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Polish–Ottoman Wars: A Visual History

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Visual history of a war

Two centuries of war on the Moldavian and Ukrainian steppe between the Commonwealth and the Ottoman Empire, from Varna's aftermath to Sobieski at Vienna.

Fought
1485 to 1699
Duration
214 years
Dates
1485 to 1699
Deaths
Unknown; hundreds of thousands, and an estimated 1 to 2 million taken as slaves by Tatar raids over the period
Commonwealth
Poland-Lithuania; Zolkiewski, Chodkiewicz, Koniecpolski, Sobieski; Cossacks; Habsburg allies from 1683
Ottomans
Sultans and grand viziers (Osman II, Kara Mustafa); Crimean Tatars; Moldavia and Wallachia as vassals
Result
Frontier stabilised; Ottoman advance broken at Vienna; Podolia recovered 1699

The Polish-Ottoman wars (1485-1699) were fought over Moldavia, Podolia and the Ukrainian borderlands, where Tatar slave raids and Cossack sea raids kept the frontier in flames. After early Moldavian campaigns, the wars of 1620-1621 (Cecora, where Zolkiewski died, and the defence of Khotyn) and 1633-1634 fixed the frontier. The great war of 1672-1676 saw the Ottomans take Kamieniec Podolski and Poland cede Podolia at Buchach; Sobieski won at Khotyn (1673) and Zurawno. In the Holy League war of 1683-1699 Sobieski relieved Vienna with the winged hussars' charge on 12 September 1683, and the Treaty of Karlowitz (1699) returned Podolia and Kamieniec. Poland's exertions hastened its own decline while breaking Ottoman power in Europe.

When it was fought: the era ribbon

The bold bar is Polish-Ottoman wars. The lighter bars are empires and wars from the same era and the same part of the world. Click any bar to jump to its page.

800100012001400160018002000Polish-Ottoman wars (1485 to 1699)Open: Holy Roman EmpireHoly Roman Empire (800 to 1806)Open: Golden Horde (Jochi Khanate)Golden Horde (Jochi Khanate) (1242 to 1502)Open: Ottoman EmpireOttoman Empire (1299 to 1922)Open: Ottoman-Venetian warsOttoman-Venetian wars (1396 to 1718)Open: Northern WarsNorthern Wars (1554 to 1721)Open: Polish-Lithuanian CommonwealthPolish-Lithuanian Commonwealth (1569 to 1795)Open: Thirty Years' WarThirty Years' War (1618 to 1648)Open: Great Northern WarGreat Northern War (1700 to 1721)Open: Russian EmpireRussian Empire (1721 to 1917)Open: Austro-Hungarian EmpireAustro-Hungarian Empire (1867 to 1918)

Estimated captives taken by Tatar raids from Poland-Lithuania

01002003004001500-1550: 2002001500-15501550-1600: 3003001550-16001600-1650: 4004001600-16501650-1700: 3003001650-1700thousands per period (approximate)

Timeline of the Polish-Ottoman wars

  1. 1497
    John Albert's Moldavian disaster
  2. 1620
    Cecora
  3. 1621
    Khotyn
  4. 1634
    Peace of Polanow
  5. 1672
    Kamieniec falls; Treaty of Buchach
  6. 1673
    Second Khotyn
  7. 1683
    Battle of Vienna12 September.
  8. 1699
    Treaty of Karlowitz

Moldavia and the steppe

Poland's suzerainty over Moldavia clashed with the Ottomans from the 1480s; John Albert's disastrous 1497 campaign and later Moldavian magnate wars ended in Ottoman vassalage for the principality. Crimean Tatar raids into Ukraine, the 'harvesting of the steppe', took hundreds of thousands into slavery, and Zaporozhian Cossack raids on Ottoman Black Sea ports provoked Istanbul in turn.

Cecora and Khotyn

In 1620 hetman Zolkiewski's army was destroyed at Cecora and his head sent to the sultan; in 1621 Osman II led 100,000 men against Khotyn, where Chodkiewicz's Poles and Sahaidachny's Cossacks held out for a month and Osman was later murdered by janissaries. Koniecpolski beat Abaza Pasha in 1633-1634. The Khmelnytsky uprising and the Deluge distracted Poland, and Cossack appeals to the Porte led to the Ottoman invasion of 1672.

Kamieniec, Vienna and Karlowitz

The Ottomans took the great fortress of Kamieniec Podolski in 1672 and Poland ceded Podolia and tribute at Buchach; the Sejm refused ratification and Sobieski's victory at Khotyn in November 1673 won him the crown. As king he fought to a stalemate at Zurawno (1676). When Kara Mustafa besieged Vienna in 1683, Sobieski joined the Habsburgs and led the largest cavalry charge in history down the Kahlenberg on 12 September, routing the Ottoman camp. Poland joined the Holy League and fought inconclusively in Moldavia; the Treaty of Karlowitz (1699) restored Podolia. It was Poland's last great triumph.

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8 surprising things about the Polish-Ottoman wars

  1. Sobieski's charge at Vienna, with 18,000 horsemen including 3,000 winged hussars, is usually called the largest cavalry charge in history.
  2. Vienna's coffee-house tradition supposedly began with sacks of coffee left in the abandoned Ottoman camp.
  3. Kamieniec Podolski's rock fortress was considered impregnable; its fall in 1672 shocked Europe and inspired Sienkiewicz's Fire in the Steppe.
  4. The Tatar slave trade from Ukraine and Poland supplied Ottoman markets for centuries; the Polish word 'jasyr' meant captives taken.
  5. Osman II's defeat at Khotyn led to his murder, the first regicide of an Ottoman sultan.
  6. The Treaty of Buchach's tribute made Poland briefly an Ottoman tributary; the Sejm refused to ratify it.
  7. Sobieski wrote to the Pope after Vienna: 'We came, we saw, God conquered.'
  8. The Ottoman tent captured at Vienna and Kara Mustafa's horsetail standards are in Krakow's Wawel Castle.

Sources

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