yawns ishka was born in a small town in
the kingdom of Bohemia around 1362 a
privileged family he grew up in the
court of German King once it's lost the
fourth and became the Chamberlain to the
Queen Sofia of Bavaria after leaving the
court chisca became a professional
soldier and mercenary for most of his
adult life fighting for various European
powers such as the kingdom of Poland his
most important role in his early career
was taking part in the decisive battle
of grunwald in 1410 he fought as a Czech
mercenary in the battle in the service
of the Polish Lithuanian alliance
against the Knights of the Teutonic
order the Teutonic Knights were
decisively defeated in the battle and it
marked the end of the order's expansion
along the southeastern coast of the
Baltic Sea it was also the beginning of
the decline of its power although just a
foot soldier at Grunwald jischke seemed
to have learned a lot from the battle
one of the largest of the medieval
period it was also there where it was
said he lost an eye in the battle for
which he would be casually known as
one-eyed jischke by his men throughout
his career as a general jischke never
lost a battle and is considered one of
the greatest military commanders of all
time what separates him further from
other great commanders is that jischke
won his battles often leading peasants
farmers and poorly trained militia
against professional armies from some of
Europe's most dominant powers to make
his victories even more impressive is
that he was vastly outnumbered in almost
every single battle as well jischke
trained and equipped his men according
to their abilities teaching the farmers
to use their flails as weapons which was
a tool normally used to Thresh wheat he
was also one of the first commanders to
handle infantry cavalry and artillery as
one tactical body jischke also insisted
upon the inclusion of gunpowder when
possible and pioneered the use of early
pistols and field cannons however he is
most remembered for the way he
revolutionized warfare through his Unruh
duction of war wagons an early form of
tank pulled by horses they were
protected by thick wooden planks bound
together with iron and these hardened
wagons were circled together before
about
the horses were unhitched in the wheels
interlocked forming a fort on any
battlefield where he chose to fight as
jischke was a master at choosing good
defensive sites to fight on missile
weapons could be fired through gaps in
the wagons sides as well as artillery
place between the wagons each cart
contained men with long flails ready to
fend off attackers as well as missile
troops who turned the static formation
into a powerful battlefield weapon an
infantry strike force in smaller cavalry
groups sat safely inside the wagon rank
ready to charge the enemy once they
became disordered some wagons also
focused on carrying cannons to punch
through enemy lines also when travelling
the wagons were used as transports and
could even hold mobile forges for the
upkeep of the equipment especially the
early gunpowder weapons in the early
15th century bitter religious divisions
that would eventually lead to the
Protestant Reformation were beginning to
take shape in some areas of Central
Europe a few leaders were calling for
reform in the church but the Pope pushed
back hard charging them with heresy and
executing them by burning at the stake
one of these religious leaders was yan
HUS who called out corruption in the
Catholic Church
he was eventually burned at the stake
for heresy in 1415 prompting a chick
Bohemian uprising of his followers who
would be known as the Hussites in 1419
the rebellion went to a higher level
when the Hussites invaded the prague
town hall and threw over a dozen town
councillors out of the upper floor
windows King Wenceslas died soon
afterwards leaving the country and
indeed political crisis and a power
vacuum for the throne of Bohemia once
it's lost his half-brother Sigismond
attempted to ascend to the throne but
the Hussites organized the resistance
against him starting in late 1419 and
all-out war began between the Hussites
bohemian Royalists and other factions
this included a Pope sanction crusade
against the Hussites young syska led the
forces of the radical wing of Hussites
called the Taber rights against the
invading armies in December 14 19
jessica's forces of about 400 infantry
and seven war wagons were ambushed by
2,000 bohemian Royalists most of which
were heavily armed Knights
using the wagons jischke was able to
turn the tables on the ambushers and
escape while dealing heavy casualties to
the many times larger force later a
pitched battle in march 1420 was fought
with the same number of troops and this
time jessica was able to prepare the
battlefield better using superior
tactics he placed his wagons to protect
the flanks then use large ponds and
marshes in the area to surround his
infantry areas the enemy horsemen
weren't able to cross after several
failed cavalry charges against the
wagons the lighter and more rested
Hussites
were able to go on offense and attack
the slow troilus forces the battle
lasted until nightfall and Jessica's
forces of mainly farmers peasants women
and even children managed to inflict
heavy casualties on the professional
soldiers of the Bohemian Royalists in
July 14 2016 8 E thousand Crusaders back
into Bohemia against the Hussites and
attempted to invade Prague where he had
control of two castles Kisco was tasked
with leading the defense of the city as
a master at forcing his enemies to
attack at a disadvantage
ESCA fortified the hill of veek off just
outside of Prague this prevented the
encirclement of the entire city causing
a siege to be ineffective the
fortifications were placed in an area
near a steep cliff and were secured by
walls and moats Sigismund leading a
forced numbering in the thousands
attempted to take the hill but were
repulsed by few a 60 defenders armed
with flails and guns the difficult
terrain and highly effective
concentrations of firepower by the
Hussites
slowed the attacking forces soon
afterwards a small huh sigh relief
forest counter-attack enforced the
Crusaders fleeing off the nearby cliff
only around 160 total Hussites managed
to drive off thousands of crusading
knights and soldiers Sigismund was
forced to abandon the attempted siege of
the city and the hussite soon captured
the two royalist castles in prague while
besieging a castle and southwest bohemia
in 1421 chisca lost the use of his
remaining i' in battle though now
totally blind
he still effectively commanded his
troops in combat
Sigismund returned again to bohemia'
December 14 21 and faced off against Yan
jiske at the Battle of kuta hora
surrounded by a force over five times
larger the Hussites faced imminent
destruction in one of the first uses of
offensive artillery in battle
shish-kabob ardha the Royalists forces
to temporarily keep his trapped men safe
he then formed his war wagons into a
column and charged the enemy lines with
all of their offensive firepower just
because Colin broke through sigismund's
encirclement saving the trapped troops
and turning the tide of the battle all
while being blind in both eyes following
his brilliant maneuver on the
battlefield
Kiska constantly harassed sigismund's
forces rating and ambushing them at will
whenever they counter attacked he baited
them into attacking his fortified wagons
before launching his own assault on them
a demoralized Sigismund left bohemia' at
the end of the month unable to defeat
Jessica in battle jischke would
eventually have to fight against fellow
Hussites as the group split into feeding
factions after the repulsion of the
Royalists and Crusaders in every battle
he was incredibly effective using a mix
of high ground fortifications and
expertly time counter-attacks
to win the day Jessica's victories
helped him to temporarily unify the
Hussites
against external threats he continued to
deploy his war wagons and lead the
Hussites to victory against the
Royalists throughout 14 22 and 14 23 in
1424 Jessica died of the plague while he
was leading the United Hussites on a
campaign into Moravia without his
leadership the army event in the
campaign but the Hussites continued to
fight off the Royalists and Crusaders
for the next decade in 1434 modern
Hussites they were allied with the
Catholics defeated the acclaimed general
Pro Cup the great who succeeded Jessica
as the leader of the table rights the
hussite defeat left the rebellion and
tatters in Sigismund gained back the
throne of Bohemia a short time later the
hussite wars were officially over in
August 14 36y on jischke today is
considered a Czech national hero and
remembered as a brilliant commander who
defied all odds in battle
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