Hussite wars: causes, course, results and consequences. Hussite wars - features, interesting facts and consequences Hussite wars of the century

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Hussite wars in the Czech Republic 6th grade UMK any Prepared by the teacher of history and social studies of FKGOU secondary school No. 4 MORF Latypova O.Sh.

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1. Show the reasons for the emergence of a popular movement against the Catholic Church in the Czech Republic. 2. Show the historical role of the personality of Jan Hus. 3. Compare the differences in the composition and goals of the two main movements - moderate and Taborites in the Hussite movement. 4. Reveal the historical significance of the Hussite movement. 5. Continue to develop the ability to analyze, establish connections between causes and effects, and compare. Goals:

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Problem Lesson Plan Why did the struggle for independence in the Czech Republic turn into a struggle against the Catholic Church? Czech Republic in the 14th century The life and death of Jan Hus The beginning of the Hussite wars Crusades against the Hussites People's War The end of the Hussite wars The historical significance of the Hussite wars Consolidation tests

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Under the Czech king Charles the First, elected Holy Roman Emperor under the name Charles the Fourth, the Czech Republic became the most powerful state and experienced economic growth. Bohemia in the 14th century Charles the Fourth Charles Bridge

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It was in first place in silver production. There were more than 200 crafts in the cities. incl. production of cloth and glassware. Large fairs were held in Prague twice a year, attracting merchants from Poland, Germany and Italy. 40 thousand people lived in Prague alone. Czech Republic in the 14th century St. Vitus Cathedral in Prague

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In the Czech Republic, peasants were personally dependent on the feudal lords. They carried duties - quitrent, corvee, paid royal taxes and carried a number of duties to the state treasury. The peasants of the entire Czech Republic in the 14th century Threshing (from an early 14th century manuscript) were dependent on the lords. The pan could transfer a personally dependent peasant to a worse plot or leave him without any land at all. Each castle had its own court, prison, and executioner. Peasants were forbidden to complain about their masters

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The Catholic Church in the Czech Republic was the largest landowner - 1/3 of the best lands; she owned 14 cities and 900 villages; The monasteries were especially rich and independent. The sources of wealth of the Catholic Church were: church tithes, fees for rituals, the sale of indulgences; payment for touching “holy relics”, sale of church positions. Czech Republic in the 14th century Basilica of the Assumption of the Virgin Mary and Saints Cyril and Methodius, Basilica of St. George

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The struggle of the Czech people against the Catholic Church was led by Jan Hus (1369-1415). From 1398 Hus taught theology at the University of Prague, in 1401 - 1402 he was dean of the Faculty of Liberal Arts, and in 1402 - 1403 Jan Hus. The life and death of Jan Hus in 1409 - 1410 – rector of the university. From 1402, Jan Hus began to preach in a specially built Bethlehem chapel (Prague), which became a center for the dissemination of reformist ideas.

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The life and death of Jan Hus In his sermons, he denounced the clergy for apostasy from the poverty proclaimed in the Gospel, and accused them of greed and corruption. He put forward a demand for the reconstruction of the church. He called for taking away lands and wealth from the church and monasteries and organizing his own church in the Czech Republic, subordinate only to the king of the Czech Republic. He demanded that fees for rituals be abolished, that services be conducted in Czech, and that all leading church positions be handed over to the Czechs. Hus condemned the luxury and wealth of the lords. Jan Hus. Unknown artist of the 16th century

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Hus's patriotic speeches displeased the priests. He was banned from preaching and excommunicated from the church. Hus went south and continued his struggle there. The Pope summoned him to the Council of Constance, promising safety. Gus went, but wrote a will. The life and death of Jan Hus Jan Hus speaks before the church court in Constance on July 6, 1415. Hood. Vaclav Brozik, 1883

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In Constance, Hus was arrested and kept in prison for six months. Then the trial took place. Hus was declared a heretic and demanded to renounce his views. But he replied: “I can’t change my conscience.” In 1415, Jan Hus was burned at the stake by decision of the council. The life and death of Jan Hus Jan Hus at the stake. Medieval engravings

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The execution of Jan Hus caused nationwide outrage in the Czech Republic and did not stop the spread of his ideas. Hus's supporters began to be called Hussites. Throughout the country, the Hussites destroyed monasteries, killed church ministers and rich people. Lost cultural values ​​- books, statues, icons Life and death of Jan Hus Monument to Jan Hus in Prague

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- the liberation struggle of the Czech people against foreign domination and the Catholic Church, as well as the feudal system. In 1419 there was an uprising in Prague. The townspeople burst into the town hall and threw the hated rulers out of the windows. German rich people also began to be expelled from other cities. The beginning of the Hussite wars. The uprising of 1419 in Prague.

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The beginning of the Hussite wars Among the rebels there were two movements: moderates and Taborites. The name Taborites comes from Mount Tabor, where the new city was founded. Taborites Moderate Composition of participants Peasants, urban poor, ruined knights. Czech feudal lords, rich craftsmen and merchants. The goals of the struggle are Equality in rights and opportunities, against private property, feudal taxes and duties. Secularization of church lands, weakening the power of the Catholic Church, participation in self-government.

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The Pope organized a crusade against the Hussites. The army was led by the German Emperor Sigismund. In 1420, a 100,000-strong army invaded the Czech Republic. But the fierce struggle ended in victory for the Taborites. The next four campaigns of the crusaders also ended in defeat for them. Crusades against the Hussites Crusaders against heretics

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Jan Zizka is the leader of the Taborites. Jan Zizka, the leader of the Taborites, introduced a new military organization and new battle tactics, in which an important role belonged to the Hussite battle wagons, which quickly turned into a real fortress. People's War Almost all of their army consisted not of knights, but of ordinary people, but the fighting spirit of the Hussites, convinced of the rightness of their cause, was extremely high.

