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Polish Cavalry
The Polish cavalry () can trace its origins back to the days of medieval cavalry knights. Poland is mostly a country of flatlands and fields and mounted forces operate well in this environment. The knights and heavy cavalry gradually evolved into many different types of specialised mounted military formations, some of which heavily influenced western warfare and military science. This article details the evolution of Polish cavalry tactics, traditions and arms from the times of mounted knights and heavy Polish Hussars, winged hussars, through the times of light uhlans to mounted infantry equipped with ranged and mêlée weapons. Early medieval times The first Polish cavalry was created by the Duke of Polans (western), Polans - Mieszko I of Poland, Mieszko I, who united the West Slavs, West Slav tribes in the area of modern Poland. It's noted in the manuscript of Abraham ben Jacob who traveled in 961–62 in Central Europe. He wrote that the druzhina, drużyna of Mieszko I had 3 ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Chorągiew
Chorągiew (; literally: "banner") was the basic administrative unit of the Polish and Lithuanian cavalry from the 14th century. An alternative name until the 17th century was '' rota''. 14th to 17th centuries Between the 14th and 17th century the ''Chorągiew'' was composed of smaller sub-units – the ''Poczet''. Types of ''Chorągiew'' were: * (District banner), formed by knights of a district. * (Clan banner), formed by clans. * (Court banner), formed by troops of the King. 15th century (2nd half) to 18th century (1st half) In the cavalry, since the second half of the 15th century until the first half of the 18th century, a ''Chorągiew'' was formed according to the "companion system" (system zaciągu towarzyskiego). See: '' Towarzysz'' (companion). Types of ''Chorągiew'' were: * (Hussar banner), formed by Hussars. * ("Light" banner), formed by light-cavalry. * ("Armoured" banner), formed by Pancerni. * (Tatar banner), formed by Tatars. * (Vlach banner), lig ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Hussar By Alexander Orlowski
A hussar, ; ; ; ; . was a member of a class of light cavalry, originally from the Kingdom of Hungary during the 15th and 16th centuries. The title and distinctive dress of these horsemen were subsequently widely adopted by light cavalry regiments in European armies during the late 17th and 18th centuries. By the 19th century, hussars were wearing jackets decorated with braid plus shako or busby fur hats and had developed a romanticized image of being dashing and adventurous. Several modern armies retain the designation of hussars for armored (tank) units. In addition, a number of mounted units survive which wear historical hussar uniforms on parade or while providing ceremonial escorts. Historically, the term derives from the cavalry of late medieval Hungary, under Matthias Corvinus, with mainly Serb warriors. Etymology Etymologists are divided over the derivation of the word ''hussar''. Several alternative theories are summarised below: * According to ''Webster's ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Tartars
Tartary (Latin: ''Tartaria''; ; ; ) or Tatary () was a blanket term used in Western European literature and cartography for a vast part of Asia bounded by the Caspian Sea, the Ural Mountains, the Pacific Ocean, and the northern borders of China, India, and Persia, at a time when this region was largely unknown to European geographers. The active use of the toponym (place name) can be traced from the 13th to the 19th centuries. In European sources, Tartary became the most common name for Central Asia that had no connection with the real polities or ethnic groups of the region; until the 19th century, European knowledge of the area remained extremely scarce and fragmentary. In modern English-speaking tradition, the region formerly known as Tartary is usually called Inner Asia or Central Eurasia. Much of this area consists of arid plains, the main nomadic population of which in the past was engaged in animal husbandry. Ignorance surrounding Tartary's use as a place name has spaw ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Ottoman Turks
The Ottoman Turks () were a Turkic peoples, Turkic ethnic group in Anatolia. Originally from Central Asia, they migrated to Anatolia in the 13th century and founded the Ottoman Empire, in which they remained socio-politically dominant for the entirety of the six centuries that it existed. Their descendants are the present-day Turkish people, who comprise the majority of the population in the Turkey, Republic of Turkey, which was established shortly after the end of World War I. Reliable information about the early history of the Ottoman Turks remains scarce, but they take their Turkish name from Osman I, who founded the Ottoman dynasty, House of Osman alongside the Ottoman Empire; the name "Osman (name), Osman" was altered to "Ottoman" when it was transliterated into some Languages of Europe, European languages over time. The Ottoman principality, expanding from Söğüt, gradually began incorporating other Turkish-speaking Muslims and non-Turkish Christians into their realm. B ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Tsardom Of Russia
The Tsardom of Russia, also known as the Tsardom of Moscow, was the centralized Russian state from the assumption of the title of tsar by Ivan the Terrible, Ivan IV in 1547 until the foundation of the Russian Empire by Peter the Great in 1721. From 1550 to 1700, Russia grew by an average of per year. The period includes the Time of Troubles, upheavals of the transition from the Rurik Dynasty, Rurik to the House of Romanov, Romanov dynasties, wars with the Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth, Swedish Empire, Sweden, and the Ottoman Empire, and the Russian conquest of Siberia, to the reign of Peter the Great, who took power in 1689 and transformed the tsardom into an empire. During the Great Northern War, he implemented government reform of Peter I, substantial reforms and proclaimed the Russian Empire after Treaty of Nystad, victory over Sweden in 1721. Name While the oldest Endonym and exonym, endonyms of the Grand Principality of Moscow used in its documents were "Rus'" () and ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth
The Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth, also referred to as Poland–Lithuania or the First Polish Republic (), was a federation, federative real union between the Crown of the Kingdom of Poland, Kingdom of Poland and the Grand Duchy of Lithuania, existing from 1569 to 1795. This state was among the largest, most populated countries of 16th- to 18th-century Europe. At its peak in the early 17th century, the Commonwealth spanned approximately and supported a multi-ethnic population of around 12 million as of 1618. The official languages of the Commonwealth were Polish language, Polish and Latin Language, Latin, with Catholic Church, Catholicism as the state religion. The Union of Lublin established the Commonwealth as a single entity on 1 July 1569. The two nations had previously been in a personal union since the Union of Krewo, Krewo Agreement of 1385 (Polish–Lithuanian union) and the subsequent marriage of Queen Jadwiga of Poland to Grand Duke Jogaila of Lithuania, who was cr ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Firearm
A firearm is any type of gun that uses an explosive charge and is designed to be readily carried and operated by an individual. The term is legally defined further in different countries (see legal definitions). The first firearms originated in 10th-century China, when bamboo tubes containing gunpowder and pellet projectiles were mounted on spears to make the portable fire lance, operable by a single person, which was later used effectively as a shock weapon in the siege of De'an in 1132. In the 13th century, fire lance barrels were replaced with metal tubes and transformed into the metal-barreled hand cannon. The technology gradually spread throughout Eurasia during the 14th century. Older firearms typically used black powder as a propellant, but modern firearms use smokeless powder or other explosive propellants. Most modern firearms (with the notable exception of smoothbore shotguns) have rifled barrels to impart spin to the projectile for improved flight stabili ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Gunpowder
Gunpowder, also commonly known as black powder to distinguish it from modern smokeless powder, is the earliest known chemical explosive. It consists of a mixture of sulfur, charcoal (which is mostly carbon), and potassium nitrate, potassium nitrate (saltpeter). The sulfur and charcoal act as fuels while the saltpeter is an oxidizer. Gunpowder has been widely used as a propellant in firearms, artillery, rocketry, and pyrotechnics, including use as a blasting agent for explosives in quarrying, mining, building Pipeline transport, pipelines, tunnels, and road#Construction, roads. Gunpowder is classified as a Explosive#Low, low explosive because of its relatively slow decomposition rate, low ignition temperature and consequently low brisance, brisance (breaking/shattering). Low explosives deflagration, deflagrate (i.e., burn at subsonic speeds), whereas high explosives detonation, detonate, producing a supersonic shockwave. Ignition of gunpowder packed behind a projectile generates ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Tatars
Tatars ( )Tatar in the Collins English Dictionary are a group of Turkic peoples across Eastern Europe and Northern Asia who bear the name "Tatar (term), Tatar". Initially, the ethnonym ''Tatar'' possibly referred to the Tatar confederation. That confederation was eventually incorporated into the Mongol Empire when Genghis Khan unified the various steppe tribes. Historically, the term ''Tatars'' (or ''Tartars'') was Endonym and exonym, applied to anyone originating from the vast North Asia, Northern and Central Asian landmass then known as Tartary, a term which was also conflated with the Mongol Empire itself. More recently, however, the term has come to refer more narrowly to related ethnic groups who refer to themselves as ''Tatars'' or who speak languages that are commonly referr ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Grand Duchy Of Lithuania
The Grand Duchy of Lithuania was a sovereign state in northeastern Europe that existed from the 13th century, succeeding the Kingdom of Lithuania, to the late 18th century, when the territory was suppressed during the 1795 Partitions of Poland, partitions of Poland–Lithuania. The state was founded by Lithuanians (tribe), Lithuanians, who were at the time a Lithuanian mythology, polytheistic nation of several united Baltic tribes from Aukštaitija. By 1440 the grand duchy had become the largest European state, controlling an area from the Baltic Sea in the north to the Black Sea in the south. The grand duchy expanded to include large portions of the former Kievan Rus' and other neighbouring states, including what is now Belarus, Lithuania, most of Ukraine as well as parts of Latvia, Moldova, Poland and Russia. At its greatest extent, in the 15th century, it was the largest state in Europe. It was a multinational state, multi-ethnic and multiconfessionalism, multiconfessional sta ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Teutonic Order
The Teutonic Order is a religious order (Catholic), Catholic religious institution founded as a military order (religious society), military society in Acre, Israel, Acre, Kingdom of Jerusalem. The Order of Brothers of the German House of Saint Mary in Jerusalem was formed to aid Christians on their pilgrimages to the Holy Land and to establish hospitals. Its members have commonly been known as the Teutonic Knights, having historically served as a crusades, crusading military order for supporting Catholic rule in the Holy Land and the Northern Crusades during the Middle Ages, as well as supplying military protection for Catholics in Eastern Europe. Purely religious since 1810, the Teutonic Order still confers limited honorary knighthoods. The Bailiwick of Utrecht of the Teutonic Order, a Protestant order of chivalry, chivalric order, is descended from the same medieval military order and also continues to award knighthoods and perform charitable work. Name The name of the Or ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
