Battle of Batih

The Battle of Batih (Ukrainian: Битва під Батогом, Polish: Bitwa pod Batohem; 1–2 June 1652) was fought between the Cossack Hetmanate and Crimean Khanate against the Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth as a part of the Khmelnytskyi Uprising. Near the village of Batih in the Bratslav Regiment, a forces of the Zaporozhian Cossacks and Crimean Tatars under the command of Bohdan Khmelnytskyi, Tymofiy Khmelnytskyi and Ivan Bohun attacked and completely defeated the Polish–Lithuanian forces under the command of Marcin Kalinowski, Zygmunt Przyjemski and Marek Sobieski, all of them were killed in the action. After the battle, the captured Polish–Lithuanian troops were brutally slain and beheaded by the Zaporozhian Cossacks and Crimean Tatars, as a revenge for the Battle of Berestechko.^[4]

Battle of Batih
Part of the Khmelnytskyi Uprising
Murdering of the Polish–Lithuanian prisoners after the battle. Painting by Hiob Ludolf in 1713
Date 1–2 June 1652 Location Batih, Bratslav Regiment, Cossack Hetmanate Result Cossack–Tatar victory
Belligerents
Cossack Hetmanate Crimean Khanate	Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth
Commanders and leaders
Bohdan Khmelnytskyi Tymofiy Khmelnytskyi Ivan Bohun	Marcin Kalinowski (POW) Zygmunt Przyjemski (POW) Marek Sobieski (POW)
Strength
12,000 Cossacks[1] 8,000–10,000 Tatars[1]	13,500–20,000 Polish–Lithuanian cavalry and infantry[2] [page needed]
Casualties and losses
1,000 killed and wounded[3]	10,000–15,000 killed and wounded[2][page needed]

During the battle, a forces of the Cossack Hetmanate and Crimean Khanate destroyed many and one of the best Polish–Lithuanian military units. Although the Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth managed to rebuild their army soon after the battle, the losses of the most experienced troops resulted in its temporary weakness. Defeat of the Crown Army contributed to the wars to come with the Tsardom of Muscovy and Swedish Empire, which in turn resulted into the Deluge.

Background

After the Treaty of Bila Tserkva was not ratified by the Polish Sejm^[5] the Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth deployed Crown forces under the command of Field Hetman Marcin Kalinowski in the Bracław Voivodeship

According to the historian Hruschevsky, Hetman Bohdan Khmelnytsky claimed that the Poles had violated the Bila Tserkva peace agreement by razing a couple of Cossack towns and preparing for war.^[5] A great Cossack council held at Chyhyryn, which also included Tatar delegates, decided that the failure of the Polish Sejm to ratify the treaty meant that the Cossacks were released from their oaths.^[6]

Kalinowski intended to use the Trans-Dnieper Crown army, which in April was ordered by John II Casimir Vasa to gather at Kalinowski's Bratslav camp, "to prevent the Cossack army's merger with the Horde" by blocking the Horde's march "into Moldavia to fight the Hospodar" Vasile Lupu.^[7] "Khmelnytsky sent his son", Tymofiy Khmelnytsky, "together with the Tatars to Moldavia, to take revenge militarily on that country's ruler for having sworn he would give his daughter in marriage to Khmelnytsky's son and then later refusing."^[8]

However, the Crown army had only "crossed the river to Kyiv" on 14 June on its way to Kalinowski's corps, the Cossack army was already mobilized and merged with the Horde by the end of May, and Kalinowski met them on his own.^[7] "The Polish hetman had chosen a flat plain near the Boh and Sob, one so large that the small Polish army could not maintain control of it...he insisted that there had to be room for the troops that were coming to join him: for the Trans-Dnipro Poles, a detachment of the palatine of Bratslav, Stanislaw Lanckoronski, and others that in the end did not manage to join him."^[9] "Khmelnytsky, who had a horde of substantial size at his disposal this time, hurried to attack him before the Polish troops from across the Dnipro and other contingents arrived."^[9]

Battle

"When the relatively small Tatar vanguard regiment appeared, the Polish cavalry attacked, beginning a battle that lasted through the first day (1 June).^[9] During the battle, "Khmelnytsky's main forces arrived, and during the night they bypassed the Polish camp in such a way that the Poles did not notice."^[9]

On the second day, the cavalry skirmishes resumed but soon Kalinowski "saw himself surrounded by Cossack and Tatar forces on all sides."^[10] "The Cossacks broke through the endless line-more than a mile long-around the camp and entered into its midst."^[10] "When its predicament became clear, the Crown Army was swept by panic, insubordination, and mutiny."^[10] "Some fifteen hundred of them fled", "some perished and others fell into the hands of the Cossacks and Tatars, Kalinowski himself was killed."^[10]