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People's War Reasons for the victories of the Hussites: high morale - patriotism; new fighting tactics (fortresses made of carts, using them in battle); iron discipline (for violation of military duty - the death penalty, robbery - a serious crime); the leadership talent of Jan Zizka; The army was recruited on the principle of universal conscription. Taborite War Wagons Taborite Camp

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The Czech Republic was tired of many years of wars, was devastated by internal war and enemy invasions. The pope and the emperor entered into an alliance with the moderates in 1433. The Czech lords concluded a military alliance against the Taborites. An army was formed to fight the Taborites, it was supported by the pope and the emperor. End of the Hussite wars Taborites

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In 1434, the battle of Lipana decided the outcome of the struggle between the moderates and the Taborites. The Taborites were defeated. All popular preachers were physically destroyed - burned at the stake. The lords became masters in the Czech Republic. End of the Hussite Wars Battle of Lipan

Extreme irritation. 452 feudal lords and knights applied their seals to protest against the recognition of the teachings of Huss as heresy; many expelled Catholic priests from their estates and replaced them with Hussites. However, in the very understanding of Hus's teachings, disagreements soon emerged, which led to the division of the Hussites into parties. Everyone agreed only on the requirement of the “cup for the laity”, formally prohibited by the Council of Constance, that is, communion under both types (sub utraque specie) - a symbol that both the clergy and the laity are equally involved in the sacraments of the faith. But the Prague theologians formulated all the main teachings of the Czech Reformation in four points (the preaching of the gospel in the Czech language, the cup for the laity, the restoration of church discipline and the abolition of spiritual land tenure), and other parties, collectively called “Taborites,” found these demands too moderate and replaced them with their own twelve points (complete reform of worship, abolition of sacraments, except baptism and communion, destruction of the priesthood, veneration of saints, holidays, etc., in a word, “a return to original Christianity”). Some groups have gone even further; for example, the Adamites, common in the Czech Republic and Moravia, wanted to establish the ideal Kingdom of God on earth. But two main directions acquired the main importance: the “Prazians,” later called the “Calixtinians” (also known as the “Utraquists,” the party of the highest nobility), and the “Taborites,” who politically discovered first a republican and then a communist direction (more on this - see the article Taborites and their teaching).

Still under the king Wenzel, shortly before his death, clashes began between the Hussites and the Prague city council, which was then filled with conservatives and half consisted of Germans. July 30, 1419 a crowd led by a knight Zizka from Trotsnov took the Duma by storm and threw 13 councilors out of the windows onto spears. In December 1419, the Czech estates swore allegiance Sigismund, brother of the deceased Wenzel; the new king was preparing to fight the rebel Taborites, whose extermination was also called for by Pope Martin V in the bull of March 1, 1420. An internecine war began: about 500 churches and monasteries were destroyed, and terrible atrocities were committed. Sigismund, who wanted to bring the “Pragians” as heretics into submission, relying on the help of the German princes and the pope, led an army of crusaders against the Czechs. But he was defeated and forced to surrender Visegrad (1420). The victory of the Taborites, with their leaders Zizka and Niklas of Husinets, was the signal for a series of atrocities in German cities, many of which were now Czechized, with the expulsion of the German inhabitants, since the movement, along with the religious one, had a national character.

The first Prague defenestration of 1419 (narrated by historian Georgy Melnikov)

Sigismund, who was not only the Czech king, but also the German emperor, tried to drag the empire into his fight against the Czechs, but Reichstags They did not show much zeal, since the princes wanted to receive certain political concessions as a reward for their help, and Sigismund did not want to make them. Moreover, in Germany, the interference in the struggle of Poland and Lithuania, on the one hand, and Rome, on the other, made an unpleasant impression. Therefore, despite the repeated decisions of the Diets, despite the imperial troops finally recruited, the course of the German military operations was the most pitiful and fully revealed the decline of the imperial military organization. In a number of battles the Germans were defeated; The Hussites in 1425 penetrated into Austria and neighboring German lands: Silesia, Saxony and Franconia especially suffered from their raids. More than 100 cities and burgs, up to 1,500 towns and towns were, according to legend, devastated by the Hussites. After Zizka's death (October 11, 1424), they were commanded by new leaders: Big And Small Digging.

Although the Reichstag of 1431 decided to continue the war, after a new defeat at Taus (August 13), Sigismund chose to enter into negotiations with the moderate party. Representatives of the “Calixtinians” and Taborites (Jan of Rokichan, Prokop Bolshoi and Nikolai Pilgramsky) were invited to the Basel Council that had just assembled and debated with its fathers. There was no agreement, but the parties became somewhat closer, and the council decided to send an embassy to Prague, where on November 30, 1433, the Czech-Moravian Landtag, on the basis of the “four points” corrected by the council, adopted the so-called “Czech or Prague compacts.” But the Taborites did not submit, and then the Calixtinians, led by Meinhard of Neuhaus, began a war with them. In the battle of Lipan and Grib, both Prokop were killed.

However, the moderate Hussites, having reconciled themselves with the church, did not yet think of recognizing the hereditary authority of Sigismund over themselves. They first demanded formal recognition of the “compactata” by the emperor, which he did (July 20, 1436), immediately after the proclamation of the “compactata” and the reunification of the Czech Church with the Catholic Church at the Landtag in Iglau (July 5). Sigismund undertook to appoint only Czechs to positions in the Czech Republic, to allow the establishment of a special council of them in his own person, to give a general amnesty, not to demand the restoration of destroyed castles and monasteries, not to force the cities (which were mostly in the hands of the Taborites) to accept the Germans who had evicted from them and to the return of their property by the latter - generally respect the rights and liberties of the Czech Republic. Only after this did Sigismund’s ceremonial entry into Prague take place (August 23, 1436). The Taborites also promised to behave calmly; only one knight, Jan Rohacz, and a few followers refused to submit, doubting Sigismund's sincerity. But the entire nobility took up arms against them: they surrendered and were hanged.

