Polish winged hussars, XVII century 1/72 Orion 72007

Polish winged hussars, XVII century
1/72 scale plastic model kit
Orion 72007

Manufacturer: Orion
Scale: 1/72
Material: Plastic
Paint: Unpainted, assembled, Kit do not contain paints and glue.
Condition: New in Box 

The Polish Hussars (/həˈzÉ‘r/, /həˈsÉ‘r/, or /hʊˈzÉ‘r/; Polish: Husaria) or Towarzysz husarski, were the main type of cavalry of the first Polish Army, later also introduced into the Army of the Grand Duchy of Lithuania, between the 16th and 18th centuries. When this cavalry type was first introduced by the Serbian mercenary horsemen around the year 1500, they served as light cavalry banners; by the second half of the 16th century hussars had been transformed into heavy cavalry. Until the reforms of the 1770s the husaria banners or companies were considered the elite of the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth cavalry.The word hussar derives from the Hungarian Huszár. Exiled Hungarian warriors introduced hussar horsemen – light cavalry armed with hollowed lance, Balkan-type shield, and sabre

The Hungarian Kingdom hussar banners (units) were organized into a strong, highly trained and motivated formation during the reign of King Matthias Corvinus of Hungary. Under his command the various hussar banners took part in the wars against the House of Habsburg,Bohemia, Poland and the Ottoman Empire (in 1485) and proved successful against the Turkish cavalry as well as Bohemians, Germans, Austrians, and Poles. In the Kingdom of Hungary various peoples (Serbs, Croats, Wallachians, Hungarians) made changes to the hussar armament and thus introduced armour in terms of helmets, mail, gorgets making hussars much heavier cavalry than when they first started around 1500. It was the combination of 'Hungarian' influence and changes within the Polish cavalry (obrona potoczna) serving in present day Ukrainian provinces of the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth that led to the development of armour-clad hussars by the early 1560s. Hungarian prince, Polish King and Lithuanian Grand Duke Stephen Bathory reorganized first, the Polish cavalry banners (containing both hussars and other cavalry types) and later the Grand Duchy of Lithuania cavalry banners, thus created the typical Commonwealth hussar banners, starting in 1574.Kingdom of Hungary â€“ lance-armed and clad-in-armour hussar companies existed first in the Hungarian armies (and her vassal states of Wallachian, Moldavian princes) later in the Habsburg armies until early 17th century. The Hungarian, Wallachian and Moldavian hussars gradually abandoned armour and heavy lances during the course of wars and pillages of the later 17th century, reinventing themselves as the scrimmage, reconnaissance and pillage horsemen becoming in fact the light cavalry, in type similar to Croats in Habsburg service. Later in the 18th century, when the Rákóczy's uprising failed in Hungary, many noble hussars with their retainers fled to other Central and Western European countries and became the core of similar light cavalry formations created there, for instance, the 1st French Hussar Regiment created and trained by count Miklós Bercsényi. Also Prussian army during the wars of Frederick the Great started using Hungarian-type hussar regiments extensively, starting with the War of the Austrian Succession.