1676?1681 conflict fought between the Ottoman Empire and the Tsardom of Russia
Russo?Turkish War (1676?1681)
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Part of the
Russo-Turkish wars
and
the Ruin
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Czehrin at the bottom and the Dnieper through the middle of the map (the north to the left)
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Belligerents
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Ottoman Empire
Crimean Khanate
Ottoman Ukraine
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Russian Tsardom
Cossack Hetmanate of Ivan Samoylovych
Kalmyk Khanate
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Commanders and leaders
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Kara Mustafa Pasha
Selim I Giray
Petro Doroshenko
Yuri Khmelnitsky
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Ivan Samoilovich
Grigory Romodanovsky
Mazan Batyr
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Strength
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120,000?130,000 (maximum value, 1678 campaign)
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70,000?80,000
11,700 Chyhyryn garrison (maximum value, 1678 campaign)
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Casualties and losses
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12,000?20,000 killed
[1]
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3,290 killed and 5,430 wounded in Romodanovsky’s army (according to official data);
332 killed and 1,047 wounded (according to underestimated official data; in reality, hardly less than 1,000 killed and 1,500 wounded) in the fortress garrison;
Samoilovich's losses are close to those in Moscow
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The
Russo-Turkish War of 1676?1681
, a war between the
Tsardom of Russia
and
Ottoman Empire
, caused by
Turkish
expansionism in the second half of the 17th century.
Prelude
After having captured and devastated the region of
Podolia
in the course of the
Polish?Turkish War
of 1672?1676, the Ottoman government strove to spread its rule over all of
Right-bank Ukraine
with the support of its
vassal
(since 1669),
Hetman
Petro Doroshenko
. The latter's pro-Turkish policy caused discontent among many
Ukrainian
Cossacks
, which would lead to the election of
Ivan Samoilovich
(hetman of the
Left-bank Ukraine
) as the sole hetman of all
Ukraine
in 1674.
Despite this, Doroshenko continued to keep
Chyhyryn
, an important Cossack town near the
Dnieper
river. He cleverly maneuvered between
Moscow
and
Warsaw
and used the support of the Turkish-
Tatar
army. Finally, the Russian and Ukrainian forces under the command of Samoilovich and
Grigory Romodanovsky
besieged Chyhyryn and forced Doroshenko to surrender in 1676. Leaving a garrison in Chyhyryn, the Russian and Ukrainian armies retreated to the left bank of the Dnieper.
The supply of Ottoman forces operating in
Moldavia
and
Wallachia
was a major challenge that required well organized logistics. An army of 60,000 soldiers and 40,000 horses required a half-million kilograms of food per day. The Ottoman forces fared better than the Russians, but the expenses crippled both national treasuries. Supplies on both sides came using fixed prices, taxes, and confiscation.
1677 Campaign
The Ottoman Sultan
Mehmed IV
appointed
Yuri Khmelnitsky
, who had been the sultan's
prisoner
at that time, hetman of Right-bank Ukraine. In July 1677, the sultan ordered his army (45,000 men) under the command of Ibrahim Pasha to advance towards Chyhyryn.
On 30 July 1677, advanced detachments appeared at the fortress, and on August 3 ? the main Turkish forces. Samoilovich and Grigory Romodanovsky's army joined on August 10, and only on August 24 did they cross the
Sula
river on the way to Chyhyryn. On August 26?27, a skirmish between their and Ottoman troops removed Ottoman observation posts and allowed the rest of the Russian and Ukrainian forces to cross the river under the cover of artillery fire. Turkish attempts to drop back into the river at the first crossing detachment under the command of Major-General Shepelev were repulsed. Russian and Ukrainian cavalry attacked and overwhelmed the Turkish-Tatar army camp on August 28, inflicting heavy casualties. The following day, Ibrahim Pasha lifted the siege of Chyhyryn and hastily retreated to the
Inhul
river and beyond.
Samoilovich and
Grigory Romodanovsky
relieved Chyhyryn on September 5. The Ottoman Army had lost 20,000 men and Ibrahim was imprisoned upon his return to
Constantinople
and Crimean Khan
Selim I Giray
lost his throne.
1678 Campaign
In July 1678, the Turkish army (approx. 70,000 men) of the
Grand Vizier
Kara Mustafa
with the Crimean Tatar army (up to 50,000 men) besieged Chyhyryn once again.
