Spectacular, dashing and handsome, hussars were renowned for their willingness to die for glory. French General Lasalle said of them: ‘A hussar who is not killed at 30 is not a hussar, but a shit!’. We decided to acquaint you with these glorious soldiers closer.

a ‘hussar renaissance’ began all over Europe. This time it was connected not with Poland, but with Hungary. The new hussars were much closer to the kind of troops that appeared in the middle of the 15th century on the initiative of King Matthew Corvinus.

Hungarian hussars were originally considered light cavalry. Every twentieth Hungarian nobleman was obliged to serve in the militia, which was maintained at the expense of royal taxes. Húsz is Magyar for ‘twenty’, are for tax. Hence the famous name.

In fact, the exact origin of the term ‘hussar’ is still unknown. There is a version that 20 horsemen is the smallest possible number of cavalry unit in the Hungarian army, and the name comes from here. According to another view, each landowner had to keep one hussar for every 20 taxed yards.

The first hussars were armed with a Sabre and shield, as well as - if they could afford it - with pistols. Of course, the cavalry, created as a ‘people's army’, simply did not need armor and could not afford it.

Hussars in foreign service

The Poles borrowed the regular cavalry system from the Hungarians, but their hussars quickly turned into heavy cavalry. The specifics of numerous wars with the Turks and Russians had an impact. But in Hungary hussars remained light cavalry, which existed in an unchanged form until the XVII century. It was then that the first Hungarian mercenaries appeared in the French army. This happened under Louis XIII in 1625. But the habits of foreign irregular cavalry were not to the liking of the French, so after a series of scandals related to discipline and looting, the Hungarian cavalry companies were disbanded in 1656.

The revival of the Hussars turned out to be linked to the annexation of Hungary to the Habsburg possessions in 1687. Emperor Leopold reformed not only the administration of the new domain, but also the Hungarian army. Instead of militia, regular units appeared, among which there was a regiment of hussars - still light cavalry, dressed in the national Magyar costumes.

But not all Hungarians accepted the loss of freedom. Many soldiers left their homeland and fled to foreign lands, hoping to find a use for their military talents. Soon the French, Bavarians and Prussians had hussar units modelled on the Austrian model.

The heyday of the hussars in the 18th century

While in Poland the heavy-armed hussars were living out their days as funeral teams, in the rest of Europe the light hussar cavalry was in its heyday. The XVIII century was a time of dominance of linear tactics - the main forces of cavalry were used either to break through the line of enemy troops - as cuirassiers; or as mobile infantry - as dragoons. This is when commanders discovered that armies were sorely lacking light cavalry that could be used for reconnaissance and to flank the enemy.

Hussars became such cavalry. By the middle of the XVIII century, the number of their regiments increased many times over. In 1741 in Russia there were five hussar regiments, and by the end of the reign of Catherine II - already 12. King Frederick II of Prussia created the first two hussar regiments from among the supporters of independent Hungary who fled to Germany. By the end of the Seven Years' War, their number had increased to nine. Many nations were considered unfit for hussar service.

Germans and Russians were good at heavy and medium cavalry, but unfit for light cavalry. So in both Prussia and Russia the first Hussar regiments were recruited exclusively from Hungarian or Balkan immigrants. However, it soon turned out that the main thing is not the national character, but the training, so that the Prussian hussars caused terror on the battlefields of the Seven Years' War.

Differences of the Hussars

The very first hussar uniform was a common Hungarian national costume. In the XV century had not yet invented a military uniform, so the soldiers went into battle in the same that they wore in civilian life. But Hungarian clothes were characterized by a bright, unusual look: ordinary people at that time wore waistcoats decorated with many buttons and embroidered with braid, and the nobility wore caftans with a lot of gold or silver cords on the chest. The upper caftan was lined with fur. These clothes became the prototype of the hussar uniform, familiar to everyone from numerous films and historical pictures.

Since the XVIII century and up to the First World War the hussar uniform consisted of three main parts: the lower short jacket up to the waist - doloman; the upper jacket lined with fur - mentik; and embroidered with galloons tight trousers - chakchir. The mentik was usually worn carelessly thrown over one shoulder, but was often used as a winter uniform - a fur jacket, albeit short, was quite warm in cold weather.

Other distinctions of hussars were fur hats with high sultans, bags-tashkas, which were fastened to the belt. Remember the reflections of Nikolai Rostov's hussar: ‘Natasha, sister, black eyes. Na...tashka... Na tashka, to step on... dumb us - who?’ - they are just about this element of the uniform, which reminded him of his sister.

Hussar boots also had a special appearance. Unlike other cavalry regiments, hussars used light shoes, incomparable to the massive boots of cuirassiers and dragoons.

Hussars in battle

Typical tactics of the hussars are either reconnaissance, flying detachments behind enemy lines, or swift blows to the flank of the enemy position. An example of such a combat application of light cavalry is the battle on the Katzbach River, when fighting with Napoleon's France resumed in 1813.

Bonaparte assembled a new army and began to inflict very unpleasant blows on the Allies. On 26 August, when Napoleon's main forces defeated the Russian-Austrian army at Dresden, a combined force of Russians and Prussians under Blucher met Marshal MacDonald's army in Silesia.

As decisive as ever (nicknamed ‘Field Marshal Forward’ by his soldiers), Blucher ordered an attack on the French units that had crossed the Katzbach. But the Prussian cavalry onslaught was smothered in the stubborn resistance of the French. Then the French were attacked by Russian units under the command of General Fabian Osten-Sakena, and in the flank suddenly struck Akhtyrsky and Belorussian hussar regiments of Lieutenant-General Sergei Lansky. The maneuvers of the Cossacks, who came to the rear, completed the defeat of the enemy, who was literally overturned by the combined attack and fled.

The oldest hussar regiment in the Russian army is the Akhtyrsky. It was created back in 1651. But for the sake of fairness, it should be said that at that time in Russia, if they spoke of hussars, it was only as heavy cavalry of the Polish model. Therefore, the Akhtyrtsy were originally an ordinary Cossack regiment. In 1765 in the course of military reforms Akhtyrsky regiment became a hussar regiment and since then earned the name of one of the most glorious military units of the Russian army.

The unchanging distinction of Akhtyr's men was the brown-coloured uniform with golden cords. The uniform of this regiment was worn by the famous hussar and poet Denis Davydov.