In our present day, Czechia is known for being the motherland of Pilsners and the homeland of star hockey players. However, back in the early 1400s, it was a place of ungovernable vigilantes, deadly political intrigue, and simmering religious turmoil. In this tumultuous century, daring men would be forged in the crucible of battle, living lives more remarkable than any fiction. One of these men was Jan Žižka, one of Medieval Europe’s most dynamic generals. In this video, we will explore the story of a man who led a troop of heretical underdogs in a stubborn resistance against the seemingly invincible might of the Holy Roman Empire and the Catholic Church, becoming a national hero of the Czech people in the process. And if you want to see Zizka in action in grisly detail, we’ve got a recommendation: check out the new movie Medieval, the sponsor of this video. With Ben Foster in the leading role, it follows Zizka’s rise to power in battles against characters we’ll see later in this video: Kings Wenceslaus, Sigismund, and Lord Rosenberg, aiming to overcome the corrupt monarchs and scheming lords with a scheme of his own. He teams up with none other than Academy Award winner Michael Caine to kidnap Rosenberg’s fiancee, averting the tyranny the power of their marriage alliance would bring. But of course that won’t be easy - the movie is packed with epic battles, showcasing the wild and raw fighting of the era, plus the innovative tactics of Zizka, who, spoilers, is known today as the general who never lost a battle. And of course, when things get messy and right and wrong begin to shift, only legendary hero Zizka can lead the common people to justice, finally shown through the stunning modern cinematography of this national epic. Basically if this video piques your interest, check out this movie. Medieval is opening exclusively in theaters September 9. Visit Medieval.film for tickets. Since 1198, the Kingdom of Bohemia, the land of the Slavic Czech people, had existed as an autonomous member state of Europe’s most eclectic political entity: the Holy Roman Empire. During the reign of Holy Roman Emperor Charles IV, a descendant of ancient Germanic Luxembourg and Slavic Přemyslid dynasties, Bohemia enjoyed a period of prosperity, while Prague, the Emperor’s seat of power, became arguably the most important city in Europe. However, when Emperor Charles died in 1378, he split his many holdings between his sons, with Wenceslaus IV ascending as King of Bohemia. Regarded by his nobility as a neglectful, drunken, and hedonistic wastrel, Wenceslaus never enjoyed his father’s popularity, and would deal with insurrection and rebellion his entire reign. To add yet another element of conflict, this proverbial blood in the water would attract the territorial ambitions of Wenceslaus' half-brother, King Sigismund of Hungary. It is here, in the Bohemian Kingdom full of political instability, that we will finally introduce the main character of our story. Very little is known about the early life of Jan Žižka, partially due to the later efforts of the Catholic Church to eradicate records of his existence. It is assumed he was born sometime during the 1360s, in the town of Trocnova, to a family of the lower nobility. It seems that even as a boy, Jan was a scrapper, and some of his biographers claim that he gained his famously cyclopean visage quite early, losing an eye in a brawl with some of his boyhood friends. Much like many other families of the Bohemian gentry at the time, Žižka’s was under a great deal of financial strain. In 1384, he was forced to sell his family’s ancestral holdings, effectively rendering him landless and destitute. Žižka next emerges in the written record in 1392, when the Bohemian royal accounts mention him serving as a King’s Huntsman. It must have been a reasonably comfortable life, but among the highest levels of Bohemian society, a storm was brewing, and soon, Jan Žižka’s first trial by fire would be upon him. In 1394, a coalition of Bohemian upper nobles, loosely led by one Henry of Rosenberg, revolted against their King. In this, they were implicitly supported by the King Sigismund of Hungary, who took advantage of the chaos in his half-brother Wenceslaus’ realm to forward his claims to his half-brother's lands. Soon, the King and the nobles began raising mercenary bands to confront one another. Over the next decade, Žižka became a soldier of fortune. He joined a rowdy marauder band loyal to King Wenceslaus and under the leadership of gang leader Matěj Vůdce, who primarily