The Russian and Ukrainian armies (70,000?80,000) broke through the fortified position of the Turkish covering force and turned them to flight. Then they entrenched on the left bank of the
Tiasmyn
river opposite the fortress with the Turkish-Crimean army on the other bank. The crossings were destroyed and it was difficult to attack the Turks. The troops could freely enter Chyhyryn, but it was already surrounded by well-equipped siege positions and was heavily bombarded; its fortifications were badly damaged. When the Turks broke into the Lower Town of Chyhyryn on August 11, Romodanovsky ordered to leave the citadel and withdraw troops to the left bank. The Russian army retreated beyond the Dnieper, beating off the pursuing Turkish army, which would finally leave them in peace. Later the Turks seized
Kanev
and established the power of Yuri Khmelnitsky on Right-bank Ukraine, but did not go to
Kiev
, where the Russian troops were stationed.
In 1679?1680, the Russians repelled the attacks of the
Crimean Tatars
and signed the
Bakhchisaray Peace Treaty
on 3 January 1681, which would establish the Russo-Turkish border by the Dnieper.
Result of the war
The result of the war, which was ended by the
Treaty of Bakhchisarai
, is disputed. Some historians mention it was an Ottoman victory,
[a]
while another historian contends that it was a Russian victory.
[b]
While some historians state the war was indecisive (stalemate).
[c]
[d]
[e]
Notes
- ^
In the decades preceding the Ottomans’ attempted siege of Vienna in 1683 Ottoman armies had successfully prosecuted single-front wars.[..]..and Russia (the siege of Cehrin [Chyhyryn] in 1678).
- ^
"Despite the loss of Chyhyryn the war aims of greatest importance to Moscow were therefore achieved. Khan Murat Girei was compelled to negotiate at Bakhchisarai a twenty-year armistice with Muscovy formally acknowledging Kiev and the Left Bank as Muscovite possessions. Murat Girei played a crucial role in subsequently inducing Sultan Mehmed IV to ratify these same terms. For Mehmed IV and Grand Vizier Kara Mustafa the destruction of Chyhyryn was thereby rendered a Pyrrhic victory."
- ^
Russia was drawn into war with the Ottoman empire (1676?81) that ended in stalemate in the armistice of Bakhchisarai in 1681.
- ^
The indecisive Russo-Turkish War from 1676 to 1681 centered on control of the fortress of Chigirin...
- ^
The Russo-Turkish war of1676?81 is usually seen as a stalemate or even as a Russian defeat because Chyhyryn had to be destroyed and the right bank was thereby lost to the Turks and Iurii Khmel’nyts’kyi.
References
- ^
Warfare, State and Society on the Black Sea Steppe, 1500-1700
. p. 169.
Sources and further reading
- Aksan, Virginia H. (1995). "Feeding the Ottoman troops on the Danube, 1768?1774".
War & Society
.
13
(1): 1?14.
doi
:
10.1179/072924795791200150
.
- Davies, Brian (2006). "Muscovy at war and peace". In Perrie, Maureen (ed.).
The Cambridge History of Russia From Early Rus to 1689
. Vol. 1. Cambridge University Press.
- Davies, Brian (2007).
Warfare, State and Society on the Black Sea Steppe, 1500?1700
. Routledge.
ISBN
978-0-203-96176-6
.
- Davies, Brian (2013).
Empire and Military Revolution in Eastern Europe: Russia's Turkish Wars in the Eighteenth Century
. Bloomsbury Academic.
- Kollmann, Nancy Shields (2017).
The Russia Empire, 1450-1801
. Oxford University Press.
- Lewitter, Lucjan Ryszard. "The Russo-Polish Treaty of 1686 and Its Antecedents."
Polish Review
(1964): 5-29
online
.
- Murphey, Rhoads (1999).
Ottoman Warfare, 1500-1700
. Taylor & Francis.
- Paxton, John; Traynor, John (2004).
Leaders of Russia and the Soviet Union
. Taylor & Francis Books Inc.
- Stone, David R.
(2006).
A Military History of Russia: From Ivan the Terrible to the War in Chechnya
. Greenwood Publishing.
- Яфарова, Мадина (2017).
Русско-Османское противостояние в 1677-1681 гг. // Диссертация на соискание ученой степени кандидата исторических наук
(PDF)
(in Russian). Moscow: Федеральное государственное бюджетное образовательное учреждение высшего образования ≪Московский государственный университет имени М. В. Ломоносова≫.