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Charles IV, King of Bohemia and Holy Roman Emperor, had a long and successful reign. The Empire he ruled from Prague expaned, and his subjects lived in peace and prosperity. When he died, the whole Empire mourned. More than 7,000 people accompanied him on his last procession. The heir to the throne of the flourishing Empire was Charles' son, Wenceslas IV, whose father had prepared him for this moment all his life. But Wenceslas did not take after his father. He neglected affairs of state for more frivolous pursuits. He even failed to turn up for his own coronation as Emperor, which did little to endear him to the Pope. Wenceslas "the Idle" did not impress the Imperial nobility either. His difficulties mounted until the nobles, exasperated by the inaction of their ruler, turned for help to his half-brother, King Sigismund of Hungary. Sigismund decided on a radical solution. He kidnapped the King to force him to abdicate, then took advantage of the ensuing disorder to gain greater power for himself. He invaded Bohemia with a massive army and began pillaging the territories of the King's allies. It is here that my story begins...
The Czech videogame, Kingdome Come Deliverance takes place just a few years before Jan Žižka's rise to prominence, and the Hussite Wars discussed in this video. It is theoretically possible for Henry of Skalitz to shake hands with Jan Žižka. Also, Žižka should be known as the father of mechanized warfare.
@@MintyLime703 Yes. I'm halfway through my first play, and I'm in for a few dozen hours. Few dozen hours of great fun, though. And I'm not sure if I'll be making another playthrough. The variety and choice options aren't that great.
@@greyngreyer5 That's very good question. I absolutely loved the moment in KDC, where I was giving a sermon to good folks of Uzhitz because father Godwin was dead drunk after our night of drinking and other debauchery. You can bet I was praising the Husits movement during that sermon.
I am already used to see top quality content here on this channel. Just this time, as a native Czech, I must bow before an unusual language skill of this storyteller. Most of czech words used in this video related to city names and persons was pronounced perfectly or just with very minor flaws. It is very rare and uncommon, as we have some unique prononounced letters, to hear a foreigner with such good pronunciation. If you do not have any previous experience with czech language, you must have trully unique linguistic sense. And of course, excellent quality of content. Which probably won't surprise anyone watching this channel :) .
The narrator, Devin, produces original storytelling content on his channel Game World Narratives, and more comedy focused videos on his other channel, This is Content. Both are really good.
Fun fact: After his death, Žižka allegedly ordered his men to skin his body and use his skin for a war drum, so that he could lead his men into battle even after death.
Žižka's name really echoed throughout Czech history - there was even a Yugoslav Partisan brigade named after him during World War 2, composed of Czechs and Slovaks from Croatia.
During the WWI, one of the regiments of Czechoslovak legions was also named after Jan Žižka. (There was also one named after Jan Hus and another one named after Prokop Holý, another distinguished Hussite general---unless I'm very much mistaken.) As a matter of fact, I always found it rather funny that my nation, generally seen as very peaceful (proverbially dove-like), actually has such a turbulent military history. Not only in the middle ages; the WWI Czechoslovak legions anabasis in Siberia is one of the most daring military manoeuvres in history. And you might also point out our ever-thriving arms industry; so successful that even the Soviets didn't override it and let the Communist Czechoslovakia manufacture its own weapon models (only requiring Warsaw Pact ammunition compatibility).
@@hattorihaso2579 During the time of the Austrohungarian empire. Many Poles, Czechs, Slovaks and Germans would move to the area today known as former Yugoslavia, mostly setting up in Croatia and Bosnia. Yugoslav Partisans also had a Polish brigade, and many jews had high offices, so many that Yugoslavia woukd have more Jewish generals than Israel.
@@Azhureus You need a time machine for that! P.S. Also play Kingdom Come: Deliverance, a respectably authentic RPG (like no other action game) set in this period.
*You can appreciate some of Czechia's Medieval figures from their old or modern currency designs. They are proud to showcase them in their coins and banknotes. :)*
@@boredgunner Maybe Pargue could be in a cutscene. But I dont want be able to roam it. Im a big fan that every character has it own schedule and house/bed. It would be impossible for Prague tho, to many people. I dont want them to do like Skyrim either, having towns that are supposed to house thousands of people in lore, but in game just have a few people.
@@jonas7483 Not impossible especially with modern tech. That mindset is giving game studios excuses to not raise the bar. Skyrim is an 11 year old game build on 20 year old technology. A global AI system like S.T.A.L.K.E.R.'s A-Life system + multithreading can handle it, especially combined with technology like UE5's world partition system so that it's not all actively loaded at once, along with mesh shader or UE5 Nanite so that you can render it all without LODs. But it would be a big undertaking for the artists of course.
If I get a penny every time the Czechs threw people outta the window of the city council of Prague, I'd have 3 pennies. It is not much but still incredible.
Actually we are close and closer to 4th Defenestrace (De = out, Fenestrace = similar to german verb Fenster that means window). People here are every year more angry because of politics.
There's some interesting parallels between Jan Zizka and the Korean Admiral Yi Sun-sin. - Both primarily led armies in defensive struggles against overwhelming odds (defending against Catholic coalitions / defending against the Japanese) - Both were undefeated in their particular area (land battles / naval battles) - A good part of their victories can be ascribed to innovative armoured structures (Hussite wagon / turtle ship). Both legends and national icons for their decedents up to this day as well of course!
Turtle ships actually weren't a big part of Yi's victories. It was more a combination of sturdy normal ships (small number of turtle ships to disrupt enemy formation), long range cannon tactics (compared to Japanese), and good use of geography and tides.
Fan fact: The word Howitzer is derived from Houfnice (Houf - Crowd)....Hussites took a siege weapon and turned it into what could be called a massive shotgun....
YESSSSSSSSSSSS. One of the best Generals in military history! The Master of Asymmetrical warfare, Jan Zizka!!!!!!! The Hussite Wars are easily one of the most interesting conflicts in human history and are not well known. Thank you for this video.
@bastiat Good point. Although Ceasar lost one battle, the one against Pompeius - Battle of Dyrrhachium. I wonder if Žižka knew about details of Ceasar tactics but i doubt it.
Keep in mind the Hussites Wars continued for a decade after his death, and even if his Taborites faction lost to the Utraquistes, the Hussites pretty much won the war against the Catholics thanks to his tactics and how he shaped the Hussite armies. Zizka's wasn't just undefeated, he got the greatest kind of last victory: A secured legacy. And that one is likely the hardest one to achieve. I mean... *Looking at Alexander and the Diadochi*
@Tomáš Novák While mostly true, current status is a consequence of centuries of religious oppression, firstly during the Habsburg's rule after thirty year's war, which forced people to convert back to Catholic Church and later, in 20th century, oppression of all religions during Communist regime.
Fun fact: word howitzer comes from butchered pronanciation of czech word houf whitch means crowd which nicely explaines how were canons on these waggons used. Because you would right before impact of enemy charge fire into their tightly packed formation, that would break their charge and cause panic among enemy soldiers.
Fun fact 2: world pistol also has roots in Husite wars. It comes from French pistolet, which is most likely derived from Czech píšťala (flute). Which was used to describe hand-held guns used in Husite wars
@@Freigeist2008 both is true, original commenter made an oopsie, Howitzer doesn't come from "houf" but from "houfnice" which is the actually czech word which comes from german Haufe and added the variation of the slavic ending "-ice" effectivelly making it a new word used to describe their cannons that were used to shoot into crowds (hence why the word Haufe was used, after all czech at this time was already heavily influenced with the german language)
One of the weapons used by hussites was "Píšťala" - gunpowder weapon in "hand cannon" family, and it is debated that word "Pistol" comes from this weapon. Another weapon - Houfnice - again gave name to whole weapon familly known in english as Howitzer. :)
This guy is the definition of Alexander the Great’s quote: “I do not fear an army of lions lead by a sheep, but an army of sheep lead by a lion.” It may be misquoted, but that’s the gist of the quote
Well done content. I´ve recently read a great and detailed book: "Jan Durdík - Husitské vojenství" about Hussite wars and warfare. The point is that pretty soon after Battle of Vítkov Hill, the Hussite army was far away from being a bunch of untrained peasants. This idea was a common mistake in some later historiography. For example the cannons and other guns (houfnice, tarasnice, píšťala - hightech of that era) as well as gun powder were mass produced in Hussite towns. Bohemian towns were rich in these times and many of Hussite soldiers were from these cities. In fact, Žižka´s armies were perfectly trained and organized with complex logistics. In their biggest battles more than a thousand war wagons were cleverly employed. It required perfect, swift and effective organisation and tactics. Žižka armies were also able to march up to 50km per day which was unmatched since Roman times. In fact Žižka armies were the first field armies in Medieval times and the second in Europe since ancient Rome legions (hats off to Rome). The raised catholic armies were not trained in this complex manner at all and were stunned by the unorthodox modernity of Hussite tactics and their efficiency. One of the battles i like the most was at Kutná hora: Žižka army was surrounded by catholic armies. The situation would seem rather desperate for a normal general of that era. But Žižka decided to wait until it's night and what happened next was the first use of mobile artillery in history... Žižka grouped his war wagons into a column and charged the enemy lines. The war wagons advanced rapidly, with all of their guns blazing... so they escaped easily while crusaders panicked totally.. Later on Žižka saved Kutná Hora from serious fire and soon after they defeated Crusaders again at village of Hubry. Fascinating military history. It´s safe to say Žižka was one of the most successful military innovators ever. Almost like a guy from future who got back to early 15th century. I just want to mention Žižka´s military mentor, Moravian nobleman Jan Sokol of Lamberk, so called Wild Falcon (falcon means sokol in czech, 1355-1410) who is a bit forgotten today. He was extremely successful military commander who fought in battle of Grunwald where he led the 4th Banner of St. George to a great success and become close friend of Polish king. It would be interesting to see him in Hussite wars but unfortunately he was poisoned in 1410 probably by Polish nobility because of his influence on Polish king. If he had been alive after 1420, the Hussites would have had two military geniuses at the early stage of war. Lastly i want to mention Žižka´s successor Prokop the Great (named the Great by Aeneas Silvius Piccolomini in his Historia Bohemica) who was also very skilled commander and also a priest - an intelectual, fluent in many languages, manager of Hussites logistics + he´s never carried any personnal weapon. He lost only one battle - the last one between Bohemian factions at Lipany where he was killed.
