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The mainspring of the movement which swept Bohemia in the early 15th Century was a combination of a number of passionate ideals encompassing the religions which called for the reform of the Church and the national ideal which strove to lessen the influence of the dominating German minority. When Jan Hus, its spokesman, was burnt at the stake in Constance, tire entire nation united to oppose the enemies at home and abroad and under the leadership of Jan Zizka resisted the numerical superiority of the enemy.

The origin and motivation of the Hussite movement, the trial and death at Constance of the Bohemian reformer, and the battle between the Bohemians and the Imperial armies in 1420, were depicted in the first two parts of the trilogy by Otakar Vavra,"Jan Hus and A Hussite Warrior. The third, Against All, depicts the dramatic events in Central Europe surrounding the period when Plus's teachings began to threaten the entire structure of society and an army of the Church assembled and marched against Bohemia.

At that time, the Hussites were divided into two factions, the moderate Prague citizens the radical Taborites, but they united to de the forces of Emperor Sigismund.