terrorized the properties and estates of the rebel magnate, Henry of Rosenberg. Our knowledge of Žižka’s exploits during these years is patchy, but generally speaking, he lived as a borderline outlaw, burning farms, stealing cattle, waylaying traveling merchants, and conspiring with other gangs to conquer entire towns and castles. Crafty and deadly, Žižka soon began distinguishing himself as a capable guerilla fighter. Soon, the political situation at the highest level had changed. Despite having been captured and basically deposed by Sigismund back in 1402, King Wenceslaus had since managed to wriggle his way back onto the throne of Bohemia and establish diplomatic overtures with Henry of Rosenberg, appeasing the league of nobles who had long defied him and calming the situation in his Kingdom. In 1409, Žižka’s bandit-leader, Matěj Vůdce, was captured and tortured to death by the pro-Rosenberg forces of the city of Budějovice. However, before Žižka could suffer the same fate, he was delivered a royal decree by the King, giving Žižka amnesty for all his crimes. Žižka is next seen a year later, having been hired to fight as a foreign mercenary on behalf of King Wladyslaw of Poland against the mighty Teutonic Order. According to the Polish chronicler Jan Długosz, Žižka was present at the 1410 Battle of Grunwald, arguably the largest battle ever fought in Medieval Europe. Žižka’s participation in this battle has since been heavily romanticized by pan-Slavicists who wish to portray him as Czech hero helping his Polish brothers against the tyrannical German Teutons. However, it is likely that Žižka didn’t actually see direct action at Grunwald. That said, he did participate in the successful defense of Radzyń Chełmiński Castle against a force of Teutons shortly after. No longer a semo-legal bandit, but a battle-hardened war hero, Žižka returned to Bohemia in 1411, just in time for him to get swept up in one of the bloodiest religious conflicts in Medieval European history. The 14th and 15th centuries were an odious time for the Catholic Church. In 1378, the Church had split in two, with Popes in Avignon contesting the legitimacy of the Popes in Rome, and in 1409, an additional Pope in Pisa making it a total of three separate Bishops simultaneously claiming to be the true head of the Catholic world. In Bohemia, discontent with the mother Church had risen to a bubbling simmer. General corruption and greed within the ecclesiastics had become the norm, with practices like indulgences having become commonplace, wherein the clergy squeezed the wealth out of their flock by convincing people to buy their way into heaven. Eventually, anti-Catholic sentiment among the Czechs manifested in one man, a Rector at Prague University, Jan Hus. Hus was a firebrand preacher, railing against the nepotism and debauchery of the church. His words stirred the hearts of many throughout Bohemia, including Wenceslaus’ royal wife, Queen Sofia of Bavaria, who took Hus as her personal confessor. Meanwhile, a certain Jan Žižka had landed a prestigious position as bodyguard to the royal family since returning from Poland. Developing deep respect for Hus, Žižka became an ardent disciple of the disruptive theologian. Soon, however, Hus’ teachings got him excommunicated by the Pontificate. Fearing yet more internal turmoil brewing in his kingdom, Wenceslaus convinced Hus to go into voluntary exile in 1412. However, at this point, the hapless Wenceslaus was not the true power in Bohemia, that distinction belonged to none other than his scheming half brother, King Sigismund of Hungary. In 1415, Sigismund invited Hus to the Ecumenical Council of Constance, offering the Czech preacher a royal guarantee of safety in return for a chance to settle his doctrinal differences with the Church. This went about as well as one might expect. As it turns out, Sigismunds’ promise of protection meant nothing, as Catholic enforcers promptly arrested Hus at Constance, and burned him at the stake on the 6th of July, 1415. Of course, all this accomplished was to make Hus into a martyr, and throughout Bohemia, thousands rose up in religious revolution, declaring themselves Hussites in honour of their fallen shepherd. On July 30th, 1419, a Hussite Priest, Jan Zelivsky, led an angry mob through the streets of Prague, stormed town hall, demanded the release of Hussite prisoners captured under the orders of King Wenceslaus, and, when that failed, defenestrated the King’s representatives in the city council. Funnily enough, this would not be the