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| Polish–Ottoman War (1620–1621) | |||||||||
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| Part of thePolish–Ottoman Wars | |||||||||
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| Belligerents | |||||||||
 Poland–Lithuania Registered Cossacks Moldavia |  Ottoman Empire.svg){kind=icon} Crimean Khanate Transylvania | ||||||||
| Commanders and leaders | |||||||||
| Stanisław Żółkiewski † Jan Karol Chodkiewicz# Crown Prince Vasa Gaspar Graziani  Petro Sahaidachny (WIA) | Osman II Güzelce Ali Pasha# Ohrili Hüseyin Pasha Abaza Mehmed Pasha | ||||||||
| Strength | |||||||||
| 25,000 Polish-Lithuanian troops[1] 20,000Cossacks[1] | 120,000–160,000Ottoman andTatar[2] 13,000Moldavian andWallachian troops[3] | ||||||||
| Casualties and losses | |||||||||
| 16,000–17,000[a] | 41,500[b] | ||||||||
ThePolish–Ottoman War (1620–1621) was a conflict between thePolish–Lithuanian Commonwealth and theOttoman Empire over the control ofMoldavia. It ended with the Commonwealth withdrawing its claims on Moldavia and led to the eventual demise of the SultanOsman II.[4]
It is also known as theKhotyn War,[c] because it was ended by theTreaty of Khotyn (9 October 1621) in the aftermath of the finalBattle of Khotyn (1621).
Traditionally, Moldavia had been a subject of the Kingdom of Poland, and later the Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth. As the Ottoman influence grew in the 16th century, they had become more and more interested in the region.From the end of the 16th century and the beginning of the 17th century, themagnates of the Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealthintervened in the affairs of Moldavia, which the Ottoman Empire considered within itssphere of influence. Additionally, the Ottomans were aggravated by the constant raids ofCossacks, then nominally subjects of the Commonwealth, across the border into Ottoman territories.Another reason causing the war was the recent outbreak of the Thirty Years' War, and the request of support from the Protestant rebel leaders in Bohemia.
At the time, theThirty Years' War was raging across Europe.Gabriel Bethlen, prince ofTransylvania saw an opportunity to unite the two Hungarian principalities, Transylvania andRoyal Hungary, and sacked Vienna in November 1619. He also asked SultanOsman II for aid, but this was unsuccessful. The Commonwealth was relatively uninvolved in this war but the Polish king,Zygmunt III Waza, sent an elite and ruthless mercenary unit, theLisowczycy, to aid hisHabsburg allies. They defeated the Hungarian lordGeorge Rákóczi at theBattle of Humenné in 1619, and thus, cut the supply lines of Transylvanian forces. ThenGaspar Graziani, ruler ofMoldavia, switched sides and joined Poland.
Thus, the sultan agreed to help Bethlen, gathering a large Ottoman army with the intent of a punitive invasion of the Commonwealth.
In September 1620, Poland secured a victory atJassy underStanisław Żółkiewski.[5][6]
In 1620, the Ottoman forces crushed the Commonwealth army at theBattle of Ţuţora (Cecora). The campaign was suspended for the winter but, in 1621, both sides resumed hostilities.
The Turks, following their victory in the Battle of Ţuţora, had high hopes of conquering Ukraine (then a part of Poland), and perhaps even toppling the Commonwealth entirely and reaching theBaltic Sea. This time, however, they were stopped by a Commonwealth army, aided by a large Cossack detachment, at theBattle of Khotyn. The 45,000 Poles and Cossacks were able to withstand an Ottoman army at least two times the size of the Commonwealth's army at Khotyn and deal severe losses to the Ottoman army throughout the month of September.[7] When the Polish cavalry rallied forth in October they broke the will of the besiegers and the Sultan sued for peace.[8] Theensuing peace treaty gave the Fortress of Khotyn to Moldavia as an Ottoman vassal, and the Commonwealth agreed to stop its interference in Moldavia. Both sides claimed victory, as the Commonwealth saw the battle of Khotyn as a successful stopping of the Ottoman invasion of its mainland and the Ottoman Empire achieved its goal of removing the impending threat on the Moldavian lands.
The Polish–Ottoman border would remain relatively peaceful until thePolish–Ottoman War (1633–34) and thePolish–Ottoman War (1672–76).
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