The attila is an elaborately braided Hungarian shell-jacket or short coat, decorated with lace and knots. Historically it was part of the uniform of the Hungarian cavalry known as

hussar A hussar ( , ; hu, huszár, pl, husarz, sh, husar / ) was a member of a class of light cavalry, originating in Central Europe during the 15th and 16th centuries. The title and distinctive dress of these horsemen were subsequently widely ...

s (or huszárs). It was a part of the everyday wear of rural men as well as members of the nobility and officials. The attila was made in many styles and many colors including black, gray, blue, green, red and white. Some of these overlapped with the Turkish

dolman The somewhat vaguely defined term dolman (from Turkish ''dolaman'' "robe" ) can refer to various types of clothing, all of which have sleeves and cover the top part of the body, and sometimes more. Originally, the term ''dolaman'' referred to ...

. The origins of the attila are believed to go back to the 16th century when Hungarians adopted the practice of wearing their short coats slung on one shoulder. When worn in this fashion the jacket was often referred to as a ''pelisse''. In cold or wet weather the attila could be buttoned across the chest and worn as a conventional jacket. One possibly mythical account, reported by an English general, is that one night a Hungarian cavalry unit was attacked by the Turks and had no time to dress properly. Instead they just threw on their short coats half shouldered and went into battle. Supposedly the Turks on seeing the "flying sleeves of the short coats", thought that they were fighting men who had more than two arms, and fled. Other accounts suggest that Hungarian hussars wore their short coat slung over one shoulder to provide limited protection from glancing sword blows. Earlier Hungarian horsemen had used slung animal skins as a shield in this way.{{cite book, first=John, last=Mollo, page=24, title=Military Fashion, ISBN=0-214-65349-8 After 1850 the Austro-Hungarian cavalry attila became longer. In 1892 the attila also became part of the Hungarian forester's ceremonial uniform. It was dark green or black with seven golden braids and golden buttons. During the late 18th and 19th centuries hussar regiments were raised in many European and Latin American armies and the fur trimmed

pelisse A pelisse was originally a short fur-trimmed jacket which hussar light-cavalry soldiers from the 17th century onwards usually wore hanging loose over the left shoulder, ostensibly to prevent sword cuts. The name also came to refer to a fashion ...

, worn over a braided attila or dolman, often continued to be worn in the slung fashion described. By the mid-19th century the attila had become part of the ceremonial uniform of the

Royal Netherlands East Indies Army The Royal Netherlands East Indies Army ( nl, Koninklijk Nederlands Indisch Leger; KNIL, ) was the military force maintained by the Kingdom of the Netherlands in its colony of the Dutch East Indies, in areas that are now part of Indonesia. The ...

Michael Kovats Michael Kovats de Fabriczy (often simply Michael Kovats; hu, Kováts Mihály; 1724 – May 11, 1779) was a Hungarian nobleman and cavalry officer who served in the Continental Army during the American Revolutionary War, in which he was killed i ...

, the Hungarian

, who recruited, trained, organized, and led some of the first

American cavalry The United States Cavalry, or U.S. Cavalry, was the designation of the mounted force of the United States Army by an act of Congress on 3 August 1861.Price (1883) p. 103, 104 This act converted the U.S. Army's two regiments of dragoons, one r ...

into battle, wore an attila as part of his uniform.

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Hussar uniforms from 1740-1780
Hungarian clothing Jackets Coats (clothing) Military uniforms

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External links