The Battle of Sudoměř was fought on 25 March 1420, between Catholic and Hussite forces. The Hussites were led by Břeněk of Švihov, who was killed in battle, and
Jan Žižka, whose forces proved victorious. This was the second major battle of the
Hussite Wars
The Hussite Wars, also called the Bohemian Wars or the Hussite Revolution, were a series of civil wars fought between the Hussites and the combined Catholic forces of Sigismund, Holy Roman Emperor, Holy Roman Emperor Sigismund, the Papacy, a ...
; the first battle, the
Battle of Nekmíř, was more of a Hussite
retreat than a true fight.
Process
The Battle of Sudoměř began after Hussite forces, which had taken up temporary fortifications on the plains, were found by Royalist forces, who closed in for an attack. The Hussites were greatly outnumbered almost 5-to-1, and initially hoisted the
white flag, but when the Royalists refused to accept their surrender, the battle truly began.
Though outnumbered and comparatively ill-equipped, facing heavily armoured knights, the Hussites had fortified their surroundings ingeniously. Their flank was protected by
war wagons loaded with
arquebusiers, and many large ponds and marshy areas surrounded the Hussite infantry—ground which the Royalist cavalry could not hope to cross.
Three hundred
Knights Hospitaller
The Order of Knights of the Hospital of Saint John of Jerusalem, commonly known as the Knights Hospitaller (), is a Catholic military order. It was founded in the crusader Kingdom of Jerusalem in the 12th century and had headquarters there ...
from
Strakonice led by Jindřich of Hradec (killed in battle) attacked war wagons placed on a slim dam, with huge casualties but no success. After that, another four hundred Royalist
cavalry
Historically, cavalry (from the French word ''cavalerie'', itself derived from ''cheval'' meaning "horse") are groups of soldiers or warriors who Horses in warfare, fight mounted on horseback. Until the 20th century, cavalry were the most mob ...
men, led by Peter von Konopischt of Sternberg (killed in the
Battle of Vítkov Hill later that year) rushed a weakly held side of the Hussite formation, but were mired in marshy ground. They dismounted in order to progress, but soon found themselves mired once more. Following this, the Hussite light infantry equipped with
flails were able to easily finish the cavalrymen.
The battle ended with the advance of night and fog, during which Žižka and the Hussite forces were able to escape. Though the Catholic Royalists were not entirely defeated, the fact the Hussites were able to inflict such heavy casualties with so few men, and then escape soundly, proved to be a great victory. Only 400 hussites (farmers and townsmen, including women and children) beat the 2,000-strong force of heavily armoured cavalry. Hussite General, Jan Žižka, through superior knowledge of tactics and terrain, along with the highly effective deployment of
wagon fort strategies, won the day.
External links
List of Hussite Battles
{{DEFAULTSORT:Sudomer
Battles involving the Holy Roman Empire
Battles of the Hussite Wars
1420 in Europe
Conflicts in 1420
Jan Žižka
History of the South Bohemian Region