Crimean–Nogai raids into East Slavic lands

POV note: This article is a translation from the Russian Wikipedia as of April 2013

The Crimean-Nogai raids were slave raids by the Khanate of Crimea and the Nogai Horde into the region of Rus' then controlled earlier by the Grand Duchy of Moscow and later Tsardom of Russia and the Grand Duchy of Lithuania (later part of the Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth). They began after Crimea became independent about 1441 and lasted until Crimea was brought under Russian control in 1774. Their main purpose was the capture of slaves, most of whom were exported to the Ottoman slave markets in Constantinople or elsewhere in the Middle East. The raids were an important drain of the human and economic resources of both countries. They largely prevented the settlement of the "Wild Fields" – the steppe and forest-steppe land that extends from a hundred or so miles south of Moscow to the Black Sea and now contains most of the Russian and Ukrainian population. The raids were also important in the development of the Cossacks.

The number of people involved can only be estimated. According to Alan Fisher[1] the number of people deported from the Slavic lands on both sides of the border during the 14th to 17th centuries was about 3 million people. Another source[2] gives 150,000–200,000 people taken from Russia in the first 50 years of the 17th century. For comparison the estimate for the Atlantic Slave Trade is perhaps 12 million. The estimate for the Arab slave trade with Africa is around 10 to 18 million over a much longer period.

Causes

Economic factors

Most of the raids fell on Russia and Ukraine – lands then divided between Muscovy and Lithuania, although some fell on Moldavia and Circassia. A considerable part of the male population of Crimea took part in these campaigns.

The main economic goal of the raids was booty, some of it material, but most of it human. These human trade goods were mostly sold on to the Ottoman Empire, although some remained in Crimea. The main slave market was Caffa which after 1475 was part of the coastal strip of Crimea that belonged to the Ottomans.

Political factors

Crimean Khanate about 1600. Note that the areas marked Poland and especially Muscovy were claimed rather than administered and were thinly populated

The Crimean Khanate broke off from the Golden Horde in 1441. When the Horde came to an end in 1502 the buffer between Crimea and its northern neighbors disappeared. The Khans took advantage of the conflicts between Lithuania and Moscow, allying now with one, then with the other, and using the alliance with one as a justification to attack the other. During the Russo-Lithuanian War of 1500–1506 the Crimeans were allied with Russia and penetrated deep into Lithuania. Relations soon deteriorated. Near continuous raids on Muscovy began in 1507.

Military

The theater of war

At the beginning of this period, between the Crimean Khanate and the Duchy of Moscow lay almost 700 miles of thinly populated grassland, the so-called Wild Fields (dikoye pole). The Oka River 40 miles south of Moscow was both the principal and last line of defense. It was guarded by the Beregovaya Sluzhba ("river-bank service"). This continued to exist even after the construction of the Belgorod Line far to the south. Its troops rarely crossed the Oka, even when there were massive Tatar attacks on the fortresses to the south.

Between Muscovy and Crimea there were three main trails. To avoid fords they generally followed the high ground between one river basin and another.[3]

In addition to these three steppe trails there were others, usually connected to the main three. The Savinsky Trail crossed the Donets above Izyum-Kurgan and connected with the Izyumsky Trail. East of the three main trails was the Nogai Trail which was used by the independent Nogais who lived in the Caspian and Kuban region. It crossed the upper Bityug River between Voronezh and the Tsna River. All to the Tatar invasion routes tended to follow the high and dry lands between river basins to avoid river crossings, swamps and forests. The raiding parties were always accompanied by guides who knew the steppe country, the easiest fords and best camping places.

Tactics

Crimean Tatar Warrior

According to Giles Fletcher (the elder) the Tatars would split into several groups, attack one or two places on the border and then direct their main attack to another place that had been left undefended. They fought in small groups. They would sometimes mount straw dummies on their spare horses to make themselves appear more numerous. According to Jacques Margeret 20,000–30,000 Tatar horsemen would attack the main Russian force while other troops would devastate the Russian lands and return without suffering much damage. They deliberately spread false rumors about their strength and plans. The French engineer Beauplan, who had participated in the war against them, gave a good description of Tatar tactics in the 1630s and 1640s in what is now Ukraine. He said that the Tatars looked oriental and could be easily distinguished form the Russians and Poles. A Tatar horseman was armed with a saber, bow and quiver with 18–20 arrows. On his belt was a knife, an awl and a flint for making fires. He also carried 10 or 12 yards of rope to tie up prisoners. They were skilled horsemen and each man usually had two spare horses. When crossing a river they loaded their clothing and equipment on a light raft, tied it to a horse and crossed the river swimming, holding on to the horse's mane. Both large and small groups raided in summer. Winter raids were rare, but always involved large numbers of warriors. When they reached a populated area groups of several hundred split off from the main body. These spread out through the countryside and surrounded villages. So that no one would escape at night they lit large fires. They then robbed, burned and slaughtered and carried away not only men, women and children, but bulls, cows, goats and sheep.

The fate of the captives

On the steppe

The condition of the captives as they were being carried to the Crimea was very difficult. Held in bondage, divided into small groups, hands tied behind their backs with rawhide straps, tied to wooden poles with ropes around their necks. held at the end of a rope, surrounded by and tied to horsemen, they were driven by whips across the steppe without stopping. The weak and infirm often had their throats cut so they would not delay the march. They were often fed the meat of worn-out horses. Reaching the lower Dnieper where they were relatively safe from Cossacks, the Tatars let their horses graze freely while they set about dividing the captives each of whom had been marked with a hot iron. Having received their slaves as inalienable property each Tatar could do with them as he wished. According to Sigismund von Herberstein, "the old and infirm, who were not worth much money, were given to the Tatar youths like rabbits to hunting dogs for their first military practice and were either stoned to death, or thrown into the sea or killed in some other way."