Hussite wars. Video lecture

However, Rogach's fears soon turned out to be well founded. Sigismund openly patronized Catholics and restored Catholic ceremonies in Prague. Discontent was about to flare up when he died (December 1437). The National Czech Party did not want to recognize his heir, Albrecht of Austria, and on May 29, 1438, Casimir Jagiellon, brother of King Vladislav of Poland, was chosen as the Czech king. But Albrecht, on whose side were Catholics and moderate Utraquists, also hastened to come to Prague and was crowned here (June 29). The Elector of Brandenburg, Frederick, sent his son, Albrecht Achilles, to help him. Albrecht II managed to defeat his opponents and, through the mediation of the Basel Council, conclude a truce with the Poles and the Utraquists (January 1439).

After his sudden death, the Czechs were at first not at all inclined to recognize the power of his son Vladislav Postum. After the refusal of his intended candidate for regent, Albrecht of Bavaria, the estates offered the regency, and then the crown, to the emperor FrederickIII. But Frederick also refused and left the Czechs to govern the state themselves until Vladislav came of age. The Catholic party chose Meinhard of Neuhaus as its leader, and the Utraquist party chose Heinrich Ptacek from Pirkstein, under whose influence earlier candidates of the national party were outlined. Both received the title of district commanders (1440 - 1441) and soon entered into open war with each other.

After the death of Ptacek, the Utraquists chose as their foreman Yuri Podebrada, which immediately (September 2-3, 1448) took Prague by surprise and arrested Meinhard. The Utraquist party thus achieved dominance, and in 1452 Podebrady was formally recognized as the ruler of the Czech Republic. After the early death of Vladislav Postum, the Czechs proclaimed Yuri Poděbrad their king (March 2, 1458). He managed, despite the secret and then open resistance of the emperor and the pope, to preserve the freedom of religion given to the Utraquists, which continued to exist under his successor, King Vladislav of Poland; under him it was even confirmed again by the religious peace in Kuttenberg (1485).

Only after occupying the Czech throne Habsburgs, in the face Ferdinand of Austria(1516), the possibility of a reaction opened up, which intensified over the course of a hundred years and won complete victory after the unhappy Battle of Belogorsk for the Czechs during the Thirty Years' War (1620). The very name “Hussites” disappeared during the time of Podebrady. The continuation of Hussiteism in modern times was the teaching bohemian brothers .

At the beginning of the 15th century, the largest popular uprising in world history, known as the Hussite Wars, broke out in the Czech Republic.
Almost the entire population of the country took part in the fifteen-year war. Its consequences influenced the future fate of the Czech Republic.

The consequences of the Hussite wars were not clear-cut.

What have the rebel masses achieved?

The Catholic Church was dealt a serious blow. Its prestige has been greatly damaged. The Church lost a significant part of its lands. Many monks were expelled from the country.

The Church was forced to come to an agreement with the Hussites.
The so-called compacts were approved. They consisted of four articles. According to this document, the right of citizens to receive communion with wine from a chalice was recognized (previously this was a privilege of the church). The secularization of church lands was announced. Freedom of preaching was proclaimed. Not only laymen, but also church officials were punished for sins against moral standards.
The Czechs stopped paying taxes to the Holy Roman Empire to the German nation.
Peasants were exempt from paying church tax - tithes.

Cities achieved governance.
The Czech Republic became a centralized state with a class monarchy. The rights of Emperor Sigismund were confirmed. But royal power was limited by the Sejm (Zemstvo Parliament). It served as a provisional government.
The Sejm included representatives of the urban class from the Chashniki camp. The Taborites were given two seats in the government.
The majority of the population became Czech. The expulsion of German feudal lords contributed to the development of a distinctive culture. Czech has again become the main language.

The Hussite movement gave impetus to anti-religious uprisings in other European countries. Popular unrest swept Germany, Austria, Slovakia and other states.

Unfavorable consequences for the Czech Republic of the Hussite wars.

Czech society was split. The class demands of the Taborites were not considered at the Sejm meetings. There was not a single peasant in the provisional government.
The goals of the Hussite wars among different classes did not initially coincide. The feudal lords and burghers used the revolutionary upsurge of the people for their own selfish purposes. Being in the Hussite camp of the Chashniki, they seized property and lands of the Catholic Church. They increased their own wealth often at the cost of betrayal.
The German patriciate was expelled. Their places were taken by wealthy burghers.
In fact, wealth and positions passed from one top to another. The peasants and plebs were once again subjected to brutal exploitation. There was no equality of classes and a fair division of the selected lands.
The peasants were ordered to return to their former owners. Corvée was increased.

The long war within the country weakened the Czech economy. The destruction of fields and pastures, crop failures and the death of livestock led to the decline of agriculture.
Craft workshops were closed in cities. Domestic and foreign trade was carried out with interruptions. The quality of silver coins has deteriorated. The value of money has fallen. Food prices have risen sharply.
People died from hunger and epidemics.

Weakened by the war, the Czech Republic became a tasty morsel for foreign powers. Weapons, precious metals, and luxury goods were exported from the country in huge quantities. The predatory raids of foreign invaders devastated the country.

The rebel peasants were defeated. But the Hussite wars had invaluable consequences in world history. They gave impetus to a number of major peasant uprisings in Europe.
The Hussite wars became a stage in the struggle against the dominance of the Catholic Church, national oppression and feudal exploitation.

