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The Battle of Zboriv (Ukrainian: Битва під Зборовом, Polish: Bitwa pod Zborowem; 15–16 August 1649) was a significant battle fought as part of the Khmelnytsky Uprising, in which the Cossack Hetmanate and Crimean Khanate defeated[5][6] the Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth. Occurring near the city of Zboriv on the Strypa River in present-day Ukraine, forces of the Zaporozhian Cossacks and Crimean Tatars under the command of Hetman Bohdan Khmelnytsky attacked and Crown's forces under the command of the Polish King John II Casimir.
| Battle of Zboriv (1649) | |||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Part of the Khmelnytsky Uprising | |||||||
 The Battle of Zboriv (1649) on the French painting by Jean-Pierre Norblin de La Gourdaine in 1780 | |||||||
| |||||||
| Belligerents | |||||||
|
Cossack Hetmanate Crimean Khanate | Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth | ||||||
| Commanders and leaders | |||||||
|
Bohdan Khmelnytsky Tymofiy Khmelnytsky Fylon Dzhalaliy Danylo Nechay Martyn Nebaba Mykhailo Hromyka İslâm III Giray | John II Casimir | ||||||
| Strength | |||||||
|
30,000 Zaporozhian Cossacks[1] 10,000–20,000 Crimean Tatars[1] | 35,000–40,000 Polish–Lithuanian hussars, cavalry and infantry[2][page needed][failed verification] | ||||||
| Casualties and losses | |||||||
|
10,000 killed[3] 10,000 wounded[4] | 6,000–7,000 killed and wounded[2] | ||||||
The Polish King John II Casimir and the main Crown Army left Warsaw on 23 June 1649 and had made it to Toporiv in the final days of July 1649 when Mikołaj Skrzetuski informed the Polish King John II Casimir of the desperate situation at Zbarazh.[7]: 575–576 The Polish King John II Casimir made it to within a half-mile of Zboriv on 13 August 1649.[7]: 578
Battle
editOn 9 August 1649, Bohdan Khmelnytsky had redeployed his main forces from Zbarazh to Staryi Zbarazh to the west, where the terrain hid them from the Poles, and he used deception to prevent the besieged from noticing.[7]: 578 The Horde, followed by the Cossack Hetmanate, advanced toward the royal camp during the night of 15 August.[7]: 578
The Crown forces were surprised during the rainy and foggy day while they crossed the Strypa River.[7]: 578 The Horde split into two parts and attacked from the front and the back, but the king rallied his army to repel the attack and the Crimean Tatars retreated by nightfall.[7]: 578
The night brought a council of war on the Polish side and two letters from the king, one for the Khan İslâm III Giray and one for Hetman Bohdan Khmelnytsky.[7]: 579 The letter to the khan "reminded the khan of the favor that he had enjoyed from the Poles in his youth, while sojourning as a captive, invited the khan to a renewal of their old friendship, receiving money for past, present, and future years."[7]: 579 The letter to Khmelnytsky commanded him to "abandon all hostile actions and retreat ten miles from our army, and send us your envoys – what you desire from us and from the Commonwealth."[7]: 580
The next day brought more attacks from the Ukrainian Cossacks and the Tatars on two fronts, but then, a letter from the Khan İslâm III Giray and Hetman Bohdan Khmelnytsky arrived.[7]: 581 The khan was prepared to negotiate if there was "satisfaction of the Cossacks, payment of the suspended tribute, a substantial consideration, above the tribute, as well as permission for the Horde to take captives on its way back."[7]: 581
Aftermath
editOn 18 August 1649, the Treaty of Zboriv was agreed upon by Bohdan Khmelnytsky and Lord Commissioners Jerzy Ossoliński, Lord Crown Chancellor, Kazimierz Leon Sapieha, Lord Chancellor of the Grand Duchy of Lithuania Krzysztof Koniecpolski, Lord Palatine of Belz, Stanisław Witowski, Lord of Sandomierz, and Adam Kysil, Lord Palatine of Kyiv.[7]: 589 "It was drafted not in the form of a treaty, but as a unilateral royal manifesto, at the request and intervention of the Crimean Khan."[7]: 593
Result
editSome historians such as consider the battle an Cossack victory.[5][6]However, others consider the battle inconclusive.[8]
References
edit- ^ a b Encyclopedia of Ukraine. Valeriy Stepankov, “Battle of Zboriv 1649, Encyclopedia of the history of Ukraine”. 2005.
- ^ a b Jan Białobłocki, “Klar Męstwa”. September 1649.
- ^ Mariusz R. Drozdowski, Wyprawa zborowska w propagandzie dworu królewskiego, s. 235
- ^ Mariusz R. Drozdowski, Wyprawa zborowska w propagandzie dworu królewskiego, s. 235
- ^ a b Gerasimov, Ilya (2023). A New Imperial History of Northern Eurasia: From Russian to Global History, Vol. 1: 600-1700. London and New York: Bloomsbury Academic. p. 234.
- ^ a b Oleinik, A. "On the Role of Historical Myths in Nation-State Building: The Case of Ukraine". Nationalities Papers. 1 (17): 9.
- ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m Hrushevsky, M., 2002, History of Ukraine-Rus, Volume Eight, The Cossack Age, 1626-1650, Edmonton: Canadian Institute of Ukrainian Studies Press, ISBN 1895571324
- ^ Dowling, Timothy C.; Menning, Bruce, eds. (2015). Russia at war: from the Mongol conquest to Afghanistan, Chechnya, and beyond. Santa Barbara, California Denver, Colorado Oxford, England: ABC-CLIO. ISBN 978-1-59884-948-6.