Here are the words of Duke Antoine de Gramont who was with the Polish-Tatar army during the campaign of King John Casimir on the Left Bank Ukraine in 1663–1664 when, according to him, about 20,000 were captured. "The Tatars slit the throats of all men over 60 years old who were thought to be incapable of work, forty-year-olds were saved for the galleys, young boys for their pleasure and girls and women to continue their kind and then later to be sold. The prisoners were divided equally and lots were cast according to age so that no one could complain that he had gotten more old ones than young. To their credit I must say that they were not stingy with their booty and with extreme politeness offered it to all who came their way."

In Crimea and Turkey

In Crimea they were driven to the slave market and placed in single file, bound together by the neck. The buyers carefully inspected the slaves, starting with their exterior appearance and ending with intimate parts of their bodies, to be sure that there were no missing or blackened teeth, warts, bumps or other imperfections. Beautiful girls were especially valued.

The main slave market was at Caffa which after 1475 belonged to the Ottoman Empire. The town had artillery and a strong garrison of Janissaries. Besides Caffa, slaves were sold in Karasubazar, Tuzleri, Bakhchysarai and Khazleve. Slave dealers came from various backgrounds: Turks, Arabs, Greeks, Armenians and others. For the right to trade they paid tax to the Crimean Khan and Turkish Pasha. In Caffa there were sometimes as many as 30,000 slaves, mostly from Muscovy and the southeastern lands of the Commonwealth. Ruthenian slaves were slightly more valuable than those from Muscovy since the latter were considered treacherous and likely to run away. Michalon Litvin described Caffa as "an insatiable and lawless abyss, drinking our blood." Besides the bad food, water, clothing and shelter, they were subjected to exhausting labor and abuse. According to Litvin "the stronger slaves were castrated, others had their noses and ears slit and were branded on the forehead or cheek. By day they were tormented with forced labor and at night kept in dungeons."

Once sold they were transported to distant provinces – Greece, Syria, and Anatolia. On the way they had to endure torment: often a ship was so overcrowded that they could neither move nor lie down on the deck. They ate and slept standing up. Under such conditions large numbers grew sick and died, the latter being thrown into the sea.

Men were often sent to the Turkish galleys where they were worked to exhaustion chained to the benches. One galley slave who managed to escape was Ivan Bolotnikov who later led a Cossack uprising. According to the Greeks, during the Ottoman epoch three or four ships arrived at Constantinople every day loaded with Russian slaves. A significant number were sent to Anatolia for agricultural work. Female captives were sent to rich homes for carnal pleasure and harems, while the less beautiful were assigned domestic work. The Venetian monk Giovanni Carraro wrote that in Constantinople there was little demand for hired servants since the place was full of Ruthenian and Russian slaves. Perhaps the most famous of these was the sultan's wife Roxelana. Michalon Litvin wrote "All of them, that is the eastern peoples, eagerly seek wives among the Slavonic captives. The current sultan's favorite wife and the mother of his son and heir was abducted from our land. The Perekop Khan, Sahib-Giray, was born a Christian and is married to a Christian. The ministers of these tyrants, their eunuchs, secretaries and other officials and their special troops, who are called Janissaries – all have come from our blood."

Despite the large number of slaves sent to Asia Minor, there was no shortage of them in Crimea. Many slaves were used for domestic work, the digging of wells, the production of salt and the gathering of dung on the steppe. The women were concubines and also performed household chores, yarn-making and the care of children and domestic animals.

Resistance to the raids

Russia

The Abatis Line

In addition to simple self-defense, the Russians slowly pushed a line of forts and walls southward, behind which grew an increasing peasant population, until, after 250 years, the Crimea was overwhelmed. See Zasechnaya cherta, Don Cossacks, Expansion of Russia 1500–1800

Poland–Lithuania

In the early 1550s Dmytro Vyshnevetsky, a Ruthenian noble and Cossack hetman began building forts at the mouth of the Dnieper, to close the trail from Crimea to Ukraine and Poland. 'On the island of Khortytsya near Konskaya Boda and the Crimean nomads' a fortress was built, which gave rise to the Zaporizhian Sich composed of Cossacks living on the lower Dnieper beyond the rapids. Polish King Sigismund II Augustus assigned Vishnevetsky the duty of protecting the Polish and Ukrainian borderlands from Crimean Tatar raids. Polish resistance might have become significant, but it was vitiated by the Khmelnitsky Uprising and The Ruin (Ukrainian history).

In folk culture

The numerous raids and abduction of captives left a deep imprint on popular culture. In Ukrainian ballads and tales, one of the main themes is Turkish slavery ("Slaves", "Slave's Lament", "Marusya Bohuslavka", "Ivan Boguslavets ","Falcon", "Flight of the Three Brothers from Azov") or the release from bondage and safe return to the homeland ("Samoylo the Cat", "Alexey Popovich", "Ataman Matyas the Old", "The Dnieper Talks to the Danube").

Historians on the Tatar raids

Vasily Klyuchevsky : "During the 16th century, year after year, thousands of people on the borderland vanished from their fatherland, and tens of thousands of the best people in the country set off for the southern border to protect the inhabitants of the central provinces from captivity and ruin. If you consider how much time and spiritual and material strength was wasted in the monotonous, brutal, toilsome and painful pursuit of these wily steppe predators, one need not ask what people in Eastern Europe were doing while those of Western Europe advanced in industry and commerce, in civil life and in the arts and sciences."

