Historical calendar: anniversary of the disastrous defeat of the Polish forces in clash with the goat at Batoh. Our army was commanded by the inept captain Marcin Kalinowski.
Today in our calendar we will look at the career of a man who, being a Prussian agent, has reached the highest position in the Republic Army.
The Polish triumph over the Cossack of 1651 under Berestek 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 remained inconclusive. 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.
In November, hetman Potocki died, and chief command of the Polish army was taken over by Marcin Kalinowski. erstwhile he learned that Chmielnicki was planning to overthrow the favoured Republic of Poland Moldavian manor Basil LupuHe ran against the Cossacks he met at Batoh. Most of the Polish army was unfavorable to the commander, rightly questioning his ability to command. In addition, by torpedoing the plan of extending the session of the Sejm by Władysław Siciński, taxes on the army were not passed.
Consequently, the military had been unpaid for respective months and thus dissatisfied. The accumulation of adverse circumstances led to the rounding of Polish troops by the Cossack-Tatar forces of Chmielnicki. The Polish hetman in his ignorance did not even execute a reconnaissance, so the besieged did not know how many the enemy came to face them. Completely detached from reality the commander's decisions led to a camp revolt.
At the minute erstwhile Kalinowski ordered to shoot the rebels; Cossacks and Tatars attacked, and a immense hay fire for horses broke out. The defeat was complete—the hetman was killed, and most of the choice army was taken prisoner. The scale of defeat was increased by Chmielnicki's order, which took the Polish prisoners of Tatarom and ordered them to be murdered.
About 3,500 soldiers and officers died (including Marek Sobieski, brother of the future king) and only those who were hidden in their tents were saved. In this way, the most experienced soldiers, without whom later wars were much more difficult, were executed.
The triumph gave Chmielnicki fresh energy for action, but his subsequent campaigns against Poland were not spectacular. The massacre of Polish soldiers at Batoh yet closed the way for Chmielnicki to scope an agreement with the Republic of Poland.
The multi-annual war led to the demolition of Ukraine, the material and human reserves were shrinking. Hetman decided on an act of desperation – in January 1654 he signed with Tsar Alexy Romanov a alleged Perejassan settlement under which he gave up the full Ukraine of Russia, in exchange for the preservation of Cossack privileges.
Previous entry from our calendar is available Here.
