War
war in South-Eastern Europe (1672–1676)
The Polish–Ottoman War of 1672–1676 was fought by the Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth and the Ottoman Empire. It ended with the Treaty of Żurawno, by which the Commonwealth ceded control of most of its territories in Central Ukraine to the Ottomans. It was a prelude to the Great Turkish War.
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Text from the Wikipedia article “Polish–Ottoman War of 1672–1676”, available under CC BY-SA 4.0.
The Polish–Ottoman War of 1672–1676 was fought by the Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth and the Ottoman Empire. It ended with the Treaty of Żurawno, by which the Commonwealth ceded control of most of its territories in Central Ukraine to the Ottomans. It was a prelude to the Great Turkish War.
The causes of the Polish-Ottoman War of 1672–1676 can be traced to 1666. Petro Doroshenko Hetman of Zaporizhian Host, aiming to gain control of Ukraine but facing defeats from other factions struggling over control of that region, in a final bid to preserve his power in Ukraine, signed a treaty with Sultan Mehmed IV in 1669 that recognized the Cossack Hetmanate as a vassal of the Ottoman Empire.
In the meantime, Commonwealth forces were trying to put down unrest in Ukraine, but were weakened by decades long wars (Khmelnytsky Uprising, The Deluge and Russo-Polish War (1654–1667)). Trying to capitalize on that weakness, Tatars, who commonly raided across the Commonwealth borders in search of loot and plunder, invaded, this time allying themselves with Cossacks under Hetman Doroshenko. They were however stopped by Commonwealth forces under Hetman John Sobieski, who stopped their first push (1666–67), defeating them several times, and finally gaining an armistice after the Battle of Podhajce.
In 1670, however, hetman Doroshenko tried once again to take over Ukraine, and in 1671 Khan of Crimea, Adil Giray, supportive of the Commonwealth, was replaced with a new one, Selim I Giray, by the Ottoman sultan. Selim entered into an alliance with the Doroshenko's Cossacks; but again like in 1666–67 the Cossack-Tatar forces were dealt defeats by Sobieski. Selim then renewed his oath of allegiance to the Ottoman Sultan and pleaded for assistance, to which the Sultan agreed. Thus an irregular border conflict escalated into a regular war in 1671, as the Ottoman Empire was now prepared to send its regular units onto the battlefield in a bid to try to gain control of that region for itself.
Ottoman forces, numbering 80,000 men and led by Grand Vizier Köprülü Fazıl Ahmed and Ottoman sultan Mehmed IV, invaded Polish Ukraine in August, took the Commonwealth fortress at Kamieniec Podolski and besieged Lwów. Unprepared for war, and torn by internal conflict between the king Michael I and the szlachta nobility, the Commonwealth Sejm could not act to raise taxes and gather a larger army. Its representatives were forced to sign the Peace of Buczacz in October that year, which ceded to the Ottomans the Commonwealth part of Ukraine (the Right-bank Bracław Voivodeship, Podole Voivodeship and part of Kiev Voivodeship; Left-bank Ukraine was already controlled by Russia since the Treaty of Andrusovo of 1667) and promised an annual tribute of 22,000 ducats.
Instead of ratifying the peace treaty, the Commonwealth Sejm, with most of the deputies finally united by anger due to the territorial losses and the demeaning tribute (which could in fact be seen as reducing the Commonwealth to Ottomans' vassal) finally raised taxes for a new army (of about 37,000 strong was raised) and increased the Cossack register to 40,000 Hetman John Sobieski led a military campaign against the Ottomans and dealt several defeats to the Ottomans
After capturing Kamieniec Podolski, the Ottoman army began the siege of Lwów on 20 September. At that time, the Tatars, who were not taking part in the siege, aided by Hetman Petro Doroshenko's Cossacks and some Ottoman troops divided into three main groups, ravaged the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth. Between the Wieprz and San rivers, the forces of Jiambet Giray were active, while the Nurredin-Sultan's forces were active south of the Dniester. A third group commanded by Haci Giray operated on the Vistula and the middle San as far as Jasło. In total, these groups numbered about 20,000 soldiers and operated in dispersion.
Grand Hetman of the Crown John III Sobieski, who had only 2.5-3 thousand cavalry and dragoons, moved on 5 October from Krasnystaw against the Tatars, without wagons and taking two horses per soldier. Going to the rear of the Tatar groups, he advanced toward Zamość and at night smashed a small chambul in the battle of Krasnobród, and on 6 October two chambuls in the battle of Narol. On 7 October, in the battle of Nemirów, he caught up with and smashed Jiambet's forces.
After a one-day rest on 8 October, Sobieski on 9 October caught up with and beat Nurredin-Sultan's main forces in the battle of Komarno, pursuing them to Vyshnia. On 11 October, Sobieski's troops crossed the Dniester and set off in pursuit of the retreating Haci Girey. After a strenuous day and night march, the crown army, in the strength of a thousand soldiers (the rest could not keep up and stayed behind), caught up with the Tatars at dawn on 14 October and smashed them in battles at Petranka and Kalush.
John Sobieski, at the head of the cavalry and dragoons, traveled from Krasnystaw to the south in 9 days about 450 kilometers. Acting with great self-sacrifice, the Polish soldiers freed about 44,000 people from the Tatar yasir. The Great Hetman of the Crown, who was directing the operations, used a very effective method of throwing a group of several hundred horsemen against the Tatars, which distracted them from the main forces coming from the opposite direction. This method always made it possible to smash the Tatars, and prevented them from encircling the army completely. The extraordinary success of the expedition with such a small force was due to the fact that Sobieski was always able to choose the right direction of action, thanks to which the rapidly advancing Polish troops using the Tatar marching technique were able to catch up with and smash individual enemy cavalries.