The Game Changer of warfare. Being able to defeat the most modern and experienced european armies with higher numbers TWICE, just with peasants,farmers,fishermen is just incredible. Jan Zizka is really underrated European General.
WELL... talks about defeats by dirty peasants were mostly spread in catholic countries by catholic people to ridicule unsuccessfull crusaders. Hussite armies did make use of peasants as light infantry for flanking maneuvers, but their army cores were made up of various seasoned soldiers from town&castle garrisons experienced in defensive warfare. Royal towns and castles were stockpiled with gun powder, cannons and handcannons used primarly in both siege and anti-siege roles. Hussites managed to improve upon them and develop few of their own designs, whose names are used even today. Names such as howitzer&pistol (back then of a size of a organ pipe). Hussite armies were modern in their own regard and were the first in Europe to use gun-powder weapons outside of purely siege warfare.
Language barriers don’t help. Post-Roman places usually share lots of Latin vocabulary; Slavic places don’t. I can’t speak Portuguese, for example, but I can still mostly read it. But Korean or Bantu or Polish? I’m lost. I wish more translations were available. I’d love to hear about more than just Western Europe and the post-colonial Americas.
@@CourtneySchwartz Polish has so many words of Latin or French origin, that just knowledge of English helps you a lot with understanding Polish and that's why Poles don't understand Czech that good, because Czech mostly has Czech original words or more germanisms than latinisms. Don't forget that Czech lands and Poland were part of European "big history" for like 1000 years and you can see it even on vocabulary, while eastern slavic languages like Russian have totaly alien vocabulary for us, except some very old and basic words of slavic origin, but even basic vocabulary is very often totaly different between western and eastern slavic langauges. And latin was only official written language here for hundreds of years, same as in "post-Roman places" as you call it, we have much more common than you think.
@@CourtneySchwartz I know that history of Central and Eastern Europe is not as researched as that of Western Europe but let's not act as if there were no English language sources and research work at all.
As far as I remember, Sigismund's "letter of safe conduct" was intended to protect Jan Hus on his way to Kostnice but not during his stay there (although Sigismund also protested against how Hus was treated there). Anyway, thank you very much for a video touching one of the most interesting (and intense) parts of Czech history.
If I remember correctly the letter arrived late or Hus left early and didn´t wait for it. It didn´t matter though, he was condemned long before he arrived to Konstanz.
the enemies of the Reformer were malignant and determined. They appealed to the emperor’s prejudices, to his fears, to his zeal for the church. They brought forward arguments of great length to prove that “faith ought not to be kept with heretics, nor persons suspected of heresy, though they are furnished with safe-conducts from the emperor and kings.”-Jacques Lenfant, History of the Council of Constance, vol. 1, p. 516.
Zizka was one of the many talents the 15th century gave us ; Skanderbeg, Mehmed the Conqueror, Stephen III, Uzun Hasan, Ivan III, Matthias Corvinus, Murad II, John Hunyadi, Sejong,... a worthy end to the Medieval period
Good names to mention. I was fascinated by late medieval / early modern warfare about a decade ago, and I don't remember who uzun Hasan was! Actually don't even recognize the name. I guess when I get on the computer later I'll have to look it up
@@steventhompson399 Uzun Hasan, a rival of Mehmed the Conqueror, was the ruler of the White Sheep Turcomans he transformed the small Akkoyunlu principality into a +2M km² empire conquering the Karakoyunlu and defeating the Timurids in the process. I definitely recommend you to research about this big man
The Hussite wagons were very innovative and effective in turning the tide of battle during the late medieval period. Unfortunately just like armored knights, they too would become obsolete when field artillery became more prevalent on the battlefield.
Armored knights didn't become obsolete until the late 16th century at the earliest. & winged hussars continued to be successful long after that. Variations of wagon forts saw use in the 19th century, in specific contexts.
@@ladaprchal5471 I think that until very recently the recoil of a heavy canon would not allowed it to be mounted on a truck, even on boat the recoil of canon was tempered with ropes and pulleys (a disposition to cumbersome to be replicate inside a truck) But many time a position would be fortified and canon would be position inside this fortified position. Horses could be use to move canon faster ergo rendering the use of truck pointless
@@AelricVarnis_1482 can we have some myth busters here? Because I believe i can craft wagoon using 15th cen tools that would be able to withstand recoil :D
You have swiss pike squares, spanish tercios and early musket line formations before field artillery became prevalent. And its not like armored knights became obsolete, i wouldnt bet too much on wagon fort army against combined arms of that period.
Thank you for a very fine historical video on Zizka, a man of legendary military prowess. I regard him as a hero to all Protestants. I am now looking forward to the movie "Medieval" even more than I had been before watching Kings and Generals' video on his life and times! I've always wondered why Jan Huss would have trusted officials of the Catholic Church to respect a safe conduct. What a horrible betrayal and murder!
Fascinating subject - I'm currently reading "The Hussite Trilogy" by Andrzej Sapkowski. I strongly recommend those books (historical novel with fantasy elements :))
A very underrated point of history. The cracks in the Catholic Church were clear from the mid 15th century. Hussite’s were the reform before the reform …
It woud be so cool to see some video about operation Anthropoid, as this year is 80th anniversary of this operation. Also huge event in Czech/Czechoslovak history. I don't think it's that well known, but the whole story and the consequences of assassination of Reinhard Heydrich are sooo interesting.
About the part at 11:30; simultaneously many (although not that many) knights from Poland and the Grand Dutchy of Lithuania (Ruthenians included) came to the Hussites' aid, led by the adventurous Lithuanian prince Sigismund Korybut. It's complicated. BTW the second name of this Sigismund (not to be confused with the King talked about in this video) actually should be a patronymic derived from Korybut (Kaributas), which was his father's name, but it has so many versions in the relevant languages (Lithuanian: Kaributaitis; Belarusian: Карыбутавіч; Polish: Korybutowicz; Czech: Korybutovič; Ukrainian: Корибутович), that apparently he is just called Korybut in the English sources.
True, they eventually became friends with Žižka, although Žižka was a very complicated character and was at odds with a lot of people. Korybut called him father (otče) and Žižka called him my lord son (pan syn).
Actually, it's the other way round 🙂. The Hussite founded city Tábor was named after the biblical mount Tabor (in Israel; Har Tavor in Hebrew). This name was also used for their military camps, as in “camp of those from Tábor”, later on for any military camp and even later also for tent camps in general. So nowadays Czech campers, táborníci, are literary “Hussites from Tábor“.
I watched this movie the other night. It was very gripping. I imagined myself living in 1390 in medieval times. The amount of graphic violence with swords, axes, knives and improvised weapons. Some of the men were hardened warriors who seemed super human. I wish the script had more of historical context. Brit actor Michael Caine was a treat to watch. He is an accomplished actor and sharp as ever!
Amazing work on the video, I am very pleased, that you did great content about our great hetman Jan Žižka z Trocnova a Kalicha, greeting from the Bohemian lands :).
@@KingsandGenerals I'd say it goes beyond that, being a historical fantasy; like a 15th-century version of "urban fantasy", with a whole magical/supernatural world barely hidden in a real-life setting. Plus it's very tongue-in-cheek, with plenty of more or less (or not at all) subtle references to later periods, including modern times.
I think he tries to walk a fine line and not go into fantasy. Every fantastical event can be explained away with drugs, dreams, hallucinations. At times, it reads like a medieval chronicle of a crazy monk who can't decide what is real and what is not, at times it reminds me of the drunk conversations with my Slavic friends in the university years. It is very unique :-)
The Hungarians took over some Hussite inventions from the Czechs, when they fought with the Turks. János Hunyadi employed these Hussite wagons successfully in the battle of Jalomicia (now Romania) in 1442.
