Battle of Kalnyk

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Battle of Kalnyk
Part of Polish–Cossack–Tatar War (1666–1671)
Date 21 October 1671
Location
Kalnyk
Result Polish-Lithuanian victory
Belligerents
Choragiew krolewska krola Zygmunta III Wazy.svg Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth
Flag of the Cossack Hetmanat.svg Cossack Hetmanate [1] 		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

The Battle of Kalnyk took place on 21 October 1671, during the Polish-Cossack-Tatar war of 1666-1671. The Polish crown hetman Jan Sobieski defeated the Cossack-Tatar army, which was coming to the aid of Kalnik, besieged by the Poles. Despite the victory, Sobieski failed to take Kalnik 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 Mikhail Zelensky and Colonel Pavel Lisitsa 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. Lisitsa, 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. [1] 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 [2] in order to help the besieged, which arrived on 20 October. [3] 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. [4] Despite the victory, the Poles failed to capture Kalnyk and was forced to retreat towards Bratslav.

Aftermath

On 27 October in the Polish camp near Ilyintsi 1 thousand Cossacks held a council, which elected a new hetman. Mykhailo Khanenko became the new hetman. 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 went to Bratslav, where on 1 November he announced the end of the campaign. Surrendering the command to Dmitry Vishnevetsky, 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. [5]

Literature

References

  1. 1 2 Коляда, І.А. Отаман Сірко (PDF).
  2. ↑ 1 thousand Cossacks led by colonel Jarema Petranowski and 2 thousand Tatars
  3. ↑ Смолий В. А., Степанков В. Украинская национальная революция XVII в. (1648—1676 гг)
  4. ↑ Leszek Podhorodecki, «Chanat Krymski i jego stosunki z Polską w XV-XVIIIw.», Warszawa 1987, ISBN 83-05-11618-2 , str. 214
  5. ↑ "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.

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