and everyone who could in Western Europe, tried to copy it.
2 роки тому+2
@@nathanc939 Hahahaha, apparently you have no idea of military history, friend, and I think you are mistaken, because you are literally describing the English in the Hundred Years War. The genesis of the use of this type of pike formations were the Swiss pikemen and if you see their use in the war against Burgundy, you can see the offensive value they had (the Macedonian phalanxes were not defensive either), so nothing to do with what you say. The Spanish Coronelias and then the Tercios, were used in the same offensive way and with greater success than the Swiss, the French model was retrograde, that's why even they ended up adapting (and it cost them even Louis XIV), so of course it was a Joke, they were since the end of the Middle Ages, so much so that they needed the use of mercenaries in their armies, to compensate their cavalry with more modern infantry, which otherwise was worthless (The Italian Wars are an example of that). XD
@ the Italian wars had the French heavily outnumbered and curb stomping everyone else when numbers were similar. At that point, France had the most modern army in Europe, due to the post 100 years war reforms. The Spanish Square was a direct answer to the French Gendarmes and its evolutions also were. France remained the dominant land power in Europe for the whole Middle Ages and then all the way until the Franco-Prussian war. It never really lost, except to coalitions of nations, which was most of its large wars. It is that simple.
This battle made the swedish kingdom upgrade and innovate its army. King Gustav Adolf the second (Gustavus Adolphus) would only 30 years later be known as the father of modern warfare during the ”Thirty Years Wars”. Since being a swedish born I have studied his exploits.
@@HistoryMarche funny that you say that just came across a replica docked at Lisbon Harbour of the Swedish East India Company called Goteborg of the 1700s and it has departed today. I'm sure we'll soon find out why it has a lion with a crown right at the front
Funny fact - In 1598, 12 Poles took Stockholm over. This happened because the storm scattered Polish ships on the coast. They knew how easily Kalmar surrendered so they decided to take over the town hall and they succeeded. But the general mistake was the attack by the sea. If the Polish army marched through Finland, which was favorable to Poland, the clashes would look like those near Kircholm.
March from Poland, through Finland, to Stockholm? Do you even realize how terrible such a march would be, through scarcely populated Finland and northern Sweden? It would probably not be possible.. Even if, the battlefields wouldn't look anywhere near that of Kircholm; the Poles and Lithuanians, bringing with them their shock cavalry, would be forced to fight Swedish guerrilla-warfare in the vast amount of forests, and on the small roads, etc (this is not the Ukrainian steppe we're talking about here).. If starvation would not have killed them by then (going through Finland), Swedish peasants and soldiers would easily finish the job.
@@Leaffordes It is about sailing from Estonia to Finland and helping the Finns in the uprising against Sweden. Sailing across the Baltic Sea, we left the Finns to fend for themselves and their uprisings were suppressed.
@@Gremo96 Why would Sigismund sail to Finland to start an uprising against Sweden, where he was the king? There was no Finnish "uprising against Sweden"; it was Charles who was the rebel and started an uprising against Sigismund, in Sweden. The main uprising which had recently occurred in Finland was that of the Finnish peasants, against Sigismund and his loyal supporters among the Finnish nobility. It was suppressed (see the Cudgel War), despite the "Finns [nobility]" being left to "fend for themselves" as you put it. When Sigismund set off for Sweden, the Finnish nobility had not been "suppressed" (a strange word, seeing as they were not the rebels); they landed a force in Sweden a week before Sigismund's arrival, but were soon forced to retreat. Had they and Sigismund coordinated their actions better, the attack might've turned out successful. It was only after Sigismund had been defeated, that Charles could turn his full attention to his enemies among the nobility in Finland.
Thanks for the excellent content and narration! The officer of the Swedish army who died having given his horse to the king was Henrik Wrede of Baltic-German nobility residing in Livonia. For some reason his wife was granted a fairly large semi-feudal estate consisting of farms and smaller estates in south-eastern Finland whose owners had to submit to the rule and taxation by a foreign noble woman. Many were not happy about it and some even chose hanging over paying her heavy handed taxes, providing free weekly labor force or converting to Catholism. My maternal family was among the not happy ones. The same area also saw some of the fiercest fighting in the Civil War of 1918. A lot of Red Guard prisoners who were released after the war were hunted down by radical anti-Communists and executed in the forests and sand pits. My grandfather's three uncles were among them. As a kid we used to go looking for these graves around my cousins farm. Back in those days it was hard to get us to sit down and watch TV...
Noone explains it but hussars were self founded volunteers. They paid for their own expenses - horses, armor, weapon, tents, food, only lances were supplied by the state. That was unit of wealthy nobility - and very powerfull unit.
Excatly, on the one hand, the nobility deployed powerful cavalry that all enemies feared, and on the other hand, they did not want to profit from victories. *
Polish-Lithuanian* or Lithuanian*, because this guy was a Lithuanian and he was leading the Lithuanian army which was opperated completely separately from the Polish one, they were completely separate entities.
@@matiwierzbicki1607 "Jan Karol Chodkiewicz was a military commander of the Grand Ducal Lithuanian Army, who was from 1601 Field Hetman of Lithuania, and from 1605 Grand Hetman of Lithuania. " he was born in Lithuania, educated in Lithuania, held Lithuanian Hetmon position and was Leading the Lithuania army. Do 1 min of googling
@@LithuanianBear No , he was Polish , yes he was born in Lithuania in Wilno. But " Chodkiewicz " is Polish name g was from Polish parents and study in Poland. He die in today Ukraine under Chodów. He was also titled by Polish king. Its possible that he is also one of Lituhuanian heroes but he was Polish by Blood. Anyway we should both be proud of him he was one of the Best European Generals ever from Rzeczpospolita also Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth.
The Grand Duchy of Lithuania, along with the Kingdom of Poland, jointly formed the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth. The Winged Hussars were a notable cavalry unit within the Commonwealth, and members from both the Polish and Lithuanian territories served as part of this elite military formation during the 16th and 17th centuries. Its Polish and Lithuanian Hussars
whats also interesting about Hussar horses is the training they were put in.Horses were also fighting in battles. Literally, biting head butting stomping, they were just trained fighting animals which is insane, Ppl were different back then.
Well done. A very accurate video. You mentioned the Swedish king having lost his horse and having been saved by a random Swedish soldier who was killed. Also, the battle did not change much for Poland and the soldiers were not paid, exactly as you said. Remember that the Polish CH is not the English CH, so Chodkiewicz is pronounced as Hodkievich. You pronounced Wincenty Woyna incorrectly, as the Polish W is the English V. You pronounced it correctly, though, in Dąbrowa and Chodkiewicz. Thank you for the great video. Thumb up.
