Historical calendar: June 28, 1651 – triumph at Berestekek

Historical calendar: the anniversary of the Polish army's conflict against Cossacks and Tatars. The defeat of allies occurred at Berestek.

Today in our calendar we will look at the scenes of this clash.

After over a year of comparative peace, in the spring of 1651, the armed struggles of the Republic of Poland and the Cossacks of Chmielnicki broke out again. The Sejm concluded that the enemy had to be defeated erstwhile and for all, due to the fact that in the long run, the interior crisis could lead to external intervention by Russia, Turkey or Sweden. The largest army in the 17th century was gathered in a force of about 80,000 soldiers, who marched to Ukraine under the individual command of Jan Kazimierz, who was advised by Jeremi Wiśniowiecki.

The Cossack side was besides busy preparing for the final trial. Chmielnicki established a renewed alliance with the Tatars and sent out his agitators, who were tasked to incite the peasantry to anti-feudal speeches across all parts of the country. Insurrections in Wielkopolska and Podhale were launched, which were synchronized in time with the departure of nobility to fight hops.

The uprising in Wielkopolska was related to the action of Piotr Grzybowski, who managed to get a large number of peasants from the villages subject to the Cistercian monastery in Lądek to revolt. any 2,000 insurgents were gathered, who after respective robberies on the surrounding manors, were broken up by the mercenary troops of the Poznań Bishop Florian Czartoryski. Alexander Kostka-Napierski, who, by means of a false parable letter, recruited people to his ward, agitated in Podhale.

Along with a group of peasants, he occupied the castle in Czorsztyn, where he was surrounded and defeated by the forces of the Bishop Piotr Gembicki of Kraków. Shortly thereafter, along with respective another leaders of the uprising, Napierski was sentenced to death.

The main opposing forces clashed on June 27, 1651 under Berestek in Ukraine. The Polish side has utilized innovative chess tactics, i.e. the setting of infantry, department and cavalry. The main conflict took place on 28-30 June and led to a large Polish victory. Tuhai-bej died, and hetman Chmielnicki and Khan Islam III Girey They escaped along with the remainder of the Tatar troops.

The defeated Cossack army closed in the rolling stock, which was flooded with fire from the Polish siege department during the following days. Thanks to the skill of Ivan Bohun, who conducted a clever maneuver to break through the lap, a crucial number of Cossacks saved lives, but all possessions and weapons got into Polish hands. Poles lost little than 800 soldiers, while Cossacks, blacks and Tatars lost more than 30,000. The Cossack camp found Chmielnicki's letters proving that he conspired against the Republic of Poland with Russia, Seven-garden and Turkey.

The triumph at Beestekko was not decently utilized due to the nobility who offended the king and returned home, worrying about peasant riots in the country. Meanwhile, in the north, Lithuanian hetman Janusz Radziwił led an effective offensive against the insurgents and even occupied Kiev. The crown troops were led by the incompetent captains Mikołaj Potocki and Marcin Kalinowski, who headed for Ukraine with a further offensive.

They joined their forces with the Lithuanian army Janusz Radziwiłła, but erstwhile the conflict with the Cossacks at the White Church took place, they did not participate in it. The Lithuanians alone fought bravely, but the conflict ended unresolved. On the initiative of the Crown Chieftains, a settlement called the Belarusian-Certain settlement was signed. It was more favourable to the Polish side than the congregation agreement, as it limited the hetmanat to the Kiev Voivodeship and the Cossack registry to 20,000.

Previous entry from our calendar is available Here.