The siege of Zbarazh ( Ukrainian: ''Облога Збаража, Битва під Збаражем,'' Polish: ''Oblężenie Zbaraża, Bitwa pod Zbarażem;'' 10 July — 22 August, 1649) was fought near the site of the present-day city of

Zbarazh Zbarazh (, ; ; ) is a small city in Ternopil Raion, Ternopil Oblast, western Ukraine. It is located in the historic region of Galicia (Central Europe), Galicia. Zbarazh hosts the administration of Zbarazh urban hromada, one of the hromadas of Ukr ...

Ukraine Ukraine is a country in Eastern Europe. It is the List of European countries by area, second-largest country in Europe after Russia, which Russia–Ukraine border, borders it to the east and northeast. Ukraine also borders Belarus to the nor ...

between the

Cossack Hetmanate The Cossack Hetmanate (; Cossack Hetmanate#Name, see other names), officially the Zaporozhian Host (; ), was a Ukrainian Cossacks, Cossack state. Its territory was located mostly in central Ukraine, as well as in parts of Belarus and southwest ...

and

Crimean Khanate The Crimean Khanate, self-defined as the Throne of Crimea and Desht-i Kipchak, and in old European historiography and geography known as Little Tartary, was a Crimean Tatars, Crimean Tatar state existing from 1441 to 1783, the longest-lived of th ...

against the

Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth The Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth, also referred to as Poland–Lithuania or the First Polish Republic (), was a federation, federative real union between the Crown of the Kingdom of Poland, Kingdom of Poland and the Grand Duchy of Lithuania ...

as a part of the

Khmelnytsky Uprising The Khmelnytsky Uprising, also known as the Cossack–Polish War, Khmelnytsky insurrection, or the National Liberation War, was a Cossack uprisings, Cossack rebellion that took place between 1648 and 1657 in the eastern territories of the Poli ...

. The siege lasted for seven weeks.ЗБАРАЗЬКА БИТВА 1649 РОКУ. ДО ПИТАННЯ ІСТОРИЧНОЇ ОЦІНКИ В ХОДІ БОРОТЬБИ ЗА НЕЗАЛЕЖНІСТЬ УКРАЇНИ СЕРЕДИНИ ХVІІ СТОЛІТТЯ
Castles of the Ternopil Region (zamky.te.ua). The Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth’s forces were besieged in the Zbarazh Castle until in the aftermath of the Battle of Zboriv on 15–16 August 1649 and the Treaty of Zboriv on 18 August 1649. The Volhynian towns of

and

Zboriv Zboriv (, ; ; ; ) is a small List of cities in Ukraine, city in Ternopil Raion, Ternopil Oblast, western Ukraine. It is located in the historical region of Galicia (Central Europe), Galicia. The local government is administered by Zboriv City Cou ...

are roughly neighboring one another.

Background

In the first half of 1649, the

negotiations with the rebellious

Cossacks The Cossacks are a predominantly East Slavic languages, East Slavic Eastern Christian people originating in the Pontic–Caspian steppe of eastern Ukraine and southern Russia. Cossacks played an important role in defending the southern borde ...

fell through, and the Polish-Lithuanian military begun gathering near the borders with the insurgent-held Ukraine. While the king organized the main Polish army, and Janusz Radziwill commanded the Lithuanian army along the

Horyn River The Horyn or Haryn (, ; , ; ; ) is a tributary of the Pripyat, which flows through Ukraine and Belarus. The Horyn is long, and has a drainage basin of .regimentarzs (Andrzej Firlej, Stanisław Lanckoroński and

Mikołaj Ostroróg Mikołaj Ostroróg (1593–1651) was a Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth, Polish–Lithuanian szlachcic (nobleman), politician and general. He was Podstoli of the Crown since 1633, Stolnik of the Crown since 1624, Krajczy of the Crown since 1636 ...

) was located in

from 30 June, where prince Jeremi Wiśniowiecki would arrive with reinforcements on 7 July. Wiśniowiecki's arrival raised the morale of the royal army, and despite having no official rank, both the common soldiers and the new regimentarz promised to heed his advice, and even offered him the official command (which he however refused). To the area also arrived detachments of the Castellan of Kamianiec Stanisław Lanckoroński, Starosta of Lwow Adam Hieronim Sieniawski, Starosta of Braclaw Jerzy Kalinowski, and Prince Samuel Karol Korecki.