List of raids

In the first period, before 1648, we are dealing mostly with raids and defensive measures. Before 1507 raids were into the Polish Ukraine extending as far as Belarus. After 1507 raiding into the Ukraine continued but most raids were in the region south of Moscow. There was a tendency for population, fortifications and raiding to shift south from Moscow and east from the Polish/Ukrainian area. After 1648 we are dealing with large armies – Tatars, Turks, Poles, Russians and large numbers of Ukrainian Cossacks. Most fighting was in the western Ukraine (the 'Right Bank'). This drove Slavic population to the Left Bank and probably allowed Russian population to expand southward north of Ukraine. Fighting weakened the Polish Commonwealth, but Russia continued to grow southward until it annexed Crimea in 1783. Note that this list does not include raids before 1480, raids further east, most Cossack raids on Crimea and petty raiding between different groups of Nogais, which was considerable. The main underlying theme of the period is the southward expansion of Russian population and the eastward expansion of Ukrainian population. If we had population figures for this the history of the period would be much clearer.

1480–1506

Kiev
Lublin
Vladimir
Iziaslaw
Vyshnivets
Rovno
Polonne
Lvov
Kreminetz
Mozyr
Przeworsk
Yaroslav
Beltz
Chelm
Slutsk
Minsk
Chernigov
Koretz
Przemysl
Bratslav
Crimean raids 1480–1500. Podolia is around Bratslav, Volhynia and Podlesia are west of Kiev. The Ruthenian region was around Lvov. Blue dot=Polish victory (usually when Tatars were returning burdened with prisoners and the militia had time to assemble), Blue triangle=Polish defeat, Circle=siege (usually Tatars would bottle up forces in a fort, ravage the countryside and withdraw).

In this period Crimea and Muscovy were allied against Poland–Lithuania and the Golden Horde. Therefore most raids were directed against the Grand Duchy of Lithuania in an arc between Podolia and Kiev, both about 350 miles to the northwest of Crimea. Later raids went deeper, reaching as far as Minsk (600 miles). In 1502 Crimea destroyed the last remnant of the Golden Horde, removing the buffer between Crimea and Muscovy (about 700 miles north). The Crimean–Russian alliance was broken in 1506, in part due to a Russian war with Kazan and a major Polish victory. The first raid on Muscovy was in 1507.

Bobruisk
Ovruch
VILNA
Kletsk
Nesvizh
Novogrudok
Davyd.
CHERNIGOV
Polotsk
Vitebsk
Loyew
Petrikow
Drutsk
Lida
Oshmyan
Vaukavish
Grodno
Kreva
Kopyl
Slutsk
Pinsk
Turov
Minsk
Crimean raids 1500–1506 on a map of Belarus. All caps=not raided.

1507–1570

Belyov
Kozelsk
Ryazan
MOSCOW
Aleksin
Odoyev
Serpukhov
Kashira
Putyvl
Starodub
Bryansk
Kasimov
Novgorod-Seversky
Smolensk
Chernigov
Tula
Kolomna
Nizhny Novgorod
Vladimir
Volokolamsk
Zaraysk
Pronsk
Rylsk
Mtsensk
Novosil
Pochep
Gomel
Raids 1507–1570 on map of Russian Central Federal District.
Yellow Dot=major fortress. Red Square=not raided
Excluded for clarity: Kolomenskoye is a few miles southeast of Moscow;Tarusa is between Serpukhov and Aleksin;Bokhov is near Belyov.

In this period Muscovy was raided almost every year. Raids on Lithuania continued. Raids were concentrated along the border between the settled area and the empty steppe. The first (unsuccessful) raid on Muscovy was in 1507. In 1511/12 there were raids along the whole border. In 1527 the Crimeans, in alliance with the Khan of Kazan, crossed the Oka and devastated the area around Moscow. After that raids continued. In 1512 and 1517 raiding parties were chased back to the steppe. In 1524 a Polish force reached the Black Sea. In 1558/59 Russian troops helped defend Zaporozhia south of Kiev and two raiding parties reached the Black Sea. In 1666 the Abatis Line was completed south of the Oka.

1571–1599

MOSCOW
Kolomna
Serpukhov
Ryazan
Kaluga
Tula
Kozelsk
Rostov
Yaroslavl
Nizhny Novgorod
Mtsensk
Kashira
Molodi
Tetyushi
Alatyr
Temnikov
Novosil
Belyov
Dorogobuzh
Vyazma
Ryazhsk
Epifan
Shatsk
Arzamas
Livni
Elets
Voronezh
Stary Oskol
Belgorod
Raids 1571–1599 on map of Russian Central Federal District.
Red square=not raided
Yellow Dot=main fort;Blue Triangle=new southern fort.
Excluded for clarity: Some places on previous map;Mozhaysk is near Molodi; Krapivna is southwest of Tula; Meshchensk, Moshalsk, Venyov and Vorotynsk are between Moscow and Tula;Tetyushi is off the map to the right

In 1571 the Crimean Khan burned Moscow. He tried again the next year and was defeated. Another large raid failed in 1591. The raiding area may have moved slightly south and east. Attacks east of Ryazan are mentioned more frequently. After 1585 forts were built far to the south to block the Muravsky Trail, but these had no visible effect in this period. Raids on Poland are mentioned under 1577, 1584 and 1595.

1600–1648

At the beginning of the period the Time of Troubles disorganized the frontier defenses and led to much destruction. The Oka region was raided almost every year, but with decreasing frequency. 1633 may have been the last crossing of the Oka. We hear more frequently of raids at such places as Kursk and Voronezh, implying stronger defense in the north and a southern movement of the Russian population. The Belgorod Line of forts was begun about 1633 and seems to have had noticeable effects after about 1640. We hear of raids on Poland in 1614–21, 1624–28, 1633, 1640 and 1642.

2. The relative quiet of the Tatar attacks on Russia in the late 30s and early 40s of the 17th century is undoubtedly due to the occupation of Azov by the Don Cossacks. The Russian government did not want to start a war with Turkey, did not send troops and after a long occupation the Cossacks left the town in 1642. The builders of the Belgorod Line and residents of the southern Russian districts, by the increase of Tatar attacks, immediately felt the change in the situation on the lower reaches of the Don.