Wars of supporters of the Czech church reformer Jan Hus against the German emperor and the Catholic Church.

Dr. Huss, excommunicated from the Catholic Church for heretical views, was summoned to a church council in Constance in 1414. Emperor Sigismund gave him a safe conduct. At the council, Hus was recognized as a heretic, and the reformer himself was arrested. Hus asked the emperor what to do with the safe conduct. Sigismund replied: “I guaranteed you free passage to Constanta, but not return from it.” In 1415, Jan Hus was burned at the stake, which caused outrage among his many followers in the Czech Republic.

In 1419, an uprising began here against Emperor Sigismund of Habsburg, who also wore the Czech crown. The Hussite army was led by the knight Jan Zizka, who had previously fought successfully with a detachment of Czech mercenaries against the Teutonic Order in the Battle of Grunwald and without much success against the British at Agincourt. However, from the very beginning, two wings stood out in the Hussite movement - moderate Chashniki and radical Taborites (named after the mountain and city of Tabor in Southern Bohemia). The Chashnikovs were supported by the nobility and burghers of northern Bohemia. The poorer South Bohemian burghers and nobility formed the support of the Taborites, with whom the peasants sympathized. The Taborites created communities following the example of the early Christians. They had common property and preached Christian asceticism. The Taborites had a new formidable weapon - a heavy flail bound in iron, a “thresher”, one blow of which would knock a fully armed knight off his horse. Long spears with hooks, borrowed from the Flanders militia, served the same purpose. The Hussites also possessed firearms - bombards and arquebuses. The lowest tactical unit was the "vagen" (cart). It consisted of 10 people riding in one cart: 4 thresher, 1 rider and 5 pikemen, archers, crossbowmen or arquebusiers.

Hussite Wars

The few supporters of the Habsburgs and the Catholic Church in the Czech Republic became a camp in Kutná Hora. To support them, the Pope declared a crusade against the Hussite heretics on March 1, 1420. Emperor Sigismund gathered in Silesia an army of German, Polish and Hungarian knights, as well as infantry, which consisted of the militia of Silesian cities and Italian mercenaries. At the end of April, his army invaded the Czech Republic and moved to join the defenders of Kutna Hora. At this time, on the southern border of the Czech Republic, Austrian and Bavarian troops were still preparing for an offensive, and troops from Brandenburg, Palatinate, Trier, Cologne and Mainz were concentrating on the northwestern border.

At the end of May, Sigismund entered Kutna Hora and demanded that the inhabitants of Prague lift the siege of the city citadel, where the royal soldiers were holed up. The people of Prague sent messengers to Tabor for help. 9 thousand Taborites under the command of Zizka arrived near Prague. The knights attacked them on the march, but were repelled by the fire of bombards and archers and arquebusiers defending the improvised Wagenburg. On May 20, Zizka entered Prague and took command of the entire Hussite army. Sigismund approached Prague from the east, but did not dare to attack the enemy and retreated on May 25.

Then Zizka decided to take possession of the Prague fortress. But its defenders destroyed the Hussite siege engines and bombards with fire from bombards. The attack fizzled out. Soon Sigismund approached Prague, this time from the west. He managed to bring a large convoy of food into the fortress and remove from there several hundred horses, for which the besieged had no fodder.

At the end of June, a detachment of German knights and infantry besieged Tabor. The army of the Austrian Duke was approaching this city from the south. But a detachment sent by Zizka from Prague suddenly attacked the enemy from the rear, and the Tabor garrison made a sortie. The detachment besieging the city was defeated.

After this, Sigismund ordered the Austrians to go to Prague. Here on Vitkova Mountain on July 14, 1420, the decisive battle between the Hussites and the Crusaders took place. If Sigismund's army had captured this mountain, Prague would have been under siege. However, the knights failed to overcome the ditch dug on the mountainside, and an infantry counterattack led by Zizka threw them back to the foot. At this time, the Prague militia struck the flank of Sigismund’s army. The Crusader army retreated. Although she did not suffer a major defeat, but only a minor tactical failure, discord began between the leaders of the crusaders. Therefore, on July 30, 1421, Sigismund was forced to lift the siege of Prague. In November, his army was defeated at Visegrad, and the whole of the Czech Republic and Moravia fell into the hands of the Hussites.

In the autumn of 1421, the contradictions between the Taborites and the Chashniks intensified. The united Hussite army actually disintegrated. Taking advantage of this, Sigismund launched a second crusade to the Czech Republic. In September 1421, the Crusaders besieged the city of Zatec (Zaac) near the Hungarian border.

Zizka managed to break through the siege ring with a detachment of Taborites and lead a convoy of food into the city. However, a counterattack by Polish and Hungarian knights forced the Taborites to retreat to Prague.

Žižka took up a defensive position on Mount Vladar near the town of Žlutec. The Taborites built a Wagenburg, in which they installed bombards. For three days, Polish and Hungarian knights attacked the Taborites, but were repulsed by artillery fire and threshers. After this, Zizka's army was able to break through to Žlutec. Soon the crusaders, experiencing supply difficulties, left the Czech Republic.

At the end of the year they invaded the country again and reached Kutna Hora. There Sigismund's army was met by an army of Taborites. By that time, Zizka had lost his second eye in one of the battles and was completely blind, which, however, did not prevent him from commanding. Sigismund managed to capture Kutna Hora, but on January 8, 1422 he was defeated at Gabra. The Taborites overthrew the knights and pursued them to the city of German Brod. While crossing the Sazava River, some knights fell through the ice and drowned. A convoy abandoned on the shore fell into the hands of the Taborites. Two days later they captured the German Ford. A few months later, a detachment from among the Orthodox subjects of the Grand Duchy of Lithuania, who fought against the Catholicization of their country, arrived to help the Hussites. For eight years, together with the Taborites, they fought against Polish, German and Hungarian troops.