last time in history that throwing some guys out of a window in Prague would cause a brutal religious conflict. Meanwhile, the conclusion of the Council of Constance in 1418 had mended the Papal Schism, allowing the newly reunified Catholic Church to focus fully on crushing the Slavic heresy in Bohemia. In this, they had a champion, Sigismund, King of Bohemia. Indeed, King Wenceslaus, beset by turmoil and rebellion all his life, had finally had too much, and after the defenestration of Prague, had died of a stroke. Thus, Sigismund inherited the Kingdom he had long been conspiring to seize. Of course, Sigismund had little actual control over Bohemia, for most of the country’s native Czech population had embraced the Hussite cause, and despised him as the betrayer of their beloved spiritual father. Moreover, the Hussites had a champion of their own. It is here we reach the zenith of Jan Žižka’s life, as a general of the Hussites, who he led for five years, about half of which he spent entirely blind, never losing a single battle. This is a particularly remarkable feat when you consider what exactly Žižka was up against. On March 17th, 1420, Pope Martin V declared a crusade “for the destruction of the Hussites and all other heretics of Bohemia.” This meant that King Sigismund’s already considerable royalist forces were bolstered with cavalry from across Europe, with one of Žižka’s biographers claiming that Knights from over 33 nations, including Englishmen, Frenchmen, Hollanders, Spaniards, Poles, Ruthenians, and all manner of Germans, all took up the cross against the Hussites, attracted to Bohemia either by the prospect of plunder, or by genuine religious zeal against the heretics. The Hussites were completely outmatched, for they were predominantly made up of Czech peasants and townsfolk with little combat experience, a rabble which any column of properly trained heavy cavalry should easily be able to steamroll. And yet, they weren’t. Kindled by Žižka’s masterful leadership, the Hussites shocked the world when, with a force of 400 farmers, wodmen, and children, they decisively repulsed the combined might of the Knights Hospitaller and royalist cavalry at the Battles and Nekmíř and Sudoměř. These initial blows to Catholic pride were followed up by a full-force gut punch when Žižka marched to relieve the generally pro-Hussite people of Prague, whose city was being besieged by King Sigismund himself. At the battle of Vítkov Hill just east of the city, the cream of European Knighthood was dashed to bits against Žižka’s well-entrenched flail-and-handgun wielding dissidents. Largely because of this defeat, Sigismund’s army began disintegrating, leaving almost all of Bohemia in Hussite hands. Although covering every single battle Žižka fought in full detail goes beyond the scope of our video, let us briefly examine the strategy he employed, which made his Hussite rebels so effective against an enemy that was consistently better armed, better trained, and more numerous than them. Žižka’s time as an outlaw had made him into an expert in asymmetrical warfare, and time fighting the Teutons had given him valuable experience against the type of war waged by mounted knights. At the onset of the Hussite wars, this experience came together to form his game-breaking stratagem: wagenberg tactics. When the townsfolk and peasantry of Czechia first began filtering out of the countryside to join Žižka’s revolutionary army, they, understandably, had little in the way of professional arms and armour, bringing with them converted farm tools like flails, scythes, and most importantly, wagons. These wagons, which Žižka would modify into combat vehicles, became perhaps the single most iconic symbol of the Hussite wars. Generally, Žižka’s tactics involved choosing a well-fortified position, usually on high ground, and drawing up his wagons in a defensive square position upon it, erecting large wooden pavise shields to seal up the spaces between them. If time permitted, he also would have a defensive ditch dug along the outside of his wagon encirclement. Within each wagon would be around 15 to 20 men, armed with flails, hooks, polearms, and crossbows. Notably, the use of early firearms, such as rudimentary handguns and cannons, also supplemented the Hussite arsenal to deadly effect. In essence, Žižka created what was basically a fully-fortified artillery fort on wheels, which he could park wherever he wanted. This turned the traditionally heavy cavalry-dominated warfare of Medieval Europe on its head. Mounted