Only the Lithuanian army participated in the battle. You will be interested in it, the Rzeczypospolitej (Rzeczpospolita Obojga Narodów) army was made up of separate Polish and Lithuanian armies. For example, the Lithuanian army did not participate in the Battle of Vienna. Thus, the Polish army did not participate in the battle of Kirchholm. I don't understand why Poles want to humiliate Lithuanians? Why do you appropriate our victories? The Russians treat us the same way. Are common Slavic roots to blame???
@Swedish and Nordic. Yeah you steal our history, change our ruler real names to your wierd wzdz names. Stealing history is not cool man. This whole video is discriminating against lithuania, Polish - Swedish war? Was lithuania not equal partner in commonwealth, even though it had more land, more power before union. I wish we never had union with so called brothers.
@Swedish and Nordic. will explain. It is a fact that Lithuanian and Swedish troops participated in the battle. Well, if it were written that Finns and Polish fought in that battle - that would be unpleasant. We Lithuanians are a small nation, but we have many victories and defeats. This is our story. I don't want our history to be falsified. An example. Now the Russians think that they are the strongest country in the world. Therefore, they are ashamed that they lost many battles to such a small nation as Lithuania. Therefore, they try to write "Poland" instead of Lithuania's name. They think that losing to Poland is not so shameful. And the Poles like it.
1605 - 5 thousands Polish soldiers beat 20 thousands Swedish soldiers. Long live my lovely Poland 🇵🇱 ❤. Godbless Poland 🇵🇱 ❤. FOREVER. Greetings from Leicester UK 🇬🇧. Old Polish soldier. 😀. Godbless.
Sad that i have never heard such impresive description of the battle :O Awsome work, if history lessons were planed and realized like that, kids would get higher grades for sure
Wtf man, Kołobrzezanin here, war is war. Some Polish noble put gunpowder in mouth of a turk and set it fire. Shit happens. Rape, genocide. Don't feel special for it neither torture yourself. Even if the last enemy die, Germans, Poles, Russians, no matter were you are from would start to plot against each other. Saxons and Bavarians for example, give them just a planet for their own and in five thousand years they will be putting bullets again in heads. Chengis Khan did more pain to humanity (also Polish humanity) but Mongols sing proud songs about his victories.
Lithuanian*, It was equal parts union state, and this guy was a Lithuanian and leading a Lithuanian army. So its either a Polish-Lithuanian army, or Lithuanian army, but in no way is it Polish.
@@hussar843 doesn't matter. The origin of individual units and members of those units was multicuotural in both Poland and Lithuania. But the Military under whose command these units wete, was Lithuanian, led by Lithuanian Hetmons, funded by Lithuania.
@@bafloski can you show some documents, I'm only asking for education purpose. I've never seen hussars with Lithuanian Banner, no offense :D...the fact is that we both fought together and kicked everyones @$$ hahahahaha
@@LithuanianBear One moment you're running away from Grunwald, and the next you're saying that an army governed from Cracow was Lithuanian and by no means Polish.
@@kacperborszcz6577 Its a Lithuanian victory Polish crown has nothing do to with winning this battle Lithuanian army did this alone without Polish crown they didnt even fund us Katkus did it by himself and only 200 polish men took apart in that battle i dont know where you guys learn history but on god you all dumb af
wtf I’m not Lithuanian but i know that Vytatus didn’t run at Grunwald, his return to the battlefield after defeating the German cavalry is what shattered the Teutonics’s line and won the alliance the battle
Always (History Marche) Channel introducing Remarkable History Coverage Videos....allot thanks I appreciate these excellent doing ...Good Luck & Going on
There were no Cossacks in that battle. It's confusing because Poles were calling heavy/medium cavalry "jazda kozacka" (literally "cossack cavalry") for some reason. But in fact those were either polish or lithuanian units made of nobility (szlachta) we call today "pancerni" (Poles) and "petyhorcy" (Lithuanians). Ukrainian Cossacks were called "Kozacy regestrowi" (registered Cossacks) and "Kozacy Zaporoscy" (Zaporozhian Cossacks) - they were forming mainly infantry units plus very little light cavalry (low quality).
@@AW33COM "szlachta" means nobility. "Jazda kozacka" was light cavalry at the beginning, but they soon evolved into medium cavalry ("pancerni" - but they still were called "jazda kozacka"; "pancerni" in polish means "armored soldiers" or "soldiers in armor") with chainmails and eastern helmets called "misiurka". And they often had eastern round shields called "kałkan" made of rope and metal umbo (shield boss). In polish terminology light cavalry was called "tatar cavalry" (Lithuanian Duchy) OR "wallachian cavalry" (Kingdom of Poland) - again, it didn't mean it was formed of Tatars or Wallachians, but that they fought the tatar or wallachian way. In Polish Commonwealth for some reason different types of units were called by the origin country - so hungarian infantry, tatar cavalry, cossack cavalry, wallahian cavalry etc.
the moment I saw the polish army retreat I knew what was coming..... I imagine many recounts of the battle went along the lines of "the moment we crested the hill thousands of the Hussars could be seen charging towards us! And as if this wasn't bad enough our damned cavalry cowered in fear minutes after being engaged leaving us at the mercy of the hussars..."
Lithuanian army. Both countries in the union never stopped maintaining completely separate militaries through out history, so even tho the war was started by the Poles, the Hetmon and the Military that fought in these particular battles was Lithuanian.
@@LithuanianBear Dear, as a Ruthenian I tell you that you are wrong, maybe the banners were of the Grand Duchy and the enlistments were made all over the Crown and in Lithuania. The names of the colonels leave no delisions.
Unfortunately such is the enduring pattern in Poland, the people tirelessly do what they are asked to do, but their leaders only care about getting me a bigger BMW than the next guy. Another thing mentioned is the inaccuarcy of firearms, funny how the soldiers in those days were made to drag heavy ironmongery to a battlefueld only to create a lot of smoke.
{polish-lithuanian cossack cavalry is not this same cossack from Ukraine. This formation is middle cavalry beetwin Winged Hussars and Light Cavalry . In 60/80 years XVII century polish - lithuanian cossack units reformed to "pancerni" (armoured cavalry) becouse this unit get armoured "kolczuga" and "misiurka". This formation was universal middle cavlary with weapon "dzida' (lance), cavalry crossbow, 2 pistolets , schort muscet, sword, sabre and shields. This formation formed for Tatar invansion in Ukraine.
![Lp. Сердце Вселенной #60 РОЖДЕНИЕ ЛОЛОЛОШКИ [Финал] • Майнкрафт](http://i.ytimg.com/vi/YoR0pAV9FVQ/mqdefault.jpg)
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🚩 On 27 September 1605, King Charles IX of Sweden penned the following note in his diary: "Was fought the Battle of Kircholm. There many a brave hero fell due to his craven heart. I was hacked in the head but praise the Lord not hurt. I lost the battle."
