Battle of Batoh

Battle of Batih

Massacre of bound prisoners after the battle of Batoh, from Hiob Ludolf in the collections of National Library of Poland

Date	1 – 2 June 1652
Location	Batih Hill, Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth, (today Ukraine)
Result	Decisive Cossack-Tatar victory

Belligerents

Zaporozhian Cossacks

Crimean Tatars

Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth

Commanders and leaders

Bohdan Khmelnytsky

Marcin Kalinowski

Strength

25,000

10,000–12,000

Casualties and losses

1,000

8,000

The Battle of Batih (Batoh) was a battle in 1652 in which Polish-Lithuanian forces under hetman Marcin Kalinowski were defeated by a united army of Crimean Tatars and Zaporozhian Cossacks. A day after the battle the Cossacks bought the Polish captives from the Tatars. In the following two days all the prisoners were slain.

The Battle of Batih destroyed many of the best Polish-Lithuanian units. Although Poland managed to rebuild her army soon after the battle, the loss of the most experienced troops resulted in temporary weakness in Ukraine. Defeat of the Poles contributed to the wars to come with Russia, which in turn resulted in the "Deluge" of the country by Swedish armies.

After the Treaty of Bila Tserkva was not ratified by the Polish Sejm the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth deployed Crown forces under the command of Field Hetman Marcin Kalinowski in the Bracław Voivodeship

According to the historian Hruschevksy, Khmelnytsky claimed that the Poles had violated the Bila Tserkva peace agreement by razing a couple of Cossack towns and preparing for war. A great Cossack council held at Chyhyryn, which also included Tatar delegates, decided that the failure of the Polish Sejm to ratify the treat meant that the Cossacks were released from their oaths.

Kalinowski intended to use the Trans-Dnipro Crown army, which in April was ordered by John II Casimir Vasa to gather at Kalinowski's Bratslav camp, "to prevent the Cossack army's merger with the Horde" by blocking the Horde's march "into Moldavia to fight the Hospodar" Basil Lupu. "Khmelnytsky sent his son", Tymofiy Khmelnytsky, "together with the Tatars to Moldavia, to take revenge militarily on that country's ruler for having sworn he would give his daughter in marriage to Khmelnytsky's son and then later refusing."

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Wikipedia