Battle of Szkłów (1654)

Battle of Szkłów (Shkloŭ)

Date	August 12, 1654
Location	Shkloŭ, present-day Belarus
Result	inconclusive, each side claimed victory Polish victory claim Russian victory claim

Belligerents

Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth

Russian Tsardom

Commanders and leaders

Janusz Radziwiłł

Yakov Cherkassky
Yury Baryatinsky

Strength

6,000—8,000

3,500-40,000

Casualties and losses

700

100—200 (3,000)-7,000

The Battle of Szkłów or battle of Shkloŭ or battle of Shklov on August 12, 1654 was one of the first battles of the Russo-Polish War (1654–67); it ended with a Polish victory. A small Polish–Lithuanian force of about 6,000–7,000 under Great Lithuanian Hetman Janusz Radziwiłł surprised a numerically superior Russian force (of 40,000; some estimates speak of about 70,000, but they are likely too high) under knyaz Yakov Cherkassky near Shklow (Polish: Szkłów). The battle took place during a solar eclipse. The Russian forces, due to their surprise, were engaged by the Poles unprepared and in smaller portions, which were defeated in turn. Eventually the Poles forced the entire Russian army to retreat; the losses are estimated at about 700 for the Poles and 7,000 for the Russians (although they may be overestimated for both sides).

The conflict was triggered by the Khmelnytsky Rebellion of Ukrainian Cossacks against the Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth. The Cossack leader, Bohdan Khmelnytsky, derived his main foreign support from Alexis of Russia and promised his allegiance in recompense. Although the Zemsky Sobor of 1651 was poised to accept the Cossacks into the Moscow sphere of influence and to enter the war against Poland on their side, the Tsar waited until 1653, when a new popular assembly eventually authorized the unification of Ukraine with Tsardom of Russia. After the Cossacks ratified this agreement at the Pereyaslav Rada the Russo-Polish War became inevitable.

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Wikipedia