Wars and battles of the second half of the 17th century in the texts of the hussars of The Grand Duchy of Lithuania

Straipsnyje aptariami XVII a. antrosios pusės Lietuvos Didžiosios Kunigaikštystės kariuomenės husarų tekstai, jais remiantis analizuojamos sunkiosios kavalerijos karių patirtys XVII a. karuose su Rusija, Švedija ir Osmanų imperija bei karybos istorijai svarbūs reiškiniai. Remiantis karuose tiesiogiai dalyvavusių kavaleristų atsiminimais ir korespondencija, aptariamas husarų pasiruošimas ir dalyvavimas karo veiksmuose, jų vaidmuo mūšiuose, taip pat karių požiūris į vadovybę, santykiai su savo dalinio ir kitų dalinių kariais, disciplinos klausimai bei karinės tradicijos. Sunkiųjų kavaleristų tekstai atskleidžia ir svarbius Lietuvos kariuomenės dalyvavimo XVII a. karuose aspektus. Tai gyvas savo kariuomenės ir priešų kariuomenių veiksmų aprašymas, karo veiksmų teatrais tapusių kraštų ir jų vietovių apibūdinimas.The 17th century was an era of extremely tough challenges to the Army of the Grand Duchy of Lithuania (GDL). At that time, it achieved significant victories but also suffered bitter defeats. The difficulties of financing the Army, conflicts among the ruling elite, frequent disagreements between the army leadership and the ruler’s manor, war theatres frequently very far away from the borders of the duchy or wars with the enemies’ armies in the occupied homeland territory were the actual circumstances the GDL Army fought in. The military correspondence, diaries and memoirs of soldiers were of particular importance for the investigation of the courses of military campaigns, battles, operations and preparation for military actions. These texts reveal the phenomena and events that, for various reasons, were silenced by official letters and personal notes of chiefs of defence and high-ranking officials. In the case of the GDL Army, the article singles out the written legacy of the hussar soldiers, i.e. the striking group of the Army. The examples of Jonas Počobutas Odlanickis and Aleksandras Dionisas Skorobohatas, who served in the GDL Army at the second half of the 17th century, show that the service of the soldiers forming the hussar flags began in other cavalry formations; therefore, only the people having combat experience could become the hussars. The preparation of the heavy cavalry for war was associated with huge costs, especially in obtaining suitable horses. At the second half of the 17th century, the status of the elite cavalry maintained by the hussars is very clearly revealed by their representative functions. The memoirs of the hussars testify that they were in direct contact with the ruler and hetmans, accompanied them and honoured the death of very important persons with weapons, i.e. by breaking a spear. The duels practiced by the hussars were an important cultural phenomenon of a noble society. The demonstrated courage and dexterity ensured a high position for duellists in the hierarchy of a unit. The texts also reveal that the daily routine at camps and life during marches were complicated by different incidents, including duels, and diseases. The hussar flags having the string of carts marched with the whole Army, whereas in a military operation or a battle they would leave the carts and become more mobile and manoeuvrable. In a march, the hussars performed the tasks of the forward petrol. During the wars with Russia, Sweden and the Ottoman Empire in the second half of the 17th century, the hussars of the GDL Army described their tactics as follows: “We attacked and counterattacked resolutely, made a gap in the enemy’s formation, broke through it and chopped it with swords”. The Lithuanian heavy cavalry was used not only in an open field but also for attacking the enemy’s fortifications. In the battles, the hussars had to operate flexibly, respond quickly to a changed situation and improvise. The hussars’ texts witness that they did not lack swiftness, kept the initiative, defeated the enemy cavalry with cold weapons, could successfully attack musketeers and lancers and chased broken enemy. Identified as obstacles, the mobile field fortifications used by cavalry in battles were successfully attacked and the space of the city streets was confined. In their descriptions of the consequences of the battles, the hussars focused on the losses and spoils. The killed and injured officers of own and other GDL cavalry, friends and their escort riders (privates) were considered as losses. The casualties of the infantry units were also described in general. The losses were usually given in high numbers of killed and injured horses. The cavalrymen consistently wrote about their lost horses and recorded the material losses incurred. The return from a march was frequently characterized as a complex, dangerous and loss-making part of the military campaign and was associated not only with an opportunity to restore strength and recoup the losses. The memoirs reveal that the unpaid salaries and insufficient state compensation for the heavy cavalry losses in a war brought the hussars’ disappointment. This negative tendency could not help but contribute to the factors influencing the attenuation of the striking power of the GDL Army and its cavalry. The written legacy of the Lithuanian hussars who participated in the wars of the second half of the 17th century is a significant group of sources in different respects to the military history of Lithuania and other states