Massacre

Main article: Batih massacre

After the battle, the Zaporozhian Cossacks paid the Crimean Tatars for possession of the prisoners, and promptly slaughtered the Polish captives to avenge Khmelnytsky’s defeat at Berestechko in June-July 1651.^[4] According to Hrushevsky and Pasicznyk, Duda and Sikora, the decision to execute the prisoners was taken by Bohdan Khmelnytsky himself.^[11][12][13] Khmelnytsky, commanding the unit of Zaporozhian Cossacks, offered Nuradyn Sultan 50,000 thalers for the right to execute the 10,000–15,000 Polish captives in revenge for Berestechko.^[4] He also promised him the town of Kamieniec for their transfer under his command.^[4] Estimated 3,000–5,000^[14] to 8,000 Polish soldiers were massacred.^[4]

Aftermath

"The situation that existed after Korsun and Pyliavtsi...now arose once more" with the Polish forces "shattered, Poland defenseless and panic-stricken".^[15] (in 1648 after the first Polish defeats at the start of the rebellion)

A number of notable Polish nobles fell in the battle or the following massacre of prisoners, including Crown Great Quartermaster Samuel Kalinowski, the son of Hetman Marcin Kalinowski, Hetman Kalinowski himself, General of the Artillery Zygmunt Przyjemski, Castelan of Czernihów Jan Odrzywolski, rotmistrz Marcin Czarniecki (brother of Stefan Czarniecki) and magnate Marek Sobieski, brother of later King Jan III Sobieski.^[16][10]

Notes

1. Ivan Storozhenko, “Bohdan Khmelnytsky and Military Art in the National-Liberation War of the Ukrainians of the mid-17th century.” Dnipro, 1996.
2. Tomasz Ciesielski. “Od Batohu do Żwańca 1652–1653”.
3. Ciesielski 2008, p. 39.
4. Hanna Widacka (2013). "Rzeź polskich jeńców pod Batohem" [Slaugher of Polish prisoners at Batih]. Historie makabryczne (Historical macabres) (in Polish). Muzeum Pałacu Króla Jana III w Wilanowie (Palace Museum in Wilanów). Retrieved 18 December 2013.
5. Hrushevsky et al. 2005, p. 448.
6. Hrushevsky et al. 2005, pp. 463–464.
7. Hrushevsky et al. 2005, p. 470.
8. Hrushevsky et al. 2005, p. 474.
9. Hrushevsky et al. 2005, p. 475.
10. Hrushevsky et al. 2005, p. 476.
11. Duda, Sebastian (14 February 2014). "Sarmacki Katyń". wyborcza.pl (in Polish). Retrieved 4 May 2015.
12. Mykhailo Hrushevsky; Uliana M. Pasicznyk (2008). History of Ukraine-Rus': The Cossack age 1650-1653. Canadian Institute of Ukrainian Studies Press. p. 34. ISBN 978-1-894865-10-4. At Batih he had treated the prisoners as cruelly as he pleased, 'and furthermore - an unheard-of thing - he redeemed them from the Tatars on their way [to the Crimea] and tyrannized them, ordering them to be put to death cruelly in his presence, especially men of the more prominent families who had served the Commonwealth well...
13. Sikora, Radosław. "Rzeź polskich jeńców pod Batohem" (in Polish). Retrieved 4 May 2015.
14. Wojciech Jacek Długołęcki (1995). Batoh 1652 (in Polish). Wydawn. Bellona. p. 207. ISBN 978-83-11-08402-5.
15. Hrushevsky et al. 2005, p. 478.
16. Wojciech Kriegseisen (1995). Sejm Rzeczypospolitej Szlacheckiej, do 1763 roku: geneza i kryzys władzy ustawodawczej (in Polish). Wydawn. Sejmowe. p. 58. ISBN 978-83-7059-206-6.

References

• Hrushevsky, Mykhailo; Poppe, Andrzej; Sysyn, Frank E. (2005) [1909]. The Cossack Age, 1650–1653 [Kozats'ki chasy, 1650–1653]. History of Ukraine-Rus. Vol. 9. Translated by Bohdan Struminski. Toronto: Canadian Institute of Ukrainian Studies Press. ISBN 978-1895571226. JSTOR 2671418.
• Ciesielski, Tomasz (2008). Od Batohu Do Żwańca. Wojna na Ukrainie, Podolu i o Mołdawię 1652 do 1653 [From Batoh to Żwaniec. Cossack-Polish War in 1652–1653]. Zabrze: Infort Editions. ISBN 978-83-89943-23-1.
• Battle of Batoh 1652, Kismeta.com
• History, Poland.gov.pl Archived 5 July 2009 at the Wayback Machine
• Summary of Conflicts, Jasinski.co.uk

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