Siege of Zbarazh

Coordinates: 49°40′00″N 25°46′40″E / 49.66667°N 25.77778°E / 49.66667; 25.77778
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Siege of Zbarazh
Part of the Khmelnytsky Uprising

The Zbarazh Castle in the present-day of the Ternopil Oblast in Ukraine
Date10 July — 22 August, 1649
Location
Zbarazh, Volhynian Voivodeship, Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth
Result Polish-Lithuanian victory[1]
Belligerents
border=no Cossack Hetmanate
Crimean Khanate		 Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth
Commanders and leaders
Danylo Nechay
border=no Ivan Bohun (WIA)
border=no Kindrat Burliy (WIA)
border=no Martyn Nebaba
border=no Ivan Chornota †
border=no Stanislav Morozenko †
İslâm III Giray
John II Casimir
Jeremi Wiśniowiecki
Aleksander Koniecpolski
Mikołaj Ostroróg
Andrzej Firlej
Brodowski †
Strength
border=no 70,000 Zaporozhian Cossacks[2]
40,000 Crimean Tatars[2]		 10,000–15,000 Polish–Lithuanian infantry and defenders of the castle[3]
Casualties and losses
Heavy 4,000–6,000 killed and wounded[3]
4,000–5,000 captured[3]

The siege of Zbarazh (Ukrainian: Облога Збаража, Битва під Збаражем, Polish: Oblężenie Zbaraża, Bitwa pod Zbarażem; 10 July — 22 August, 1649) was fought near the site of the present-day city of Zbarazh in Ukraine between the Cossack Hetmanate and Crimean Khanate against the Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth as a part of the Khmelnytsky Uprising. The siege lasted for seven weeks.[4]

The Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth’s forces was besieged in the Zbarazh Castle until in the aftermath of the Battle of Zboriv on 15–16 August 1649 and the Treaty of Zboriv on 18 August 1649. The Volhynian towns of Zbarazh and Zboriv are neighboring one another roughly.

Background

In the first half of 1649, the

Horyn River,[6]: 564  an army under three regimentarzs (Andrzej Firlej, Stanisław Lanckoroński and Mikołaj Ostroróg) was located in Zbarazh from 30 June, where prince Jeremi Wiśniowiecki would arrive with reinforcements on 7 July.[5] Wiśniowiecki's arrival raised the morale of the royal army, and despite having no official rank, both the common soldiers and the new regimentarz promised to heed his advice, and even offered him the official command (which he however refused).[5]

To the area also arrived detachments of the Castellan of Kamianiec Stanisław Lanckoroński, Starosta of Lwow Adam Hieronim Sieniawski, Starosta of Braclaw Jerzy Kalinowski, and Prince Samuel Karol Korecki.[4]

Opposing forces

Zbarazh Castle was rebuilt in the decades preceding the siege under the Netherland engineer Henryk van Peene, who finished his project in 1626. The castle was built as a square, which each side of about 88 meters, and surrounded by an earthen wall and a moat.[5] It was a relatively modern and resilient construction, whose major weakness was its small size, and correspondingly, little space for any extensive army and required supplies.[5] Built with the Tatar raids in mind, it was not meant to withstand a prolonged siege by a large army.[5] The town itself had relatively poor defenses.[5] The Polish-Lithuanian fortified camp incorporated the town defenses and the castle.[5]

The Polish-Lithuanian forces numbered between 10,000 and 15,000, according to different sources, and Widecki notes that the lower number accounts for regular troops, whereas the higher one probably counts auxiliary troops such as armed servants and the town militia.[7]

The Polish-Lithuanian forces were commanded officially by Andrzej Firlej.

chorąży Aleksander Koniecpolski.[7]

The forces of the allied Zaporozhian Cossacks and Crimean Tatars at Zbarazh numbered around 130,000 — with two thirds of those being Cossacks, and the remaining hundred thousands, the Tatars.[9] Widecki notes that the number of 70,000 Cossacks given by some sources may be true in so far as it reflects the size of the seasoned, regular Cossack troops, with the remaining 130,000 reflecting the size of the Cossack militia and rebellious peasants.[9] Those forces were commanded by the Cossack leader, Bohdan Khmelnytsky, and Tatar khan İslâm III Giray.[9]

Siege

On 7 July first skirmishes began, and by 10 July the advanced forces of the Cossacks and Tatars arrived at Zbarzah, killing or taking prisoner several thousands of auxiliary Polish-Lithuanian troops which were still gathering supplies in the area, and failed to retreat to the main camp before being overrun.[10] The first skirmish near the main camp, however, resulted in the Polish-Lithuanian victory, as the Cossack and Tatar forces were thrown back, which raised the defenders morale.[9]