With these few words the king summed up what was perhaps the worst defeat in Swedish history. It was even more costly than the far-better-known Battle of Poltava, a little over a century later. And the battle was lost even though the Swedish army was three times as strong as the victorious Polish-Lithuanian army. Enemy casualties were minimal. It was a humiliating defeat.
Another banger guys! Thank you.
Swedish viewer here. Great job on this video, indeed it was just an awful defeat, terrible waste of lives.
Fun fact, the famous Swedish field marshal Lennart Torstensson was the nephew of the Anders Lennartsson shown in the video, however the uncle did not share his nephews excellent skills as a commander.
Hello! Cool videos! Please tell me how you make such a large and accurate map of Europe for video? Is it drawn in the program or is there a service where you can buy a map of Europe for your videos?
Pozdrowienia z Polski :)
@@MrVilgefortz Cześć! Niech żyje Polska!:)
"We will count them, after we beat them!"
- Jan Karol Chodkiewicz before the battle
Chad quote!
Chadkiewicz
It's easier to count corpses.
It was the Hetman response to a soldier who told him that the Swedes are to many to count.
That's just being stupid
It's impressive and sad at the same time how Polish commanders were clever and able to improvise, but the State was so disorganised that couldn't pay its own troops. It was great victory, properly functioning state would make much more out of this victory than just a truce.
Thank god they couldnt function otherwise i could be living in poland right now
No Polish involved in this particular battle.
@@TindaIPSC I think I know why you made such a statement, you get annoyed to see everybody around saying that it was a Polish victory when in fact it was Lithuanian. Please tell me if I am wrong. The truth is it wasn't only Polish victory but it wasn't also only Lithuanian. The army of Chodkiewicz was constructed by Lithuanians and by Poles. Some of the officers were Polish, for example, Tomasz Dabrowa who held command of the left-wing or Wincenty Wojna leading hussars directly under Chodkiewicz. The old lists also indicate that at least half of the hussars were Polish. To make the point I will say that you are wrong by saying "No Polish involved in this particular battle" and also people who say it was Polish are also wrong. Back then Poles and Lithuanians were much closer and friendlier to each other than it is today.
@@1963921 Back then Poles and Lithuanians were not the same people. "Lithuanian" could be a balt, a slav, a jew or even tatar at some point. The duchy was multiethnic, and the vast majority were slavs(old belorussians). I have no clue how there exist people in this world who won't even look for info and are cool with spreading misinformation.
It was not only this time, after Grunwald with such big win there was not political won.
Imagine actual working union between Poland-Lithuania and Sweden. Baltic Sea would become an interal lake.
And this chance was wasted only because king Sigismundus was so stupid. He few years later he did the same after PLC conquered Moscow. When Russians agreed to make his son prince Vladislav their tsar Sigismundus refused again because didnt want Vladislav to convert into orthodox christianity and was rather expecting Russians to become catholics.
@@rafalx1717
Duke Charles and the Swedish parliament shouldn’t have done things illegally either.
it would be proper force to beat the russia, but again size is not everything, administration is the key, and the poles did not manage that
Polish king was not the wisest of them all. Not by a long shot.
@@tomk3732 Polish king or King of Poland? There was only one Polish king - Jan III Sobieski, others were Lithuanians, Swedish, Hungarians, Ukrainians or Germans. And you are right Jan III Sobieski was great warrior but poor diplomat and administrator.
Winged Hussars did not lose a battle for over 100 years. At some point a fear of facing them make battle lost for WH enemies in their head before battle even begins. Mercenaries from Europe wanted guarantee in their contracts they won't be forced to fight against Hussars. I may be biased but I think Winged Hussars are the ultimate cavalry.
It was a heavy cavalry that moved like light cavalry. In addition, the Hussars took off in the fight against the infantry. One attack by 100 Hussars could kill 400/500 people. And there could have been several 2/4/6 attacks. As well as the number of Hussars could sometimes reach 1/2 thousand
Biased? maybe, wrong? No
I think the swan knights in lotr are the only comparable cav hahaah
This is what happens when nobles instead of paying for mercenaries to fight their wars, saddle a horse and do it themselves, paying for the equipment honing their skills training the hussar charge specified horses. You indeed resign before the battle because the enemy has a win ratio and K/D of MVP.
@@bentbanana8428 haha yes
Absolutely wonderful history of countries not taught at school or UK military thanks for sharing! 🇵🇱🇸🇪
If both armies would have stayed in place....
It would have become an issue of who had more money, food and supplies....
But armies dont travel to battle just to stare at each other...
I might be Swedish, but the Winged Hussars are the definition of badass.
Wars between Sweden and Poland/Lithuania was the greatest mistake of that age, both powers bleeding out, giving rise to Empire of Russia.
@@Rodzyniastyyyy Like any other war started from religion conflict.
Russia meanwhile ...when 2 fight between them...winner is the third!
@@user-hb9mz2hp2g Bruh Swedish-commonwealth wars were not about religion.
Greetings from Poland :) I've heard recently that Swedish historical reenactors visit Poland. Reportedly they even wanted to reenact winged hussars themselves :D
This is the story of the XVII century Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth. So many decisive victories, but rarely any was followed by successful campaign. Why? Because of nobles and the political system of the country. Polish Szlachta had too much power and was too reluctant to be more involved in the conflicts. As soon as bare minimum was achieved they just stop financing any expenses for army. It meant: almost no standing army, unmaintained defensive structures, poor logistics and ever deteriorating ability to conduct any military actions.
Sounds like modern day problems.
Because the Polish-Lithuanian union had a system based on noble democracy, which cared only about its own interests and was subject to corruption - Poland's biggest mistake.
To be honest, Commonwealth in the first half of XVII century was functional and powerful state. Aside from dynastic struggle, Sigismund III was competent ruler. After wining the war with Muscovy and retaking Smolensk in 1634, Commonwealth reached his teritorial emphasis. Economy was growing, culture was strong. Good times.
The state started to crumble after 1648, when attack from three sides (Sweden + Muscovy + Cossacs) in combination with major outbrake of bubonic plague happened.
Your supposition was not true. Keep in mind PLC was in very complex situation at that time. There were too many aggressive and strong enemies attacking PLC from all sides e.g. Ottoman Empire, Muscovy, Sweden, Crimea Tatars, rebel Cossacks, Transylvania, Prussia, Moldova, Wallachia, mutinied magnates, nobles and soldiers confederations. PLC few times was invaded from all sides, waged too many prolonged wars, had many internal conflicts, which divided society, drained finances, weakened forces and severely ruined country at that time.
In such destructive conditions it is almost miracle that PLC survived that century. This was possible because PLC nobles continued to fight and liberated many occupied territories. Keep in mind PLC armies in huge part consisted of noble cavalry and commanders. Artillery, infantry and navy, where served also other classes, were not numerous. So, in fact nobles and their money saved PLC.