3. In summer of 1633, 2000 Budjak Tatars invaded the southern Polish land and began to ravage Podolia. Crown Field Hetman Stanislaw Koniecpolski camping with the Polish army at Bar, led the 2000 cavalry against the Tatars and forced them to retreat. He then crossed the Dniester and on 4 July at the Battle of Sasov Rog on the River Prut defeated enemy. Poles captured several Budjak mirzas, among whom was the son-in-law of Cantemir Mirza, freed all the captives and captured a large part of the loot. In August Silistrian Pasha, Abaza Pasha, led the Turkish troops came to the Polish border and encamped near Khotin [perhaps a different Khotin from the better-known one]. Koniecpolski with a Polish army (9250 men) went out to meet the enemy and established fortified camp near the fortress Kamenetz-Podolsky. Initially Abaza Pasha entered into peace negotiations with Koniecpolski. On 19 September the Budjak Horde (5,000–10,000 men) under Kantemir Mirza arrived to help Abaza-Pasha. On 20 September Abaza-Pasha crossed the Dniester and Kantemir Mirza attacked the Polish position. On 23 September Abaza Pasha, confident of his numerical superiority, attacked the Polish camp near Kamenets, but was defeated and forced to retreat to Moldavia.

1648–1654

After 1648 we are dealing not merely with raids, but large armies – Polish, Turkish and Russian. The period begins with the Khmelnitsky Uprising against the Commonwealth. Khmelnitsky's abortive attempt to ally with Russia led to the 13-year Russo-Polish War (1654–1667), the The Deluge (Polish history) and the first part of The Ruin (Ukrainian history). There was fighting all over the Ukraine. Raids on Muscovy were confined to the emerging Belgorod Line. Fighting in the western Ukraine pushed population east across the Dnieper and may have allowed population growth along the Belgorod Line, although numbers are hard to come by.

Chyhyrin
Sich
Perekop
Bakhchisarai
Korsun.8
Cherkassy
ZhovtiVody.8
BilaTs.1
Pylavtsi.8
Lvov.5
Zamosc
Zbarazh.9
Zborov.9
Bar
Berestechko.1
Batog.2
Zhvanets.3
Okhmatov.5
Places during the Khmelnitsky Uprising – Number is last digit of year
Blue Triangle=Cossack victory;Yellow Dot=Cossack defeat;Circle=siege

On 22 April 1648 Khmelnitsky and 5,000 Cossacks left the Sich and marched into the Ukraine. With them was a Tatar auxiliary force under Tugay Bey. To suppress the uprising the Polish government 30,000 men under Crown Grand Hetman Mikołaj Potocki and Crown Field Hetman Marcin Kalinowski. Potocki sent a 6,000-man vanguard under his son Stefan Potocki to Zaporozhia and placed the main body between Korsun and Cherkassy. A detachment of registered Cossacks, who were with the avant-garde and were moving separately by boats down the Dnieper, defected to Khmelnytsky. On April 29 – May 16 at the Battle of Zhovti Vody ("Yellow Waters") the Cossacks and Tatars surrounded and defeated the Polish vanguard under Stefan Potocki. On 26 May the 20,000-man main army under Nicholas Potocki and Martin Kalinowski, which had divided into two groups, was surrounded and defeated by the rebellious Cossacks and Tatars at the Battle of Korsuń. The Poles lost up to 7,000 killed and 9,000 captured. Both Potocki and Kalinowski were captured. After the first victories throughout the whole Ukraine there broke out a national liberation war against the Polish gentry domination. In May the Khan with 11,000 Tatars joined his new ally at Bila Tserkva ('White Church'), and from there sent raiding parties to plunder and ravage the surrounding Ukrainian lands, devastating the Kiev region and Volhynia and taking many captives. In September the Khan sent another army under his brother and 'Kalga' or designated heir Kerim Giray. At the Battle of Pyliavtsi Khmelnytsky's Cossack-Tatar army defeated Polish-gentry militia under Władysław Dominik Zasławski, Mikołaj Ostroróg and Alexander Koniecpolski. Kalga-Sultan Karim Giray took no part in the battle of Pilyavtsi, but joined the Cossacks later and took part in the Khmelnytsky's campaign on the Polish cities of Lvov and Zamość. The uprising of the Ukrainian Cossacks became a liberation war for the independence of Ukraine and the creation of a Ukrainian state. In all of these battles the Crimean Tatar troops proved to be unreliable allies, fighting only for their own goal, which was to rob people and carry away captives for sale in Crimea. Islam Giray feared a serious weakening of Poland, and constantly betrayed his ally Khmelnytsky.

Sich
Perekop
Bakhchisarai
Poltava
Kiev
Zenkov
Konotop
Putivl
Lyubarv
Slobodyshche
Chudnov
Brusilov
Russo-Polish War;Blue triangle=Russians vs Vykhovsky, 1657/59; Yellow dot=Polish campaign 1660
MOSCOW
Voronezh
Orlov
Usman
Mtsensk
Elets
Novosil
Stary Oskol
Livny
Kursk
Bolkhov
Pereyaslavl
Chernigov
Kromy
Efremov
Okhtyrka
Sevsk
Rylsk
Karachev
Lubny
NovSevsk
Bryansk
Valuiki
Raids 1648–1664 on map of Russian Central Federal District.
Red square=not raided
Yellow Dot=fort;

