Focus on Tactics: “The One-Eyed General and the Development of Wagenburg Tactics”
During the Hussite Crusades (1420-1434) the brilliant Czech general Jan Žižka (“the One-Eyed”, 1360-1424) introduced an innovative tactic to late medieval warfare, the Wagenburg, that witnessed horse-drawn war wagons moving on campaign in columns, then quickly forming up in a defensive wagon laager to create a mobile fortress to protect their troops. Wagenburg tactics showcased tried-and-true and new technologies side-by-side in a combined-arms synthesis, with Hussite soldiers using the gunpowder artillery, crossbows, and a variety of handheld weapons in concert to defend the wagons, while providing well-placed gaps between carriages for well-timed cavalry and infantry counterattacks against their Roman Catholic foes. Named after their martyred leader Jan Hus (1369-1415) the Hussites rebelled against their German overlords throughout Bohemia and Moravia seeking the right to worship their own version of Christianity. Led by the experienced Žižka, the Hussite army was known for using…
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