Jan, Count Žižka, (born
c. 1376—died Oct. 11, 1424, Přibyslav,
Bohemia [now in Czech Republic]), military commander and national hero of Bohemia who led the victorious
Hussite armies against the German king Sigismund, foreshadowing the revolution of
military tactics two centuries later in his introduction of mobile
artillery.
Jan Zizka belongs to the elite group of leaders who never lost a battle. He was born on or around 1360 in the village of Trocnov in the Kingdom of Bohemia. During his early life he lost an eye. Although it is not known exactly how the accident happened, it is believed that it occurred either as a result of a child-hood injury or an adolescent fight.
After spending most of his life as a mercenary for the Poles and fighting with them at the
Battle of Grunwald (Tannenberg; 1410), he returned to Bohemia and became a follower of the religious reformer
Jan Hus. When Wenceslas died in 1419, his half-brother
Sigismund attempted to ascend the Bohemian throne, but the Bohemians, aware that Sigismund would try to suppress Hussitism, organized a resistance. Žižka became a leader of the
Taborites, one of the newly formed peasant military
communities that, with their tight
discipline and religious and nationalist zeal, were vastly superior to the undisciplined feudal levies that they opposed.
Žižka revolutionized
warfare through the introduction of cannon mounted on mobile, armoured farm wagons. He was one of the first commanders to handle infantry, cavalry, and artillery as one tactical body. Reduced to the tactical defensive by his cumbersome wagons, he became a master at forcing his enemies to attack at a disadvantage. Žižka’s system proved practically unbeatable. He crushed Sigismund near
Prague in 1420. Losing the sight of his remaining eye shortly thereafter, he continued to lead his forces to victory against both Roman Catholics and rival Hussite elements, finally dying of plague in 1424. Hussite armies continued to defeat foreign invaders, finally
succumbing after a decade and a half as a result of internal rivalries.
Despite his obvious success,
Europe failed to heed Žižka’s military system for 200 years. Only with the advent of the Swedish king
Gustav II Adolf and his reintroduction of mobile artillery in the 17th century did Žižka’s system become incorporated into European tactics.