@@Zadlo14 they was very popular after hussite wars and in the time of george of poděbrady they was most used mercenaries in europe , they are very good portrayed in battle of Schönberg 1504
I did not realize when I first watched the trailer for Medieval that it was a Jan Zizka story. Was planning to see it regardless, but now I have more motivation.
Don't listen to him, many czechs has negative bias toward the film before even watching it. It's kind of our national sport to act like we know everything about anything (we have beautiful sarcastic word for this sort of people, it goes ,,všeználek" which means literally ,,all-knower" 😆 yea also they love to argue so be expecting some hate shitstorm
@@bubakbubakovic9286 I never met czech like you described and i lived there almost 8 years but i heard this a lot so its probably overused stereotype people say if they want push their narrative and have nothing else to say - Germans,French and Americans are know it alls everytime you meet one .... btw movie is really nothing awesome and im not czech so ....
You've mentioned 1410 Grunwald as 'arguably the largest battle ever fought in medieval Europe'. I think it would be nice to actually prepare a video (series?) on the largest (rather than most-well-known or having the biggest impact) battles of middle ages. Or maybe extend this to several periods? Or one battle per century? It would be interesting to compare data of various engagements... One little-known candidate for XVII c would be for sure battle of Berestechko....
Berestechko is clearly worth a video. But was it really bigger than the more famous Battle of Vienna? The numbers of participants appear controversial and a bit exaggerated in some sources. If we go with the lower numbers recorded, it was only close to Vienna or about the same size.
@@reinercelsus8299 Oh - I believe it was a larger battle, you have doubts. But I think that's the whole point - it would be great to have numbers dragged into the light, verified, disputed, compared. Sometimes events are better known for their dramaturgy than for size itself (like Vienna). Another example from PLC side could be 1621 Battle of Khotyn (the first one). In the sense of Ottoman casualties and direct short-time impact (Osman II murdered) for sure heavier than Vienna (again, at least from PLC perspective). But little known outside Poland....
@@marcinterlecki6021 It's often hard to know the exact numbers for many battles. For Berestechko, one source is talking of 110k cossacks and tatars, another one of 200k. Similar issue with Vienna, there were either 150k Ottomans or more likely only about 100k involved in the battle. So the question which battle was bigger would always depend on the source and numbers you believed. The Battle of Khotyn was indeed unknown to me so far. Definitely a big battle that deserved a video too. I think Vienna was in so far a bit more memorable since it turned the tide against the Ottomans. They were forced to draw back from then and did never again become as powerful as they used to be.
In the second anti-hussitan crusade, during the battle of Kuttenberg (Kutná hora), Žižka further improved his tactics, harassing the crusader army with cannons and handguns mounted to wagons, thus creating the first mobile artillery unit ever.
I haven't even watched the video yet and I already know that it is going to be amazing. Žižka was truly a madman and a genius. I have waited so long for you to expand on the Hussite wars and finally the waiting is over!
I love idea of learning more about Central Europe and this video looks amazing as usual for kings and general. Your one my favourite history and battle channels I’ve learnt so much .
Excellent video, as always. Just few notes: Jan Žižka z Trocnova is translated as Jan Žižka from Trocnov, so he was not born in place called "Trocnova", as you say in the beginning, but "Trocnov". Trocnov is today still a small village and in a vincinity of todays village, in 1956 there was uncovered a foundation of a house believed to be Žižkas home when he was young, maybe born. There is a nice park and statue of Žižka there. Matěj Vůdce is translated as Matěj the Leader. Prokop Veliký is translated as Prokop the Great. Before he got nickname "veliký" (great) he was caled Prokop Holý (Prokop the bald). Budějovice is translated to german as "Budweis". Budweiser beer anyone? Taborites got their name after city of Tábor, founded by Hussites and named after biblical mount Tabor (or Thabor) near Jerusalem. City of Tábor is till today connected with Hussites and Jan Žižka and has nice catacombs and museum of Hussites as well as historical centre. Jan Žižka was very highly idealised by Czechoslovakian Communist party. After all he gathered "peasants" with "farm tools" and fought kapitalists (nobles, knights, church...) and Germans. That is the most communist thing you can do. That made him "proto communist" as the party sugested. Communists made him look at you from everywhere and made him so famous.
that's is not true at all. the only reason he was soo successful, was because is enemies here dumb as a rock. how many times do they have to charge at fortified position with cavalry and getting decimeted to learn??? not enough aparantly. in conclusion you are can't be considered a genius, if all around you are stupid,on the other end if everyone is smart and you can overcome them all, then that's a true genious that a true legendary commander.
Dont forget about ,in Czech history legendary, battle of Domažlice (1431) where the crusaders retreated after they heard Husites singing "Kdož Sú Boží bojovníci". Not a battle but still great example how moral in army can change things and sometimes decide entire battle
Well that was after many defeats they had with Hussites. They were just marching and heard that they are nearby and ready. They probably said " Fuck that shit! Let's go home bois! " 😂
I have long appreciated the leadership of Jan Zizka. It is my opinion he surpasses the leadership and strategic skills of many others. Legend has it that after his death his skin was removed from his back, tanned, and made into a drum so he would still lead his people in battle.
What Zizka achieved was impressive. He managed to defeat professional European armies filled with Knights and mercenaries using peasants and town-folks.
If he truly did was a blind general that won, he was an incredibly good communicator. Being able to ask the right questions, assuring him all the datas he needed and then communicating proper orders without seeing the battlefield. Pretty darn good!
@@Glowtrey In the video they missed important part of his tactic which landed him the first two victories. They baited the knights into swamps so they'd be weighed down with their armor and therefore easy targets for their ranged weapons.
I really liked this video, as Czech i thank you guys for this video, because not many foreing channels do videos about history of my nation. Sending regards from Czechia❤️
Wagenburg tactic was founded by Czechs, improved by Hungarians and ripened by the Ottomans. Fun fact that the Ottomans called this tactic as "Tabur Cengi" (Wagenburg-style battle) which refererred to a city in Czechia, Tabor.
Jan Zizka and El Cid are probably my favorite European medieval commanders. They were incredibly talented and up against severe odds that they both overcame. Absolute legends.
Overall a solidly researched short tribute to this grossly underrated historical figure and military innovator. Had he been born English, French, Spanish etc., he'd be a household name in Europe, and rightfully so. As a Czech, I appreciate the effort to pronounce Žižka's name correctly, although some of the other local and personal names weren't such a success, but that's quite understandable. The effort counts and it doesn't go unnoticed by us natives. There were very few factual errors, and those were mainly concentrated around the figure of the University rector, theologian, philosopher, and religious reformer Jan Hus. First of all, he was never anti-Catholic. He would consider himself the true Catholic, and it was the stereotypical debauched clergyman of the early 15th century who was the heretic in Hus' eyes. At no point did he renounce his Catholic faith, on the contrary, he lived and died convinced that what he did was right. Also, he wasn't immediately arrested and burned at stake, his trial was lengthy and in the beginning he had quite a few influential supporters inside and outside of the council, including Sigismund himself. But Jan Hus was as stubborn as a mule, and convinced about his truth and righteousness, which is best demonstrated by the fact, that the Emperor Sigismond himself visited Hus (not the other way around!) and pleaded with him to relent and come back into the fold. Bizarre as it seems, that actually did happen, and didn't win Jan Hus any favors. He treated the council members with similar attitude, believing God was on his side, and unwittingly behaving in a way that was insulting and demeaning to the ecclesiastical and secular authority, expecting that he would be given limitless opportunity to present his case and make the council members see the light. As time dragged on, the Hus trial became a very distracting sideshow of the council, that focused mainly on resolving the three Pope schism situation (as described in the video). Hus kept the council from attending to the affairs of continental importance, which didn't help him at all. This is not to say, that he was some sort of an egotistical attention-seeking narcissist, but rather a very complicated personality with a very rigid understanding of Christian morality and God's Law, utterly devoted to his faith. He wasn't an influence monger, or a medieval version of a televangelist, he truly and devoutly believed in what he preached at the Bethlehem Chapel in Prague, i.e. that the Church should be poor, humble, and helping, not triumphant, pompous, hubristic, and debauched. With his burning zeal, he managed to turn all the ecclesiastical pragmatists against himself, including those who were his allies in the beginning. In the end, Jan Hus proved to be his own worst enemy at the council. For those interested in Jan Hus and the Constance Trial, I recommend the well researched works of Jiří Kejř, and especially František Šmahel, who spent ages researching historical documents in Constance archives, so his books contain a lot of original 1st source research. The key works of the latter should also be available at least in German, if not in English. As for Jan Žižka, I'm aware of the existence of some English language biographies, but I sincerely doubt those can measure up to the monumental eponymous work of Petr Čornej from 2019, for which the author won the 2020 book of the year award in Czechia. I hope it get its English translation at some point. Fun fact: Jan Hus, apart from being a theologian, philosopher, educator, and a religious reformer/firebrand, was also a linguist. It was him, who authored the orthographic reform of Czech language, that saw among other things the introduction of "háček" (to denote the specific consonants like ž, ř, š, č, ď, ť, ň). And so, Jan Žižka owes Jan Hus not only the ideological underpinnings upon which the former built his renown as an undefeated general, but also the reformed spelling of his own childhood moniker (the old spelling would be Zsizska, or something similarly dreadful).
