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The Blind General Who Never Lost a Battle
One eye? No eyes? It didn’t matter
Jan Žižka was a brilliant military leader and strategist who fought during the Hussite Wars in the 15th century. The Hussite Wars engulfed Bohemia in a series of civil and religious conflicts that pitted proto-Protestant Hussites against Catholics and rebels against their lords. Žižka began his career as a knight with deep connections to the Bohemian royal court, but quickly rose to prominence when he started winning battle after battle.
Early in his career, Žižka lost an eye during an unknown engagement. He returned from a campaign when he was a young man, missing an eye, which garnered him the nickname “One-eyed Žižka”. Despite the loss of one of his eyeballs, Žižka continued to fight and continued to succeed on the battlefield.
At the time, Bohemia was a rich and militaristic part of the Holy Roman Empire, but it was beset on all sides by enemies. There was the Holy Roman Empire, which saw any uprising as a rebellion against the imperial crown. Then there was the neighboring Kingdom of Hungary, which was trying to bring Bohemia to heel under the rule of King Sigismund (future Holy Roman Emperor himself). And then there was the Teutonic Order, the German Catholic military order that was employed on numerous occasions to quell religious uprisings wherever they…
