Stanisław Koniecpolski was a Polish military commander, regarded as one of the most talented and capable in the history of the Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth. He was also a magnate, a royal official (starosta), a castellan, a member of the Polish nobility (szlachta), and the voivode (governor) of Sandomierz from 1625 until his death. He led many successful military campaigns against rebelling Cossacks and invading Tatars. From 1618 he held the rank of Field Crown Hetman before becoming the Grand Crown Hetman, the military commander second only to the King, in 1632.
Hetman of Zaporizhian Cossacks is a historical term that has multiple meanings.
The Great Turkish War, also called the Wars of the Holy League, was a series of conflicts between the Ottoman Empire and the Holy League consisting of the Holy Roman Empire, Poland-Lithuania, Venice, Russia, and the Kingdom of Hungary. Intensive fighting began in 1683 and ended with the signing of the Treaty of Karlowitz in 1699. The war was a defeat for the Ottoman Empire, which for the first time lost substantial territory, in Hungary and the Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth, as well as in part of the western Balkans. The war was significant also for being the first instance of Russia joining an alliance with Western Europe.
The Moldavian Magnate Wars, or Moldavian Ventures, refer to the period at the end of the 16th century and the beginning of the 17th century when the magnates of the Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth intervened in the affairs of Moldavia, clashing with the Habsburgs and the Ottoman Empire for domination and influence over the principality.
The Battle of Valea Albă, also known as the Battle of Războieni or the Battle of Akdere, was an important event in the medieval history of Moldavia. It took place at Războieni, also known as Valea Albă, on 26 July 1476, between the Moldavian army of Stephen the Great and an invading Ottoman army which was commanded personally by Sultan Mehmed the Conqueror.
Ieremia Movilă, was a Voivode (Prince) of Moldavia between August 1595 and May 1600, and again between September 1600 and July 10, 1606. At the time, Moldavia was a vassal province of the Ottoman empire.
İslâm III Giray was khan of the Crimean Khanate for ten years (1644–1654), interrupting the reign of his brother Mehmed IV Giray. He was khan during the Khmelnytsky uprising of the Cossacks against Poland.
Khan Temir was a steppe warlord and raider. He ruled the Budjak Horde in what is now the southwestern corner of Ukraine (Budjak) along the Romanian border. Budjak is the southwesternmost corner of the Eurasian Steppe. He raided mostly along the eastern frontier of the Polish Commonwealth. Nominally a vassal of the Ottoman Empire, the Ottomans used him to pressure the Poles just as the Poles used the Zaporozhian Cossacks to pressure the Ottomans and Crimeans. His habit of acting independently caused problems. The Ottomans several times tried to move him east from Poland and eventually executed him. The most important event in his life was his conflict with the Crimean khan in 1628.
Mehmed IV Giray, the Sufi (1610–1674), was khan of the Crimean Khanate in 1641–1644 and 1654–1666. His two reigns were interrupted by that of his brother İslâm III Giray. His first reign was uneventful, except for the recapture of Azov from the Cossacks. His second reign was spent fighting Russians and Cossacks in alliance with Poland. He had some reputation as a poet.
The Khotyn Fortress is a fortification complex located on the right bank of the Dniester River in Khotyn, Chernivtsi Oblast (province) of southwestern Ukraine. It lies within the historical region of northern Bukovina, a Romanian territory occupied in 1940 by the Soviet Union following the Molotov–Ribbentrop Pact. The fortress is located near another famous defensive structure, the Kamianets-Podilskyi Castle. Construction of the current stone Khotyn Fortress began in 1375. The fortress underwent significant improvements in the 1380s and in the 1460s under the Moldavian princes Alexander the Good and Stephen the Great.
