On this day, 511 years ago, on September 8, 1514 (August 20, 1514 lunar calendar), the Battle of Orsha: The Polish army defeats the Russian army. At the Battle of Orsha, until the end of the fifteenth century, Poland's armaments and military power were Western European, but at the same time, the inevitable political and cultural contacts and connections with the Eastern world began to quietly change the direction of the Polish army. The conscription of feudal nobles began to be replaced by the practice of recruiting mercenaries, both from home and abroad. In the war against the Grand Duchy of Moscow and the Tatar Khans, the Bo? The kings of the Jagiellonian dynasty of the United Kingdom of Lithuania reorganized the Polish army to make it more suitable for fighting in the vast steppes of the East divided by swamps and rivers. Combat proved that the medieval type of heavy cavalry covered in heavy armor from head to toe and carrying heavy cavalry guns was not suitable for fighting on this terrain, and compared with the Serbian and Hungarian hussars of Matthias Corvinus, a light cavalry that excelled against the Turks on this terrain was introduced into the Polish army. These hussars are mentioned many times in manuscripts of the Polish-Lithuanian army in the early sixteenth century. The manuscript describes them as cavalry warriors armed with spears, sabers, and shields, and is mostly given the name "Racowie" (Serbian), Hussar, or Gussar, which originally means "robber" in Serbian, although there are also some Hungarian names. These hussars served not only in the Polish army, but also for the Holy Roman Empire. The Hungarian-style hussars are most commonly depicted in woodcut illustrations in the first-century works of Holy Roman Emperor Maximilian, especially in the books Theuerdank and Weisuniskg. However, the best pictorial history of the hussars of the early 16th century comes from an oil-on-wood painting dating from around 1520, 162cm x 232cm. The painting depicts the Battle of Orsha on September 8, 1514, in which the Polish-Lithuanian army defeated the Archduke of Moscova, Vasily III. The painting is generally faithful to historical facts, but the unknown painter seems to have artistically exaggerated the armor and weapons of the soldiers. It seems that he must have been quite familiar with the painting styles of Albrecht Durer and Lucas Cranach (both great German painters). In the painting, the Polish-Lithuanian army consists of old-fashioned knights, infantry, artillery, light cavalry shooters and new-fashioned hussars, while the Grand Duchy of Moscow consists of all heavily armored Boyer cavalry. The painting depicts the hussars from various angles: crossing the Dnieper in a row of three or four men, charging, fighting and pursuing. The cavalry is their basic weapon, and unlike the heavy cavalry, this kind of cavalry is the same thickness from front to back, with a cross flag on the tip of the gun. When charging, the cavalry is either mounted on a specially left gap in the shield, or held like this, "half placed over the ear of the horse." Their shields are typically Hungarian, made of wood, in a special asymmetrical shape, with a sharp corner raised to one side, and stripes of bright color painted. However, some hussars also use French round shields (rondaches) with sharp thorns in the center. The knives they used were also Hungarian. Unfortunately, there are not many scenes of the use of knives in the painting, but most of them are inserted in large scabbards wrapped in gold and silver. Some, possibly officers of hussars, have a scepter in their belts (buzdy-ganmace, buzdy-gan comes from the Turkish word for "stick" - translation annotation). Their mounts are all clothed in horse clothes and have bridle heads with heavy bits. The shape of the saddle is not visible in the painting, but the stirrup can be clearly seen, which is almost round and has a small ball underneath. The spurs look rather odd. They are fixed to the boots by a large piece of metal covering the rider's feet. We can't find any specific resemblance to them, but they look similar in several paintings and prints by Durer. Their headgear can be described as colorful, the most common of which is a hat apparently made of black felt that resembles the high-end top hat style of the XXX era. The lower part of the hat barrel of this hat is usually decorated with a gold-wrapped metal ring, and a bunch of feathers are inserted in the metal base. There are also various other styles in the painting: conical hats with the same feathers inserted, Hungarian flat hats with upright brims, hats with large tabs, and early berets that were quite popular at the time. The hussars in the painting do not wear armor, relying only on a short hem joupanes with interlayer wadding to provide some protection. A few hussars wear a long-sleeved short cloak, a Hungarian-style garment called a "mente" (the originator of the magnificent tight cloak of later hussars). Some hussars, who may be officers, also have decorative ribbons woven from horsehair hanging from the necks of their horses. Comment: Poland's Old Glory.