Battle of Finta

The Battle of Finta (27 May 1653) was a confrontation between

Prince A prince is a male ruler (ranked below a king, grand prince, and grand duke) or a male member of a monarch's or former monarch's family. ''Prince'' is also a title of nobility (often highest), often hereditary, in some European states. T ...

Matei Basarab Matei Basarab (; 1588, Brâncoveni, Olt – 9 April 1654, Bucharest) was a Wallachian Voivode (Prince) between 1632 and 1654. Reign Much of Matei's reign was spent fighting off incursions from Moldavia, which he successfully accomplished in 1637 ...

Wallachia Wallachia or Walachia (; ro, Țara Românească, lit=The Romanian Land' or 'The Romanian Country, ; archaic: ', Romanian Cyrillic alphabet: ) is a historical and geographical region of Romania. It is situated north of the Lower Danube and s ...

n army and a combined

Moldavia Moldavia ( ro, Moldova, or , literally "The Country of Moldavia"; in Romanian Cyrillic alphabet, Romanian Cyrillic: or ; chu, Землѧ Молдавскаѧ; el, Ἡγεμονία τῆς Μολδαβίας) is a historical region and for ...

n– Cossack–

Tatar The Tatars ()Tatar
in the Collins English Dictionary is an umbrella term for different

force under

Vasile Lupu Lupu Coci, known as Vasile Lupu (; 1595–1661), was a Voivode of Moldavia of Albanian origin between 1634 and 1653. Lupu had secured the Moldavian throne in 1634 after a series of complicated intrigues and managed to hold it for twenty years. Va ...

and Tymofiy Khmelnytsky. It took place around Finta, now a

commune A commune is an alternative term for an intentional community. Commune or comună or comune or other derivations may also refer to: Administrative-territorial entities * Commune (administrative division), a municipality or township ** Communes of ...

Dâmbovița County Dâmbovița County (also spelt ''Dîmbovița'', ) is a county ( județ) of Romania, in Muntenia, with the capital city at Târgoviște, the most important economic, political, administrative and cultural center of the county. It has an area o ...

Romania Romania ( ; ro, România ) is a country located at the crossroads of Central, Eastern, and Southeastern Europe. It borders Bulgaria to the south, Ukraine to the north, Hungary to the west, Serbia to the southwest, Moldova to the east, and ...

. The battle began by an attack of Moldavian infantry and Tatar–Cossack cavalrymen. From the beginning, the Moldavians, Tatars and Cossacks were driven back by the

Wallachian military forces Wallachians could mean: * Vlachs, Eastern Romance-speaking peoples of southeastern Europe * Inhabitants of Wallachia, a region of Romania * Inhabitants of Moravian Wallachia Moravian Wallachia ( cs, Moravské Valašsko, or simply ''Valašsko''; ...

and Lithuanian defenders. Subsequently, both armies advanced to meet in a marshland, where a great

melee A melee ( or , French: mêlée ) or pell-mell is disorganized hand-to-hand combat in battles fought at abnormally close range with little central control once it starts. In military aviation, a melee has been defined as " air battle in which ...

began. Wallachians, Polish-Lithuanians, ''

Seimeni Seimeni (plural of ''Seimen'') designates the group of flintlock-armed infantry mercenaries charged with guarding the ''hospodar'' (ruler) and his court in 17th and 18th century Wallachia and Moldavia. They were mostly of Serb and other Balkan ...

'' Serb and Hungarian mercenaries destroyed the entire force of Cossacks and Tatars, with their swords and bayonets; the Moldavians, alongside the German and Austrian mercenaries, retreated a kilometer to prepare for the attacks. They resisted a series of attacks by the Wallachian-led combined troops, until finally the Wallachians bombarded their positions. The German and Austrian mercenaries were all killed during the bombardment. 1,000 Moldavians, 4,000 Cossacks and 1,000 Tatars were taken as prisoners, and mistreated by Wallachians. Almost half of them perished in captivity or were sold as slaves. The battle was a Wallachian decisive victory, resulting in the ousting of the Moldavian Prince and his replacement with

Gheorghe Ștefan Gheorghe Ștefan (István Görgicze, seldom referred to as ''Burduja''; died 1668 in Szczecin) was Voivode (Prince) of Moldavia between 13 April and 8 May 1653, and again from 16 July 1653 to 13 March 1658; he was the son of boyar Dumitrașcu ...

. There was a brief Wallachian occupation of Iași, and a siege of

Suceava Suceava () is the largest urban settlement and the seat town ( ro, oraș reședință de județ) of Suceava County, situated in the historical region of Bukovina, northeastern Romania, and at the crossroads of Central and Eastern Europe. Klaus Pet ...

(where Tymofiy was killed). 1653 in Romania Finta Finta Finta Military history of Romania History of Muntenia {{battle-stub