The Transylvanian campaign into Poland ( Swedish: ''Transsylvaniens kampanj in i Polen''; Ukrainian: ''Трансільванський похід на Польщу'') also called the Brest Campaign or Rakoczy's Campaign () was a campaign by

Transylvania Transylvania ( or ; ; or ; Transylvanian Saxon dialect, Transylvanian Saxon: ''Siweberjen'') is a List of historical regions of Central Europe, historical and cultural region in Central Europe, encompassing central Romania. To the east and ...

Sweden Sweden, formally the Kingdom of Sweden, is a Nordic countries, Nordic country located on the Scandinavian Peninsula in Northern Europe. It borders Norway to the west and north, and Finland to the east. At , Sweden is the largest Nordic count ...

, and 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 ...

into 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 ...

during the Deluge in 1657. The allied army saw success in the beginning, but when Denmark declared war on Sweden, Charles abandoned the Transylvanians, which led to their defeat. During the campaign, the allied forces successfully managed to capture both Warsaw and Brest from the Poles but were later pushed out from the country after the forces of

Stefan Czarniecki Stefan Czarniecki (Polish: of the Łodzia coat of arms, 1599 – 16 February 1665) was a Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth, Polish szlachta, nobleman, general and military commander. In his career, he rose from a petty nobleman to a magnate hol ...

intervened in the conflict.

Background

In March 1657, Charles X Gustav of Sweden commenced a new offensive into the south of Poland. Although there are some disputes over the size of his force, it was not large and likely consisted of around 4,000 Swedes and 3,000 Brandenburgers divided into four regiments under Georg von Waldeck totaling to around 7,000 men. Charles had ordered his field artillery and musketeers to be on horeback so they would be able to keep up with the Swedish cavalry. During this campaign, however, Charles had gained two new allies, being Prince George Rákóczi of

and

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 ...

of the

. The latter having in February sent Colonel Anton Zhdanovich of Kiev with three Cossack regiments to link up with the Transylvanian Prince and the Swedish king. Khmelnytsky had planned to fight in the campaign himself, but an illness prevented this. Rákóczi marched north into the Commonwealth with a large army split into three divisions under respectively John Kemény, Péter Huszár, and Ferenc Ispán. Rákóczi was quickly joined by a Cossack contingent under the command of Anton Zhdanovich.

Dispute over the strength of the Transylvanian and Cossack army

Both contemporary and modern historians disagree with exactly how many men Rákóczi brought with him for the campaign.

Patrick Gordon Patrick Leopold Gordon of Auchleuchries (31 March 1635 – 29 November 1699) was a general and rear admiral in Russia, of Scottish origin. He was descended from a family of Aberdeenshire, holders of the estate of Auchleuchries, near Ellon. The ...

, who was a contemporary writer, claims that his army consisted of 20,000 Transylvanians, 5,000 Moldavians, 6,000 Cossacks, and 30 cannons, along with a supply train of around 1,000 wagons. Due to the Cossacks being allied with the Transylvanians, the total strength of the Transylvanian army, using this claim, comes out to 30,000. Other sources, including

Erik Dahlbergh Count Erik Jönsson Dahlbergh (10 October 1625 – 16 January 1703) was a Swedish military engineer, Governor-general, Field marshal and Master-general of the Ordinance. He rose to the level of nobility through his military competence. Acc ...

writings, claim that the total strength of the Transylvanian army was 24,000. He also mentioned a Cossack force of 2,000, but it is unlikely that this number refers to the entire Cossack army since it is this number that accompanied Rákóczi to a meeting with Charles Gustav. Dahlbergh also claims that the Cossack army consisted of upwards of 35,000 men, but this number may very likely refer to the total number of fighting men in the Hetmanate. The figure of 6,000 Cossacks claimed by Gordon corresponds to the three regiments which Zhdanovich brought from Kiev. It is then likely that the 2,000 Cossacks mentioned by Dahlbergh was one of Zhdanovich's regiments.

