Hussars played a decisive role in many battles in which it participated: the battle of Orsha in 1514, and the battle of Obertyn in 1531. The outcome of the battle of Lyubeshov (1577) predetermined the actions of the hussar Stephen Báthory. Then followed a series of victories in the war with Russia (1577–1582). Further victories were achieved over the Habsburgs of Bychin (1588) and over the Moldavians under Bukov in 1600. Hussars at that time accounted for 75% of the entire Polish cavalry and were considered invincible. Then came triumphant victories over the Swedish army, numerically superior to the Poles, at Kokenhausen (1601), Wassenstein (1604) and at the Battle of Kirholm in 1605, and also over the Russian-Swedish army at Klushin in 1610.
The Polish Hussaria reached its greatest number in 1621 – its number in the Khotyn battle was 8,280.
In the battle of Klushin, 6,800 Poles, of whom there were about 5,500 hussars, defeated the 35,000-strong Russian army, which included about 5,000 Swedish mercenaries Delagardi.
Hussars played a decisive role in the Battle of Trzcian (1629). The hussars successfully acted against the Russians and the Turks. The Tatars Hussars won in the Battle of Lvov (1675).
In the face of the Ottoman threat, Jan Sobieski formed all new hussar companies and re-formed light cavalry into hussars. In his address to the Sejm, he called the hussar “the backbone of military soldier power … its decoration and defense … like not to be found in any other country”. In 1683, the Polish Hussars came to the aid of Vienna besieged by the Turks and deserved the reputation of “the bravest warriors ever met under the sun”. The battle of Vienna was the last significant victory of the Hussars commanded by King Jan III Sobieski. The threat of conquest of Western Europe by the Muslim Ottoman Empire was removed. However, the Polish economy was undermined, the soldiers did not receive a salary for more than ten years. The union state weakened, after a century the territory of the Commonwealth was divided between its neighbors.
The decline of the Hussars
With the development of firearms and artillery, by the beginning of the 17th century, heavy cavalry began to disappear from the composition of the Western European armies. The reformed armies of Western European states successfully opposed the hussars, and when they clashed with them, the hussars became an ineffective anachronism. In August 1622, under the Mitau, the hussars could not even launch an attack, pressed by the fire of the Swedish musketeers and gunners.
Similar scenes were repeated in 1626 under Anger, under Dirschau (1627), and during the Flood (1655-1658). However, the Ukrainian Cossacks struck the most tangible blow to the hussars. The hussars could not counterpose them to the tactics of the walking-city and squall gunfire.
At the beginning of the XVIII century, the Commonwealth was drawn into the Northern War. The Polish army was faced with an excellent Swedish army. The very first general battle of Klischev in 1702 revealed the advantage of the Swedes – the Polish cavalry unit, half of which were winged hussars, was stopped by artificial obstacles (Spanish goats). The commander of the Polish army, the hetman coroner Jerome Lubomirsky ordered the retreat from the battlefield.
The Polish and Ukrainian plain landscape and the need to fight with the Turks, Tatars and Russians for a long time extended the use of hussars. But in the end, in 1775, the Seym decided to abolish the hussar. Winged hussars were replaced by more efficient, mobile and lightly armed Polish lancers.
Sources:
Polish winged hussars 1576-1775 / ed. V.I. Kiseleva. – Artyomovsk: New soldier: military-historical almanac
Soldatenko A. Polish hussary 1500–1776
Brzezinski R. Polish Winged Hussar 1576-1775
Żygulski Z. Husaria polska