On 7–8 October at the Battle of Slobodyshche 14,000–15,000 Poles and 5,000–6,000 Tatars defeated the Cossacks under Yurii Khmelnytsky, who was trying to link up with Sheremetev. After the unsuccessful battle Yurii began talks with the Poles. As a result, he broke the alliance with Moscow and 17 October signed Slobodischensky Tacktat, under which the Hetmanate rejoined the Commonwealth. After learning of this switch, Tsetsyura and his Cossacks, who were with Sheremetev, also changed sides (this happened on 21 October during the battle below). This left Sheremetev, who was defending Chudnov in a dangerous position. At the Battle of Chudnov the Poles defeated the Russians (27 September – 4 November, 30,000 Russians and Cossacks under Sheremetev and Tsetsyura versus Poles and Tatars under Potocki and Lubomirski). The fortified Russo-Cossack camp was completely encircled. During the battle Tsetsyura went over to the royal army with 2,000 Cossacks. However, most of the Left-Bank Cossack regiments remained the loyal to Moscow. (Next year the pro-Russian Left-Bank split off from the Right-Bank, see The Ruin (Ukrainian history).) The 15,000-man [sic] Russian army was completely surrounded. Prince Yuri Baryatinsky left Kiev to help Sheremetev, but was stopped at Brusilov by Polish cavalry under Jan Sobieski. The Russians made unsuccessful forays from the besieged camp, but could not change anything. On 4 November Sheremetev was forced to capitulate. The disarmed Russian soldiers were released. The price was high: the Russians had to pay 300,000 rubles and evacuate Kiev, Pereyaslav, Chernigov. Sheremetev remained in captivity. On the night of 4–5 November, as soon as the 10,000 Russians gave up their weapons, the Tatars broke into the camp and started grabbing people with lassos. The disarmed Russians defended themselves as well as they could, but the Tatars killed many with arrows and took about 8,000 prisoners. Yielding to a demand, the Poles gave Sheremetev to the Tatars. The Russians and Left-Bank Cossacks lost 4,200 killed, 4,000 wounded and 20,500 captives.

In autumn the Crimean Khan and Ukrainian rebels attacked the Muscovite borders. Initially the allies planned the destruction of those Left-Bank towns and forts that remained loyal to Moscow. In October, the Tatars and Cossacks ravaged neighborhood of Pereyaslavl. Under the Khan were up to 80,000 Tatars and 2000 Janissaries. Yuri Khmelnitsky led 2000 Cossacks and 1000 Poles. The Khan camped on the right bank of the Sem River between Konotop and Putivl. From there the Khan and Hetman sent mounted troops to the neighboring Russian districts. In November, the Tatars and Cossacks fought in the Kromy and Elets districts and went to Nedrigaylov, Karpov and Efremov

1665–1678

This is the major period of Turkish involvement in Ukraine. Doroshenko became Right-Bank Hetman, declared himself a Turkish vassal, attacked Poland and tried to take over the Left-Bank. (Polish–Cossack–Tatar War (1666–71)). Polish victory success provoked the Polish–Ottoman War (1672–76) in which the Turks took Podolia. The Russians made a moderately successful intervention on the Right Bank (Russo-Turkish War (1676–1681)). If this account is correct, raids on Russian territory were few and confined to the Belgorod Line region.

In early September 1667 Doroshenko with 15,000 Cossacks and 16,000–20,000 Tatars under Crown Prince Karim Giray started the next campaign against the Commonwealth. The Sultan sent 3,000 Janissaries and 12 cannon. The army moved through Starokonstantinov to Ternopil. At this time Ostap Gogol was along the Dniester (?в Приднестровье), where he captured Sharovka and besieged Yarmolints. Grand Crown Hetman Jan Sobieski managed to gather a 15,000-man army which was reinforced by armed Ukrainian peasants. Sobieski divided the army into five groups which were told to protect the Polish forts in Podolia, Volhynia and Galicia (Kamenetz, Terebovl, Berezhany, Dubno, Brody, and others). Sobieski himself with 3,000 troops stood at Kamenetz, blocking the road to Lvov. Doroshenko and Karim Giray marched out Starokonstantinov west past Zbarazh and Vishnevets and 3 October reached Pomoryan. Learning that the enemy were in Ruthena, Sobieski moved to Pidhaitsi and built a fortified camp (4 October). Kerim Giray sent troops to loot and take captives. Polish troops inflicted heavy losses and most of the parties were defeated. The Tatars suffered especially heavy losses at Pomoryan, Buchach and Naraev. Zboriv surrendered without a fight and was sacked by the Tatars. Then the Cossack-Tatar army reunited and headed for Lvov. On the road the Cossack-Crimean army stumbled on the 9,000-man Polish army at Pidhaitsi (Battle of Podhajce (1667), 3,000 mercenaries and 6,000 armed peasants with 18 guns), which barred their way. On 4 October about 20,000 Cossacks and Tatars surrounded the fortified camp and fighting lasted from 6 to 16 October. Meanwhile, during the fighting at Podgaits, the Zaporozhian Cossacks made a successful raid on Crimea. 4000 Cossacks under Kosh ataman Ivan Rog and Colonel Ivan Sirko besieged and stormed Perekop, and then intruded deep into the Crimean Khanate. Ivan Rog and his men took the Arbaytuk, killed all the inhabitants and destroyed its suburbs. Ivan Sirko and his men marched on the fortress of Caffa, where they ravaged the estates of the famous Shirinsky Mirzas. The Zaporozhians killed about two thousand inhabitants, captured about 1,500 women and children, freed 2,000 slaves and returned triumphantly to the Sich. The Zaporozhian raid on the Crimean heartland angered Karim Giray and the Mirzas who never completely trusted Doroshenko. Karim Giray entered into separate negotiations with Sobieski. On 16 October the Poles and Tatars made an armistice. In the name of the Khan Karim Giray pledged not to raid Polish territory. In return the Poles promised an annual cash 'gift'. On 18 October Sobieski allowed Karim Giray return to Crimea with all his captives. Returning home, the Tartars burned and looted 300 villages in Pokuttya alone. Without allies, Doroshenko found himself in an almost hopeless position. The Cossacks began to dig trenches to defend their travelling camp. Then Crown Prince Kerim Giray offered to mediate between Doroshenko and Sobieski. On 19 October they signed a peace agreement. Doroshenko himself and all the Zaporozhian Host promised to be subjects of the Commonwealth.