In 1423, a large army of Taborites invaded Moravia and Hungary. In mid-October it reached the Danube between Komárno and Esztergom. Here the Hussites were met by a large Hungarian army. Zizka did not dare to engage her in battle and ordered a retreat. The Hungarians pursued the Czechs, firing bombards at the enemy. The Taborites suffered losses, but the bulk of the army was able to retreat to the Czech Republic.

The failure of the Hungarian campaign contributed to the aggravation of contradictions between the Taborites and the Chashniki. On June 7, 1424, two factions of the Hussites clashed in battle near the city of Mayushov. The Chashniki were defeated thanks to a sudden counterattack by the Taborite cavalry. In addition, the Taborites sent carts down the mountainside, crashing into the ranks of the bowlers and causing a sweep there. Thus, Zizka again managed to unite the entire Hussite army under his command. However, on October 11, 1424, he died of the plague. The epidemic weakened the Czech army, and it was forced to temporarily abandon new campaigns in neighboring lands.

In 1425, the third crusade began in the Czech Republic. The main role was played by the Austrian army led by Archduke Albrecht. In Moravia, it was defeated by Žižka’s successor, Prokop the Great, who became hetman of the Taborites, and retreated to Austria. The following year, the Czech army besieged Usti na Labe (Aussig), which had been captured by Saxon troops. Prokop the Great, whose army consisted of detachments of Taborites and the Prague militia, had 25 thousand people. The army of the Saxon, Meissen and Thuringian principalities, numbering 15-20 thousand people, moved to relieve the blockade of Aussig. The Germans attacked the Czech Wagenburg, which consisted of 500 carts, and in one place broke into it. But the Taborite cavalry made a sortie and overthrew the enemy. The Germans retreated, losing up to 4 thousand people.

The Fourth Crusade against the Hussites in 1427 was led by the Elector of Brandenburg, Frederick. Prokop the Great and the second Hussite hetman Prokop the Small, in turn, invaded Austria, defeating the army of the Austrian Archduke at Takhov. Then, in 1428-1430, they repeatedly invaded Saxony and Silesia and even besieged Vienna, although unsuccessfully.

In 1431, the Imperial Diet in Nuremberg decided to organize the fifth crusade to the Czech Republic. The German principalities fielded 8,200 mounted knights and a significant number of infantry, supported by 150 bombards. In August, near the Czech border, the Crusader army under the command of Frederick of Brandenburg was suddenly attacked in the camp at Domažlice by the Hussites and fled, abandoning their baggage train and artillery.

In 1432-1433, the Czech army undertook a large campaign against Brandenburg and reached the Baltic port of Küstrin. But in the meantime, Sigismund managed to come to an agreement with the cup owners. In exchange for confirmation of previous rights and privileges and a promise of religious tolerance, they were ready to recognize the authority of the emperor. In 1434, the Chashniki defeated the main forces of the Taborites at the Battle of Lipany. Hetmans Prokop the Great and Prokop the Small were killed in this battle. In 1436, the Czech Republic received the Catholic king Vladislav of Luxemburg.

The successes of the Hussites were explained by their cohesion in the face of the fragmented forces of their opponents - Poland, Hungary, the Austrian duchy and the German principalities, only nominally united under the leadership of the German emperor. However, the forces of the Czech Republic were not enough to conquer and retain the territories of neighboring states and completely defeat the crusader armies. In the end, the moderate part of the Hussites compromised with the empire and the church, which led to the end of the war, which, in essence, did not bring any significant results to either side, but thoroughly devastated Central Europe.

Source - "One Hundred Great Battles", M., Veche, 1998.

The World History. Encyclopedia.
Chapter XLIV. Czech Republic in the XIV - XV centuries. Poland in the XIV-XV centuries.
http://historic.ru/books/item/f00/s00/z0000032/st044.shtml

LAVRENTY FROM BRZEZOVA Hussite Chronicle (there are also a couple of maps)
http://www.vostlit.info/Texts/rus/Laurentius/pred.phtml?id=776

Chronological index XV century
http://www.krotov.info/spravki/help/chron/1400.html

George from Poděbrady. Material from Wikipedia - the free encyclopedia
http://ru.wikipedia.org/wiki/%D0%99%D0%B8%D1%80%D0%B6%D0%B8_%D0%B8%D0%B7_%D0%9F%D0%BE%D0 %B4%D0%B5%D0%B1%D1%80%D0%B0%D0%B4

George (George or Yuri in the Russified version) of Poděbrady (April 23, 1420 - March 22, 1471) (Czech: Jiří Boczko z Kunštátta a Poděbrad) - king of the Czech Republic in 1458-1471; the first ruler of a large state in Western Europe who did not profess Catholicism as a state religion. Jiří from Podebrady belonged to the Utraquists, or Chashniki, the moderate wing of the Hussite movement.

He came from a noble and influential Czech family that joined the Hussite camp. Jiří's father, Victor from Poděbrady, was one of the leaders of the Taborites, the radical wing of the Hussites, but after some time he joined the moderate Utraquists. George of Poděbrady himself, as a fourteen-year-old boy, took part in the Battle of Lipany in 1434, in which the moderate Hussites, allied with the Austrians, defeated the radical ones. In general, under Sigismund of Luxembourg, the George family from Poděbrady belonged to the moderate party, but after the election of Albrecht V of Austria (German Emperor Albrecht II) as king of the Czech Republic at the instigation of the Catholic party, father and son joined the opposition, which wanted the election of Casimir of Poland.

