… and let them be ashamed of their strength and their cavalry.
The First Book of Maccabees 4:31
Military affairs at the turn of the eras. In the previous article, we got acquainted with the armored horsemen of Gustav Adolf and the "winged hussars" of the Commonwealth, who played a very important role in the defeat of the Turks under the walls of Vienna. But one should not think that these splendid horsemen exhausted the equestrian forces of the united Polish-Lithuanian state. Of course not, there were other horsemen there, and that's what we'll get to know today.
The armor starts and … loses
The end of the Thirty Years War, which many historians have called the "First World War", also marked the end of a very long transition period, when weapons manufacturers competed almost on equal terms with armor manufacturers. Firearms now predominate over armor in land warfare, and the rivalry between armor and projectile lost its relevance until the appearance of the first tanks in 1917.
However, in the East, the development of protection for horsemen lagged behind Western Europe for a century. In the second half of the 17th century. horsemen, dressed in chain mail, whose equipment had not changed for a thousand years, met in the vastness of Russia, Poland, Ukraine, Hungary and Turkish territories. Well, in Tibet, riders in chain mail rode around back in 1935! There were several reasons why this type of protective gear persisted for so long in the East but disappeared in the West.
Chain mail for the East
In 1600, Graz workshops were still producing short chain mail shirts, "briefs", "capes", collars and sleeves to protect parts of the body, which, so to speak, "protruded" from the invulnerable armor. However, a pair of sleeves cost 10 guilders, a full chain shirt 25, and a full set of armor only 65 guilders. The armor provided much better protection, and the forging technology was more sophisticated and cheaper than welding or riveting small iron rings. Therefore, due to the high price and insufficient protection that chain mail gave, in the West at the beginning of the 17th century it was almost completely abandoned.
In the East, everything was different. Every village blacksmith knew how to cut iron rings and turn them into chain mail. The cost of this labor was much lower, since no special qualifications or sophisticated tools or furnaces were required to make the drawing plates. Therefore, almost until the end of the 19th century, chain mail shirts were produced in Afghanistan and Iran, and they were worn almost like a national costume.
In the western armies, the ratio of infantry to cavalry was about three to one. In the East, everything was the other way around: the rider was still the backbone of the army, and his main weapons were a spear, a saber, a long sword for a thrusting blow and a compound bow. Against this weapon, chain mail and a round shield gave quite adequate protection.
Second most important
So in Poland, along with men at arms dressed in plate armor, throughout the 17th century there were horsemen dressed in chain mail, which were called carapaces. Judging by the inventories drawn up before the Battle of Vienna (1683), there were 8,874 shells under 84 flags; this was more than half of all Polish cavalry at the time. They, too, belonged to the heavy cavalry, and were divided into groups of 100 people. They were served by people who belonged mainly to the middle and lower nobility. They were armed with a spear 3 m long, a saber, a long straight konchar sword up to 170 cm long, usually worn on the left side of the saddle, a shipbuilding saber, a composite bow and a round shield (kalkan). Some of the shells who fought in Vienna also had a pair of pistols in embroidered saddle holsters.
What happened after the Battle of Mojács?
Now let's go to another eastern kingdom of Hungary and see what happened there at the turn of the eras. And there, in 1526, the Hungarian army was defeated by the Turks at the Battle of Mohacs. The king and the cream of the nobility perished in this battle, and Hungary fell into three parts: one was occupied by the Turks, who established their own administration there; another became dependent on Vienna, hoping to get protection from the Turks; the third proclaimed its king and adopted Protestantism so that the feudal lords there could seize the rich lands of the Catholic Church. These disagreements led to constant conflict over the next 300 years: part of the Hungarian nobility recognized the rule of the Habsburgs, some fought against them along with the Turks, and some with the Habsburgs against the Turks. Alliances depended on circumstances and assessments of what was seen as the greatest evil at any given moment.