Sukhovey's failed revolt against Doroshenko: In the summer the Zaporozhian Cossacks put up another candidate on the Hetman's mace. Zaporozhian military scribe Peter Sukhovey (Suhoveenko) was supported by part of the Sich Cossacks and was elected Hetman of the Zaporozhian Host. Sukhovey left the Sich for Bakhchisaray to get support. The Khan Adil Giray received him with honor at the capital, recognized him as Hetman, gave him two princes and a horde to accompany him back to the Ukraine, and wrote to Doroshenko, now nominally a Polish subject, saying that he and his troops should go to the Left Bank and unite with Sukhovey. Doroshenko was not going to voluntarily relinquish his mace and submit to the Khan. Soon Sukhovey marched to the Ukraine with a Tatar Crown Prince and horde. He made camp in Lipovaya Valley on the left bank of the Dnieper. The Poltava, Mirgorod, Lubny and Pereyaslav regiments recognized him as Hetman. Sukhovey pursued full independence for the Ukraine based on an alliance with the Crimea. All the autumn Sukhovey unsuccessfully tried to win over the Left Bank and other Cossack regiments that recognized Demian Mnohohrishny as Hetman. At the end of December Sukhovey the Tatars horde crossed the Dnieper and marched against Doroshenko. Doroshenko was expecting him and placed his regiments at Chyhyryn. Doroshenko surrounded the Crimean Tatars, the majority of whom were forced to withdraw. Sukhovey's first attempt to take the capital failed. Sukhovey and the Crown Prince retreated across the river Tyasmin. Here Sukhovey's Cossacks and his Tatar allies were defeated by the combined forces of Ivan Sirko's Zaporozhians and Doroshenko's Cossacks, who arrived from Kozelts. Sukhovey's Cossacks went over to Ivan Sirko. Sukhovey fled. The Tatars, who were unhappy with the result of the campaign, captured him and took him to Crimea. After Sukhovey's defeat at Chyhyryn all the Right Bank colonels, sotniks and starshinas came to Chyhyryn and recognized Doroshenko as their Hetman.

Sukhovey tries again; Khanenko versus Doroshenko: In July Sukhovey with Zaporozhians and Crimeans made a second try against Doroshenko. Doroshenko gathered his loyalists, moved against the Tatars, could not resist them and fell back to the Rusava River. Sukhovey and the Zaporozhians moved toward him. The Zaporozhian Sich recognized Sukhovey at their hetman. On the Left Bank the Poltava, Mirgorod and Lubny regiments, which had recently sworn allegiance to the Tsar, again went over to Sukhovey. Doroshenko's pro-Turkish policy caused open resentment among many colonels and a large part of the Right Bank Cossacks. The Chigirin, Cherkassy, Belo-Tserkva and Kanev regiments stayed with Doroshenko, while the Uman, Kalnitsky, Pavolotsky and Korsun regiments went over to Sukhovey. These last four demanded a new Hetman in place of Doroshenko. The Cossacks went to Uman and quickly organized an elective Rada. At the Uman Rada Sukhovey had to renounce the Hetmanship and the majority elected as Right Bank Hetman the Uman Colonel Mykhailo Khanenko. Khanenko wrote to Left Bank Hetman Demian Mnohohrishny and Pereyaslav Colonel Dmitrashko Raycha, asking for support against Doroshenko. Doroshenko, supported by many of the Right Bank regiments, flatly refused to obey the decision of Uman Rada. He left his camp on the Rusava River and moved toward Kanev, but while crossing the Ros' River near the village of Konontya he was surrounded by the Tatar horde and besieged for five weeks. By order of the Turkish ambassador the Crimean princes had to lift the siege and withdraw their troops. Doroshenko, now freed, marched on Uman and called for obedience from the rebel regiments. The Turkish envoy Kanadzhi Pasha arrived at his camp near Uman and presented him with symbols of authority from the Sultan: mace, banner, bunchuk (бунчук) and saber. By order of the Turkish envoy the Tartars fighting against Doroshenko returned to Crimea. The Uman people flatly refused to admit Doroshenko into their city and proposed the following agreement: Khanenko would go to a Rada at Chigirin which would resolve the dispute and elect a new Hetman. Doroshenko raised the siege and withdrew from Uman. But Khanenko refused to go to the Rada, went to the Sich, and then to Crimea to ask the Khan for military help against Doroshenko. The Khan, Princes and Mirzas supported Khanenko, who soon returned to the Right Bank with a significant horde. With him was Yuri Khmelnitsky. Doroshenko gathered his loyalists and was joined by the Budjak Horde which had been sent by the Pasha of Silistria. At the Battle of Steblev Khanenko defeated Doroshenko, who took refuge in Steblev. Khanenko besieged town. Ivan Sirko came to help Doroshenko with a new Budjak horde, drove off the Crimeans and raised the siege. After that Doroshenko, Sirko and the Budjak Tatars pursued the enemy to Uman. Khanenko and Sukovey managed to flee to Sich, but Yuri Khmelnitsky was seized by the Budjak Tatars and sent to Istanbul, where the sultan shut him up in the Semibashenny Fortress.

At the end of March Nakaznoy Hetman Ostap Gogol with the Podolian Regiment and some Budjak Tatars invaded the Letichevsky Powiat of the Podolian Voyevodstvo. Cossack-Tatar troops looted and burned the neighborhood of Bar, Medzebozh, Derazhnya, Old and New Senyavy, Zinkov and Gusyatin. On 20 July Doroshenko resumed the siege of the Polish garrison at Bila Tserkva and sent his younger brother Gregory and 2,000 Cossacks to Podolia. He sent the Kalnitsky regiment to Crimea to help Adil Giray against Zaporozhians. Doroshenko, with no more than 5,000–8,000 Cossacks (the rest were in garrison) and 5,000–6,000 Tatar allies did not dare to go to war, but awaited Adil Giray before starting an offensive against Commonwealth. Most of the Budjak Mirzas who were with Gregory Doroshenko, on learning of the approach of the Polish militia, hastily left their ally and returned to their camps. Grand Crown Hetman Jan Sobieski advanced against Doroshenko and the Crimean horde. On 26 August at Bratslav the Polish army routed the Cossack and Tartar troops. The Poles defeated the Budjak Tatars and burst into Bratslav. The Cossacks took refuge in the city castle and the broken Tatars began to retreat in panic. Sobieski led cavalry in pursuit of the Tatars while some Poles stayed in Bratslav to besiege the castle. The Poles followed the Tatars to Batorg and completely defeated them. The Cossacks in the castle learned of the defeat of the Tatars and surrendered. Emir Ali, who commanded the Budjak troops said he lost 500 men. Despite the victory, Sobieski withdrew to Bar, where he arrived on 30 August.

