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Battle
of Chocim (Khotyn) 16214
(A copy of the Wikipedia article, as it existed Jan 2006) |
History
Contemporary painting of the Battle of
Chocim
Chocim was founded as an ancient fortified settlement located on cliffs above the
Dniester, and is said to have been named after Kotizon, a 3rd-century Dacian
chieftain. By the 10th century, it had become a minor settlement of the Kievan
Rus. It later became part of the Principality of Halych and its successor,
Halych-Volhynia. The town became an important trading center due to its position
as a river crossing and by the 13th century became the site of a Genoese trading
colony. Khotyn's famous castle was built by the Genoese and expanded by
subsequent rulers.
Battle
Defending
the Polish banner at Chocim in 1621 (Juliusz Kossak, 1892)
In
the Battle of Chocim in 1621, an army of 160,000 Turkish veterans, led by Osman
II, advanced from Adrianople
towards the Polish frontier. The Turks, following their victory in the Battle of
Cecora, had high hopes of conquering Poland. The Polish commander Jan
Karol Chodkiewicz crossed the Dniester in September 1621 and entrenched the
Khotyn Fortress, blocking the path of the Ottoman march. The Commonwealth hetman
held the sultan at bay for a whole month, until the first snow of autumn
compelled Osman to withdraw his diminished forces. But the victory was dearly
purchased by Poland. A few days before the siege was raised, the aged grand
hetman died of exhaustion in the fortress on September 24, 1621. The
Commonwealth forces held under the command of Stanisław
Lubomirski. The battle, described by Wacław
Potocki in his most famous work Transakcja wojny chocimskiej, marked
the end of the long period of Moldavian
Magnate Wars.
In
1673, the Polish hussars again fought a major battle on this site.
Battle
of Cecora (also known as Battle of Ţuţora) was a battle between
the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth (assisted by Moldavian troops) and Ottoman
forces (backed by Tatars), fought from September 17 to October 7, 1620 in
Moldavia, near the Prut river.
Prelude
to battle
Following
the failure of Commonwealth diplomatic mission to Istanbul, and violations of
the Treaty
of Busza by both sides (as Cossacks and Tatars continued their raids across
the borders), relations between the Ottomans and the Commonwealth plummeted in
early 1620. Both sides began preparing for war, with neither being ready at the
moment. The Ottomans planned for a war in 1621, while Commonwealth Sejm denied
most funds the hetmans had asked for. The Senate's secret council finally
decided, convinced by the Habsburg's representative, to send the Commonwealth
forces in 1620 - even though many members of the Sejm thought that Polish forces
were neither sufficient nor fully prepared. Hetman Stanisław
Żólkiewski, who was by then over 70 years old (as Commonwealth policy
didn't allow for a possibility of forced retirement from government offices such
as that of hetman), foreseeing the coming confrontation with Ottoman Empire,
decided to meet Turkish troops on foreign soil, Moldavia being the obvious
choice1.
Hetmans
Zólkiewski and Stanisław
Koniecpolski led the army to Cecora (Ţuţora, a commune in Iaşi
county, Romania) to fight the Horde of Khan
Temir (Kantymir). The army numbered over 10,000 (2,000 infantry and almost
no Cossaks cavalry) with many regiments being made up of the private forces of
magnates Koreccy, Zasławscy, Kazanowscy, Kalinowscy and Potoccy's. The army
entered Moldavia in September. The Moldavian ruler, hospodar Gaspar
Graziani, nominally vassal of the Ottoman Empire, decided to support the
Commonwealth against the Ottomans. Graziani killed janissaries in Iaşi,
imprisoned envoys of Sultan Osman
II (who had requested his deposal and escorting to Istanbul) and had wanted
to flee, but, forced by Żółkiewski, joined his troops to the Polish
camp. However, many of the Moldavian boyars dispersed in order to defend their
own estates against pillaging by undisciplined Commonwealth magnates' troops,
and others decided to wait for an outcome and join the winning side. In
consequence, only a few hundred (600-1000) Moldavian supporters appeared in the
Commonwealth camp. Zółkiewski ordered the army to proceed to the fortified
camp (standing from previous wars) at Cecora.
