Lipany 1434
Lipany 1434

Author(s): Piotr Strzyż
Subject(s): History, Military history
Published by: Wydawnictwo Uniwersytetu Łódzkiego
Keywords: Hussite;Lipany; Middle Ages; Wagenburg;armament
Summary/Abstract: The Battle of Lipany is unanimously considered one of the most important battles in Czech history – along with Dürnkrut in 1278 and Biała Góra in 1620. On 30 May 1434, in the fields near the small villages of Lipany and Hřibý, a fierce battle took place which decided the downfall of the Hussite Revolution. Within a few hours the forces of the anti-Hussite coalition completely defeated the - until then considered invincible – army of the Hussite radicals, sealing their end.It was particularly important for historians to answer the question of how the anti-Hussite coalition managed to achieve such a significant military success in a short period of time. Therefore, it turned out to be important not only to analyze the political situation in Czech on the eve of the battle, but also to determine the strength and numbers of the armies of both thrones of the conflict, or to precisely locate the area of the battle. However, despite significant progress in research, reconstructing the course of action on May 30 is still not an easy task. This is due to the reliability of the surviving sources, which, despite their apparent detail, are not always fully reliable and consistent with each other. Many aspects of the events at Lipany are still reconstructed hypothetically.The Battle of Lipany stood out from other military actions of the time because of the tactics used. The coalition troops departed from the tactics based on defensive actions from behind the Wagenburg curtain. The sham retreat maneuver, carried out Wgenburg, proved to be the key to success. Therefore, it should be emphasized that the tactics used at Lipany started not only a new stage in the functioning of the Czech military in the late Middle Ages, but in time also spread to other Central European countries

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