Jan Žižka: One of History’s Greatest Military Leaders, Who Was Blind but Undefeated
During the Hussite Wars, one Bohemian military leader triumphed in every battle – despite constantly being outnumbered, outgunned and not even being able to see the battlefield. Any list of history’s greatest military commanders will include some clear and undeniable choices: Alexander the Great, Napoleon, Julius Caesar, Hannibal, Genghis Khan, and maybe Sun Tzu for his book The Art of War. But no list is complete without Jan Žižka. A national hero to the Czechs, the 15th-century general was an unmatched tactician and an innovator in weaponry, who never lost a single battle despite leading an army of peasants and farmers against hardened soldiers. And most of the time, he was completely blind. While Žižka’s deeds in the Hussite Wars made him a legend, his life before has either been lost to history or can only be guessed. Maybe born c1360 or 1376 in Trocnov, Bohemia, to an upper-class family, it is believed he became an experienced mercenary, maybe a bandit too. At some point, he lost one of his eyes. He may have fought in the battle of Grunwald in 1410, a major engagement that shifted the balance of power in Europe, before possibly entering the service of King Wenceslas IV of Bohemia. What can...