Discipline in Polish-Lithuanian Cavalry Units During Battles in the Early Modern Period1
Open Military Studies 2020; 1: 44–61 Karol Łopatecki* Discipline in Polish-Lithuanian cavalry units during battles in the early modern period1 https://10.1515/openms-2020-0104 Received Jul 13, 2020; accepted Sep 08, 2020 Abstract: Keywords: articles of war, military discipline, organization of cavalry, tactics in the 16th-18th c., desertion, old-Polish art of war The Polish and Lithuanian military in the modern period developed in a different direction from most European areas. First and foremost, it is emphasized that we did not deal with military revolution (it would be better to use the term “evolution”), which did not bring about the origins of a modern military-fiscal state on the territory of the Commonwealth2. This issue certainly requires comprehensive studies, since from at least the mid-17th century onwards, both on the military level as well as in the state organization, the Commonwealth coped well with strong enemies: the Teutonic Order (1519-1521), the Roman Empire (Austria) (1587-1588), the Kingdom of Sweden and the Tsardom of Moscow (1557- 1582, 1600-1629, 1632-1635) and the Ottoman Empire (1621, 1633-1634) 3. The research on transformations occurring in the 16th century indicate crucial changes in the military, but different from those developed in Western Europe. Among the differences it is important to name primarily the reliance on cavalry which fought with polearms and cutting weapons. Moreover, the Crown and the Grand Duchy of Lithuania lacked strongholds understood as large cities fortified with bastions4. These two elements, as well as deficiencies of the fiscal system, which were “patched” by complementing paid troops with private units, district troops and Mass Mobilization5, 1 The article was written as part of the research project of the National Centre for Science SONATA, no.
[Show full text]