The battle
On
the 10 September, near Cecora, the Commonwealth army encountered the Tatar and
Ottoman forces (13,000-22,000), which had been sent by the Ottoman sultan to
help Gabriel
Bethlen in his struggle against the Habsburgs. The Tatar force took
Commonwealth defenders by surprise, taking many prisoners. During the first day
of fight (the 18th), most of the Moldavians decided to switch sides, and quickly
attacked the Polish flank. Mercenaries, private troops and their magnate
leaders, were lacking in discipline and morale. Stanisław Koniecpolski
commanded the right flank of the Commonwealth forces during the ensuing battle.
On 19 September, it had become clear that Polish forces were defeated, although
still managing to hold their positions; Koniecpolski prevented the army from
desintegrating on 20/21 September. On 29 September, Commonwealth forces had
broken through Ottoman ranks with tabor wagon trains and started their retreat.
However, after Graziani bribed some magnates, units of private troops begun to
flee and some mercenary cavalry panicked and run away. This was a prelude on
things to come. Consecutive attacks during the retreat (such as the violent one
on 3 October) were repelled, only for troops to start desintegrating as soon as
soldiers caught sight of the Dniester and the Polish border.
During
another large assault on the 6 October, most of the magnates and nobles started
to flee north, leaving infantry and camp. Thus, they sealed the fate of the
whole expedition: most of the Polish troops got killed or were captured. In the
ensuing battle, Żólkiewski was killed and Koniecpolski and many others (Samuel
Korecki, Mikolaj
Struś, Mikołaj
Potocki, Jan
Żółkiewski, Łukasz
Żołkiewski), Stanisław
"Rewera" Potocki and Bohdan
Khmelnytsky were taken captive. Żółkiewski's head was mounted on
a pike and sent to the sultan; duke Korecki, having often meddled in Moldavian
territories, was soon murdered in the Istanbul prison.
In
the face of such an important victory, advised by grand vizier Ali
Pasha and Gabriel Bethlen, Osman II decided that he could crush Gavurs
and extend his rule to the Baltic (or at least conquer the whole of Ukraine from
Poland). The Sultan soon nominated Alexandru
Iliaş as ruler of Moldavia, Graziani having been killed during his
flight on 29 September.
Notes
There
are several accounts that Żółkiewski was sent to relieve the
Habsburgs from the very beginning. Iskander Pasha, during his talks with Żółkiewski
at Cecora, confirmed that was sent to support Bethlen, not to fight the
Commonwealth.
'On
Tuesday, the same day, after the infidel Turks had put their ranks in order , at
23 o'clock, 15.000 men again drew up on the field and with a great force and
great rapidity went straight against the gate of the Polish camp, where
Field-Hetman was staying, as there were 2 gates on the Turkish side. At the
other gate there stood the Crown-Hetman. There were stationed 3 squadrons as day
sentries at the gate of the Crown-Hetman, and they did not suspect anything. But
seeing that the infidel went straight against the gate of the Field- Hetman, the
Crown-Hetman instantly started out on horseback against them. Then the 3
squadrons having seen the great zeal of the Hetman, did not let him go into
fight. But in front Castellians Polocki and Prokop Sieniawski attacked the enemy
with their squadrons, and so did also the Crown-Hetman's third squadron which
had been stationed there as reserve. Calling on God's help the 300 men engaged
in fight, so that the lance of none was left empty, because with firm hands they
encountered one another, straight from the side of the field and not frontally,
and each knocked down 2-3 men, because there was such a throng. Then they drew
out their swords and killed as many as they wished. When the infidel [Turks] saw
this, they took to flight and trampled down each other. And our men pursued them
hitting and killing them as far as the camp of the Turks.'
fragment of an Armeno-Kipchak chronicle on the Polish-Turkish wars in
1620-1621.