The Polish-Lithuanian army, numbering some 30,000 soldiers, under the command of Grand Crown Hetman John Sobieski, besieged the Khotyn fortress in the first days of November 1673. The fortress had natural defensive qualities, as it was located in a bend of the Dniester River. It was protected from the land side by earth ramparts and numerous defensive fortifications built on the site of a former Polish camp from half a century before. The first attacks on the Turkish positions were carried out by Sobieski on 10 November, however, they were intended only to recognize the battlefield and the deployment of enemy forces. The actual battle was fought the next day, when Sobieski hit the Turks tired of the weather and sleeplessness. The Polish-Lithuanian leader took advantage of the fact that the weather was frosty and the Turks were ill-equipped and unprepared for such weather conditions.
After an all-night branding of the attack by the besiegers, in a strong wind and murderous cold for the Turks, at dawn on 11 November Sobieski personally led his troops to storm the Turkish camp. After a cannon salvo, the infantry and dragoons stormed the ramparts, pushing back the enemy and making room for the cavalry. After which, the hussars, led by Hetman Jabłonowski, rushed through the breaches in the ramparts. The Turks responded with a counterattack by the spahis' cavalry, but the spahis could not withstand the bravado of the hussars' charge, and soon the fighting heated up inside the fortress and the Turkish camp, among the dens of tents. In view of the panic that gripped the Turkish troops, Hussein Pasha ordered an evacuation to the other bank of the Dniester. But the only bridge at Chocim was damaged by Polish-Lithuanian artillery fire and collapsed under the weight of those fleeing. Only a few thousand Turks out of the entire 35,000-strong army managed to get through to Kamieniec Podolski.
The rest of the Turkish troops fell or were taken prisoner. The Polish-Lithuanian losses were much smaller, and a strongly fortified fortress with large supplies of food and war supplies was captured.
The Battle of Khotyn ended with a total victory for the Commonwealth, but it did not bring a breakthrough in the war and did not lead to the recovery of Kamieniec Podolski. On the other hand, the prestige of the Commonwealth in Europe increased, especially the respect for Hetman John Sobieski among the Turks, who henceforth called Sobieski the "Lion of Khotyn."
In result of the battle the Ottoman army suffered crippling losses. It lost two-thirds of its count in either killed or wounded. On top of that Moldavian and Wallachian troops switched sides and decided to support the Commonwealth. The Turkish forces withdrew from Poland after their supplies and most of their artillery were captured but they retained most of western Ukraine. Sobieski and the nobles returned to Warsaw for elections following the death of Michael Wisniowiecki, King of Poland, the day before the battle.
After the victory at Khotyn he took control of the Moldavia territory and most of disputed Ukrainian lands. That year King Michael I of Poland died, and in recognition of his victories and dedication, John Sobieski was elected king of the Commonwealth in 1674.
Over the next year, however, the Polish forces were subject to attrition, as the Sejm again refused to raise taxes and pay the army, resulting in mass desertions of unpaid soldiery. The Polish problems were further aggravated by the incompetent leadership of Hetman Michał Kazimierz Pac, who obstructed Sobieski's leadership, while the Ottomans continued to receive reinforcements. Nonetheless, in 1674 the Commonwealth resumed the offensive, taking advantage of a new Russo-Turkish conflict that year, and the Polish-Ottoman war remained undecided.
In the early summer of 1675 the Ottoman forces of Ibrahim Şişman (Abraham the Fat) crossed the Polish border into Podolia and started its rapid march towards Lwów along the banks of the Dniester. The army numbered some 20,000 men and was composed of Ottoman infantry and cavalry with significant Crimean Tatar detachments. The Polish king John III Sobieski decided to concentrate his troops in and around Lwów and face the assaulting Muslim army after more reinforcements arrived. The Ottoman commander was notified of the concentration and moved his army to Lwow.
Sobieski decided to split his forces. A unit of 180 infantrymen, 200 light cavalry and several cannons was placed in the easternmost of the ravines leading to the road to Lwów. Most of the heavy cavalry were placed on the road itself, directly behind the valleys and the plain. The left flank of his forces was guarded by 200 Hussars stationed in the village of Zboiska, while the rest of the light cavalry and infantry guarded all other approaches towards the city in case the Ottomans outflanked the defenders and attacked the city from other directions. The remaining taborites and civilians were ordered to group on the hills surrounding the plains. They were given spare lances of the Hussars in order to give the impression that the number of Polish troops was much higher.
The Ottomans advance along the route exactly as Sobieski predicted. Convinced that a large group of Hussars were hiding in the woods on the hills, Ibrahim Shyshman ordered a strong group of cavalry to reach the road through one of the ravines. They were stopped by the Polish infantry and then pushed back by a counter-attack of light cavalry. At the same time, Sobieski ordered all troops guarding other approaches towards the city to join the main forces located along the road.
The 1700-strong group of Polish hussars was joined by three banners (300 men) of Lithuanian light cavalry under hetman Michał Kazimierz Radziwiłł. Sobieski ordered the cavalry group to advance through the unguarded western gorge. The ravine was relatively narrow and the Ottomans could not outflank the Polish and Lithuanian cavalry while on the move.
The battle was soon over with Sobieski personally leading. The Pole's pursuit of the Ottoman cavalry lasted until the dusk.
Text from the Wikipedia article “Polish–Ottoman War (1672–1676)”, available under CC BY-SA 4.0.