The Sultan sent the Khan and Doroshenko to Lvov. Sobieski sent an embassy to the Khan and asked him to become a mediator in talks between the King and Sultan. The Khan received the Polish ambassadors and agreed to mediate on the condition that the Poles evacuate Podolia and pay a yearly tribute to the Sultan. The Khan, Doroshenko and Turkish units under Kaplan Pasha moved toward Lvov. On the way Tatar and Nogai raiding parties spread out, burning villages and taking captives. On 20 September Tatars, Cossacks and Turks arrived at and Lvov which was held by Ilya Lonski, four banners of infantry and two divisions of cavalry. The town was soon surrounded. 25 September to Lvov citizens sent Kaplan Pasha a gift of honor, but he would not accept it and demanded the keys to the city. The garrison refused surrender without the permission of the Polish king. Kaplan Pasha ordered an artillery bombardment and began digging tunnels under the walls. On 28 September he took by storm a fort that dominated the town. On the night of 28–29 September the Poles asked the Khan's mediation to stop the shelling of the city. On 30 September talks began between Kaplan Pasha and Polish envoys. On 7 October the Poles signed the humiliating Treaty of Buchach. The Poles were to give up the province of Podolia and pay an annual tribute of 22,000 zlotys. The Right Bank would belong to Doroshenko, who acknowledged the supremacy of the Sultan. After the peace treaty Turkish forces withdrew from Buchach to Zhvanets. Turkish garrisons were placed in Kamenets, Mezhibozh, Bar, Yazlovets and all the remaining Podolian cities. The Sultan ordered his Pashas to cease hostilities against the Commonwealth but the Tatars for a month continued to ravage Polish territory. Polish voyevods sent troops to harass the Tatars but could do little with them. Only Sobieski was able to destroy a few raiding parties. Tatar and Nogai forces began to loot the area between the Bepsh, San and Bug Rivers. In October Sobieski got together 2,500–3,000 cavalry and dragoons and went after the raiding parties. The Tatars were defeated at Krasnobrod, Narol, Nemirov, Komarno and Petranka. The pro-Polish Khanenko also successfully fought the Tatar raiding parties. After a defeat at Chetvertynovaya Khanenko with loyal troops stood at Dubna, where he repulsed a Turkish attack, and on 5 October defeated the Tatars at Krasnostav and freed 2,000 prisoners. He next defeated the Tatars at Tomashev. People in the Ruthenian voyevodstvo formed militias, drove off the raiding parties and freed captives. On the orders of the Sultan the Khan and Doroshenko withdrew from Lvov to the Turkish camp at Zhvanets. Here Doroshenko was again received by the Sultan and was given a gown embroidered with gold. Turkish army slowly withdrew across the Dniester, and Doroshenko and the Khan went to the Ukraine.

In November the Polish warrior-king Sobieski launched a major campaign on the right bank. Bar, Bratslav and Nemiroff surrendered to the Poles but Rashkov was taken by storm and the garrison slaughtered. Kalnik gave up and took the oath of allegiance to the Polish crown. Polish banners (хоругви) under Dmitry Vishnevetsky and Stanislav Yablonovsky crushed Cossack and Tartar troops at Zhornishch and Nemiroff, and Polish-Lithuanian troops under Nicholas Senyavskaya and Prince Michael Casimir Radziwill defeated the enemy in the battles at Chyhyryn and Pavoloch. At the Battle of Pavoloch 4,000 Tatars under the Nureddin-Sultan was broken. The Nureddin-Sultan was killed. In autumn 1674 the Sultan organized a campaign against the Zaporozhian Sich, and sent 15,000 select Janissaries came by sea to Crimea. The Turkish government had decided to seize the Sich and destroy all the Zaporozhian Cossacks. By order of the Sultan, Selim Giray and 40,000 Tatars joined the Turkish campaign against Sich. In January 1675 15,000 Janissaries and 40,000 Tatars under Khan Selim Giray approached the Sich without being detected. Tartars surrounded the Sich and Janissaries tried to enter it, but the Zaporozhians repulsed the attack and decisively defeated the Turkish troops. 13,500 Janissaries were killed and the rest fled. The Khan retreated from the Sich back to the steppe.