Opposing forces

Zbarazh Castle was rebuilt in the decades preceding the siege under the Netherland engineer Henryk van Peene, who finished his project in 1626. The castle was built as a square, which each side of about 88 meters, and surrounded by an earthen wall and a moat. It was a relatively modern and resilient construction, whose major weakness was its small size, and correspondingly, little space for any extensive army and required supplies. Built with the Tatar raids in mind, it was not meant to withstand a prolonged siege by a large army. The town itself had relatively poor defenses. The Polish-Lithuanian fortified camp incorporated the town defenses and the castle. The Polish-Lithuanian forces numbered between 10,000 and 15,000, according to different sources, and Widecki notes that the lower number accounts for regular troops, whereas the higher one probably counts auxiliary troops such as armed servants and the town militia. The Polish-Lithuanian forces were commanded officially by Andrzej Firlej. However, as noted by Polish historian Widacki, Firlej had little authority, and often listened to Wiśniowiecki's advice, who could be seen as the real commander of the Polish-Lithuanian forces. As a contemporary memoir notes, Wiśniowiecki's position was enough to veto a plan proposed and backed by all three regimentarzs. Each of the regimentarz, as well as prince Wiśniowiecki, commanded a division of the troops, tasked with defending a part of the line; there were five divisions in total, with the last one commanded by

chorąży A standard-bearer ( Polish: ''Chorąży'' ; Russian and ; , chorunžis; ) is a military rank in Poland, Ukraine and some neighboring countries. A ''chorąży'' was once a knight who bore an ensign, the emblem of an armed troops, a voivodship, a l ...

Aleksander Koniecpolski. The forces of the allied

Zaporozhian Cossacks The Zaporozhian Cossacks (in Latin ''Cossacorum Zaporoviensis''), also known as the Zaporozhian Cossack Army or the Zaporozhian Host (), were Cossacks who lived beyond (that is, downstream from) the Dnieper Rapids. Along with Registered Cossa ...

and

Crimean Tatars Crimean Tatars (), or simply Crimeans (), are an Eastern European Turkic peoples, Turkic ethnic group and nation indigenous to Crimea. Their ethnogenesis lasted thousands of years in Crimea and the northern regions along the coast of the Blac ...

at Zbarazh numbered around 130,000 — with two thirds of those being Cossacks, and the remainder the Tatars. Widecki notes that the number of 70,000 Cossacks given by some sources may be true in so far as it reflects the size of the seasoned, regular Cossack troops, with the remaining 130,000 reflecting the size of the Cossack militia and rebellious peasants. Those forces were commanded by the Cossack leader,

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 ...

, and Tatar khan İslâm III Giray.

Siege

On 7 July first skirmishes began, and by 10 July the advanced forces of the Cossacks and Tatars arrived at Zbarzah, killing or taking prisoner several thousands of auxiliary Polish-Lithuanian troops which were still gathering supplies in the area, and failed to retreat to the main camp before being overrun. The first skirmish near the main camp, however, resulted in the Polish-Lithuanian victory, as the Cossack and Tatar forces were thrown back, which raised the defenders morale. The defenders defeated the attacker main force assaults on 11, 13, 14, 16 and 17 July. After the failure of those early assaults, the Cossack and Tatar army began a regular siege, constructing their own field fortifications, and intensifying the artillery bombardment of the Polish-Lithuanian camp. On 23 July a short ceasefire occurred, as the sides attempted negotiations, eventually futile; other attempts at negotiations took place on 26 and 28 July. On 16 and 23 July there were assaults on the town, where the only well was located, and both were defeated. The Cossacks also tried to destroy a nearby dam to flood the town, but the dam was also successfully defended. Throughout the engagement, the Polish-Lithuanian forces constructed additional field fortifications, and retreated behind them, to reduce the length of the walls they would have to defend; while retreating to the fourth line of defences on 30 July they defeated another enemy assault. As the defenders were running low on supplies, about 4,000 starving auxiliaries (servants) requested to leave the city; they were granted permission, but soon after leaving the town walls they were taken captive by the Tatars; some were taken into jasyr while others were executed on the spot. Despite that, others wanted to leave the town, but prince Wiśniowiecki promised to feed them rather than risk another massacre. The besieged also tried to send messages to the king asking for reinforcements, and in early August a volunteer messenger, Mikołaj Skrzetuski, managed to sneak past the besiegers and reached the king around 6 or 7 August; he would later inspire the fictional character Jan Skrzetuski in

