| Livonian campaign of Stephen Báthory | |||||||
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| Part of theLivonian War | |||||||
 Map ofOld Livonia | |||||||
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| Belligerents | |||||||
 Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth Principality of Transylvania |  Russia | ||||||
| Commanders and leaders | |||||||
| Stephen Báthory Jan Zamoyski | Ivan IV of Russia | ||||||
TheLivonian campaign of Stephen Báthory (also referred to as theRusso-Polish War)[1] took place in the final stage of theLivonian War, between 1577 and 1582.Polish–Lithuanian forces led byStephen Báthory successfully fought against the army of Russian tsarIvan IV ("the Terrible") over theDuchy of Livonia andPolotsk. Russian forces were expelled from Livonia before the campaign was concluded by theTruce of Jam Zapolski.
In the second half of the 16th century, several powers, includingPoland,Lithuania, andRussia were engaged in the struggle over the control of the ports in the southernBaltic Sea (Dominium Maris Baltici). The Russo-Lithuanian War of 1558–1570, in which Poland aided Lithuania (and in 1569united with it forming thePolish–Lithuanian Commonwealth), ended inconclusively with a three-year-long truce. The death of Polish kingSigismund II Augustus created a brief period in which TsarIvan IV of Russia contemplated taking part in thePolish royal election (seePolish–Lithuanian–Muscovite Commonwealth), but eventually the Commonwealth electedStephen Báthory of Poland to its throne, and the hostilities between Russia and the Commonwealth resumed.[2]
In 1575 Ivan ordered another attack on Poland, and succeeded in taking parts of Livonia (notably,Salacgrīva andPärnu). In 1577 Russian forces besieged Reval (Revel,Tallinn) and a strong army was concentrating nearPskov. At the same time Polish forces were tied down on the western side of the Baltic Sea, dealing with theDanzig rebellion. In July the main Muscovite army of about 30,000 advanced from Pskov, takingViļaka,Rēzekne,Daugavpils,Koknese,Gulbene, and surrounding areas.[3] A Polish counter-offensive—known as the First Campaign of Bathory—begun in the fall, and succeeded in taking back some of the territories.[3]
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Negotiations took part in that year, and a three-year truce was signed, although it was rejected by King Bathory who was preparing for a larger counteroffensive. At the same time, Polish and Swedish forces managed to stop further progress of the Muscovite forces in theBattles of Wenden (1577–1578).[3]
A large army was gathered prior to the campaign. In preparation to the campaign, some 7,311 cavalry and 6,519 infantrymercenaries were hired in the Kingdom of Poland, while the Grand Duchy of Lithuania hired 1,445 cavalry and 2,530 infantry mercenaries.[4] The mercenaries were assembled into units according to their ethnicities (Hungarian,German, andPolish).[4] The Hungarian mercenaries stayed on after the campaign, forming theHajduk units. Combined with levies among the aristocrats, a force of 41,914 soldiers was assembled (22,975 from Lithuania and 18,739 from Poland).[4] The majority of this force, 71%, were cavalry and mercenaries made up some 41% of the army.[5]Peasant levy pioneer regiments, in addition to Russianstreltsy andUkrainian Cossack bands, were in the army.[4] Bathory's army consisted of Polish,Lithuanian, Hungarian,Wallachian,Bohemian, and German soldiers, besides theSzekler brigade underMózes Székely.[6]
Bathory was the supreme commander[7] of the main army (over 40,000 strong), however, he appointed commanders to lead different parts of it:
The Lithuanian soldiers were reluctant to follow any orders given by Polish commanders and set up their own military camps apart from the Poles, took military decisions autonomously, in addition to many other actions, sometimes to the detriment of the war effort.[4] In other words, the army did not have a centralised command system.
During the fighting known as the Second Campaign of Bathory, the army advanced on Polotsk.The siege began on 11 August, and the city surrendered on the 29th of that month.[8] The Polish-Lithuanian army also captured all 8 Russian-occupied castles in Polotsk -Rasony region (Sokol, Nescherda, Susha, Krasnae, Turovlia, Sitna, Kaz'jany,Usviaty) . Lithuanian-Polish forces resumed their offensive the following year with the Third Campaign of Bathory,besiegingVelikiye Luki on 29 August and taking it on 5 September. Acavalry battle took place on 20 September nearToropets and ended in another victory for the Commonwealth. The joint forces also capturedVelizh andNevel.[3]
The last phase of the war centered around thesiege of Pskov by the Polish forces. Báthory did not succeed in taking the town, but the Russians, facing growing threat from Sweden (who took Narva in the battle of Narva (1581) [sv]), decided to sign a truce treaty favorable to Poland.[3][9]
The truce, signed in 1582 for 10 years, was favorable to Poland, which regainedDuchy of Livonia, keptVelizh andPolotsk. Russia regainedVelikiye Luki.[3][10] Notably, Russia failed in her bid to regain access to the Baltic Sea.[9]
The next stage of the Polish-Russian wars begun in the early 1600s, whenthe Poles invaded Russia in 1605.
| Grand Duchy of Lithuania (to 1795) |
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