Well that's something which is called instinct. He even didn't need to see the battlefield or terrain. He could imagine how to location looked like and the rest did other people who told him details about enemy force.
Never clicked one of your videos so fast. Please do Prokop the Great next, he simply improved zizkas tactics and brought the hussite threat into the reichs borders. Im really excited to hear your version of the early hussite wars, one of my most favorite historical subjects.
Dear Bohemians and non-Bohemians, do not forget to read "Narrenturm" trilogy by author of "the Witcher", Andrzej Sapkowski. It tells the story of Hussites in mixed historical and fantasy narrative.
This is one of the many times in history where I really feel like we're just some kind of simulation that occasionally gets a "player" to play a game, literally playing half the world by their lonesome.
So often, with the power of hindsight, I wonder why historical generals - especially when vastly outmatched - weren't more "creative" with their tactics and tools. Jan Zizka is definitely the exception to that!
Maybe what we see as revolutionary was just a necessity - how to turn peasants with no military skills to a fight force? Don´t give them swords and shields and march them, it will not work. Just take the tools they use everyday, put a nail or two in them (woohoo, flail suddenly exists!) and put them on that wagon they drove in. Using wagon as a defensive tool was definitely not used here for first time in history. I believe in every siege there was a wagon put to block the road, breach etc. and made elevated platform for defenders. Žižka just took it on a new level. But after all, he was not given a force of mounted knights and semi/profesional traditional soldiers to lead. He had to use what he had and in that case, it is not that ilogical that he did what he did. And when it worked... legend was born. So maybe he wasn´t reinventing the wheel, so when you look at it from this perspective, is his thinking so radical? Genial? And I by no means mean to lessen the person Žižka was, just working with assumptions and theories...
I've watched kings and generals for year's now.. From manscavpped add's too advertising for a movie... Amazing to see and thanks for such great content. Very thankful.
So many Czechs will check this out. Including myself. He was rather controversial, in the town where I was born Žižka massacred over 1500 people, including locals and set many houses on fire. Now the town has a quarter and a street named after him. He brought similar destruction to other Czech cities. Žižka was a darling of the communists.
@@theawesomeman9821 Even Žižka was ashamed for this horrible massacre that turned my hometown into a ghost town for many years. He eventually got caught by karma and died In Přibyslav, which is less than 10 miles away from the town he pillaged, it is even in the same county and he's got a memorial there and, of course, a street.
Funny story, as I am reading current big book From Petr Cornej - "Blind" it this period doesnt necesarally means what it means today. It is rather that his vision was terrible, but he still had some sight. It is recorded that he decapitaded by himself several guys which you literally cannot do if... you know... you dont see at all :D
You didn't tell the perhaps most iconic battle of hussite wars - the battle of Domažlice - were the crusaders were defeated without a fight - because when The hussite started to sing they're choral the more numerous crusader army flee the battlefield
As a Czech, it's my patriotic duty not to skip commercials on a video talking about the Czech history or products. I am currently letting this video play on 2 of my devices while working. I implore all other Czechs to do the same, so we get more videos about our history, and maybe we will one day overcome what I call the Czech curse. That is, if we would invent cure for cancer, interstellar travel and open communication with God all in one day, no one outside of Czechia would know it was done by Czechs. 😁😁 Ahoj. 😉🇨🇿🍻
"Surrender Sigesmund, I have the wagenburg" "You underestimate my power zizka" *charges cavalery head first, gets gunned down* "You were our king, sigesmund, you were supposed to defend hus, not arrest him"
Hey guys, good historical movies come around very rarely and supporting them is the best way to ensure that we will be getting more, which will make our favorite thing in the world more popular and give us more things to watch. Get your tickets here: bit.ly/MdvlGT_KNG 📽🍿
What animation software do you guys use?
@@YusufDeenDocs1424 After Effects
@@KingsandGenerals please do hari singh nalwar and maharaja ranjit singh ji ,it's a Good niche area
Nice documentary to watch. I'm starting to get hungry.
@@wisdomleader85 for goulash
Zizka's eyes see nothing but victory
or just nothing 😀
Eye
@@bitspokes496 came here to say that
@@bitspokes496nope, both eyes. He lost his second eye after some time.
Charles IV, King of Bohemia and Holy Roman Emperor, had a long and successful reign. The Empire he ruled from Prague expaned, and his subjects lived in peace and prosperity. When he died, the whole Empire mourned. More than 7,000 people accompanied him on his last procession. The heir to the throne of the flourishing Empire was Charles' son, Wenceslas IV, whose father had prepared him for this moment all his life. But Wenceslas did not take after his father. He neglected affairs of state for more frivolous pursuits. He even failed to turn up for his own coronation as Emperor, which did little to endear him to the Pope. Wenceslas "the Idle" did not impress the Imperial nobility either. His difficulties mounted until the nobles, exasperated by the inaction of their ruler, turned for help to his half-brother, King Sigismund of Hungary. Sigismund decided on a radical solution. He kidnapped the King to force him to abdicate, then took advantage of the ensuing disorder to gain greater power for himself. He invaded Bohemia with a massive army and began pillaging the territories of the King's allies. It is here that my story begins...
I love that game so much! 😀❤️
@@dentingzero4908 serf simulator is a great game
😆 😅
Jesus Christ be Praised
"Henry! good to see you!"
The Czech videogame, Kingdome Come Deliverance takes place just a few years before Jan Žižka's rise to prominence, and the Hussite Wars discussed in this video. It is theoretically possible for Henry of Skalitz to shake hands with Jan Žižka.
Also, Žižka should be known as the father of mechanized warfare.
Wellllll.... Rozemberks are there :D
@@MintyLime703 Yes. I'm halfway through my first play, and I'm in for a few dozen hours. Few dozen hours of great fun, though. And I'm not sure if I'll be making another playthrough. The variety and choice options aren't that great.
Hey! Henry's here!
@@greyngreyer5 That's very good question. I absolutely loved the moment in KDC, where I was giving a sermon to good folks of Uzhitz because father Godwin was dead drunk after our night of drinking and other debauchery. You can bet I was praising the Husits movement during that sermon.
@@Hombremaniac Hahha that was my favorite mission too! The music and the choice of dialouge for Henry becoming incoherent was awesome.
I am already used to see top quality content here on this channel.
Just this time, as a native Czech, I must bow before an unusual language skill of this storyteller. Most of czech words used in this video related to city names and persons was pronounced perfectly or just with very minor flaws. It is very rare and uncommon, as we have some unique prononounced letters, to hear a foreigner with such good pronunciation.
If you do not have any previous experience with czech language, you must have trully unique linguistic sense.
And of course, excellent quality of content. Which probably won't surprise anyone watching this channel :) .
As a Chinese viewer I’m also impressed by the pronunciation of Chinese names. Top tier narration for sure.
The narrator, Devin, produces original storytelling content on his channel Game World Narratives, and more comedy focused videos on his other channel, This is Content. Both are really good.
Pardubice was not pronounced correctly at 5:55.
@@earthenjadis8199 Because it is not Pardubice, but another city - Budějovice (200km distance).
only ř was not that clear, but that even Slovaks cant say and who is closer to Czech than Slovak :D
Fun fact: After his death, Žižka allegedly ordered his men to skin his body and use his skin for a war drum, so that he could lead his men into battle even after death.
Bro he was badas for real😂🥶💯
Wait. Does this mean he wasn't undefeated? 🤔
If his skin-drum was there, and they ended up losing. 😳🪘
That honestly sound quite culty.
Aeneas Silvius Piccolomini wrote about this "drum of Žižka skin" in his Historia Bohemica. But it seems to be rather a metaphor.
That's probably not true.. It seems a little bit far fetched.. No pun intended
I love Jan Žižka he is a legend, and many Polish historians and armchair historians hold him in high regard.
Great respect to him, Jan hus and czech people fighting against Catholicism
@@Azhureus
Yeah, I read a little bit of it, but I haven't gotten around to buying it yet, maybe in the future
Edit: I read it.
@@shnarf9797
Yes, catholicism is a scourge
@@Azhureus wow wow wow!
@@Azhureus It's literaly the same as Witcher, but it takes place in fantasy version of our real world. 🙂
Žižka's name really echoed throughout Czech history - there was even a Yugoslav Partisan brigade named after him during World War 2, composed of Czechs and Slovaks from Croatia.
Didnt know that please tell me more
@@hattorihaso2579 thats all you get
@@БојанБјелић lol
During the WWI, one of the regiments of Czechoslovak legions was also named after Jan Žižka. (There was also one named after Jan Hus and another one named after Prokop Holý, another distinguished Hussite general---unless I'm very much mistaken.)
As a matter of fact, I always found it rather funny that my nation, generally seen as very peaceful (proverbially dove-like), actually has such a turbulent military history. Not only in the middle ages; the WWI Czechoslovak legions anabasis in Siberia is one of the most daring military manoeuvres in history. And you might also point out our ever-thriving arms industry; so successful that even the Soviets didn't override it and let the Communist Czechoslovakia manufacture its own weapon models (only requiring Warsaw Pact ammunition compatibility).