Swedish command

The command of the Swedish troops was divided into 2 groups. The Swedish king himself took personal and overall command of the 7,000 strong army, while the Generals Adolf Johan av Pfalz, Jerzy Niemirycz, and Johan Benedikt von Schönleben led the 4,000 Swedish troops.

Campaign

In the beginning of the campaign during new years, Rákóczi wanted to besiege L'vov (modern day

Lviv Lviv ( or ; ; ; see #Names and symbols, below for other names) is the largest city in western Ukraine, as well as the List of cities in Ukraine, fifth-largest city in Ukraine, with a population of It serves as the administrative centre of ...

), but he lacked both the necessary equipment and experience for extensive siege operations, which would be needed for a siege of the city. When Rákóczi received a signal for help from Paul Würtz in Krakow, which had already been besieged by Lubormirski for five months, he decided to march towards the city instead. Not wishing to engage in a battle with the Transylvanians, Lubomirski lifted his siege and retreated towards the north-east, after this, Rákóczi relieved the Swedish garrison. following along the

Vistula river The Vistula (; ) is the longest river in Poland and the ninth-longest in Europe, at in length. Its drainage basin, extending into three other countries apart from Poland, covers , of which is in Poland. The Vistula rises at Barania Góra ...

. Rákóczi followed the Polish army, until he linked up with the Swedish army in the area around Sandomierz on 11 April. After taking control over central Poland, the allied armies marched against Lithuania. King Charles chose

Węgrów Węgrów (; ) is a town in eastern Poland with 12,796 inhabitants (2013), capital of Węgrów County in the Masovian Voivodeship. History First mentioned in historical records in 1414, Węgrów received its city charter in 1441. Between 16th ...

, which was also a Protestant centre in Poland, as his headquarters. When the allies arrived there, they were met with reinforcements from the Swedish army led by General Jacob Kasimir De la Gardie and a German force of 3,000 led by Georg von Waldeck. While in the city, the allies received news of a forced crossing of the

Bug River The Bug or Western Bug is a major river in Central Europe that flows through Belarus (border), Poland, and Ukraine, with a total length of .Brest. After deliberating, the allied commanders decided to give chase. Their plan was to annihilate the 12,000 strong Polish army led by the Hetmans Sapieha and Stanislaw Potocki. The combat skills of the Transylvanian army was "less than desired". Moreover, their movement was slowed by their large supply train and poor ability to build bridges. When the two armies had to cross the Vistula in the middle of April, the Swedes were forced to build a

pontoon bridge A pontoon bridge (or ponton bridge), also known as a floating bridge, is a bridge that uses float (nautical), floats or shallow-draft (hull), draft boats to support a continuous deck for pedestrian and vehicle travel. The buoyancy of the support ...

for the Transylvanians, since their own attempt had ended in the bridge collapsing. During the construction of the pontoon bridge, multiple Polish snipers harassed the Swedes. At one point, when King Charles, who had disregarded the warnings regarding the snipers, moved closer to the proceedings, a Pole in Swedish service shouted to the snipers that the King of Sweden had arrived, and requested them not to harm him. He also indicated that Charles was there with his hand. On the opposite side of the river, the Polish officers quickly ordered their men to cease their fire, greeted the Swedish king with all honours expected by a royal visitor, and promptly retreated. When the bridge had been finished, it still took the Transylvanian army three days to completely cross the river. King Charles sent Dahlbergh ahead of the two armies for reconnaissance, since one of Dahlberghs tasks was to carry out intelligence gathering. Dahlbergh commanded a joint cavalry force, which consisted of 120 men taken from the Swedish Life Guard of Horse, who were also known as "blackcoats", along with 100 Swedish cavalry, 200 Transylvanians under the command of Ferenc Ispán, and 200 Cossacks. Because of the slowness of the Transylvanians, the Polish troops easily avoided combat. Due to this, there was little that Charles and Rákóczi could do except following the fast-moving Poles.