The defenders defeated the attacker main force assaults on 11, 13, 14, 16 and 17 July.[11] After the failure of those early assaults, the Cossack and Tatar army began a regular siege, constructing their own field fortifications, and intensifying the artillery bombardment of the Polish-Lithuanian camp.[11] On 23 July a short ceasefire occurred, as the sides attempted negotiations, eventually futile; other attempts at negotiations took place on 26 and 28 July.[12] On 16 and 23 July there were assaults on the town, where the only well was located, and both were defeated.[12] The Cossacks also tried to destroy a nearby dam to flood the town, but the dam was also successfully defended.[12]

Throughout the engagement, the Polish-Lithuanian forces constructed additional field fortifications, and retreated behind them, to reduce the length of the walls they would have to defend; while retreating to the fourth line of defences on 30 July they defeated another enemy assault.[13]

As the defenders were running low on supplies, about 4,000 starving auxiliaries (servants) requested to leave the city; they were granted permission, but soon after leaving the town walls they were taken captive by the Tatars; some were taken into

John II Casimir at Zboriv; the resulting battle ended in the Treaty of Zboriv of 17 August.[15] In the meantime, at Zbarazh, the besiegers even managed to successfully dig a tunnel into the Polish-Lithuanian camp around 16 August, but it was destroyed by the defenders.[15]

Around 20 August, the besieged launched a small counterattack, leaving the camp and raiding the enemy; soon afterward, on 21 August, Khmelnytsky returned, and despite having signed the peace treaty, he attempted the last final assault on Zbarazh.[16]

Aftermath

The ceasefire would take hold on the next day, although the Cossacks would demand a ransom, at the same time selling the besieged some badly needed supplies; in the end a ransom of 40,000

Tarnopol on the 28th.[16]

The Polish-Lithuanian losses at Zbarazh were about 2,000 regular soldiers and 4,000 auxiliaries; about half of the losses were a result of diseases.[16]

The Ukrainian-Crimean losses at Zbarazh were about 30,000. At Siege of Zbarazh perished the Colonel of Korsun Stanislav-Nestor Morozenko, while Ivan Bohun was seriously wounded.[17]

Further reading

  • Kaczmarczyk, J. Bohdan Khmelnytsky. Wroclaw-Warsaw-Cracow-Lodz 1988.
  • Krypiakevych, I. Bohdan Khmelnytsky. Lviv 1990.
  • Smoliy, V., Stepankov, V. Bohdan Khmelnytsky: Social-political portrait. Kiev 1995.

References

  1. ISBN 9788382026658
    .
  2. ^ a b Encyclopedia of Ukraine. Yaroslav Dzyra, “Siege of Zbarazh 1649, Encyclopedia of the history of Ukraine”. 2005.
  3. ^ a b c Jan Widacki, “Kniaż Jarema”. 1984.
  4. ^ a b c ЗБАРАЗЬКА БИТВА 1649 РОКУ. ДО ПИТАННЯ ІСТОРИЧНОЇ ОЦІНКИ В ХОДІ БОРОТЬБИ ЗА НЕЗАЛЕЖНІСТЬ УКРАЇНИ СЕРЕДИНИ ХVІІ СТОЛІТТЯ. Castles of the Ternopil Region (zamky.te.ua).
  5. ^
    ISBN 978-83-216-0440-4
    . Retrieved 15 December 2012.
  6. ISBN 1895571324
  7. ^
    ISBN 978-83-216-0440-4
    . Retrieved 15 December 2012.
  8. ^
    ISBN 978-83-216-0440-4
    . Retrieved 15 December 2012.
  9. ^
    ISBN 978-83-216-0440-4
    . Retrieved 15 December 2012.
  10. ISBN 978-83-216-0440-4
    . Retrieved 15 December 2012.
  11. ^
    ISBN 978-83-216-0440-4
    . Retrieved 15 December 2012.
  12. ^
    ISBN 978-83-216-0440-4
    . Retrieved 15 December 2012.
  13. ^
    ISBN 978-83-216-0440-4
    . Retrieved 15 December 2012.
  14. ISBN 978-83-216-0440-4
    . Retrieved 15 December 2012.
  15. ^
    ISBN 978-83-216-0440-4
    . Retrieved 15 December 2012.
  16. ^
    ISBN 978-83-216-0440-4
    . Retrieved 15 December 2012.
  17. ^ ЗБАРАЗЬКА ОБЛОГА 1649 (1649 Siege of Zbarazh). Encyclopedia of History of Ukraine (resource.history.org.ua).

External links

49°40′00″N 25°46′40″E / 49.66667°N 25.77778°E / 49.66667; 25.77778

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