@@hattorihaso2579 During the time of the Austrohungarian empire. Many Poles, Czechs, Slovaks and Germans would move to the area today known as former Yugoslavia, mostly setting up in Croatia and Bosnia. Yugoslav Partisans also had a Polish brigade, and many jews had high offices, so many that Yugoslavia woukd have more Jewish generals than Israel.
I would love to see a deeper dive into Czech medieval history, the Kingdom's interactions with the HRE and the Hapsburg political influence later on.
@@Azhureus You need a time machine for that! P.S. Also play Kingdom Come: Deliverance, a respectably authentic RPG (like no other action game) set in this period.
*You can appreciate some of Czechia's Medieval figures from their old or modern currency designs. They are proud to showcase them in their coins and banknotes. :)*
@@Azhureus I am guessing we'll see more of the Hussites in KCD 2 which should also feature Prague
@@boredgunner Maybe Pargue could be in a cutscene. But I dont want be able to roam it. Im a big fan that every character has it own schedule and house/bed. It would be impossible for Prague tho, to many people. I dont want them to do like Skyrim either, having towns that are supposed to house thousands of people in lore, but in game just have a few people.
@@jonas7483 Not impossible especially with modern tech. That mindset is giving game studios excuses to not raise the bar. Skyrim is an 11 year old game build on 20 year old technology.
A global AI system like S.T.A.L.K.E.R.'s A-Life system + multithreading can handle it, especially combined with technology like UE5's world partition system so that it's not all actively loaded at once, along with mesh shader or UE5 Nanite so that you can render it all without LODs. But it would be a big undertaking for the artists of course.
If I get a penny every time the Czechs threw people outta the window of the city council of Prague, I'd have 3 pennies. It is not much but still incredible.
Actually we are close and closer to 4th Defenestrace (De = out, Fenestrace = similar to german verb Fenster that means window). People here are every year more angry because of politics.
You may see a 4th one soon. Unfortunatelly.
Time to give u 4th penny :)
The last defenestration took place in 1948. And we are not so far away from another one..
4*
There's some interesting parallels between Jan Zizka and the Korean Admiral Yi Sun-sin.
- Both primarily led armies in defensive struggles against overwhelming odds (defending against Catholic coalitions / defending against the Japanese)
- Both were undefeated in their particular area (land battles / naval battles)
- A good part of their victories can be ascribed to innovative armoured structures (Hussite wagon / turtle ship).
Both legends and national icons for their decedents up to this day as well of course!
Yi sun sin? Gotta read about him
Thank you for that comparison - I see the parallels between the two leaders.
So that is were Korean turtle ships came from. Got to read more about him.
Turtle ships actually weren't a big part of Yi's victories. It was more a combination of sturdy normal ships (small number of turtle ships to disrupt enemy formation), long range cannon tactics (compared to Japanese), and good use of geography and tides.
Thanks for telling the name.
So glad I had the opportunity to learn about this famous medieval European general. Big respect and greetings to great Czech people from Serbia !
Thank you and many greetings to our slavic brothers in Serbia . They will never defeat us united!
@@peterr8863 Panslavinism is bullshit and you know it. If you think you are slav, feel free to move towards the east.
Fan fact: The word Howitzer is derived from Houfnice (Houf - Crowd)....Hussites took a siege weapon and turned it into what could be called a massive shotgun....
YESSSSSSSSSSSS. One of the best Generals in military history! The Master of Asymmetrical warfare, Jan Zizka!!!!!!! The Hussite Wars are easily one of the most interesting conflicts in human history and are not well known. Thank you for this video.
@bastiat Good point. Although Ceasar lost one battle, the one against Pompeius - Battle of Dyrrhachium. I wonder if Žižka knew about details of Ceasar tactics but i doubt it.
@bastiat OK, thanks for details!
@@hyennussquatch4597 No, he lost against Vercingetorix at Georgia.
Keep in mind the Hussites Wars continued for a decade after his death, and even if his Taborites faction lost to the Utraquistes, the Hussites pretty much won the war against the Catholics thanks to his tactics and how he shaped the Hussite armies. Zizka's wasn't just undefeated, he got the greatest kind of last victory: A secured legacy. And that one is likely the hardest one to achieve. I mean... *Looking at Alexander and the Diadochi*
Alexander literally has one of the most significant legacies of an ruler. The whole Hellenistic era of art and history is a result of his conquests.
@Tomáš Novák While mostly true, current status is a consequence of centuries of religious oppression, firstly during the Habsburg's rule after thirty year's war, which forced people to convert back to Catholic Church and later, in 20th century, oppression of all religions during Communist regime.
@@Lectiuss HUsité katoliky neutiskovali, oni je upalovali v stodolách a topily ve studnách
Fun fact: word howitzer comes from butchered pronanciation of czech word houf whitch means crowd which nicely explaines how were canons on these waggons used. Because you would right before impact of enemy charge fire into their tightly packed formation, that would break their charge and cause panic among enemy soldiers.
Fun fact 2: world pistol also has roots in Husite wars. It comes from French pistolet, which is most likely derived from Czech píšťala (flute). Which was used to describe hand-held guns used in Husite wars
Seems more that the Czech word houf comes from the German word Haufen, which meant a weaponized crowd
@@Freigeist2008 both is true, original commenter made an oopsie, Howitzer doesn't come from "houf" but from "houfnice" which is the actually czech word which comes from german Haufe and added the variation of the slavic ending "-ice" effectivelly making it a new word used to describe their cannons that were used to shoot into crowds (hence why the word Haufe was used, after all czech at this time was already heavily influenced with the german language)
Pretty wild how language and words work!
@@Rhosus OK. This makes sense. Bohemia was part of HRE and it elites were definetly very germanized
One of the weapons used by hussites was "Píšťala" - gunpowder weapon in "hand cannon" family, and it is debated that word "Pistol" comes from this weapon. Another weapon - Houfnice - again gave name to whole weapon familly known in english as Howitzer. :)
20 more years, and they would have tanks
@@Pyrochemik007 Well, Leonardo da Vinci had plans for proto-tanks, but it was cca 70 years later, and in Italy :) But the inspiration could be there.
This guy is the definition of Alexander the Great’s quote: “I do not fear an army of lions lead by a sheep, but an army of sheep lead by a lion.” It may be misquoted, but that’s the gist of the quote
thats a good idea for a battle simulator
Well done content. I´ve recently read a great and detailed book: "Jan Durdík - Husitské vojenství" about Hussite wars and warfare. The point is that pretty soon after Battle of Vítkov Hill, the Hussite army was far away from being a bunch of untrained peasants. This idea was a common mistake in some later historiography. For example the cannons and other guns (houfnice, tarasnice, píšťala - hightech of that era) as well as gun powder were mass produced in Hussite towns. Bohemian towns were rich in these times and many of Hussite soldiers were from these cities. In fact, Žižka´s armies were perfectly trained and organized with complex logistics. In their biggest battles more than a thousand war wagons were cleverly employed. It required perfect, swift and effective organisation and tactics. Žižka armies were also able to march up to 50km per day which was unmatched since Roman times. In fact Žižka armies were the first field armies in Medieval times and the second in Europe since ancient Rome legions (hats off to Rome). The raised catholic armies were not trained in this complex manner at all and were stunned by the unorthodox modernity of Hussite tactics and their efficiency. One of the battles i like the most was at Kutná hora: Žižka army was surrounded by catholic armies. The situation would seem rather desperate for a normal general of that era. But Žižka decided to wait until it's night and what happened next was the first use of mobile artillery in history... Žižka grouped his war wagons into a column and charged the enemy lines. The war wagons advanced rapidly, with all of their guns blazing... so they escaped easily while crusaders panicked totally.. Later on Žižka saved Kutná Hora from serious fire and soon after they defeated Crusaders again at village of Hubry. Fascinating military history. It´s safe to say Žižka was one of the most successful military innovators ever. Almost like a guy from future who got back to early 15th century. I just want to mention Žižka´s military mentor, Moravian nobleman Jan Sokol of Lamberk, so called Wild Falcon (falcon means sokol in czech, 1355-1410) who is a bit forgotten today. He was extremely successful military commander who fought in battle of Grunwald where he led the 4th Banner of St. George to a great success and become close friend of Polish king. It would be interesting to see him in Hussite wars but unfortunately he was poisoned in 1410 probably by Polish nobility because of his influence on Polish king. If he had been alive after 1420, the Hussites would have had two military geniuses at the early stage of war. Lastly i want to mention Žižka´s successor Prokop the Great (named the Great by Aeneas Silvius Piccolomini in his Historia Bohemica) who was also very skilled commander and also a priest - an intelectual, fluent in many languages, manager of Hussites logistics + he´s never carried any personnal weapon. He lost only one battle - the last one between Bohemian factions at Lipany where he was killed.
Sounds interesting! What is the name of the book?