@@SurMikasMetin2PL It was put in place by King Sigismund II to prevent civil war after he died heirless.
It probably would have been better in the long run to simply bite the bullet and undergo a succession war.
The wing hussars are one of favourite cavalry formations in history .
What cavalry units would make that list as well?
Companion cavalry , knights Templar cavalry Cossacks , mongols . To name a few cavalry I respect the most . Not that one I have failed to mention are anything but quality in there own right .
@Dan Mitchell, don't forget the Numidian Calvary. It dominated for a long time
Numidian would be a good addition. While primitive when looking at the overall scope of cavalry, they really set a firm foundation with alot of victories.
Don't forget the Rohirrim😜
AFAIK even Persian shah congratulated Chodkiewicz on this tremendous victory
What a great subject! You do not stop to surprise me by content 👍✔️ Winged Hussars ❤️ Cheers from SerbiA 🇷🇸🇵🇱
When the winged hussars arrived
A cry for help in time of need, await relief from holy league
60 days of siege, outnumbered and weak
Sent a message to the sky, wounded soldiers left to die
Will they hold the wall or will the city fall
Dedication
Dedication
They're outnumbered 15 to one
And the battle's begun
One of the most famous Polish victories in this period. The whole world was amazed and Chodkiewicz received grail letters from everywhere, among others from the Shah of Persia My proposals Kłuszyn 1610, Chocim 1621,
Klushino is already on the channel.
@@tomekdarda Ok thanks for info
@@jn1205 Bo Szwedzi w XVII w łupili sami nie będąc łupionymi. Ponadto nie maja przeklętego położenia geograficznego na Nizinie Europejskiej dzięki któremu nie ominęły nas (wbrew naszej woli) wszystkie najkrwawsze konflikty zbrojne XIX i XW w z obu wojnami światowymi plus okres księżycowej gospodarki realnego socjalizmu. W takiej sytuacji to nie sztuka być bogatym jak pokazała choćby Szwajcaria
@@jn1205 to pojedź do Szwecji i zobacz jakie są bogate w islam
@@suntherapist4863 służą im
Winged Hussars were an absolute legend. I think they are the most successful warriors in history. I love reading about them.
Varangian Guard or the Normans might have something to say about that :)
Look up the Normans if you want to laugh really hard at what making vikings christian and giving them horses ends up looking like. Good lord their conquest of Italy is comedy gold.
The only thing that annoys me about this name is the wings.
Of course, the hussars had wings, but they were not attached to the back, but to the saddle. it was a single, short wing strapped to the saddle at the back.
in the thumbnail we see a wrong image of a hussar, hussars began to mount wings to the back only at the end of the 18th century, they did not do that before.
@@theggman111 There were many hussars units across the Europe. In PLC, in Hungary or in Serbia. So to distinguish them, PLC hussars are called winged hussars due to that extraordinary wings. Another name is Polish Hussars but then it suggests that it was mainly Polish which is wrong because it was made by Poles, Lithuanians and Ruthenians.
@@Kuzyn
Yea, but not all of the PLC hussars were using wings.
These on the back of hussar were only in late 18th century.
Before that they had only one wing from the back of the saddle, but not all of them were using wings, there were no purpouse in using them.
Thats was calling them "winged hussars" is stupid, especially calling 18th century light cavalery hussars.
In Polish we have more names for that,
Serbian "hussars" are called "racowie" or "serbscy racowie" (serbian "hussars")
Name "hussar" is from Hungary, in Poland that have Been called "usarz" but when they have come to Poland, somewhere in year 1500, we added "h" that's why we call them "husaria" , from the "usaria" from Hungarian name, and this light hungarian cav in 18th century is called "huzar" (Just like you read name hussar) .
Calling everyone on them a "hussar" is not so accurate.
Winged hussars saved Vienna and probably rest Europe from the ottomans
The brilliant tactics used by Hetman Chodkiewicz translated into significant losses of the enemy. The Swedes, putting up fierce resistance, additionally increased them. The pursuit of numerous cavalry after the broken and defenseless infantry should also be added as it increased the losers’ losses. Despite these explanations, the total loss of 78% of the baseline state is still surprising and puzzling. More so because the winners counted 3% of the dead and 6% of the wounded.
Poor food and some illness spreading on only one side?
the cannon would account for a whole lot I think, and those knocked senseless by repeated cavalry charges.
Perhaps surprisingly, this is a historical fact. I think that the king of Sweden disregarded Hetman Chodkiewicz, who had a lot of experience in fighting battles. In addition, he could not wait forever, because Sweden was not ready for such a war at the time. On the other hand, infantry coming under the heavy winged hussars? It must beg for misfortune. Big mistakes of King Charles.
The explanation is relatively simple. Winged Hussars with armour able to withstand poor musket fire that was inaccurate and limited. The Winged Hussars used Kopia(lances) that were 6+metres long whereas the Swedish infantry had pikes rarely longer than 3-4 metres so Polish Winged Hussars could impale the infantry front ranks, discard their Kopia, go back to supply wagons, grab another Kopia and charge again again impaling 1-2 or sometimes more infantry ranks repeating the process until the infantry was defeated and turned to run.
The Winged Hussars would then simply go after then and cut them down with sabres etc
As for Swedish cavalry(mainly Reiters) were useless against Winged Hussars as again after one shot the Hussars would impale them as the Swedes only had swords as defense.
People forget the Winged Hussars horses were also specifically bred for battle and could turn quickly as well as gallop a long distance compared to the horses used by the Swedes.
Once the ranks turned and fled it is not hard to understand the losses suffered by the Swedes and explains the low losses of the Commonwealth troops. The Commonwealth troops are charging towards an enemy with its back to them therefore no opportunity to damage the Commonwealth troops.
The Winged Hussars once won a battle against Russians and Tatars where the Hussars were outnumbered 40 to 1 so being outnumbered 3 to 1 by the Swedes was not a difficult victory to undersdand.
Once the Swedes lost the high ground advantage and the Hussars having that high ground advantage victory was a formality for the Commonwealth troops.
It was standard eastern tactics. Chodkiewicz fought like a Turk or a Mongol. It was standard for him.
The description here is not exactly good - the Swedish horses retreated through their own infantry destroying formation - there were no squares. This mass of infantry out of formation was ... executed by Polish cavalry. Especially by Hussars which were elite soldiers. Each Hussar equipment and training was worth around his weight in silver - or around 150k USD + in today's money. Back then when people lived on literally next to nothing this was uber expensive guy.
Thus they were killing machines. Against cough in the open, without formation infantry they did within 30 min cause 1000s of deaths.
Winged Hussars arrived!
