Warrior of God: Jan Zizka and the Hussite Revolution

This relates to the Kindle Version.I am no great student of military tactics, nor am I familiar with the history of the Czech people. I found this book mentioned in the footnotes of some Wikipedia article that I stumbled onto and decided to give it a read.If you have no idea about the background, the countless religious and political leaders mentioned in background chapters is a bit dizzying, but in the end it doesn't really matter that much because once the narrative finally turns to Zizka and his military campaigns, you realize you don't need to understand all the context to appreciate the man's genius.It was obvious that the author's intent was to catalogue everything that is known about Zizka's life which can been supported by evidence, clarifying which parts of the story are apocryphal, fabrication and/or propaganda. In this respect, the author is quite successful. However, Zizka kept no memoirs, so we aren't able to get a really good look "inside" Zizka's head, which is unfortunate. This is no shortcoming on the author's part, and I actually appreciate that he didn't try to fill in the details with his own fanciful interpretations, as had been done in previous centuries.The thing that I thought was odd was that we got our description of Zizka's war tactics early on in the book, but it was after giving the background and well before launching into Zizka's military narrative. And then the descriptions of most battles summarized tactics generally and didn't work them into the actual battles at all. I don't know. It just seemed that Zizka's genius could have been more effectively conveyed if at least one battle was described in greater detail. Maybe there are not enough historical documents to accomplish such a thing and he felt it best to speak in generalities when describing each conflict.Thematically, the book seemed to jump around a bit. It seemed like it was researched really well but planned out in clumps.Overall though, this book was a great first foray into the genre for me and I really liked it. I would definitely consider reading some related titles to try to flesh out my understanding some more.

This is an excellent introductory book on the Great Czech/Bohemian hero Jan Zizka and the Hussite Revolution. Although I would not describe this work as scholarly, the Hussite movement and its place as the first successful Protestant rebellion in the Reformation is extremely important in European and religious History. The military leader that made this possible was Jan Zizka, who was able to forge an army out of peasants, devise new or improved military arms (such as flails and war wagons), develop new tactics, and defeat superior forces through discipline, training, effective tactics and leadership time and time again. This is all the more remarkable as Zizka possessed only one eye before becoming completely blind for his last three years of campaigning, during which time he achieved some of his most remarkable victories. I can name no other commander in history who was even marginally effective after becoming blind, let alone extremely successful and repeatedly victorious. There is much to learn in this book in regards to religious and national revolutions. The Hussite movement splintered multiple times into almost irreconcilable religious factions, and rabble rousers and charismatic leaders were the order of the day. Almost without exception they were dogmatic in their beliefs, and their actions would have doomed Bohemia to utter destruction had not Zizka been able to help patch over differences to fight common enemies. Nonetheless, eventually the Hussites were their own worst enemies due to their internal politics, willingness to give opponents the benefit of the doubt in accepting their word, and allowing minor theological points to divide them. The Hussite's Roman Catholic enemies, kings, nobles, clergy and the Pope, resorted to any and all tactics, fair and foul to suppress them. Time and again pledges were broken by Catholics following the reasoning that a pledge make to a heretic was not valid or enforceable. Gee, I wonder where Europeans got the idea they could do the same to the Indians of America. Repeatedly the same individuals broke their promises and either burned their captives to death or threw them down mine shafts. In fact, burning at the stake or jamming prisoners in churches or other buildings and setting them on fire were common methods of execution. And in the face of all this, the Hussites repeatedly accepted promises by Catholic prisoners, particularly nobles, and set them free to fight again and kill more Hussites. If there were ever examples that mercy in war is counterproductive, the Hussite wars fill the bill. This is a book that can be read in a few hours, and the footnotes are mostly explanatory descriptions. Reference footnotes or endnotes are absent. There are relatively few references, and the author points out that primary sources are very scarce. After the Battle of White Mountain in 1620 during the Thirty Years War, Protestant Bohemia was re-Catholicised, and Catholic forces and clergy, most notably the Jesuits, destroyed everything could find concerning Bohemian history and the Hussites. As usual, the world is poorer for such book-burnings in the name of religion. Today, 56% of the citizenry of the Czech Republic claim to be atheists. The flock has flown. Jan Hus and Jerome of Prague, of course, were lured to councils with false promises and burned at the stake by Roman Catholic authorities. There is much to learn here, and I highly recommend this book to all. The only reason I downgraded it from 5 to 4 stars is the lack of references that would allow readers like me to check on various points and conduct further research.