@@victorstock86 Jan Durdík - Husitské vojenství
Thanks for making this video! I was a script consultant on the film Medieval and it's great to get these Czech stories out into the world.
Thanks!
The Game Changer of warfare. Being able to defeat the most modern and experienced european armies with higher numbers TWICE, just with peasants,farmers,fishermen is just incredible. Jan Zizka is really underrated European General.
WELL... talks about defeats by dirty peasants were mostly spread in catholic countries by catholic people to ridicule unsuccessfull crusaders.
Hussite armies did make use of peasants as light infantry for flanking maneuvers, but their army cores were made up of various seasoned soldiers from town&castle garrisons experienced in defensive warfare.
Royal towns and castles were stockpiled with gun powder, cannons and handcannons used primarly in both siege and anti-siege roles. Hussites managed to improve upon them and develop few of their own designs, whose names are used even today. Names such as howitzer&pistol (back then of a size of a organ pipe). Hussite armies were modern in their own regard and were the first in Europe to use gun-powder weapons outside of purely siege warfare.
great man
great hero of a great nation
with love from Armenia
🇦🇲❤️🇨🇿
The history of Central and Eastern Europe is severely underrated. Any chances for videos about the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth?
Language barriers don’t help. Post-Roman places usually share lots of Latin vocabulary; Slavic places don’t. I can’t speak Portuguese, for example, but I can still mostly read it. But Korean or Bantu or Polish? I’m lost. I wish more translations were available. I’d love to hear about more than just Western Europe and the post-colonial Americas.
@@CourtneySchwartz Polish has so many words of Latin or French origin, that just knowledge of English helps you a lot with understanding Polish and that's why Poles don't understand Czech that good, because Czech mostly has Czech original words or more germanisms than latinisms. Don't forget that Czech lands and Poland were part of European "big history" for like 1000 years and you can see it even on vocabulary, while eastern slavic languages like Russian have totaly alien vocabulary for us, except some very old and basic words of slavic origin, but even basic vocabulary is very often totaly different between western and eastern slavic langauges. And latin was only official written language here for hundreds of years, same as in "post-Roman places" as you call it, we have much more common than you think.
@@CourtneySchwartz I know that history of Central and Eastern Europe is not as researched as that of Western Europe but let's not act as if there were no English language sources and research work at all.
What a legend this guy.
I couldn't even pick my groceries with 0 eyes
As far as I remember, Sigismund's "letter of safe conduct" was intended to protect Jan Hus on his way to Kostnice but not during his stay there (although Sigismund also protested against how Hus was treated there). Anyway, thank you very much for a video touching one of the most interesting (and intense) parts of Czech history.
If I remember correctly the letter arrived late or Hus left early and didn´t wait for it. It didn´t matter though, he was condemned long before he arrived to Konstanz.
the enemies of the Reformer were malignant and determined.
They appealed to the emperor’s prejudices, to his fears, to his zeal for
the church. They brought forward arguments of great length to prove
that “faith ought not to be kept with heretics, nor persons suspected of
heresy, though they are furnished with safe-conducts from the emperor
and kings.”-Jacques Lenfant, History of the Council of Constance, vol.
1, p. 516.
Zizka was one of the many talents the 15th century gave us ; Skanderbeg, Mehmed the Conqueror, Stephen III, Uzun Hasan, Ivan III, Matthias Corvinus, Murad II, John Hunyadi, Sejong,... a worthy end to the Medieval period
I agree.
Good names to mention. I was fascinated by late medieval / early modern warfare about a decade ago, and I don't remember who uzun Hasan was! Actually don't even recognize the name. I guess when I get on the computer later I'll have to look it up
Vlad worth a shout
@@steventhompson399 Uzun Hasan, a rival of Mehmed the Conqueror, was the ruler of the White Sheep Turcomans he transformed the small Akkoyunlu principality into a +2M km² empire conquering the Karakoyunlu and defeating the Timurids in the process. I definitely recommend you to research about this big man
@@nenenindonu and got destroyed by Mehmed the conqueror at the battle of otlukbeli
The Hussite wagons were very innovative and effective in turning the tide of battle during the late medieval period. Unfortunately just like armored knights, they too would become obsolete when field artillery became more prevalent on the battlefield.
Armored knights didn't become obsolete until the late 16th century at the earliest. & winged hussars continued to be successful long after that. Variations of wagon forts saw use in the 19th century, in specific contexts.
I always wondered why it is better to use cannons (ie guns) and not trucks with guns...
@@ladaprchal5471 I think that until very recently the recoil of a heavy canon would not allowed it to be mounted on a truck, even on boat the recoil of canon was tempered with ropes and pulleys (a disposition to cumbersome to be replicate inside a truck)
But many time a position would be fortified and canon would be position inside this fortified position.
Horses could be use to move canon faster ergo rendering the use of truck pointless
@@AelricVarnis_1482 can we have some myth busters here? Because I believe i can craft wagoon using 15th cen tools that would be able to withstand recoil :D
You have swiss pike squares, spanish tercios and early musket line formations before field artillery became prevalent.
And its not like armored knights became obsolete, i wouldnt bet too much on wagon fort army against combined arms of that period.
Thank you for a very fine historical video on Zizka, a man of legendary military prowess. I regard him as a hero to all Protestants. I am now looking forward to the movie "Medieval" even more than I had been before watching Kings and Generals' video on his life and times! I've always wondered why Jan Huss would have trusted officials of the Catholic Church to respect a safe conduct. What a horrible betrayal and murder!
The movie is quite bad, hardly anything to do with the real life.
Fascinating subject - I'm currently reading "The Hussite Trilogy" by Andrzej Sapkowski. I strongly recommend those books (historical novel with fantasy elements :))
Loved that story. But damn. Tears in my eyes.
If someone doesn't know its the same guy who wrote Witcher books
@Jakub B. Thank you for that recommendation!
I finished Lux Perpetua a month ago. Really enjoyed the trilogy, although Witcher will always be my favourite.
@@8Paul7 finished witcher, and am on book to of the hussite trilogy now, I think I'll feel the same but who knows!
A very underrated point of history. The cracks in the Catholic Church were clear from the mid 15th century. Hussite’s were the reform before the reform …
Glad to see the legend Žižka gets featured on this channel.
Ahh, finally something about my homeland! How long have I been wating for this!
It woud be so cool to see some video about operation Anthropoid, as this year is 80th anniversary of this operation. Also huge event in Czech/Czechoslovak history.
I don't think it's that well known, but the whole story and the consequences of assassination of Reinhard Heydrich are sooo interesting.
As always--comprehensive, enlightening, precise, pleasant to listen to, entertaining, and you always come away knowing more than before!
About the part at 11:30; simultaneously many (although not that many) knights from Poland and the Grand Dutchy of Lithuania (Ruthenians included) came to the Hussites' aid, led by the adventurous Lithuanian prince Sigismund Korybut. It's complicated.
BTW the second name of this Sigismund (not to be confused with the King talked about in this video) actually should be a patronymic derived from Korybut (Kaributas), which was his father's name, but it has so many versions in the relevant languages (Lithuanian: Kaributaitis; Belarusian: Карыбутавіч; Polish: Korybutowicz; Czech: Korybutovič; Ukrainian: Корибутович), that apparently he is just called Korybut in the English sources.
True, they eventually became friends with Žižka, although Žižka was a very complicated character and was at odds with a lot of people. Korybut called him father (otče) and Žižka called him my lord son (pan syn).
'Tábor' literally means 'camp' in czech. They hid the entire battle behind wagons. the Hussites were literally 'campers'.
Actually, it's the other way round 🙂. The Hussite founded city Tábor was named after the biblical mount Tabor (in Israel; Har Tavor in Hebrew). This name was also used for their military camps, as in “camp of those from Tábor”, later on for any military camp and even later also for tent camps in general. So nowadays Czech campers, táborníci, are literary “Hussites from Tábor“.
I am from city Tábor and every year we organize a Hussitian historical festival, the second weekend in September. (lots of mead)
Tabor is Ukrainian means exactly the same camp.
Which means that the first COD kid was the pope
I watched this movie the other night. It was very gripping. I imagined myself living in 1390 in medieval times. The amount of graphic violence with swords, axes, knives and improvised weapons. Some of the men were hardened warriors who seemed super human. I wish the script had more of historical context. Brit actor Michael Caine was a treat to watch. He is an accomplished actor and sharp as ever!
Zizka never lost a battle. Not many commanders can say that.
His life was a classic example of “truth is often more wild then fiction.”
@Michael Singer Zizka, Alexander, Khalid Ibn Walid, Marlborough and Suvorov are the only undefeated commanders in history.
I am Czech and I feel deep pride of Zizka and Kings&Generals channel ❤️🇨🇿
Amazing work on the video, I am very pleased, that you did great content about our great hetman Jan Žižka z Trocnova a Kalicha, greeting from the Bohemian lands :).
Hussite Trilogy by Andrzej Sapkowski (author of the Witcher series) is a must read if you want an interesting take on Hussite wars.
I liked it, overall, but at times it goes too deep into magical realism.
