The siege of Bar took place between the Cossack garrison of Bar and the Polish–Lithuanian forces of the

Bar Bar or BAR may refer to: Food and drink * Bar (establishment), selling alcoholic beverages * Candy bar ** Chocolate bar * Protein bar Science and technology * Bar (river morphology), a deposit of sediment * Bar (tropical cyclone), a laye ...

fortress, during which Polish commander Piotr Potocki laid a siege on the fortress, capturing the fortress and defeating its garrison, in February 1649.

Prelude

fortress was an important defense point of

Podolia Podolia or Podillia is a historic region in Eastern Europe located in the west-central and southwestern parts of Ukraine and northeastern Moldova (i.e. northern Transnistria). Podolia is bordered by the Dniester River and Boh River. It features ...

, which came under control of Cossacks during the previous siege. Piotr Potocki gathered an army with the goal of retaking Bar fortress and taking revenge on Cossacks in 1649.

Siege

On February, Piotr Potocki besieged Bar fortress. Potocki was responsible for maintaining the

Kamianets-Podilskyi Kamianets-Podilskyi (, ; ) is a city on the Smotrych River in western Ukraine, western Ukraine, to the north-east of Chernivtsi. Formerly the administrative center of Khmelnytskyi Oblast, the city is now the administrative center of Kamianets ...

and was in charge of it, but he still took part in campaigns against Cossacks. Much like

Maksym Kryvonis Maksym Kryvonis ( Ukrainian: ''Максим Кривоніс'', Polish: ''Maksym Krzywonos''; literally means "crooked-nose") was one of the Cossack leaders and a commander of the Ukrainian peasants against the Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth. ...

during the siege of 1648, Potocki used trickery and scheming in order to get into Bar fortress. After Potocki managed to get into the fortress with his army, he fought and defeated the Cossack garrison of Bar, reportedly leaving no one alive from the garrison.Mirosław Nagielski (2020)
Piotr Potocki, wojewoda bracławski — Hektor kamieniecki
p. 44. This was described as Polish forces taking revenge on Cossacks, who broke their promise of peaceful capitulation to the Polish Bar garrison in 1648, executing Polish prisoners. The news of the loss of Bar fortress to Polish forces infuriated

Bohdan Khmelnytsky Zynoviy Bohdan Mykhailovych Khmelnytsky of the Abdank coat of arms (Ruthenian language, Ruthenian: Ѕѣнові Богданъ Хмелнiцкiи; modern , Polish language, Polish: ; 15956 August 1657) was a Ruthenian nobility, Ruthenian noble ...

. This led to crueler treatment of Polish prisoners held by the Cossacks, including Kudak garrison. Khmelnytsky reportedly refused to hand over Andrzej Polotcki who was captured in the previous siege of Bar.

Aftermath

The loss of Bar fortress to Polish forces was a major blow to Cossack control over

. Khmelnytsky was particularly dissatisfied about the loss of Bar. When the Commonwealth envoys arrived, Khmelnytsky treated them like captives, not allowing them to leave. Khmelnytsky clearly expressed his dissatisfaction about losing Bar fortress and ongoing actions of Piotr Potocki in Podolia, saying to the commissioners present at the meeting:Rolle, Antoni Józef (1880)
Zameczki Podolskie na Kresach Multańskich. T. 1
p. 93.

References

{{coord missing, Ukraine 1649 in the Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth Conflicts in 1649 Sieges involving the Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth Military history of Zaporizhzhia Military history of Ukraine Battles of the Khmelnytsky Uprising