A cry for help in time of need
Await relief from Holy League
JAN SOBIESKY
We remember
In September
When the Winged Hussars arrived.
Comming down the mountain side!
@@PolandTaltos beat me to it! 😂
Excellent presentation. As a complete ignorant of Swedish polish history, I almost felt to be part of the battle.
Thank you very much :)
I see that you are racist you write Swedish with capital letter and Polish without ...
Polish-Lithuanian* history. This guy was a Lithuanian serving under the Lithuanian part of the union.
@@LithuanianBear
This guy was Lituanian, and serve under Lituanian part of the union for Swedish monarchy...
Sounds 👍👍👍👍
So basically Swedes beats themselves in this battle, using Lituenians to reclaim charge in Sweden
@@pawepioro2998 What are even talking about ? Are you drunk ?
so many great battles that we never heard about until watching this incredible channel
my direct ancestor is Jan Firlej, Grand Marshal of the Crown of the Kingdom of Poland, in my house there is still his Kontusz and sabre, the seal with which he signed the establishment of the Polish-Lithuanian Union. In my uncle's house, also Firlej, there is almost a complete hussar armor of one of our ancestors.
Source?
Zarządzał królewskimi mennicami
Kircholm sounds proud to every Pole! The times of glory of the Polish art of war and the greatness of the Commonwealth🇵🇱❤✌
Indeed, Kircholm is one of those battles that showcases the hussars
It's grand duchy of Lithuania army not crown of Poland. Only 200 polish soldiers were in the battle
@@MrElmas02 Doesn't really matter, they still fought for Commonwealth, not Grand Duchy of Lithuania
@@MilitarnyOrient this what should be said, not Polands or Polish and Lithuanian commonwealth army
@@MrElmas02 I guess it's because of attitude of modern Poland and Lithuania towards Commonwealth's legacy. I had countless arguments with Lithuanians who claimed that their land was just occupied by Poles. They kind of forgot that most of Grand Duchy was modern Belarus and Ukraine lol
History of Poland throughout the age : absolute feats of courage, ingenuity & brilliance, but wasted by basically inept politicians, and political infighting. The form of the government changes, the reality remains. When will we collectively finally start learning from History and change that ?
It is a bit oversimplified. We had many great politicians. Our victories wouldn't be possible without them (probably, some of our today's politicians will be remembered as good ones, too...).
I suppose that the tragedy of Poland lies precisely in the source of its greatness: our culture is based on maximalist understanding of freedom.
We created a state proclaiming liberties as uncompromised, as those of the later USA. But, unluckily, lying, not on a separate continent, but in the centre of Europe, between other powerful countries, not interested in such amount of liberty, but in efficiency, instead.
@@kacpersokoowski5208 "I suppose that the tragedy of Poland lies precisely in the source of its greatness: our culture is based on maximalist understanding of freedom." At a time when serfdom was the reality for the vast majority of the population of Poland?
@@hammarby1169 Don't believe in this Soviet communist anti-Polish propaganda 🙂.
Poland's history is widely slandered (not only in the East but also in the West) because of its beauty and freedom.
Serfdom was an honest deal between peasants and the noblemen. It was a form of payment for using land. When in the XVIII-th century peasants were given possibility to pay in cash, they all preferred to pay in work.
As one nowadays libertarian politician has counted, today a Polish taxpayer works more days of unpaid labour than a XVII-th century serf.
@@hammarby1169 You're picking on. We learn about Athenian democracy in schools, even though there were plenty of slaves and the women also had nothing to say. These were the times when only the nobility was the nation. And in Poland there were relatively many nobility, about 10% of the population.
Just like our current politicians
Absolutely sensational production as usual 👏
Much appreciated!
Muchas gracias por traducir los vídeos!🤩
Another great Polish-Lithuanian Commonweath video by the amazing HM. The battle of Kircholm was the beginning of the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth's Golden Age & the rise of the Polish Hussars in European history. In 1610, they would see more success & recognition of the results of the Battle of Klushino (which HistoryMarche covered a while ago).
However, the battle of Kircholm would highlight the one weakness that would plague the Commonwealth until its neighbors partitioned it in the 18th century. The Polish suffered from similar domestic dissensions as their Austrian neighbors in the South, which created a lot of destabilization across the Commonwealth. Thus, foreign influence began to spread within it's own borders.
The Polish military could only maintain it's limited forces for only a certain time to meet it's opponents on the battlefield, Hence, the focus on the Winged Hussars cavalry units/tactics to charge their enemies, and to counter their Russian & Ottoman counterparts in the East.
In addition, the religious schisms and the fractured political system played a role that would see the Commonwealth's unique European identity overtaken by its rivals. Similar to how Prussia would dominate the Austrians much later after the fall of the Holy Roman Empire by Napoleon & how they became isolated from their former allies during the Crimean War.
PLC had two biggest issues: no naval units and obsession about Swedish throne from Vasas. Whole Vasa dynasty used PLC as a tool to take over Swedish throne, which was impossible to do because PLC didn't have real naval force, only some mercenaries. How are you supposed to fight against the biggest naval force on the Baltic without ships?
Also Sweden many times proposed to settle the dynastic issue and even join them in attack on German states, but Vasas always refused. And everything ended with Swedish Deluge which basically destroyed PLC economy.
Rather a beginning of an end.
My dissertation from political philosophy degree was about polical thought in the country in that time.
It turns out that the Polish-Lithuanian noblemen who at the beginning of the XVIIth century were old, educated, often in Italy etc. were very displeased in generation change that happened in the country, and called the young noblemen 'image-lickers'.
Thing is, the old guys were very highly educated in political philosophy, ancient history, were taught to be open-minded, and the young ones were indoctrinated by counter-reformation action of the catholic church.
'Image-licker' was an insult suggesting that the young noblemen at the time had no knowledge and would pray to mere images and statues without understanding.
That was great Polish-Lithuanian victory.
Small notion: The city of Gothenburg on the western coastline of Sweden wasn't founded until 1622 by Gustavus Adolphus, who was Sigismund's cousin and the grandson of Gustav I Vasa.
Although im a big fan of all the similar history/military channels, History Marche has by far the best narrator of all the channels, imo. Very captivating voice and narration, that keeps you on the edge of your seat. Just incredible👍👍.
Thats so intresting please make more video on Polish-Lithuanian commonwealth, its such forgotten page of history but so amazing.
for anglo saxon area favourably forgotten. Your vision reach only to the Channel and colonies. The pivotal events in history of Europe took place here on the West and Central Europe
I can see that there have been comments expressing disbelief about the successes of the hussars. How about some more shocking examples?
