and such weapons he was now to prepare to encounter the chivalry of Europe.
The hradba vozová (wagon-fort or lager of wagons),[1] if not absolutely Žizka's invention became, entirely through
him, a serious feature in Bohemian warfare. From the scanty and contradictory accounts that have reached us it appears that the wagons or chariots of the Bohemian armies were linked together by strong iron chains, and were used not only for defence, but also for offensive movements. All the warriors, except the few horsemen as well as the women and children who accompanied the armies, found shelter in these wagons, which in time of battle were generally formed in four lines or columns. The wagons were covered with steel or iron—iron-clad, to use a modern term—and the best marksmen were placed next to the driver of each of them. In case of defeat, the wagons formed what was practically a fortified entrenchment. When an offensive movement was undertaken, the drivers of the wagons at one end of the line of battle attempted to outflank the enemy, and after Žižka's men had become accustomed to warfare, often succeeded in doing so. It may be noticed that the wide plains of Bohemia, which then—as now—were little intersected by ditches or fences, offered every advantage to this novel system of warfare. Žižka also seems to have given his attention to fire-arms, as the picked marksmen whom he placed next to the drivers of the wagons soon became the terror of the Germans, through the precision of their fire, whilst the few and unwieldy field-pieces which accompanied the Bohemian armies were yet far superior to anything the Germans and other enemies could then bring to battle against them. It cannot be denied that the success of Žižka, in creating out of a crowd of townsmen, small farmers, and farm-labourers an almost invincible army, at the head of which he defeated the bravest knights and warriors of Europe, is almost unique in history. It is perhaps fantastic to suggest some resemblance between Oliver
- ↑ Since writing the above I have had the opportunity of reading Mr. Hereford B. George's interesting work entitled, Battles of English History. I here find that at the "Battle of the Herrings" (1429) Sir John Fastolf, who commanded the English troops, "formed his wagons in square, within which extemporized fort his men stood on the defensive." Mr. George very truly remarks that " the lager, which is a feature now well known of African warfare, is the same thing in principle."