In the subsequent struggle between various factions, Jiří, not even 20 years old, had already taken a prominent place among the Utraquist chashniks. When, after the death of Albrecht, the Czech Republic was divided into districts to maintain internal order, Jiří from Poděbrady was elected head of the Kralovegrad district, which allowed him in 1444 to become the sole leader of the entire Utraquist party, and in 1452 to achieve his appointment as governor of the Czech Republic. In 1448, having 9,000 soldiers from among the former Hussites, he occupied Prague practically without resistance. After the death of the previous king Ladislaus I (1457), George of Poděbrady was elected by representatives of the aristocracy as the new Czech king on February 27, 1458. Even the Catholic pro-Austrian party supported the newly elected king after he secured religious freedom. It was more difficult for him to achieve recognition in Moravia and Silesia.

To secure the pope's consent to his coronation, George of Poděbrady decided to attract the papal curia with a promise to help restore Catholicism in the Czech Republic through church union. Pope Pius II did not rush the Czech king to fulfill his promise, realizing that this would take time, and was even ready to support the Czech foreign policy. George of Pozhebrady was the most powerful sovereign of his time and already dreamed of the imperial crown: but his flirtation with Rome met with open opposition in the ranks of the Utraquists, who forced him in 1461 to solemnly pledge to preserve the Hussite rites. Then the pope began to act more decisively, but again agreed to concessions at the insistence of Emperor Frederick III, who owed George his salvation from Vienna Castle and was in alliance with him against the Hungarians.

The new pope, Paul II, after a failed attempt to resume negotiations, excommunicated George in 1461 and ordered a crusade to be preached against him. Jiří prevailed over the discordant crowds of crusaders; but when he quarreled with the emperor, the latter called against him George's former close ally, the Hungarian king Matthias Corvinus (Hunyadi), who, as an executor of the papal excommunication, captured most of Moravia.

In Olomouc in 1469, Matthias Corvinus proclaimed himself the Czech king, forcing Moravia, Silesia and Lusatia to swear allegiance to himself. In order to retain the Czech Republic, the king decided to convene a Sejm in Prague, from which he demanded the election of an heir to the Polish throne as his successor, so that George's own sons would inherit only his private property, and the Sejm obeyed. After this, Poland immediately took the side of George, with whom both the emperor and his own Catholic subjects were then reconciled, so that the Hungarian king was forced to begin negotiations. But even before peace was concluded with the Hungarians, George of Podebrady died in 1471. Two of his sons, Victor and Hynek of Munstberg, subsequently provided their services to the Czech crown as ordinary subjects.

Jiří from Poděbrady came up with the idea of ​​a pan-European Christian union called the “Christian League”.

Jan Zizka
http://ru.wikipedia.org/wiki/%D0%96%D0%B8%D0%B6%D0%BA%D0%B0,_%D0%AF%D0%BD
http://www.hronos.km.ru/biograf/bio_zh/zhizhka.html

Zizka Jan (c. 1360-1424), national hero of the Czech people, commander. Participant in the Battle of Grunwald 1410. From 1420 the first hetman of the Taborites. Introduced the Wagenburg system into the army.
Marxist view:

Zizka Jan (c. 1360, Trocnov, South Bohemia, -11/10/1424, Příbislav), leader of the Hussite revolutionary. movement, commander, national hero of the Czech people. Participated in the Battle of Grunwald 1410. He showed himself in the Hussite revolution. movement (see Hussite wars of 1419-84) against the European “crusades”. feudal-catholic reactions. J. won his first victory at Sudomerz on March 25, 1420, where Hussite detachments retreating from Pilsen repelled an attack by superior forces of knightly cavalry. After the formation of the military in 1420. In the Hussite camp-Tabora (now the city of Czechoslovakia), Zh. became one of its four hetmans. Successfully led the defense of Vitkova Gora, where the outcome of the Battle of Prague was decided in July 1420. From Dec. 1420 first hetman of the Taborites. In the summer of 1421, during the siege of the castle, Rabi was wounded and lost his sight. In Jan. 1422 defeated the crusaders at Nemecki Brod. After the disengagement of the Hussites, J. led their left wing and founded it in 1423 in the North-East. Czech Republic so-called Orebit Brotherhood in Hradec Králové (Maly Tabor). He died of the plague in the besieged city of Příbislav. Leading the revolutionary army, J. made a great contribution to the development of the military. art, created an army with high fighting qualities and iron discipline, which, along with infantry and cavalry, had new types of troops for that time - cart (riding infantry) and pushkar (artillery). To fight the heavily armed knightly cavalry, he used light cannons on carts and a special battle formation (field camp of carts, see Wagenburg). Zh.'s strategy was aimed at defeating the pr-ka in a field battle. Tactics were characterized by bold maneuvers, skillful interaction between military branches, and the widespread use in battle of mobile fortifications in relation to terrain conditions. Zh. developed a military manual, which set out the rules of conduct for soldiers in battle, on the march and on vacation. In honor of J., one of the highest military institutions was established. Orders of the Czechoslovak Socialist Republic.

Materials from the Soviet Military Encyclopedia in 8 volumes, volume 3 were used.
Sketch of life and deeds

Jan Zizka was born in South Bohemia. He came from the family of a bankrupt Czech knight. Early on he showed a desire for national independence of his Fatherland. By the beginning of the Hussite wars in the Czech Republic, he had extensive combat experience, having fought a lot outside its borders.

The Taborite army under the command of Jan Zizka won its first victory in the battle of Sudomerz in 1420, where their detachment of 400 people, retreating from the city of Pilsen, successfully fought off a 2,000-strong detachment of royal knightly cavalry.

After the formation of the Hussite military camp - Tabora - in 1420, Jan Zizka became one of the four Hussite hetmans, and in fact their main commander.