The battle fought on June 27, 1581 in the outskirts of Mogilev (today Belarus). At that time, less than 200 hussars defended the city against 30,000 Muscovity troops of Ivan IV the Terrible for 7 hours. After a few hours, the Hussars were helped by about 300 light cavalry riders. And then, unimaginable, they managed to drive the enemy out of the city! Of polish 200 hussars, no one was killed near Mogilev.
For the truth, I must honestly point out that the armies of the Grand Duchy of Moscow were similar in tactics, composition and equipment to the Tatar armies and when the hussars received support, simply a panic broke out among the Muscovites.
I love these videos, please keep them rolling. And please finish Hannibal!
Working on Hannibal
Dziękuję za opowiadanie o wielkiej historii mojego kraju, wspaniałych bitew i dowódców, wiem że jest ta historia prawie nie znana na zachodzie, robicie świetną robotę 👍
Nieznana historia , a kogo to interesuje .Ty też nie znasz historii Rumuni, nie wspomnę o USA..
Nie znam ale dzięki takim kanałom mogę poznać historię Rumunii np. a historię USa akurat znam , o ci chodziło pisząc komentarz tej treści..?
@@gregoriannrex5351 dziękujesz za opowiadanie wycinka z historii Polski ,a wszyscy mają to gdzieś. W USA nawet nie ma takiego przedmiotu w szkołach, za dużo narodowości tam mieszka.
@@jn1205Jak widać po liczbie komentarzy, no, może z wyjątkiem twojego, nie wszyscy mają historię gdzieś.
Nie podoba się? Nie oglądaj i nie truj d...
@@jerzkos1301 sami Polacy
The Polish Winged Hussars are one of the best military units in history at this time, together with the Spanish Tercios and the two dominated their respective conflicts in defense of their kingdoms, during two of the most convulsive centuries of humanity, until the two armies were losing relevance at the end of the 17th century. It would have been spectacular to see how unstoppable an army of Spanish Tercios would have been, accompanied by winged Hussars, I am not afraid to say how unstoppable this combination could have been; And if these heroes of Catholicism were pitted against the heroes of Protestantism, which would be a combination of the Dutch and Swedish Army (the best Protestant armies of the time), we would have perhaps the most spectacular battle in history on our hands, no matter which one was the winner (because in the 16th century and the middle of the 17th, there were no fiercer warriors than those of these four countries).
Imagine forgetting the French gendarmes
Concordo!!!
Meanwhile France casually dominating the fuck out of Spain during its golden age and forcing it to adopt very defensive formations because French heavy cavalry was no joke and everyone who could in Western Europe, tried to copy it.
@@nathanc939 Hahahaha, apparently you have no idea of military history, friend, and I think you are mistaken, because you are literally describing the English in the Hundred Years War. The genesis of the use of this type of pike formations were the Swiss pikemen and if you see their use in the war against Burgundy, you can see the offensive value they had (the Macedonian phalanxes were not defensive either), so nothing to do with what you say. The Spanish Coronelias and then the Tercios, were used in the same offensive way and with greater success than the Swiss, the French model was retrograde, that's why even they ended up adapting (and it cost them even Louis XIV), so of course it was a Joke, they were since the end of the Middle Ages, so much so that they needed the use of mercenaries in their armies, to compensate their cavalry with more modern infantry, which otherwise was worthless (The Italian Wars are an example of that). XD
@ the Italian wars had the French heavily outnumbered and curb stomping everyone else when numbers were similar. At that point, France had the most modern army in Europe, due to the post 100 years war reforms.
The Spanish Square was a direct answer to the French Gendarmes and its evolutions also were.
France remained the dominant land power in Europe for the whole Middle Ages and then all the way until the Franco-Prussian war. It never really lost, except to coalitions of nations, which was most of its large wars. It is that simple.
Thanks
Thank you very much for the support!
One of the most amazing battles ever!
Fantastyczny materiał. Dziękuję za ciężką pracę.
This battle made the swedish kingdom upgrade and innovate its army. King Gustav Adolf the second (Gustavus Adolphus) would only 30 years later be known as the father of modern warfare during the ”Thirty Years Wars”. Since being a swedish born I have studied his exploits.
Indeed, we will be covering Swedish battles from that era in the coming months.
@@HistoryMarche funny that you say that just came across a replica docked at Lisbon Harbour of the Swedish East India Company called Goteborg of the 1700s and it has departed today. I'm sure we'll soon find out why it has a lion with a crown right at the front
Defragged History does awesome work on the 80 years war! I would definitely recommend checking out her page if you haven't already.
It probably refers to Gustavus Adolphus, @@RodolfoGaming; he was known as 'The Lion of the North'.
@@NobleKorhedron that's what the foreshadowing is about thanks for spoiling it 😂
OMG THIS IS ABOUT TO BE EPIC!!
I hope you guys might cover the Battle of Khotyn at some point! Still one of the largest battles of European history
Funny fact - In 1598, 12 Poles took Stockholm over. This happened because the storm scattered Polish ships on the coast. They knew how easily Kalmar surrendered so they decided to take over the town hall and they succeeded. But the general mistake was the attack by the sea. If the Polish army marched through Finland, which was favorable to Poland, the clashes would look like those near Kircholm.
March from Poland, through Finland, to Stockholm? Do you even realize how terrible such a march would be, through scarcely populated Finland and northern Sweden? It would probably not be possible.. Even if, the battlefields wouldn't look anywhere near that of Kircholm; the Poles and Lithuanians, bringing with them their shock cavalry, would be forced to fight Swedish guerrilla-warfare in the vast amount of forests, and on the small roads, etc (this is not the Ukrainian steppe we're talking about here).. If starvation would not have killed them by then (going through Finland), Swedish peasants and soldiers would easily finish the job.
To nie była wypraw Polski, ale Zygmunta.
@@Leaffordes It is about sailing from Estonia to Finland and helping the Finns in the uprising against Sweden. Sailing across the Baltic Sea, we left the Finns to fend for themselves and their uprisings were suppressed.
@@Gremo96 Why would Sigismund sail to Finland to start an uprising against Sweden, where he was the king? There was no Finnish "uprising against Sweden"; it was Charles who was the rebel and started an uprising against Sigismund, in Sweden. The main uprising which had recently occurred in Finland was that of the Finnish peasants, against Sigismund and his loyal supporters among the Finnish nobility. It was suppressed (see the Cudgel War), despite the "Finns [nobility]" being left to "fend for themselves" as you put it.
When Sigismund set off for Sweden, the Finnish nobility had not been "suppressed" (a strange word, seeing as they were not the rebels); they landed a force in Sweden a week before Sigismund's arrival, but were soon forced to retreat. Had they and Sigismund coordinated their actions better, the attack might've turned out successful. It was only after Sigismund had been defeated, that Charles could turn his full attention to his enemies among the nobility in Finland.
Thannk you very much for another great video about Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth!
Great video. Thank you very much HistoryMarche
Thanks for the excellent content and narration!
