Hussite war wagon

[get2grips]

Hi all.

Anyone got a piccy?  Or any other PD war wagon?

Cheers fellas

[Leon]

This is the Hussite one:







And there's the regular wagons from Fred12df's pic:

[Danyo]

Interesting, I've never seen them before...

Can I hijack this topic and ask what army actually used these? Out of curiosity.

[Leon]

Interesting, I've never seen them before...

Can I hijack this topic and ask what army actually used these? Out of curiosity.

The Hussites were a Czech religious group in the early 15th Century, who were fighting against the Catholic Church (and others).

More info here: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hussite_Wars

[Ithoriel]

Poles, Lithuanians Kievan Rus and Cossacks also used wagons and similar tactics, in their cases the wagon was known as a tabor. The Russians had the gulay-gorod or "walking town" which was similar in concept.

It's not too different to the circled wagons beloved of Wild West films. Though cowboys rarely get to unleash cannon on the circling indians Native Americans

[FierceKitty]

Also Chinese, on the northern frontier, under the Ming.

[get2grips]

Thanks Leon 

[Danyo]

Thanks! Really bizarre yet a brilliant idea. Guessing it must have been pretty good for various versions of it to be used by so many different armies..

[get2grips]

Thanks! Really bizarre yet a brilliant idea. Guessing it must have been pretty good for various versions of it to be used by so many different armies..

Not really.  The Hussites used wagons because they were essentially a rebel peasant army and needed some way to counter the cavalry threat.  The practice never developed considerably further because of the increasing use of gunpowder artillery. 

[Ithoriel]

I think it's fair to say that all of the examples I can think of are of armies operating in wide open spaces in the face of an enemy who was superior in cavalry. They rely on persuading the enemy to attack what is essentially a fortified position, letting them beat themselves to death on the defences and then using ones own, inferior, cavalry arm to complete the rout.

[Hertsblue]

I think it's fair to say that all of the examples I can think of are of armies operating in wide open spaces in the face of an enemy who was superior in cavalry. They rely on persuading the enemy to attack what is essentially a fortified position, letting them beat themselves to death on the defences and then using ones own, inferior, cavalry arm to complete the rout.

Not sure the Poles would see it like that. Their cavalry arm was pretty impressive in its own right and they could (and did) use their protected wagons to smash a hole in the enemy line.