The Polish–Ottoman War or the War of the Holy League was the Polish side of the conflict otherwise known as the Great Turkish War. The conflict begun with a Polish victory at the Battle of Vienna in 1683, and ended with the Treaty of Karlowitz, restoring to the Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth lands lost in the previous Polish-Ottoman War. It was the last conflict between the Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth and the Ottoman Empire, and despite the Polish victory, it marked the decline of power of not only the Ottoman Empire, but also of the Commonwealth, which would never again interfere in affairs outside of its declining borders.
The Battle of Párkány was fought between October 7–9, 1683 in the town of Párkány, in the Ottoman Empire, and the area surrounding it as part of the Polish-Ottoman War and the Great Turkish War. The battle was fought in two stages. In the first stage Polish troops under John III Sobieski were defeated by the Ottoman army under Kara Mehmed Pasha on October 7, 1683. In the second stage Sobieski, supported by Austrian forces under Charles V, Duke of Lorraine, defeated the Ottoman forces, which were supported by the troops of Imre Thököly, and gained control of Párkány on October 9, 1683. After the Ottoman defeat, the Austrians would besiege Esztergom and captured it at the end of 1683.
Stefan Kunicki was a Ruthenian military commander and hetman of Right-bank Ukraine. He was also a member of the Polish nobility.
Ğazı II Giray was a khan of the Crimean Khanate. Born in 1554, he distinguished himself in the Ottoman–Safavid War (1578–90), gaining the trust of his Ottoman suzerains. He was appointed khan in 1588, after his homeland experienced a period of political turmoil. He failed to capture Moscow during his 1591 campaign against Tsardom of Russia, however he managed to secure a favorable peace treaty two years later. He was then summoned to support his Ottoman allies in the Long Turkish War, taking part in multiple military expeditions centered in Hungary. In late 1596, the Ottoman sultan briefly unseated Ğazı II Giray in favor of Fetih I Giray after heeding the advice of Grand Vizier Cığalazade Yusuf Sinan Pasha. He returned to power three months later, continuing his reign until his death in November 1607.
The Battle of Magierów took place on 11 July 1657, during the period in Polish history known as the Swedish Deluge. Polish army commanded by Stefan Czarniecki, and supported by Crimean Tatars, defeated a Transilvanian-Cossack-Moldavian-Wallachian army of George II Rákóczi.
The Battle of Czarny Ostrów took place on July 20, 1657, during the period in Polish history known as the Deluge. The Polish Crown army commanded by Hetmans Stefan Czarniecki, Jerzy Lubomirski and Stanisław Potocki, supported by Crimean Tatars, defeated a Transylvanian-Cossack-Moldavian-Wallachian army under George II Rakoczi.
Canibek or Janibek Giray was twice khan of the Crimean Khanate. During his first reign he fought for the Turks in Persia and Poland. He proved a poor commander and had difficulty making his men obey. He was removed by the Turks in 1623. In the following year the Turks tried to restore him and failed. During his second reign there were raids on Poland and Russia. The Turks again removed him and he died in exile.
The Moldavian campaign or the Polish–Ottoman War of 1497–1499 was an unsuccessful war against the Moldavians, supported by the Turks, led by John Albert of Poland who set out with an army of 80,000 men with the objectives of deposing Stephen the Great of Moldavia and replacing him with Sigismund Jagiellon, reconquering the fortresses on the northern Black Sea coast and taking control of Crimea and the Danube Delta.
Battle of Chițcani (1683) was a battle of the united Cossack troops of the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth under the command of the Right-bank Hetman Stefan Kunicki and Moldavian army Ștefan Petriceicu with detachments of the Budjak Horde on 5 December 1683 during the Kunicki's expedition on the Right-bank and Moldavia at the beginning of the Polish-Ottoman War (1683–1699).
The Moldavian campaign of the Polish–Ottoman War of 1683–1699 was launched by the Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth led by the Polish king, Jan III, in order to control Moldavia. The theatre of the war was split up into four separate phases: of 1684 and the two years following it, and again in 1691. All four efforts ended in failure for the commonwealth, and the last marked the end of the military career of Jan III.