The officer of the Swedish army who died having given his horse to the king was Henrik Wrede of Baltic-German nobility residing in Livonia. For some reason his wife was granted a fairly large semi-feudal estate consisting of farms and smaller estates in south-eastern Finland whose owners had to submit to the rule and taxation by a foreign noble woman. Many were not happy about it and some even chose hanging over paying her heavy handed taxes, providing free weekly labor force or converting to Catholism. My maternal family was among the not happy ones.
The same area also saw some of the fiercest fighting in the Civil War of 1918. A lot of Red Guard prisoners who were released after the war were hunted down by radical anti-Communists and executed in the forests and sand pits. My grandfather's three uncles were among them. As a kid we used to go looking for these graves around my cousins farm. Back in those days it was hard to get us to sit down and watch TV...
Noone explains it but hussars were self founded volunteers.
They paid for their own expenses - horses, armor, weapon, tents, food, only lances were supplied by the state.
That was unit of wealthy nobility - and very powerfull unit.
Winged hussars are very expensive unit, there is no way the nobles wanted to fight with the king for free, thus that is why they always outnumbered
Excatly, on the one hand, the nobility deployed powerful cavalry that all enemies feared, and on the other hand, they did not want to profit from victories. *
Thank you for this video I learned of yet another great Polish General. His defense of his country should have earned him greater logistical support.
Lithuanian general'
Good narrative. Interesting to hear how battles were fought in 1600's
Now i wanna see a video about Vienna's Siege of 1683 XD
There are several good ones allready here on UA-cam
Thanks!
Thank you for the tip!
Great video, I particularly appreciate the progressive scaling down of the analysis from strategy to operations to tactics.
Brilliant video as always
Glad you enjoyed it
¡Gracias!
Thank you so much for the support! Very kind of you.
Thank you for the video, excellent info
And we hope you never stop making these videos!
This channel is amazing!! I recommend it to a lot of people!
Magnificent breakdown, well done History Marche!
Another great Polish victory without political profit.. Wonderful video thank you 👍🏻
Szacun za generala Maczka
Polish-Lithuanian* or Lithuanian*, because this guy was a Lithuanian and he was leading the Lithuanian army which was opperated completely separately from the Polish one, they were completely separate entities.
@@LithuanianBear What ? Are you try to rewrite the history like Russians today ? It was Polish Commander , Polish army , Polish Victory.
@@matiwierzbicki1607 "Jan Karol Chodkiewicz was a military commander of the Grand Ducal Lithuanian Army, who was from 1601 Field Hetman of Lithuania, and from 1605 Grand Hetman of Lithuania. " he was born in Lithuania, educated in Lithuania, held Lithuanian Hetmon position and was Leading the Lithuania army. Do 1 min of googling
@@LithuanianBear No , he was Polish , yes he was born in Lithuania in Wilno. But " Chodkiewicz " is Polish name g was from Polish parents and study in Poland. He die in today Ukraine under Chodów. He was also titled by Polish king. Its possible that he is also one of Lituhuanian heroes but he was Polish by Blood. Anyway we should both be proud of him he was one of the Best European Generals ever from Rzeczpospolita also Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth.
One of the magnificent battles in history
👍A wonderful document. Thanks a lot
Well done, as always.
I'm Polish, and I'm pride, when I watch this
Excellence is just pouring outta this channel!
Wonderful 😊 your video make me transcend to the era where it happened
Glad you enjoyed it!
Terrific video!⚔
Brilliant display of tactical superiority
Love your channel. Awesome production. Thank you!
The Grand Duchy of Lithuania, along with the Kingdom of Poland, jointly formed the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth. The Winged Hussars were a notable cavalry unit within the Commonwealth, and members from both the Polish and Lithuanian territories served as part of this elite military formation during the 16th and 17th centuries. Its Polish and Lithuanian Hussars
Fabulous research, narrating, video making. Dry history facts thus become vivid, thrilling and deep learning.
whats also interesting about Hussar horses is the training they were put in.Horses were also fighting in battles. Literally, biting head butting stomping, they were just trained fighting animals which is insane, Ppl were different back then.
Great work Sir thank you
Well done. A very accurate video. You mentioned the Swedish king having lost his horse and having been saved by a random Swedish soldier who was killed. Also, the battle did not change much for Poland and the soldiers were not paid, exactly as you said. Remember that the Polish CH is not the English CH, so Chodkiewicz is pronounced as Hodkievich. You pronounced Wincenty Woyna incorrectly, as the Polish W is the English V. You pronounced it correctly, though, in Dąbrowa and Chodkiewicz. Thank you for the great video. Thumb up.
so is better to use simple tool to check prenounciation this toll is called google translator :-)
Only the Lithuanian army participated in the battle. You will be interested in it, the Rzeczypospolitej (Rzeczpospolita Obojga Narodów) army was made up of separate Polish and Lithuanian armies. For example, the Lithuanian army did not participate in the Battle of Vienna. Thus, the Polish army did not participate in the battle of Kirchholm. I don't understand why Poles want to humiliate Lithuanians? Why do you appropriate our victories? The Russians treat us the same way. Are common Slavic roots to blame???
@Swedish and Nordic. And Sweden was conquered by the Finns? Let's just not distort the facts.
@Swedish and Nordic. Yeah you steal our history, change our ruler real names to your wierd wzdz names. Stealing history is not cool man. This whole video is discriminating against lithuania, Polish - Swedish war? Was lithuania not equal partner in commonwealth, even though it had more land, more power before union. I wish we never had union with so called brothers.
@Swedish and Nordic. will explain. It is a fact that Lithuanian and Swedish troops participated in the battle. Well, if it were written that Finns and Polish fought in that battle - that would be unpleasant.
We Lithuanians are a small nation, but we have many victories and defeats. This is our story. I don't want our history to be falsified.
An example. Now the Russians think that they are the strongest country in the world. Therefore, they are ashamed that they lost many battles to such a small nation as Lithuania. Therefore, they try to write "Poland" instead of Lithuania's name. They think that losing to Poland is not so shameful. And the Poles like it.
1605 - 5 thousands Polish soldiers beat 20 thousands Swedish soldiers.
Long live my lovely Poland 🇵🇱 ❤. Godbless Poland 🇵🇱 ❤. FOREVER.
Greetings from Leicester UK 🇬🇧. Old Polish soldier. 😀. Godbless.
and only 200 of them were actual poles...
@@MrVafflis 🤣🤣🤣. They are all lovely Polish 🇵🇱 soldiers ❤. Godbless. Greetings from Leicester 🇬🇧. Take care.
Im from Lithuania, I love Poland! 🇱🇹🇵🇱
Sad that i have never heard such impresive description of the battle :O Awsome work, if history lessons were planed and realized like that, kids would get higher grades for sure
As a german I always feel so ashamed and sorry for what my ancestors did to this glorious nation.
