Battle of Kalnyk

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Battle of Kalnyk
Part of Polish–Cossack–Tatar War (1666–1671)
Date15-30 October 1671
Location
ResultBattle – Polish-Lithuanian victory [1]
Siege – Cossack-Tatar victory [2] [3] [4]
Belligerents
Choragiew krolewska krola Zygmunta III Wazy.svg Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth
Flag of the Cossack Hetmanat.svg Cossack Hetmanate [5]
Flag of the Cossack Hetmanat.svg Cossack Hetmanate
Gerae-tamga.svg Crimean Khanate
Commanders and leaders
Choragiew krolewska krola Zygmunta III Wazy.svg John III Sobieski
Flag of the Cossack Hetmanat.svg Mykhailo Khanenko
Flag of the Cossack Hetmanat.svg Jarema Petranowski
Strength
1,200 cavalry Infantry: 2,000
Cossacks: 1,000
Total: 3,000
Casualties and losses
Unknown 500 killed

The Battle of Kalnyk took place on 15-30 October 1671, during the Polish-Cossack-Tatar war of 1666-1671. The Polish crown hetman Jan Sobieski, supported by the Cossacks of Mykhailo Khanenko, besieged the Cossack garrison in the city of Kalnyk. Despite defeating the Cossack-Tatar forces in the battle on 21 of October, Sobieski failed to take Kalnyk after a two weeks-long unsuccessful siege and retreated to Bratslav.

Contents

Background

After the victory in the Battle of Bratslav, the Polish crown hetman Jan Sobieski decided to seize the territory between the Southern Bug and the Dniester. On 11 September 1671 he sent 2 thousand soldiers to capture Vinnytsia, which was taken at dawn on 14 September. The townspeople and Cossacks, locked in the Jesuit monastery (there were no other fortifications), put up stubborn resistance. Only after 6 hours of storming, when most of the defenders were killed, the monastery fell. However, 120 Cossacks, sheltered under the roof of the church, continued to fight until morning. When 23 were left alive, they decided to surrender: the centurion and seven chiefs were sent to Bar, the rest were beheaded. The town was destroyed, and a significant part of women and children were taken prisoner by the soldiers (by order of J. Sobieski they were later released).

Sobieski's successful actions were facilitated by diversions against the Belgorod Tatars by Mykhailo Khanenko and Ivan Sirko and the defection of Colonel Mykhailo Zelensky and Colonel Pavlo Lysytsia of Bratslav to his side.

The military council of the Polish command on 29 September 1671 adopted a plan of attack deep into Ukraine. On 1 October Jan Sobieski went to Mogilev. Having received information about his approach, Ostap Gogol on 3 October expressed readiness to surrender the city. Having learned that Bratslav had surrendered to Khanenko, the crown hetman sent the main forces of the army there, and himself with 1200 horsemen arrived in Mogilev on 7 October. Leaving the garrison there, he went to Bratslav and on 12 October held a meeting under its walls with the participation of M. Khanenko, I. Sirko, M. Zelensky and P. Lysytsia, at which M. Khanenko's proposal to occupy Kalnyk was accepted.

Battle

On 17 of October, the Polish-Cossack army approached Kalnyk and began firing on the city from the cannons. [6] However, the Cossack garrison of the city put up a strong resistance. Following the unsuccessful Polish attempts to seize Kalnyk on 17–18 October, Jan Sobieski decided to retreat towards Illintsi and began the blockade of Kalnyk. The soldiers burnt all the surrounding farms and bread fields. Doroshenko has sent a Cossack-Tatar army with a total strength of about 3 thousand people [7] in order to help the besieged, which arrived on 20 October. [8] While the Doroshenko's Cossacks managed to enter the city, the Polish cavalry attacked the Tatars near the town and inflicted a heavy casualties on them - in the battle for the dam near the town, 500 out of 2000 Tatars were killed or drowned in the deep pond. [9] On 27 October in the Polish camp near Ilyintsi, 1 thousand Cossacks held a council, where a new hetman, Mykhailo Khanenko, was elected. He was presented with kleinodes sent by the king, although some of those present wished to see Ivan Sirko in his place. Having learnt that Nuradin-sultan Safa-Girey was coming to Doroshenko's aid, and the expected Lithuanian army would not come to his aid, Jan Sobieski lifted the siege of Kalnyk and went to Bratslav. [4]

Aftermath

While being in Bratslav, on 1 November Sobieski announced the end of the campaign. Surrendering the command to Dymitr Wiśniowiecki, he left for Lviv. In turn, the Polish hetman handed over the leadership of the Kiev army to the Kiev chorunge Stanislav Vizhytsky.

The invasion of the Poles into Cossack Ukraine and the siege of Bratslav became a challenge for the Ottoman Empire. Already in October Mehmed IV warned the king to not attack "the Cossack power with all its districts", demanded to withdraw troops, threatening to start a war.

At the very end of the year Doroshenko received solid help from his Tatar allies: 26000 Tatars and several thousand Turks came. Having received help, Doroshenko started to reclaim Podolia. He started severe repressions against those who had voluntarily defected to the Poles. [10]

Literature

References

  1. Ивонина, Людмила (2023-03-20). Яркий закат Речи Посполитой: Ян Собеский, Август Сильный, Станислав Лещинский (in Russian). ЛитРес. ISBN   978-5-04-536069-2.
  2. Horobets, V.M. (2007). "Кальницька оборона 1671 [Електронний ресурс]". resource.history.org.ua. // Енциклопедія історії України: Т. 4: Ка-Ком. Інститут історії України. - К.: В-во "Наукова думка". Retrieved 2025-09-22.
  3. Litavrin, Gennadij G. (1998). Османская империя и страны Центральной, Восточной и Юго-Восточной Европы в XVII в: главные тенденции политических взаимоотношений (in Russian). Памятники Исторической Мысли. p. 118. ISBN   978-5-88451-114-9. Several cities had declared their loyalty to the Commonwealth, such as Bratslav, Nemyriv and even Kalnyk, which Sobieski failed to capture during the 1671 campaign
  4. 1 2 Коваленко, Сергій (2007). Україна під булавою Богдана Хмельницького: енциклопедія у 3-х томах (in Ukrainian). Вид-во "Стікс-Ко". p. 364. ISBN   978-966-96849-0-5. Then they went towards Kalnyk and, from 17 to 30 October, attempted to capture it but failed
  5. Коляда, І.А. Отаман Сірко (PDF).
  6. Коляда, І.А. Отаман Сірко (PDF).
  7. 1 thousand Cossacks led by colonel Jarema Petranowski and 2 thousand Tatars
  8. Смолий В. А., Степанков В. Украинская национальная революция XVII в. (1648—1676 гг)
  9. Leszek Podhorodecki, «Chanat Krymski i jego stosunki z Polską w XV-XVIIIw.», Warszawa 1987, ISBN 83-05-11618-2 , str. 214
  10. "ДМИТРИЙ ДОРОШЕНКО ОЧЕРК ИСТОРИИ УКРАИНЫ, 1966 Издательство «Днепровская Волна» — Мюнхен / «ГЛОБУС» Киев 1992 Том 2, глава 4". Archived from the original on 2013-10-15. Retrieved 2012-08-15.