Battle of Khotyn (1621)

Khotyn was conquered and controlled by many states, resulting in many name changes (; ; ; ). Other variations include Chotyn, or Choczim (especially in Polish). ==Prelude==

Tensions between Poland–Lithuania and the Ottoman Empire At the end of the 16th century and the beginning of the 17th century, the magnates of the Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth intervened in the affairs of Moldavia, a vassal state of the Ottoman Empire since its conquest by Mehmed II in the 15th century. Additionally, the Ottomans were aggravated by the constant raids into their territories by Ukrainian Cossacks, then nominal subjects of the Commonwealth. In the meantime, the Thirty Years' War raged across Europe. The Commonwealth was relatively uninvolved in this war but the Polish King Sigismund III Vasa sent an elite and ruthless mercenary unit, the Lisowczycy, to aid his Habsburg allies in Vienna, since his brother-in-law was the Emperor. They defeated George Rákóczi of Transylvania at the Battle of Humenné in 1619. Gabriel Bethlen, the reigning Prince of Transylvania, asked Sultan Osman II for aid. The sultan agreed and a large Ottoman army was gathered for a punitive invasion of the Commonwealth. Campaign of 1620 On 20 September 1620, an Ottoman army under the command of the governor of Oczakov (Ozi) Iskender Pasha routed the Commonwealth army at the Battle of Cecora, captured Stanisław Koniecpolski and beheaded Stanisław Żółkiewski, sending Tatar raiders to ravage southern Poland. In April 1621 an army of 120,000–160,000 soldiers This army numbered 30,000 (18,000 cavalry, 12,000 infantry) and their allied Cossack army led by ataman Petro Konashevych-Sahaidachny was composed of 25,000–40,000 troops, mostly infantry, and about 22 guns. ==Battle==

Commonwealth battle plan , the centerpoint of the defense. Most of the fighting took place in the outside parts, not shown on this image. The Polish-Lithuanian army arrived near Khotyn around 24 August and started entrenching itself near the Khotyn Fortress, blocking the path of the Ottoman march. Commonwealth counterattack Around 10,000 Ottomans moved to attack, but then Chodkiewicz personally led a counterattack with three hussar squadrons and one reiter squadron, a total of between 600 and 650 men. The Sipahi could not withstand the charge and they retreated chaotically. Chodkiewicz with his cavalry pursued them to the camp. Ottomans losses amounted to more than 500 killed and Commonwealth losses amounted to 30 killed. The charge inflicted heavy casualties and had a huge impact on the morale of the Ottoman army. On 10 September, Chodkiewicz proposed a night attack. An assault was prepared for the night of 12 to 13 September, but just before the attack, there was heavy rainfall and the action had to be cancelled. The Cossacks then beheaded Borodavka in retribution. After several costly and unsuccessful assaults in the first week of the siege, the Ottomans tried to take the fortress by cutting off their supply and reinforcements and waiting for them to succumb to hunger and disease. even though the Polish-Lithuanian forces were almost out of supplies (a legend has it that by the end of the siege, the Commonwealth army was down to its last barrel of gunpowder). ==Aftermath==

, 1806 A peace treaty, the Treaty of Khotyn, was signed on 9 October. Having already lost Grand Hetman Chodkiewicz during the battle, the Commonwealth soon lost another of its most notable military figures of the early 17th century in Hetman of Registered Cossacks Petro Konashevych-Sahaidachny, who couldn't recover from battle injuries and died several months later. ==Result==

A lot of sources consider this battle to be a Polish–Lithuanian–Cossack victory. However, others describe it a stalemate. ==Cultural impact==

The Battle of Khotyn was the largest battle in the history of the Polish Commonwealth to date, and it was proclaimed as a great victory over the 's'. Among the accounts of the battle is a rather one-sided one from Wacław Potocki's Transakcja wojny chocimskiej (The Progress of the War of Chocim), However, the young Sultan was personally very unsatisfied with the result of the battle and the behavior of his household troops, the janissaries, during the campaign and started taking measures to reform the Ottoman military. That attempt led to a revolt in Constantinople by the army, madrasa (religious school) students and wealthy merchants in May 1622, at the end of which Sultan Osman II was deposed and killed by the leaders of the mob. This revolt and the demise of the young Sultan (who was only 17 when killed) is one of the events most written about by Ottoman historians and appears often in Ottoman court literature and Ottoman popular literature. In the peoples' coffee houses in Istanbul (up to the end of the 19th century) public storytellers used to relate the tales, many in poetry form, of the exploits of Young Osman (including Khotin) and his tragic demise. The Battle of Khotyn is commemorated on the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier, Warsaw, with the inscription "CHOCIM 2 IX - 9 X 1621/10 - 11 XI 1673". ==References==