Battle of Beresteczko

Battle of Berestechko
Part of the Khmelnytsky Uprising
Battle of Beresteczko 1651, relief at Abbaye de Saint-Germain-des-Prés in Paris.
Date 28 June – 30 June 1651 Location Berestechko, Crown of the Kingdom of Poland (today Ukraine) 50°21′0″N 25°7′0″E / 50.35000°N 25.11667°E / 50.35000; 25.11667Coordinates: 50°21′0″N 25°7′0″E / 50.35000°N 25.11667°E / 50.35000; 25.11667 Result Decisive Polish victory
Belligerents
Zaporozhian Cossacks Crimean Khanate	Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth
Commanders and leaders
Bohdan Khmelnytsky Khan İslâm III Giray Toğay bey  † Ivan Bohun	King John II Casimir Jeremi Wiśniowiecki Stefan Czarniecki Marcin Kalinowski Stanisław Lanckoroński
Strength
200,000 total 100,000 Cossacks and peasants 50,000 Crimean Tatars Several thousands Turks, and Vlachs	80,000 total 17,000 cavalry 16,000 infantry 40,000 Pospolite ruszenie
Casualties and losses
30,000 killed	less than 1,000 killed

The Battle of Berestechko (Polish: Bitwa pod Beresteczkiem; Ukrainian: Берестецька битва, Битва під Берестечком) was fought between the Ukrainian Cossacks, led by Hetman Bohdan Khmelnytsky, aided by their Crimean Tatar allies, and a Polish army under King John II Casimir. It was a battle of a Cossack rebellion in Ukraine that took place in the years 1648–1657 after the expiration of a two-year truce. Fought from 28 to 30 June 1651, the battle took place in the province of Volhynia, on the hilly plain south of the Styr River. The Polish camp was on the river opposite Berestechko and faced south, towards the Cossack army about two kilometers away, whose right flank was against the River Pliashivka (Pliashova) and the Tatar army on their left flank. It was probably the largest European land battle of the 17th century.

The number of Polish troops is uncertain. One of the senior Polish commanders, Duke Bogusław Radziwiłł, wrote that the Polish army had 80,000 soldiers, which included "40,000 regulars and 40,000 nobles of the levée en masse, accompanied by roughly the same number of various servants, footmen, and such." Some modern historians, such as Zbigniew Wójcik, Józef Gierowski, and Władysław Czapliński, have reduced this figure to 60,000-63,000 soldiers.

There is no reliable source on the number of Cossack and Crimean Tatar troops. The possible estimates range from 80,000 men to 200,000 men. The core of Cossack army at Berestechko consisted of 12 regiments named after towns they were stationed in (list numbers provided according to the Treaty of Zboriv (1649)):

A total of 33,313 registered Cossacks from the above. Additional 5 Cossack regiments (of Kiev, Kaniv, Chernigiv, Nizhyn, Pavoloch) didn't participate in the battle being deployed mostly against the Lithuanian forces of Janusz Radziwiłł advancing on Kiev. The registered Cossack force was supported by a large number of Ukrainian peasants armed with scythes, flails and the likes which were rather undisciplined and organised poorly. The Crimean Tatar horde is estimated to 28,000–33,000 men, though might be lower. There were also 2 thousand Don Cossacks and a few thousand of Turks and Vlachs.

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