During the "Great Turkish March" to Vienna (1683), Austria was devastated by the Tatars and light Hungarian horsemen - hussars. They were led by Imre Thokli, a Hungarian prince who rebelled against the Habsburgs. With the help of allied forces from Poland and the troops of the German principalities, the Austrians managed to defend Vienna, and then launch an offensive against Turkey. Moreover, the experience of the war led to the fact that already in 1686 the Austrian army was reorganized. And it was then, as part of this reorganization and preparing for further advance to the east, the Austrian Emperor Leopold I in 1688 created the first regular Austrian hussar regiment. It consisted of Hungarian émigrés who ended up in the territory under his control and who took the oath of allegiance to the Austrian crown. This regiment in its equipment became the complete opposite of the Polish hussars, although its effectiveness was high. In France, the first hussar regiment was formed in 1692, and in Spain in 1695.
Paid from the treasury
In the Austrian army before, there were temporary detachments of light horsemen, which could number up to 3,000 people. They were led by Hungarian and Croatian nobles who could change overnight, especially if the Viennese court tried to force them to fulfill their feudal obligations. Leopold ordered Count Adam Chobor to select 1000 people and form a hussar regiment, which will be paid from the imperial treasury, and take an oath of allegiance to the crown. It was to consist of men between the ages of 24 and 35 and have horses between the ages of 5 and 7. According to the state, the regiment was supposed to have ten companies of 100 hussars in each. Officers of other Austrian regular cavalry units did not have a high opinion of the hussars, and considered them "little better than bandits on horseback." However, they were very effective in the war, which is why in 1696 a second regiment was formed under the command of Colonel Dick; the third, commanded by Colonel Forgach, was created in 1702.
Five-horse riders and scarlet horsemen
Local Muslims living in the border regions of the Ottoman Empire could also be recruited into mercenary units to act against Austria and Hungary. They were called at-kulu. This is the general name for irregular cavalry units in the Turkish provincial troops and in the troops of the Crimean khans. These detachments numbered from 20 to 50 people; their task was to protect the border, and they also played the role of a reserve for the army in the event of war. Beshley - letters.; type of light cavalry troops under the governors of the provinces. They received their salary of five acce * per day from the income of the eyalet **. In the fortresses, beshli were created from among the local residents and were intended to repel sudden attacks of the enemy. There were also such detachments under the Wallachian governor. A special position was occupied by beshli detachments, created from the Janissaries, who also received five akche a day. They were intended for reconnaissance of the path when the army was on the march. The beshli of the Turks commanded each such detachment, aha. The smaller unit (ode - "barracks") was commanded by the odabasa. In 1701, on the Austrian border, the commander Bayram-aga had 48 people at his disposal: his deputy (tsehai), warrant officer (bayrektar), quartermaster (gulaguz), scribe (kyatib), four officers (approval) and 40 horsemen (faris). Their daily salary was: aha - 40 akche, tsehai - 20, bayrektar - 15, gulaguz and kyatib - 13, odabasa - 12 and faris - 11.
During the war, several detachments of 500-1000 people made up a larger formation (alai), commanded by the alaybey. Bey was the lowest-ranking officer in the Ottoman army who was allowed to wear one ponytail (bunchuk ***); a bey (beylerbey) could wear two, a vizier three, and the sultan had four bunchuk.
Among Asian tribes, the number of tails on a shaft meant a lot, but the general rule was one: the more ponytails, the more important the person giving the order, and therefore the order itself. Over time, the bunchuk became a military flag, which the Turks brought from Central Asia and spread over the territories they conquered. In the 17th century, they were partially replaced in the regular army, modeled on European ones, but semi-regular and irregular light cavalry units continued to use them until the end of the 19th century.
References
1. Richard Brzezinski & Richard Hook. The Army of Gustavus Adolphus (2): Cavalry. Osprey Publishing Ltd. (MEN-AT-ARMS 262), 1993.
2. Richard Brzezinski & Velimir Vuksic. Polish Winged Hussar 1576-1775. Osprey Publishing Ltd. (WARRIOR 94), 2006.
3. Richard Brzezinski & Graham Turner. Lützen 1632. Climax of the Thirty years war. Osprey Publishing Ltd. (CAMPAIGN 68), 2001.
4. Richard Bonney. The Thirty Years' War 1618-1648. Osprey Publishing Ltd., (ESSENTIAL HISTORIES 29), 2002.
5. Richard Brzezinski & Angus McBride. Polish Armies 1569-1696 (1). (MEN-AT-ARMS 184), 1987.
6. V. Vuksic & Z. Grbasic. Cavalry. The history of fighting elite 650BC - AD1914. Cassell, 1994.