A fantastic book about the leader of the Hussite wars - named as such for the martyring of Jan Hus by the Roman Catholic leaders in Bohemia in the 1400s. Zizka was a military genius who was appointed to his post after the King's death, a few years after Hus' martyrdom. He led mostly peasants and lower middle class people to victory over and over again against the corrupt Roman Catholics of Bohemia, Hungary, and Germany, and other areas as they attempted to invade and squash these pre-reformation people (they cried out against the corruption in the Roman Catholic church 100 years before Martin Luther). In fact, Zizka never lost a single battle even though he was almost always outnumbered by 3, 5 or even 7 to 1. He developed weapons that farmers and peasants could use including a mobile "tank-like" vehicle made from wooden wagons. The Hussites developed an aura of invincibility that was so dominant that even after Zizka died and 200,000 German soldiers showed up to invade Bohemia, the Hussite army of only 15 to 20 thousand scared them away as they approached. Zizka was a one-eyed general who lost his remaining good eye late in his life (by a stray arrow during a battle). However, he continued to lead his men to many more victories as a blind general. This is an wonderful story for military and religious history aficionados.

There is a painting by Jan Matejko, "The Battle of Grunwald", that has always fascinated me. The painting celebrates the decisive battle in which Wladyslaw Jagiello's 39,000 Polish-Lithuanian knights and their allies crushed the Teutonic Order, a force of 27,000, one of the strongest military organisations in Europe. The Catholic Polish knights were a minority in an army made up of Lithuanian pagans, Orthodox Christians, Lithuanian Muslim Tartars and "heretical" Bohemian Hussites. I first saw the painting as a Polish postage stamp (in its time it was the largest in the world). It is a chaotic mass. Men are engaged in brutal combat; spears, swords, axes, horses and banners. Within this chaos three figures seem to really stand out: the flowing white of the Grand Master as he leans back, about to fall under the forceful thrust of a spear and the push of a warrior about to take a swing with his axe; the central crowned figure, in velvety red, arms upraised, face aglow as though he has been struck with a divine vision; and, completing the triangle, on the right, a mailed warrior, arms reaching back over his shoulder as he is about to deal a mighty blow with his sword. This is Ziska.So it was with genuine interest that I picked up this book (it had Matejko's Ziska on the cover!). Initially I was disappointed as a slightly confusing introduction seemed to spend as much time on the intrigues of Hungary as it did in the Czech lands. It is only later that I began to appreciate what the author was trying to do; I began to feel that this tale is like a jigsaw puzzle in which my lazy brain is being pushed to start making the connections as the picture comes together. These were interesting, chaotic times, and interesting times create opportunities for individuals to overcome disadvantages in life. The chaos of the late 1300s and early 1400s was a crucible within which much of the future was forged.There is a good explanation of the religious situation in Bohemia, of how the Papal crisis of the 1300s led to the questioning of certain religious issues (especially that of Papal Infallibility and even of the right of the Papacy to leadership). There are also strong connections between the translation of the Bible into the vernacular with the growth of nationalist feelings. The Anglo-Bohemian links of the late 1300s led to the spread of the teachings of Wycliffe in Bohemia and gradually the unsteadiness of the religious and political situation led to disobedience to the Holy Roman Emperor, the Hussite Revolution and war.We dive straight into the Hussite Revolution, and the first Defenestration of Prague, without any real explanation of what was so attractive about the doctrines of Hus; there are suggestions that somehow everything is linked to the chaos of the Papal crisis of the 1300s, to the growth of anti-German feelings, to the rise of Pan-Slavism and even in the birth pangs of Czech nationalism - why? What encouraged these feelings? Was it simply a desire for order within chaos or was it, as hinted at, much more complex? And against this background we have Ziska, one-eyed, rising from relative obscurity and poverty to becoming the king's man, the Queen's chamberlain and, later, the inspired leader of the Hussite army. It was Ziska who realised the importance of discipline, and of the use of weaponry and tactics developed for a largely peasant force expected to meet disorganised heavy cavalry in battle. Ziska created the first really modern army.The Imperial response to the revolt is dealt with well; we begin to see what a devious politician the regent, Sigismund of Luxembourg, is and what the Czechs had to put up with. Sigismund's indecisiveness and the arrogance of his German forces in thinking it would all be over soon resulted in their eventual, ignominious retreat, not just once but on every occasion they came in their crusades. Ziska, on the other hand, showed himself to be decisive and his prestige rose as a result.What becomes really obvious is the antagonism felt by the Czechs for the Germans and the desire for autonomy from the Holy Roman Empire. Czech nationalism linked with the desire for religious freedoms, in other words, acts as a driving force in this unfolding story.Once the immediate threat was dissipated, however, then problems arose between the more moderate (Calixtine or Utraquist) and more radical (Taborite) arms of Hussitism. It is never made clear why Ziska allied himself with the radicals because there are times when he became concerned about some of their beliefs and behaviour, but there can be no doubt that he turned the zealous Taborites into a might military force.This is a real tale of intrigue and violence. It is interesting how all revolutions seem to run out of control as different factions arise and as extremists act, dissatisfied with the pace of things. Ziska appears to be in the background throughout yet he is the real driving force; an able leader, a pious man. At times his actions appear severe and reminiscent of the extremism of religious zealots yet most of the time he seems to reign in extremism. These were violent times with brutal taking of lives; burning prisoners in barns and churches, throwing them alive down mine shafts, mass slaughter.Amidst all the machinations of Sigismund and his German forces, coupled with the real-politics of the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth, it was inevitable that the radical Hussite elements would clash with the more conservative ones. If they're not fighting Sigismund then they're involved in internal struggles, if not against Imperial and Catholic supporters then amongst themselves. When facing foreign foes their armies were seen as invincible; Catholic forces began to question whose side God really was on and this religious doubt was encouraged by the spreading of Hussite leaflets among the Germans - an act that predates and predicts the power of the printing press and can be seen as sowing the seeds of what was to come.The sudden death of Ziska, of plague, comes as a surprise. More significant is the treatment of his body by his German foe when the Czechs lost their freedom; like Wycliff and Cromwell, it was disinterred and buried as a criminal's corpse. Such is fear and hate. The moderate Hussites, ultimately, came out the victors. They annihilated the Taborites at Lipany and were able to establish peace abroad... until the Thirty Years War came along.The Hussite Revolution is an important moment in European history: it presaged the civil strife that would come with the Reformation a century later, it showed what was militarily possible with an organised and disciplined army inspired by religious zealotry. It was also the first crack in the shell of the feudal system since, at its height, everyone was seen as being equal before the law. At times one feels one is observing the birth of the modern world.In Matejko's painting, just behind and to the right of Ziska is the Polish knight, Zawista Czarny. He was one of the greatest knights of his era, famed throughout Europe. I always found it strange that this knight is not wearing armour and should be using a lance in such close combat but, because of his proximity to Ziska, I have always linked the two in my mind. It therefore came as a surprise to me to discover that Ziska never actually fought at Grunwald and that he and Zawista Czarny found themselves on opposite sides in the Second anti-Hussite Crusade. Little things...

