Jan Žižka
Rise to prominence

Jan Žižka made his first significant mark in history on 30 July 1419 in Prague, when he joined a Hussite procession led by the priest Jan Želivský. The crowd gathered in front of the New Town hall and demanded the release of several Hussites held in prison. When these demands were rejected by the councilors, the crowd stormed the town hall and threw the councilors out of the windows. This so-called First Defenestration of Prague is regarded as the beginning of the Hussite revolution. Wenceslaus IV died 17 days after hearing about these events, likely from a heart attack. The Hussites subsequently seized the city and expelled all their opponents.

On 13 November 1419 a temporary armistice was concluded between the partisans of King Sigismund, the last Emperor of the House of Luxemburg and the citizens of Prague. Žižka disapproved of this compromise and left Prague for Plzeň, one of the richest cities of the kingdom, with his followers, but soon left that city. On 25 March 1420 he defeated the partisans of Sigismund at Sudoměř, the first pitched battle of the Hussite wars. He later arrived at Tábor, the then-recently established stronghold of the Hussite movement. The ecclesiastical organization of Tabor had a somewhat puritanical character with a very strict military discipline being instituted though the government was established on a thoroughly democratic basis. Žižka took a large part in the organization of the new military community and became one of the four captains of the people (hejtman) who were at its head.
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