Siege of Brest

On 16 May, after a bombardment of the city, the allies captured Brest, despite its strong and modern fortification and 2,000 strong garrison under Castellan Melchior Sawicki. Despite being offered free departure from the city, a large part of the garrison, being around 600 men, instead decided to enlist in the Swedish army. The success of the allied siege was mostly because of Dahlberghs efforts, who had entered Brest in the disguise of a junior member of a negotiation team and managed to assess the fortifications. Even so, Brest surrendered without combat, and in accordance with the

Treaty of Radnot Treaty of Radnot was a treaty signed during the Second Northern War in Radnot in Transylvania (now Iernut in Romania) on 6 December 1656. The treaty divided the Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth between the signing parties. According to the treaty ...

, King Charles gave Brest to

Rákóczi The House of Rákóczi (older spelling Rákóczy) was a Hungarian nobility, Hungarian noble family in the Kingdom of Hungary between the 13th century and 18th century. Their name is also spelled ''Rákoci'' (in Slovakia), ''Rakoczi'' and ''Rako ...

, who would appoint Colonel András Gaudi as the commander of the city. The two also captured Warsaw on June 17, but still failed to force the Poles into open battle. Considering the low combat efficiency of the Transylvanians, King Charles came to the same conclusion that the Swedes had come to during the

Thirty Years' War The Thirty Years' War, fought primarily in Central Europe between 1618 and 1648, was one of the most destructive conflicts in History of Europe, European history. An estimated 4.5 to 8 million soldiers and civilians died from battle, famine ...

, which was that while some Transylvanian units could be dependable, most of them were irregular light cavalry or light infantry, with some only serving for plunder and not pay.

could not be fully trusted either, as he refused to sign the treaties in which he and Charles had agreed to, and he carried our negotiations which he believed to be secret with Polish commanders, but this was exposed to the Swedes through their extensive intelligence network.

Swedish departure

In 1657, in the midst of the campaign,

Denmark Denmark is a Nordic countries, Nordic country in Northern Europe. It is the metropole and most populous constituent of the Kingdom of Denmark,, . also known as the Danish Realm, a constitutionally unitary state that includes the Autonomous a ...

declared war on Sweden, forcing Charles to abandon the campaign and see to his possessions in the north, both in Prussia and the Swedish core territories which were under threat by Denmark. In June, the Swedish and Transylvanian armies parted ways. Although the campaign had not lived up to expectations, the alliance between the two persisted, and for a short while played a part in the defence of Krakow.

could do little on his own, and despite him accepting Charles' advice to abandon the campaign and return home, the Transylvanian army did not manage to survive July. Harassed by both Polish and

Tatar Tatar may refer to: Peoples * Tatars, an umbrella term for different Turkic ethnic groups bearing the name "Tatar" * Volga Tatars, a people from the Volga-Ural region of western Russia * Crimean Tatars, a people from the Crimea peninsula by the B ...

troops, he was defeated at Magierów and then once more at Czarny Ostrów. John Kemény, one of Rákóczi's commanders, was defeated and captured during the Battle of Skałat. While Rákóczi himself managed to escape, his entire army of 25,000 was annihilated in less than 5 months, with the survivors enslaved by the Tatars of the

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 ...

and taken to Crimea.

Aftermath

After

had been defeated, he formally withdrew from the Commonwealth and renounced all of his claims on the Polish throne.

Result

The exact result of the campaign is disputed among historians, with some stating that the joint campaign had "not lived up to expectations", while others state that the Swedes and Transylvanians had "triumphed".

References & Notes

References

Bibliography

* * *

Notes

{{Notelist Military campaigns involving Sweden Battles involving the Principality of Transylvania (1570–1711) 1650s in the Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth Conflicts in 1657 Invasions by Sweden