Battle of Khotyn (1673)
Part of theOttoman–Polish War (1672–1676)
Painting of the battle byJan van Huchtenburg in 1675
Date 11 November 1673 Location Khotyn,Podolian Voivodeship,Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth 48°29′N26°30′E / 48.483°N 26.500°E /48.483; 26.500 Result Polish–Lithuanian victory
Belligerents
Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth	Ottoman Empire
Commanders and leaders
John III Sobieski Michał Kazimierz Radziwiłł	Hüseyin Pasha
Strength
29,052–30,000[1]	35,000[2]
Casualties and losses
2,000 killed and wounded[3]	20,000–30,000 killed and wounded[3]

TheBattle of Khotyn orBattle of Chocim, also known as theHotin War,^[4] took place on 11 November 1673 inKhotyn, where the forces of thePolish–Lithuanian Commonwealth under theGrand Hetman of the Polish CrownJohn Sobieski defeatedOttoman Empire forces, with Moldavian and Wallachian regiments, led by Hüseyin Pasha. It reversed the fortunes of the previous year, when Commonwealth weakness led to the signing of theTreaty of Buchach, and allowed John Sobieski to win the upcomingroyal election and become theKing of Poland.

Khotyn (Polish:Chocim;Romanian:Hotin;Turkish:Hotin;Ukrainian:Хоти́н,romanized: Khotyn) was conquered and controlled by many states, resulting in many name changes. Other name variations includeChotyn, orChoczim (especially inPolish).

The Polish-Lithuanian army, numbering some 30,000 soldiers, under the command of Grand Crown HetmanJohn Sobieski, besieged theKhotyn fortress in the first days of November 1673. The fortress had natural defensive qualities, as it was located in a bend of the Dniester River. It was protected from the land side by earth ramparts and numerous defensive fortifications built on the site of a former Polish camp from half a century before. The first attacks on the Turkish positions were carried out by Sobieski on November 10, however, they were intended only to reconnoiter the battlefield and the deployment of enemy forces. The actual battle was fought the next day, when Sobieski hit the Turks tired of the weather and sleeplessness. The Polish-Lithuanian leader took advantage of the fact that the weather was frosty and the Turks were ill-equipped and unprepared for such weather conditions.

After an all-night branding of the attack by the besiegers, in a strong wind and murderous cold for the Turks, at dawn on November 11 Sobieski personally led his troops to storm the Turkish camp. After a cannon salvo, the infantry anddragoons stormed the ramparts, pushing back the enemy and making room for the cavalry. After which, thehussars, led by Hetman Jabłonowski, rushed through the breaches in the ramparts. The Turks responded with a counterattack by the spahis' cavalry, but the spahis could not withstand the bravado of the hussars' charge, and soon the fighting heated up inside the fortress and the Turkish camp, among the dens of tents. In view of the panic that gripped the Turkish troops, Hussein Pasha ordered an evacuation to the other bank of the Dniester. But the only bridge at Chocim was damaged by Polish-Lithuanian artillery fire and collapsed under the weight of those fleeing. Only a few thousand Turks out of the entire 35,000-strong army managed to get through to Kamieniec Podolski.

The rest of the Turkish troops fell or were taken prisoner. The Polish-Lithuanian losses were much smaller, and a strongly fortified fortress with large supplies of food and war supplies was captured.

The Battle of Khotyn ended with a total victory for theCommonwealth, but it did not bring a breakthrough in the war and did not lead to the recovery of Kamieniec Podolski. On the other hand, the prestige of the Commonwealth in Europe increased, especially the respect for HetmanJohn Sobieski among the Turks, who henceforth called Sobieski the "Lion of Khotyn."

In result of the battle the Ottoman army suffered crippling losses. It lost two-thirds of its count in either killed or wounded. On top of that Moldavian and Wallachian troops switched sides and decided to support the Commonwealth.The Turkish forces withdrew fromPoland after their supplies and most of their artillery were captured but they retained most of westernUkraine. Sobieski and the nobles returned to Warsaw for elections following the death ofMichael Wisniowiecki, King of Poland, the day before the battle.

• Hussars: 1,670
• Armoured companion: 11,105
• Dragoons: 5,828
• Wallachian cavalry: 1,619
• Arquebusiers: 342
• Infantry: 7,988
• Hungarian infantry: 500

Total: 29,052 soldiers^[5]

• Alan Palmer,The Decline and Fall of the Ottoman Empire, Published by Barnes & Noble Publishing, 1992.ISBN 1-56619-847-X.
• Winged Hussars, Radoslaw Sikora, Bartosz Musialowicz,BUM Magazine, 2016.
• Velikanov, Vladimir; Nechitailov, Maxim (2019).Азиатский дракон перед Чигирином [Asian dragon in front of Chigirin] (in Russian).Russian Academy of Sciences:Ratnoe delo. Moscow: Русские витязи.ISBN 978-5-6041924-7-4.

• Conflicts in 1673
• 1673 in Europe
• Battles involving the Ottoman Empire
• Battles involving Moldavia
• Battles involving the Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth
• Battles involving Wallachia
• 1673 in the Ottoman Empire
• History of Khotyn
• Battles of the Polish–Ottoman War (1672–1676)

• Pages using gadget WikiMiniAtlas
• Articles with short description
• Short description is different from Wikidata
• Use dmy dates from June 2017
• Coordinates on Wikidata
• Articles containing Polish-language text
• Articles containing Romanian-language text
• Articles containing Turkish-language text
• Articles containing Ukrainian-language text
• CS1 uses Russian-language script (ru)
• CS1 Russian-language sources (ru)
• Pages using the Kartographer extension