Henryk Sienkiewicz Henryk Adam Aleksander Pius Sienkiewicz ( , ; 5 May 1846 – 15 November 1916), also known by the pseudonym Litwos (), was a Polish epic writer. He is remembered for his historical novels, such as The Trilogy, the Trilogy series and especially ...

's '' The Trilogy''. In the meantime, the Cossack and Tatars would try to extend their fortifications closer to the defender's line; they launched their last large assault on 6 August, but were defeated once more. Soon afterward the Cossack and Tatar sent off a large chunk of their forces under

to intercept the nearing royal reinforcements under John II Casimir at

; the resulting battle ended in the Treaty of Zboriv of 17 August. In the meantime, at Zbarazh, the besiegers even managed to successfully dig a tunnel into the Polish-Lithuanian camp around 16 August, but it was destroyed by the defenders. Around 20 August, the besieged launched a small counterattack, leaving the camp and raiding the enemy; soon afterward, on 21 August, Khmelnytsky returned, and despite having signed the peace treaty, he attempted the last final assault on Zbarazh.

Aftermath

The ceasefire would take hold on the next day, although the Cossacks would demand a ransom, at the same time selling the besieged some badly needed supplies; in the end a ransom of 40,000 talars was paid, the Cossack and Tatar field fortifications were mostly abandoned by the 23rd, and by the 25th the besieging army left the vicinity of Zbarazh. The Polish-Lithuanian army left on the evening of that day, reaching

Tarnopol Ternopil, known until 1944 mostly as Tarnopol, is a city in western Ukraine, located on the banks of the Seret (river), Seret River. Ternopil is one of the major cities of Western Ukraine and the historical regions of Galicia (Central Europe ...

on the 28th. Sources differ on the outcome of the siege. Some sources claim the siege was a Polish victory. Other sources claim it was a Cossack victory.Canadian Institute of Ukrainian Studies (1980). Journal of Ukrainian Studies 9 page 40 The Polish-Lithuanian losses at Zbarazh were about 2,000 regular soldiers and 4,000 auxiliaries; about half of the losses were a result of diseases. The Ukrainian-Crimean losses at Zbarazh range 8,000 to 18,000. At Siege of Zbarazh perished the Colonel of Korsun Stanislav-Nestor Morozenko, while

Ivan Bohun Ivan Bohun () (died 1664) was a Zaporozhian Cossack colonel. A close associate and friend of Bohdan Khmelnytsky, he opposed both the pacts with the Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth (Treaty of Hadiach of 1658) and with the Tsardom of Russia (Pere ...

was seriously wounded.

References

External links

Dzyra, Ya. ''Siege of Zbarazh 1649''
Encyclopedia of History of Ukraine. "

Naukova Dumka Naukova Dumka ( — literally "scientific thought") is a publishing house in Kyiv, Ukraine. It was established by the National Academy of Sciences of Ukraine in 1922, largely owing to the efforts of Ahatanhel Krymsky, a prominent Ukrainian ling ...

". Kyiv 2005
Siege of Zbarazh 1649

Ukrainian Soviet Encyclopedia The ''Ukrainian Soviet Encyclopedia'' () was a multi-purpose encyclopedia of Ukraine, issued in the USSR. First attempt Following the publication of the first volume of the in Lviv, then in Poland, in 1930, the ''Ukrainian Soviet Encyclopedia ...

. {{DEFAULTSORT:Zbarazh 1649 Conflicts in 1649 Battles of the Khmelnytsky Uprising 17th-century sieges 1649 in the Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth

Siege A siege () . is a military blockade of a city, or fortress, with the intent of conquering by attrition, or by well-prepared assault. Siege warfare (also called siegecrafts or poliorcetics) is a form of constant, low-intensity conflict charact ...