Wtf man, Kołobrzezanin here, war is war. Some Polish noble put gunpowder in mouth of a turk and set it fire. Shit happens. Rape, genocide. Don't feel special for it neither torture yourself. Even if the last enemy die, Germans, Poles, Russians, no matter were you are from would start to plot against each other. Saxons and Bavarians for example, give them just a planet for their own and in five thousand years they will be putting bullets again in heads.
Chengis Khan did more pain to humanity (also Polish humanity) but Mongols sing proud songs about his victories.
@@nsb8816 What nonsense...
Thank you. Your noble attitude is unicum.
Hussars were an amazing fighting force from the middle ages to the modern era...
Great video! Greetings from Warsaw!
Thank you sir!
Great stuff!
Very informative ❤❤
Whoooaaaa. What a victory, i had no idea that Polish army was so strong those days…
Lithuanian*, It was equal parts union state, and this guy was a Lithuanian and leading a Lithuanian army. So its either a Polish-Lithuanian army, or Lithuanian army, but in no way is it Polish.
@@LithuanianBear wrong!!!! Hussars were Polish Units, Lithuania had only light cavalry
@@hussar843 doesn't matter. The origin of individual units and members of those units was multicuotural in both Poland and Lithuania. But the Military under whose command these units wete, was Lithuanian, led by Lithuanian Hetmons, funded by Lithuania.
@@hussar843 .. wrong, of course there ware also Lithuanian Hussars, whatever all formation belong to common Pl-Lth Commonwelth army
@@bafloski can you show some documents, I'm only asking for education purpose. I've never seen hussars with Lithuanian Banner, no offense :D...the fact is that we both fought together and kicked everyones @$$ hahahahaha
Thank you again for your amazing videos! I watch them every night when I come tired from work.
Those numbers blew my mind.
Спасибо!
Thank you very much for supporting the channel.
Awesome battle. Go Poland!
Lithuania*, The Poles started the war and didn't fight their own battles, the Hetmon and the military of this particular conflict was Lithuanian.
@@LithuanianBear Man, you guys have to make up your minds
@@LithuanianBear One moment you're running away from Grunwald, and the next you're saying that an army governed from Cracow was Lithuanian and by no means Polish.
@@kacperborszcz6577 Its a Lithuanian victory Polish crown has nothing do to with winning this battle Lithuanian army did this alone without Polish crown they didnt even fund us Katkus did it by himself and only 200 polish men took apart in that battle i dont know where you guys learn history but on god you all dumb af
wtf I’m not Lithuanian but i know that Vytatus didn’t run at Grunwald, his return to the battlefield after defeating the German cavalry is what shattered the Teutonics’s line and won the alliance the battle
Great cannon fire sound. And I love the funny year correction. Very clever :)
It was the greatest Polish-Lithuanian victory comparing to loses.
Brilliant video! Great job!
Love these!
Both structure and sentence structure are impressive. As for the voice, I wish I had such tone.
Well done, team!
Well done!!
A velha tática da.falsa retirada! Very good! Congratulations...
Amazing battle!
Always (History Marche) Channel introducing Remarkable History Coverage Videos....allot thanks I appreciate these excellent doing ...Good Luck & Going on
Many thanks!
There were no Cossacks in that battle. It's confusing because Poles were calling heavy/medium cavalry "jazda kozacka" (literally "cossack cavalry") for some reason. But in fact those were either polish or lithuanian units made of nobility (szlachta) we call today "pancerni" (Poles) and "petyhorcy" (Lithuanians). Ukrainian Cossacks were called "Kozacy regestrowi" (registered Cossacks) and "Kozacy Zaporoscy" (Zaporozhian Cossacks) - they were forming mainly infantry units plus very little light cavalry (low quality).
Yes yes, but "jazda kozacka" was light weight. Very mobile. "Pacerni"/Szlachta was heavy cavalry.
@@AW33COM "szlachta" means nobility. "Jazda kozacka" was light cavalry at the beginning, but they soon evolved into medium cavalry ("pancerni" - but they still were called "jazda kozacka"; "pancerni" in polish means "armored soldiers" or "soldiers in armor") with chainmails and eastern helmets called "misiurka". And they often had eastern round shields called "kałkan" made of rope and metal umbo (shield boss). In polish terminology light cavalry was called "tatar cavalry" (Lithuanian Duchy) OR "wallachian cavalry" (Kingdom of Poland) - again, it didn't mean it was formed of Tatars or Wallachians, but that they fought the tatar or wallachian way. In Polish Commonwealth for some reason different types of units were called by the origin country - so hungarian infantry, tatar cavalry, cossack cavalry, wallahian cavalry etc.
Excellent video a time of history l was not previously aware of, very informative.
the moment I saw the polish army retreat I knew what was coming..... I imagine many recounts of the battle went along the lines of "the moment we crested the hill thousands of the Hussars could be seen charging towards us! And as if this wasn't bad enough our damned cavalry cowered in fear minutes after being engaged leaving us at the mercy of the hussars..."
Lithuanian army. Both countries in the union never stopped maintaining completely separate militaries through out history, so even tho the war was started by the Poles, the Hetmon and the Military that fought in these particular battles was Lithuanian.
@@LithuanianBear Dear, as a Ruthenian I tell you that you are wrong, maybe the banners were of the Grand Duchy and the enlistments were made all over the Crown and in Lithuania. The names of the colonels leave no delisions.
@@LithuanianBearthe army was mostly poles on account of the hussar which themselves were mostly poles.
Wonderful video, as usual!
Love your videos please never stop
Always enjoy your battle reports, and The amount of investigation you went through. Well done Sir.
To be Fair the Mounted Hussars all drank Red Bull before the battle because it gives you Wings.
Thank you for the video!
Unfortunately such is the enduring pattern in Poland, the people tirelessly do what they are asked to do, but their leaders only care about getting me a bigger BMW than the next guy. Another thing mentioned is the inaccuarcy of firearms, funny how the soldiers in those days were made to drag heavy ironmongery to a battlefueld only to create a lot of smoke.
{polish-lithuanian cossack cavalry is not this same cossack from Ukraine. This formation is middle cavalry beetwin Winged Hussars and Light Cavalry . In 60/80 years XVII century polish - lithuanian cossack units reformed to "pancerni" (armoured cavalry) becouse this unit get armoured "kolczuga" and "misiurka". This formation was universal middle cavlary with weapon "dzida' (lance), cavalry crossbow, 2 pistolets , schort muscet, sword, sabre and shields. This formation formed for Tatar invansion in Ukraine.
PANIE! JAK PAN PISZESZ PO ANG TO NIE SADŹ TAKICH BYKÓW BO AŻ BOLI!!!