Knights are great at cutting down rank-and-file infantry on an open field, but not so effective in siege warfare, and indeed, whenever plate mail-clad Chevaliers charged head-on against Žižka’s Hussite peasantry, they found themselves shredded by crossbow and gunfire, then dashed against the wooden walls of what was basically an impenetrable mobile castle. Although the first Hussite Crusade had been a resounding victory for the crusaded, there were still pro-Catholic holdouts to clear out, and in July of 1421, Žižka went to conquer the pro-Sigismund castle of Rábí. There, according to legend, a crossbowman on the castle ramparts fired a bolt at Žižka, which flew wide, instead hitting a nearby pear tree, causing a splinter of bark to take out Žižka’s remaining good eye. Rábí castle would fall to the Hussites, and Žižka, now entirely blind, would continue to lead the rebel forces for many victories to come. In late 1421, Sigismund launched another foray to subdue Bohemia, known as the Second Hussite Crusade. This one would go about as well for him as the first did, ending with a pair of decisive defeats at Žižka’s hands at the Battles of Deutschbrod and Kutná Hora. Sigismund retreated once more with his tail between his legs. However, with the Hussites now deprived of a common enemy, Žižka would now have internal problems to deal with. The Hussites were never a monolithic movement, instead being composed of many factions. The more conservative Hussites, composed mainly of the wealthy citizens of Prague, only wanted moderate reforms in the Church. The poorer peasants of Bohemia, however, were far more radical, wanting to annihilate things such as social class, private wealth, and taxation, seeking to destroy the root causes of Catholic greed and return to what they saw as the pure, ascetic Christian society described in the bible. Žižka’s faction, the Taborites, was among these radicals, and in late 1423, went to war with the more moderate faction, known as the Utraquists. Naturally, by the summer of 1424, Žižka had emerged victorious, uniting the Hussite factions under him. In October 1424, the blind war wolf Jan Žižka would embark on his last campaign. Having resolved to chase Sigismund’s loyalists out of the region of Moravia, he laid siege to the castle of Pribyslav. There, the old eyeless general would contract some sort of plague, and ultimately pass away. An anticlimactic end, to be certain, but the silver lining is that Žižka went out with a perfect record. Despite always being outnumbered and outgunned, he had never lost a single battle in his entire life. The impact of Žižka’s death was felt by both his friends and foes. Catholics claimed that “the one whom no mortal hand could destroy was extinguished by the finger of God,” while many of those who had fought under them began calling themselves “the Orphans”, for Žižka had been like a father to them. After his death, Žižka’s armies fell under the command of one Prokop Veliký, a capable general in his own right. Ultimately, the Hussite wars ended in something of a compromise. In the end, the moderate and radical Hussites could not coexist with one another, with the Utraquists annihilating Prokop, the Taborites, and the Orphans at the battle of Lipany on the 30th of May, 1434. Thereafter, the moderate Hussites reconciled with the Catholic Church, accepting Sigismund, who had since been elected Holy Roman Emperor, as the King of Bohemia. In return, the Utraquist Hussites became the official Church of Bohemia, albeit as an autonomous ecclesial body under the Catholic See. Had Žižka been alive, he would have been deeply displeased to see his followers annihilated and only a watered-down version of the revolution he desired achieved. However, at the end of the day, the Hussite movement was still an extremely successful one overall, having made a stand against the most powerful institutions in Europe, and against all the odds, securing freedom of religion and representation for themselves in the long term, and influencing the protestant movement. None of this would have been possible if not for the one-eyed maverick who carried the rebellion in its earliest days, making it understandable why Jan Žižka, the war wolf of Bohemia, is considered a national hero of the Czech people to this day. We are planning more videos on medieval history, so make sure you are subscribed and have pressed the bell button to see them. Please, consider liking, commenting, and sharing - it helps immensely. 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