Polish Hussars

[perkins1990]

what i dont understand s that in the game they didnt give Poland there best possible unit Hussar they was one of the best cavalary in the world like not the best ,such a shame dont you think?

[Farlon]

They didn't exist in the time the game takes place.

[GuardianCommandr]

i agree i would love to play a Poland with winged hussars while listening to sabaton

[DNLH]

Not even late period would be close to give the light-weight, early version of hussars. At the time of the game, best you could get (and that's stretching it, because Ottomans simply exist and are yet to invade the area) would be a couple of Serb and Bosnian mercenaries/exiles, who in following centuries would inspire creation of regular light lancers unit that will later evolve into Winged Hussars (who, by comparison with contemporary cavalry units still wearing three-quarters or half-armour, were still pretty lightly equipped).

Maybe they could appear in a proto-form as light lancers for Serbia itself, tho, but I doubt that's satisfying. Sorry for being a bit ranty, but misunderstanding nature of winged hussars is a bit of my pet peeve, people too often think of them like some kind of anachronistic, heavyweight medieval knights on the Napoleonic battlefields (thanks, Empire: Total War), while they were quite lightly equipped shock cavalry, wearing state-of-the-art equipment and riding a special breed of horses you'd get severly punished for selling abroad.

[Henrique Lique]

isn't hussar just a variant of light cavalry?

[DNLH]

Yes, different hussar, though, same origin (Hungarian, Bosnian or Serb light, irregular cavalry). During XVIth century Hungarian hussars started armouring themselves heavier and when Stephan Batory got elected King of Poland he similarly reformed Commonwealth's regiments that eventually became Winged Hussars. Meanwhile their Hungarian counterparts started dropping armour altogether to return to their original tactics.

At the later date most of Europe adopted the latter version of Hussar regiments, including some of the original fashion, which made them look quite exotic comparing to some of the other units. Same fate met, for example, Polish Uhlans, that were used as a template of lancer regiments across Europe, fashion included (which led to a disgusting bastardization of czapka/rogatywka, that looks like a pickelhaube with a dangle on top).

That being said, the Winged Hussars also got popular. While attempts to adopt them as a military unit failed, sometimes spectacularly (anecdotally, Moscow regiment forgot to lower their lances when crossing the town gates, leading to breaking many of them), they became fashionable enough that some German States had organised tournaments in 'hussar fashion', basically jousting, but with extra long lances and fancy clothes.