{The Turks released Yuri Khmelnitsky and tried to set him up as a vassal hetman.} In December Yuri Khmelnytsky sent messengers to the Left Bank Ukrainians, urging them to recognize him as Hetman and submit to his authority, to avoid ruin and captivity. Following this, Ivan Yanenchenko with two Tatar Mirzas sent to him by the Crimean Khan, crossed the Dnieper at Staek and bypassing the towns of the Pereyaslav Regiment went to Oster and Kozelets. The Crimean Tatars, taking loot and prisoners, began to return, but on the way back were overtaken at the village of Gluboky and defeated by Pereyaslav Colonel Ivan Lisenko, who rescued all the captives. In December Yuri Khmelnitsky and Crimean Tatars made a ruinous raid on the Left-Bank Ukraine. The small town of Veremeevka, whose inhabitants could not defend themselves was the first place that fell to him. After Veremeevka followed small towns of Chigrin-Dubrava, Goroshin, Gorodishche and Zhovnin. Yuri Khmelnitsky's messengers called on the Right Bank residents and peasants, who had recently fled to the Left Bank, to return home. Those who gave up, about 3,000, Yuri ordered to move to Zhabotin. On 27 January 1679 (sic) Yurii sent messengers from Zhovnin to the towns of the Mirgorod Regiment, demanding submission. At this time, Ivan Yanenchenko and Tatars came to Lubny and surrounded it. Inside were Lubny Colonel Ilyashenko and Okhotny Colonel Novitsky. Many residents began to lean to Khmelnitsky. Against Khmelnitsky came the Poltava and Myrgorod colonels, and from Sumy came Major General Gregory Kasogov with the Sumy and Okhtyrka regiments. Hetman Ivan Samoilovich and a Cossack troop marched from Baturin and arrived in Konotop. Poltava Colonel Levenets defeated Khmelnitsky at Zhovninoye and forced him to retreat to Lukoml. Yurii stayed there three days and was not able to persuade local people to join him, and then returned to the Dnieper with a Tatar horde. He was joined by Yanenchenko. Yuri went to Nemirov and Yanenchenko to Korsun. The Crimean princes sent by the Khan to help him split up: the Crown Prince returned to Crimea, and Nureddin-Sultan with 7,000 men again crossed to the Left Bank. Small Tatar troops ravaged the territory of the Mirgorod Regiment and took many prisoners. On the way back they were attacked by Gregory Kasogov with Russian-Cossack troops. Ivan Samoilovich gave him selected Cossacks from the Gadyach, Mirgorod and Companeysky Regiments. Russians and Cossacks defeated the Tatars, recaptured the prisoners, captured a Tatar banner and nearly captured the Nureddin-Sultan. The wounded Nureddin with the rest of his horde fled to the Right Bank. Russian troops and Cossacks also crossed the Dnieper and chased the Tatars to the Little Ingulets River, and returned to Kereberda.

1677–1699

Usman
Novy Oskol
Chiguev
Kharkov
Belgorod
Akhtyrka
Torsk?
TsarevBorisov
Voronezh
BudjakRegion
Bilhorod
Izmail
Kishenev
Bender
Reni
Hadiach
Mayachka
Baturyn
Lubny
Goltva
Priluki
BilaTserkva
Kremenchug
Lvov
Kamenets
Samara River
Poltava
Perekop
Places 1677–1699

After the Turkish disaster at Vienna in September 1683, Austria and Poland ganged up to push the Turks south (Polish–Ottoman War (1683–1699)). In 1686 Russia joined in (Russo-Turkish War (1686–1700)). After the Turks were pushed out of Hungary in 1687 fighting was inconclusive. In the Crimean campaigns of 1687 and 1689 the Russians failed in an attempt to invade Crimea. In 1695 Russia tried to take some forts on the lower Dnieper. By the treaties of 1699/1700 Turkey lost Hungary to Austria, Podolia to Poland and Azov, temporarily, to Russia.

Crimean Khan Haji Giray, learning of the defeat of the Budjak Tatars gathered 10,000–12,000 men and went against Kunitsky. At the end of December Kunitsky with 10,000–12,000 Cossacks and Moldavians left Budjak and began to cross the Prut River near the village of Tobak, not far from the town of Reni, Ukraine. Here on 30 December they were suddenly attacked by Tatar cavalry under Khan Haji Giray. Kunitsky built a fortified camp and successfully repelled the Tatar attacks. On the night of 3 to 4 January 1684 the Moldavian allies betrayed the Cossacks and left the Cossack camp. In this situation Kunitsky with the Cossack cavalry (about 2,000) broke through the enemy ring and crossed the Prut. The Cossack infantry (about 4,000) under Andrey Mogila also broke out and crossed the Prut near Boyanova, but suffered heavy losses. By 10 January only five thousand Cossacks reached Jassy.

In February 8,000–12,000 Tatars under Kalga Shebas Giray, Prince Saadat Giray and Gaza Giray broke through the Polisht blockade of Kamenetz-Podolsky and delivered food supplies to the Turkish fort and moved on to raid the southern Polish territory. Crown grand hetman Stanisław Jan Jabłonowski gathered near Lvov a 4,000-man Polish militia. On February 11–12, in a battle near Lvov the Poles defeated the superior forces of the Crimean-Tatar horde.

1700–1769

BilaTserkva
Bratslav
Bogoslav
Lysyanka
Fastiv
Cherkassy
Kanev
Nimyriv
Chyhyrin
Bender
Samara River
Kharkov
Izium
Poltava
Mirgorod
Bakhmut
Elizavetgrad
Sich
Perekop
Places 1700–1769

During the Russo-Swedish War (1700–1721) Left Bank Hetman Ivan Mazepa revolted against Russia. The Swedish king joined him and both were defeated at Poltava in 1708. Both fled to Turkey, the Turks declared war, Peter the Great tried to invade Turkey and was defeated in the Russo-Turkish War (1710–1711). In 1736, during the Austro-Russian–Turkish War (1735–39), Russians invaded Crimea, but withdrew because of plague. After the Russo-Turkish War (1768–74) Crimea became a Russian dependency and was annexed in 1783. The Right Bank was annexed in 1793. During this period raiding was confined to Ukraine except for one raid by Kuban Tatars along the Volga.

See also

Sources

Notes

  1. Alan Fisher "Muscovy and the Black Sea Slave Trade", Canadian American Slavic Studies, 1972, Vol. 6, pp. 575–594.
  2. Michael Khodarkovsky,"Russia's Steppe Frontier, p. 22
  3. A slightly different account of the three trails is given in the Muravsky Trail article
  4. Walter Richmond, Northwest Caucasus, kindle @1342. This may have been the last Crimean raid, but Richmond does not elaborate and cites no source.
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