In the same year, the Hussite army won its first significant victory in the defense of Vitkova Gora, when the outcome of the battle for the Czech capital, the city of Prague, was being decided. Its rebel inhabitants besieged the royal garrison in the Prague Fortress. Having learned about this, the Taborites hastened to their aid. The Holy Roman Emperor Sigismund I, who led the First Crusade against the Hussite Czech Republic, against opponents of the power of the Catholic Church, also hurried to Prague. This campaign, like all subsequent ones, was carried out with the blessing of the Pope.

Jan Zizka, at the head of the Taborite army, approached Prague much earlier than his opponents, but did not station his troops in the city itself.

For the hiking camp, Jan Zizka chose Vitkova Mountain near the city, towards which it was facing with its eastern slope.

The victory of the Czech soldiers at Vitkova Gora over the superior forces of the crusaders glorified the military leader of the Hussites and demonstrated his military leadership abilities.

Jan Zizka began his hetmanship with the reorganization of the Taborite army. Under his leadership, the Hussites created a standing army, recruited from volunteers. The detachment commanders were elected.

In 1423, Jan Zizka developed the first military regulations in Western Europe, which clearly defined the rules of conduct for soldiers in battle, on campaign and on vacation.

The Hussite army was accustomed to fighting day and night, in any weather. According to the military regulations, field fortifications made of interlocking carts had to rest against natural obstacles and, if possible, be installed in high places.

In battle, the Hussites usually waited for the attack of the knightly cavalry and met it with the fire of their numerous artillery, bullets from arquebuses and arquebuses, and arrows with blunt armor-piercing tips. When it came to hand-to-hand combat, chainmen and spearmen entered the battle. The Hussites pursued and destroyed the defeated enemy, while the knights, after a won battle, did not pursue the fleeing enemies, but robbed the killed, wounded and captured opponents.

The Hussites successfully besieged the knights' castles and bravely stormed them. In the summer of 1421, during the siege of Rabi Castle, Jan Zizka was wounded and lost his sight, but remained at the head of the Hussite army. He saw the battlefield through the eyes of his closest aides and gave the right orders.

In January 1422, Hussite troops defeated the main forces of the European Catholic knighthood participating in the Second Crusade in the decisive battle of Gabra.

Then the crusaders suffered another setback when they surrounded the Taborite camp on Mount Vladar near the city of Zlutits. In this battle, the Taborites, unexpectedly for the enemy, began an attack from the top along with their carts. The crusaders fled in fear, fearing an inglorious death under the wheels of heavy carts rushing towards them.

In 1422, a squad consisting of Russian, Ukrainian and Belarusian soldiers came to the aid of the Taborites from the Grand Duchy of Lithuania. For about eight years they fought side by side with the Czechs against the Crusaders.

The defeat of the Crusader army, commanded by Rino Spana di Ozora, at the German Brod and the capture of the fortified city of the German Brod by the Hussites were so impressive that the Third Crusade to the Czech Republic took place only in 1426.

During the Third and Fourth Crusades - in 1427 and 1431 - the Hussite army, led by its hetmans, successfully repelled enemy attacks, and the crusaders had to leave the Czech Republic. The first campaign ended for them in a lost battle near Takhov, where the Hussites were commanded by Prokop the Great and Prokop the Small.

The Fourth Crusade ended with the great battle of Domažlica. A huge Hussite army fought here - 50 thousand infantry, 5 thousand horsemen. The Hussites had about 3 thousand carts and more than 600 different weapons. Their blind commander was no longer in their ranks, but the hetmans trained by him remained.

The last victorious battle of the Czech commander Jan Zizka was the Battle of Malesov in June 1424. This time, the opponents of the first hetman were not German and other European knights, but their fellow citizens, former allies in the Reformation.

The Taborites habitually fortified themselves on the top of a mountain that had gentle slopes. Zizka decided to give the initiative to the enemy. The Chashniki were the first to attack the Wagenburg Taborites on the top of the mountain, forming a column. When she approached the Wagenburg, Jan Zizka ordered carts loaded with stones to be lowered onto the attacking chashniki going up the mountain. The enemy column immediately fell into complete disarray and came under counterattack by infantrymen and Taborite horsemen. To top it off, the chashniki were fired upon from heavy bombards. The Battle of Maleshov ended in complete victory for Jan Zizka's troops.

That same year, the first hetman of the Hussite army died during a plague epidemic in the besieged fortified city of Příbislav in central Bohemia. So the Taborite army was left without its famous commander - whose name alone struck fear into the crusaders. There was no worthy replacement for Jan Zizka in the Hussite army. This circumstance largely predetermined her defeat.

The Hussite Wars ended with the defeat of the Taborites in the Battle of Lipany in 1434 and ultimately brought long-awaited state independence to the Czech Republic.

Site materials used

The death of a professor at the University of Prague caused outrage throughout the Czech Republic. Indignant letters from all over the country were sent to the church court. Holy Roman Emperor Sigismund added fuel to the fire. He promised to drown all Czechs in blood if they did not moderate their ardor. All this became the cause of a bloody, multi-year massacre, which went down in history as.

It all started at the University of Prague in 1419. Czech students demanded that the Bavarians, Saxons and Poles, who also studied within the walls of the educational institution, should collectively have only half the votes. And the second half, regardless of the number of people, should belong to the Czechs, because the university is Czech. During the controversy, Czech students beat the Germans. Clashes continued outside the university walls.