@@KingsandGenerals I'd say it goes beyond that, being a historical fantasy; like a 15th-century version of "urban fantasy", with a whole magical/supernatural world barely hidden in a real-life setting. Plus it's very tongue-in-cheek, with plenty of more or less (or not at all) subtle references to later periods, including modern times.
I think he tries to walk a fine line and not go into fantasy. Every fantastical event can be explained away with drugs, dreams, hallucinations. At times, it reads like a medieval chronicle of a crazy monk who can't decide what is real and what is not, at times it reminds me of the drunk conversations with my Slavic friends in the university years. It is very unique :-)
The Hungarians took over some Hussite inventions from the Czechs, when they fought with the Turks. János Hunyadi employed these Hussite wagons successfully in the battle of Jalomicia (now Romania) in 1442.
Ex-Taborites fought under Hunyadi's command against Turks.
@@Zadlo14 they was very popular after hussite wars and in the time of george of poděbrady they was most used mercenaries in europe , they are very good portrayed in battle of Schönberg 1504
I did not realize when I first watched the trailer for Medieval that it was a Jan Zizka story. Was planning to see it regardless, but now I have more motivation.
sorry to disappoint you, but that is a fantasy story. No wonder its just called "Medieval".
Don't listen to him, many czechs has negative bias toward the film before even watching it. It's kind of our national sport to act like we know everything about anything (we have beautiful sarcastic word for this sort of people, it goes ,,všeználek" which means literally ,,all-knower" 😆 yea also they love to argue so be expecting some hate shitstorm
@@bubakbubakovic9286 I never met czech like you described and i lived there almost 8 years but i heard this a lot so its probably overused stereotype people say if they want push their narrative and have nothing else to say - Germans,French and Americans are know it alls everytime you meet one .... btw movie is really nothing awesome and im not czech so ....
@@bubakbubakovic9286 Although you're right, it doesn't change the fact that Medieval is a fantasy movie
You've mentioned 1410 Grunwald as 'arguably the largest battle ever fought in medieval Europe'. I think it would be nice to actually prepare a video (series?) on the largest (rather than most-well-known or having the biggest impact) battles of middle ages. Or maybe extend this to several periods? Or one battle per century? It would be interesting to compare data of various engagements... One little-known candidate for XVII c would be for sure battle of Berestechko....
Berestechko is clearly worth a video. But was it really bigger than the more famous Battle of Vienna? The numbers of participants appear controversial and a bit exaggerated in some sources. If we go with the lower numbers recorded, it was only close to Vienna or about the same size.
@@reinercelsus8299 Oh - I believe it was a larger battle, you have doubts. But I think that's the whole point - it would be great to have numbers dragged into the light, verified, disputed, compared. Sometimes events are better known for their dramaturgy than for size itself (like Vienna). Another example from PLC side could be 1621 Battle of Khotyn (the first one). In the sense of Ottoman casualties and direct short-time impact (Osman II murdered) for sure heavier than Vienna (again, at least from PLC perspective). But little known outside Poland....
@@marcinterlecki6021 It's often hard to know the exact numbers for many battles.
For Berestechko, one source is talking of 110k cossacks and tatars, another one of 200k. Similar issue with Vienna, there were either 150k Ottomans or more likely only about 100k involved in the battle. So the question which battle was bigger would always depend on the source and numbers you believed. The Battle of Khotyn was indeed unknown to me so far. Definitely a big battle that deserved a video too. I think Vienna was in so far a bit more memorable since it turned the tide against the Ottomans. They were forced to draw back from then and did never again become as powerful as they used to be.
You should read about the battle of Mohylew!
They don't know what happened in 1651 in Berestechko :'(
In the second anti-hussitan crusade, during the battle of Kuttenberg (Kutná hora), Žižka further improved his tactics, harassing the crusader army with cannons and handguns mounted to wagons, thus creating the first mobile artillery unit ever.
Wasnt Indians mounting small canons on elephants since they first encoutered black powder?
@@molmonlomek6336 black powder was invented by the Chinese
@@molmonlomek6336 maybe? But zizka was definitely the father of mobile artillery in Europe
@molmonlomek6336 persians also did this with camels
I haven't even watched the video yet and I already know that it is going to be amazing. Žižka was truly a madman and a genius. I have waited so long for you to expand on the Hussite wars and finally the waiting is over!
I love idea of learning more about Central Europe and this video looks amazing as usual for kings and general. Your one my favourite history and battle channels I’ve learnt so much .
Excellent video, as always. Just few notes:
Jan Žižka z Trocnova is translated as Jan Žižka from Trocnov, so he was not born in place called "Trocnova", as you say in the beginning, but "Trocnov".
Trocnov is today still a small village and in a vincinity of todays village, in 1956 there was uncovered a foundation of a house believed to be Žižkas home when he was young, maybe born. There is a nice park and statue of Žižka there.
Matěj Vůdce is translated as Matěj the Leader.
Prokop Veliký is translated as Prokop the Great. Before he got nickname "veliký" (great) he was caled Prokop Holý (Prokop the bald).
Budějovice is translated to german as "Budweis". Budweiser beer anyone?
Taborites got their name after city of Tábor, founded by Hussites and named after biblical mount Tabor (or Thabor) near Jerusalem. City of Tábor is till today connected with Hussites and Jan Žižka and has nice catacombs and museum of Hussites as well as historical centre.
Jan Žižka was very highly idealised by Czechoslovakian Communist party. After all he gathered "peasants" with "farm tools" and fought kapitalists (nobles, knights, church...) and Germans. That is the most communist thing you can do. That made him "proto communist" as the party sugested. Communists made him look at you from everywhere and made him so famous.
Jan Zizka, one of the best commanders in history
that's is not true at all.
the only reason he was soo successful, was because is enemies here dumb as a rock.
how many times do they have to charge at fortified position with cavalry and getting decimeted to learn??? not enough aparantly.
in conclusion you are can't be considered a genius, if all around you are stupid,on the other end if everyone is smart and you can overcome them all, then that's a true genious
that a true legendary commander.
Fine man with slavic strength, slavic courage, slavic character. Fought on Polish side at Grunwald in 1410, against West-Teutonic Crusaders.
Jan Zizka is also ranked, among the top 10 best generals who ever lived, and then I'm generous,
because certainly in the top 3 might also work.
It's so great to see this one up! A fascinating personality and period of time.
When you guys go to Prague, I highly recommend visiting Zizkov - the quarter named after Jan Zizka and the world's best partying spot.
Dont forget about ,in Czech history legendary, battle of Domažlice (1431) where the crusaders retreated after they heard Husites singing "Kdož Sú Boží bojovníci". Not a battle but still great example how moral in army can change things and sometimes decide entire battle
Or they really sucked at singing :D
Well that was after many defeats they had with Hussites. They were just marching and heard that they are nearby and ready. They probably said " Fuck that shit! Let's go home bois! " 😂
Suprisingly highly accurate depiction of his early days according to newest history book on him. kudos
I have long appreciated the leadership of Jan Zizka. It is my opinion he surpasses the leadership and strategic skills of many others. Legend has it that after his death his skin was removed from his back, tanned, and made into a drum so he would still lead his people in battle.
What Zizka achieved was impressive. He managed to defeat professional European armies filled with Knights and mercenaries using peasants and town-folks.
It’s not just impressive it’s world shattering achievement
Partisans, Chetniks, WW2!Resistance Movements, Vietcong, Afhani Rebels : *"Impressive. Most Impressive."*
If he truly did was a blind general that won, he was an incredibly good communicator. Being able to ask the right questions, assuring him all the datas he needed and then communicating proper orders without seeing the battlefield. Pretty darn good!
@@Glowtrey In the video they missed important part of his tactic which landed him the first two victories. They baited the knights into swamps so they'd be weighed down with their armor and therefore easy targets for their ranged weapons.
And did it blind later in his career still winning every time
I really liked this video, as Czech i thank you guys for this video, because not many foreing channels do videos about history of my nation.
Sending regards from Czechia❤️
Wagenburg tactic was founded by Czechs, improved by Hungarians and ripened by the Ottomans. Fun fact that the Ottomans called this tactic as "Tabur Cengi" (Wagenburg-style battle) which refererred to a city in Czechia, Tabor.
¡Gracias!
Jan Zizka and El Cid are probably my favorite European medieval commanders. They were incredibly talented and up against severe odds that they both overcame. Absolute legends.
Like Geralt of Rivia!
@@theawesomeman9821 i never thought of that he really does feel like he was inspired by commanders like them
@@geordiejones5618 the auther of the Witcher character is Central Slavic, so of course Geralt would resemble Jan Zizka in some ways
Thumbs up for our brave Czech brethren!
Jan Zizka obviously played a bunch of total war growing up because damn boy got legendary difficulty tactics
War wagoon death stack needs nerfing
The word howitzer is derived from the Czech word houfnice, the medieval version of the artillery was used by the Hussites in there battles.
Overall a solidly researched short tribute to this grossly underrated historical figure and military innovator. Had he been born English, French, Spanish etc., he'd be a household name in Europe, and rightfully so.