The book is an excellent introduction to yhe history of the Hussite movement in Bohemia in the beginning of the fifteenth Century. As educated in history I had some knowledge Before of the subjuect but I Believe that other categories of readers with interest for the history of central Europe can enjoy Reading this book. The langueage is fluent and not too difficult to understand for people with other mother-tongues than English.The illustrations are very good and pedagogic.In the middle of the book there are some pages with bad Printing which is the cause why I have rated the book with four stars instead of five stars.

A great read which details the battles of the hussite rebellion against the Catholic Church

Excellent book on my husband's 14x Great Grandfather, delivered quickly and in excellent condition. Thank you.

Das Buch ist gut geschrieben, aber nur eine mäßige Biografie, eher eine Gesamtdarstellung der Hussitenkriege bis zu Zizkas Tod. Über mehrere Seiten des mit 230 Seiten knappen Buches verschwindet der Heerführer komplett aus der Darstellung. Da liefern einige Darstellungen der Hussitenkriege jedoch mehr Infos...

Excellent well research book that is a great read. Wish I had read this before visiting Tabor.

This is a very useful addition to the available literature in English on the Hussite wars. Not much is known of Zizka's early life and so, perhaps wisely, Verney fills his narrative out with a detailed description of the wars in general. I for one am now much clearer on the differences between Taborites, Orebites and the denizens of New Town, Old Town and Lesser Town in Prague than I was before.The author is sketchy on some of the details (exactly how does a blind general develop such a succesful strategy and win so many battles?) and somewhat naive in places; modern day Czech atheism seems to genuinely shock him. Which brings me on to perhaps a weakness of the book. I have seen this advertised as the first full length biography of Zizka since the opening up of Eastern European archives, but, as he himself says, he only made a 'brief trip' to the Czech lands; and the National Czech and Slovak Library where he started his research seems, oddly enough to me anyway, to be in Iowa.So I recommend reading this while waiting for a genuinely Czech book to be written/translated.

Although very detailed in places, and could have done with a series of maps as the place names come thick and fast, this is an excellent history of the Hussite rebellion. Also as my Czech is non existent, my fault of course, a distinction between place names and those of people would also have been handy. These are small points however and the book is well worth buying. Those interested should also try Ospreys The Hussite Wars.