Supporters of Emperor Sigismund were walking along the street, they were attacked and beaten to death. A crowd of Czechs burst into the town hall and threw all the deputies - German officials - out of the windows. And this is certain death, since it is high there. After this, the residents of Prague told the Germans: “Your dad is the Antichrist, but we have the true faith. And we know the true rituals. The Russians and Greeks give communion from the chalice to both the laity and the priests. But you only give the laity a wafer, and from the chalice you have Only priests drink. This is bad and wrong.”

Emperor Sigismund, the Pope and all the Germans declared that all this was a terrible heresy, and the Czechs should be punished. And off we go. From 1419 to 1434 the Hussite Wars took place. They represented endless raids. Little Bohemia fought against the entire German Empire and even entered into confrontation with Poland. Although the Poles tried to maintain neutrality. The Czechs’ banner depicted a cup from which they wanted to receive communion in the form of wine and bread. And the Latin cross was depicted on the Catholic banner.

By the way, in Poland there lived Orthodox Christians who used the cup for communion. There were also Catholics. They had their own Latin cross. And at the same time, different faiths coexisted peacefully with each other. So apparently it was not religious slogans that were the cause of the incredibly brutal war. But it killed more than half the population of the Czech Republic.

However, disagreements with the Czechs were presented precisely as religious ones. After all, it’s necessary to think of it so that both laity and priests drink from the same cup. Therefore, raids on a small country were called crusades. And their initiator was not the Holy Roman Emperor, but the Pope.

Jan Zizka and the Hussites

The First Crusade began in March 1420. These were military actions against the Hussite heretics. At least that's what the Catholic Church called them. The Czechs now have their own commander, who is considered a national hero of the Czech people. This Jan Zizka(1360-1424). It was he who led the Hussite troops and, with a small force of 4 thousand people, defeated the Crusader army of 30 thousand people. Thus, he defended Prague from invaders. Subsequently, Zizka lost his sight, but, becoming blind, continued to lead the troops. He died in 1424 from the plague. His enemies gave him the nickname "Terrible Blind Man."

Thanks to Jan Žižka, new military tactics were introduced. This is cart riding. It was involved through the Hungarian Cumans from the Mongols. The method of defense from carts was practiced; military camps were also built from carts. Thanks to these tactics, the Hussites invaded Bavaria, Saxony, Brandenburg and reached the Baltic Sea. And the knightly cavalry turned out to be completely powerless against the carts.

The First Crusade ended badly for the crusaders. By the autumn of 1421 they were completely defeated, and the whole of the Czech Republic fell into the hands of the Hussites. But disagreements began within their ranks. Parties were formed that adhered to different ideological guidelines.

There were three main parties:
Taborites who did not want to recognize either the church or the priesthood at all.
Supporters of Jan Zizka. After his death they began to call themselves " orphans"They recognized the church, but rejected any clergy and compromises with the Germans.
Utraquists or cup makers. These fought for Orthodoxy, which was in the east in Byzantium and Russia. The Chashniki sought to find a compromise, but one that would allow them to exist without the Germans. They included the population of Prague.

There were also smaller parties. For example, Adamites. They walked naked like Adam. They robbed travelers and generally did not recognize anything other than carnal pleasures. They were all hanged on the orders of Jan Zizka because they opposed themselves to both the church and public morality.

After the First Crusade, the contradictions between the parties intensified. The Czech army disintegrated, which provoked Second Crusade. Almost the whole of Europe fell on the small Czech Republic. Only the British and French did not participate in the Hussite Wars. They fought a war with each other, burned Joan of Arc at the stake, so they simply had no time. And all other nations succumbed to the call of the Pope. But the Czechs not only defended, but also attacked. They invaded Hungary, but this campaign ended unsuccessfully for them.

While fighting external enemies, the Czechs managed to wage a civil war within the country. In the summer of 1424, the Taborites entered into battle with the Chashniks. The latter suffered a crushing defeat, and Jan Zizka managed to unite the Czech troops under his rule for a short time. But he soon died of the plague, and confusion and confusion began again. Although the successor of the "Terribly Blind" Prokop Bolshoi tried to restore order.

He more or less succeeded, since in 1425, when the Third Crusade, the Czechs defeated the Austrian army, and themselves invaded enemy territory. At the same time, the crusaders lost a large number of their people.

The Hussites used carts in their military tactics

Military operations were accompanied by incredible cruelty. Thus, German miners from Kutenberg threw captured Hussites into deep mines. People fell, broke their arms and legs, and then died in agony from hunger and thirst. And when Zizka captured the Germans, they were on their knees, begging for mercy. But "The Terrible Blind" did not spare anyone. He was merciless towards his enemies.

In 1427 it was the turn Fourth Crusade, and in 1431 it was organized Fifth Crusade. And again, the numerous crusader troops were unable to defeat the Czechs.

It is unknown how long this whole bacchanalia would have lasted. But the Czechs eventually reduced their level of aggression. This happened at the Battle of Lipany at the end of May 1434. In this battle, warring parties again opposed each other. On one side were the “orphans” and Taborites, and on the other side were the Chashniki. The cup workers won a complete victory. But it was very difficult for them, and the Czechs realized that they were exhausted. And indeed, how long one could fight and kill one’s own and one’s enemies.

It is officially believed that The Hussite Wars ended in 1434. Isolated skirmishes, of course, took place later, but there were no more major hostilities. The Czech Republic was devastated, the population was reduced by half.

In 1436 there was general peace. The Hussites finally found a common language with Sigismund, although they could have done this 15 years earlier and saved a huge number of human lives. However, this was the calm before the storm. It was not for nothing that Jan Hus, when he was going to the fire, said: “I am a goose, and a swan will come for me.” And this swan came 100 years later. His name was Martin Luther. He was a simple preacher and advocated for the improvement of some religious norms. However, all this resulted in such a bloody massacre that in comparison with it the Hussite Wars seem like child's play.