As a Czech, I appreciate the effort to pronounce Žižka's name correctly, although some of the other local and personal names weren't such a success, but that's quite understandable. The effort counts and it doesn't go unnoticed by us natives.
There were very few factual errors, and those were mainly concentrated around the figure of the University rector, theologian, philosopher, and religious reformer Jan Hus.
First of all, he was never anti-Catholic. He would consider himself the true Catholic, and it was the stereotypical debauched clergyman of the early 15th century who was the heretic in Hus' eyes. At no point did he renounce his Catholic faith, on the contrary, he lived and died convinced that what he did was right.
Also, he wasn't immediately arrested and burned at stake, his trial was lengthy and in the beginning he had quite a few influential supporters inside and outside of the council, including Sigismund himself. But Jan Hus was as stubborn as a mule, and convinced about his truth and righteousness, which is best demonstrated by the fact, that the Emperor Sigismond himself visited Hus (not the other way around!) and pleaded with him to relent and come back into the fold. Bizarre as it seems, that actually did happen, and didn't win Jan Hus any favors. He treated the council members with similar attitude, believing God was on his side, and unwittingly behaving in a way that was insulting and demeaning to the ecclesiastical and secular authority, expecting that he would be given limitless opportunity to present his case and make the council members see the light. As time dragged on, the Hus trial became a very distracting sideshow of the council, that focused mainly on resolving the three Pope schism situation (as described in the video). Hus kept the council from attending to the affairs of continental importance, which didn't help him at all.
This is not to say, that he was some sort of an egotistical attention-seeking narcissist, but rather a very complicated personality with a very rigid understanding of Christian morality and God's Law, utterly devoted to his faith. He wasn't an influence monger, or a medieval version of a televangelist, he truly and devoutly believed in what he preached at the Bethlehem Chapel in Prague, i.e. that the Church should be poor, humble, and helping, not triumphant, pompous, hubristic, and debauched. With his burning zeal, he managed to turn all the ecclesiastical pragmatists against himself, including those who were his allies in the beginning. In the end, Jan Hus proved to be his own worst enemy at the council.
For those interested in Jan Hus and the Constance Trial, I recommend the well researched works of Jiří Kejř, and especially František Šmahel, who spent ages researching historical documents in Constance archives, so his books contain a lot of original 1st source research. The key works of the latter should also be available at least in German, if not in English.
As for Jan Žižka, I'm aware of the existence of some English language biographies, but I sincerely doubt those can measure up to the monumental eponymous work of Petr Čornej from 2019, for which the author won the 2020 book of the year award in Czechia. I hope it get its English translation at some point.
Fun fact: Jan Hus, apart from being a theologian, philosopher, educator, and a religious reformer/firebrand, was also a linguist. It was him, who authored the orthographic reform of Czech language, that saw among other things the introduction of "háček" (to denote the specific consonants like ž, ř, š, č, ď, ť, ň). And so, Jan Žižka owes Jan Hus not only the ideological underpinnings upon which the former built his renown as an undefeated general, but also the reformed spelling of his own childhood moniker (the old spelling would be Zsizska, or something similarly dreadful).
It would be awesome to see a full series similar to the Alexander The Great series, if ever there becomes an opportunity. Really fascinating video!
Great video. Couple weeks ago I've been to Tábor, Hussites capital. They have one of these wagons on a main square :)
Jan Zizka is one of greatest commanders in the history. Hats off.
I remember you did cover his battles and explained in detail the Hussite movement in one of your previous medieval videos.
imagine fighting a blind man and still losing
Sigismund moment
@@KingsandGenerals Worse Than His Defeat BACK AT Nicopolis, September 25th 1396 !!!
Imagine you organize a crusade and all your knights run away when they hear the Hussites singing.
Well that's something which is called instinct. He even didn't need to see the battlefield or terrain. He could imagine how to location looked like and the rest did other people who told him details about enemy force.
@@aleksandarvil5718To be fair that was the Burgundian knights that lost them the battle.
Never clicked one of your videos so fast. Please do Prokop the Great next, he simply improved zizkas tactics and brought the hussite threat into the reichs borders. Im really excited to hear your version of the early hussite wars, one of my most favorite historical subjects.
The man, the myth, the legend who trolled the Holy Roman Emperor into depression
Dear Bohemians and non-Bohemians, do not forget to read "Narrenturm" trilogy by author of "the Witcher", Andrzej Sapkowski. It tells the story of Hussites in mixed historical and fantasy narrative.
That's the next one I was waiting for! Thanks a lot Kings&Generals!
Thank you for being so hard working
Nice video. As always, Ben Foster is great in the movie Medieval.
Hey, guys. Any plans on covering the second siege of Vienna?
GREAT VIDEO GUYS!
This is one of the many times in history where I really feel like we're just some kind of simulation that occasionally gets a "player" to play a game, literally playing half the world by their lonesome.
"DEUS VULT"
"Sir we may be in trouble"
"Why? they've hired mercenaries?"
"No, they have wagons sir"
"My god"
So often, with the power of hindsight, I wonder why historical generals - especially when vastly outmatched - weren't more "creative" with their tactics and tools. Jan Zizka is definitely the exception to that!
The problem with trying to think outside the box is that more often than not you just ended up making defeating you easier.
Maybe what we see as revolutionary was just a necessity - how to turn peasants with no military skills to a fight force? Don´t give them swords and shields and march them, it will not work. Just take the tools they use everyday, put a nail or two in them (woohoo, flail suddenly exists!) and put them on that wagon they drove in.
Using wagon as a defensive tool was definitely not used here for first time in history. I believe in every siege there was a wagon put to block the road, breach etc. and made elevated platform for defenders. Žižka just took it on a new level.
But after all, he was not given a force of mounted knights and semi/profesional traditional soldiers to lead. He had to use what he had and in that case, it is not that ilogical that he did what he did. And when it worked... legend was born.
So maybe he wasn´t reinventing the wheel, so when you look at it from this perspective, is his thinking so radical? Genial? And I by no means mean to lessen the person Žižka was, just working with assumptions and theories...
@@cloudjumper8868 In hindsight, probably more than a little of both.
I hadnt even heard of the movie before I watched this video. I went to go see it just a couple of days later and I'm glad I did.
As a Czech, thank you for spreading our history.
I've watched kings and generals for year's now.. From manscavpped add's too advertising for a movie... Amazing to see and thanks for such great content. Very thankful.
Excellent video. Make a video about Charles iv someday if you please.
So many Czechs will check this out. Including myself. He was rather controversial, in the town where I was born Žižka massacred over 1500 people, including locals and set many houses on fire. Now the town has a quarter and a street named after him. He brought similar destruction to other Czech cities. Žižka was a darling of the communists.
@@Pucukax its still a warcrime
@@theawesomeman9821 Even Žižka was ashamed for this horrible massacre that turned my hometown into a ghost town for many years. He eventually got caught by karma and died In Přibyslav, which is less than 10 miles away from the town he pillaged, it is even in the same county and he's got a memorial there and, of course, a street.
Human history is full of warcrimes...
Finally jan zizka is very underrated generals he was a military genius
Highly recommend people visit town of Tabor in Czech. Zižka's base I believe. 1 of the wagons used remains in the square.
As a Czech I have to compliment you on your pronounciation. Keep up the good work
I just finished the age of empires 2 campaign for Bohemians and had to learn more about this guy. Lo and behold you've recently made a video on him
Funny story, as I am reading current big book From Petr Cornej - "Blind" it this period doesnt necesarally means what it means today. It is rather that his vision was terrible, but he still had some sight. It is recorded that he decapitaded by himself several guys which you literally cannot do if... you know... you dont see at all :D
Those were the times. Jan is my hero. I live in Žižkov. Hrr na ně !!
You didn't tell the perhaps most iconic battle of hussite wars - the battle of Domažlice - were the crusaders were defeated without a fight - because when The hussite started to sing they're choral the more numerous crusader army flee the battlefield
Žižka was already dead by that time..
Outstanding!! This was extremely helpful information!! Thank You 😊
We should assume that Žižka had very good lieutenants when he was blinded.
Zizka is one of the most legendary figures not just in European history but in world history
As a Czech, it's my patriotic duty not to skip commercials on a video talking about the Czech history or products. I am currently letting this video play on 2 of my devices while working. I implore all other Czechs to do the same, so we get more videos about our history, and maybe we will one day overcome what I call the Czech curse. That is, if we would invent cure for cancer, interstellar travel and open communication with God all in one day, no one outside of Czechia would know it was done by Czechs. 😁😁
Ahoj. 😉🇨🇿🍻
Why are you using the Filipino flag?
That's the Chilean flag, look closer
I didn't know they had beer on Filipino nor Chilean flags. Learn something new every day. 🤷♂️😁
Soo... i get that you want us to... Czech your history?
🇨🇿❤️🇺🇦
Well done with comprehensive narrative supported by superb graphics.
My Czech family is from Kutna Hora.
"Surrender Sigesmund, I have the wagenburg"
"You underestimate my power zizka" *charges cavalery head first, gets gunned down*
"You were our king, sigesmund, you were supposed to defend hus, not arrest him"
Wow your pronunciation of Žižka is spot on!