Wikipedia

Battle of Orsha

TheBattle of Orsha(Lithuanian:Oršos mūšis), was fought on 8 September 1514, between the allied forces of theGrand Duchy of Lithuaniaand theCrown of the Kingdom of Poland,under the command ofLithuanian Grand HetmanKonstanty Ostrogski;and the army of theGrand Duchy of MoscowunderKonyushyIvan ChelyadninandKniazMikhail Bulgakov-Golitsa. The Battle of Orsha was part of a long series ofMuscovite–Lithuanian Warsconducted by Muscovite rulers striving to gather all the formerKievan Rus'lands under their rule.

Battle of Orsha
Part ofLithuanian–Muscovite War (1512-1522)

Battle of Orshapainting attributed toHans Krell
Date8 September 1514
Location
Orsha,Grand Duchy of Lithuania,present-dayBelarus
54°30′N30°23′E/ 54.500°N 30.383°E/54.500; 30.383
Result Polish–Lithuanian victory
Belligerents
Grand Duchy of Lithuania
Kingdom of Poland		 Grand Duchy of Moscow
Commanders and leaders
 Ivan Chelyadnin(POW)
Strength
Different estimates:
300 cannons[citation needed]
Different estimates:
140[citation needed]to 300 cannons
Casualties and losses
500[citation needed] 13,000–40,000 dead and wounded (?)
At least 5,000 captured[citation needed]
Battle of Orsha is located in Belarus
Battle of Orsha
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Location within Belarus

According toRerum Moscoviticarum CommentariibySigismund von Herberstein,the primary source for information on the battle, the much smaller army of Lithuania–Poland (under 30,000 men) defeated a force of 80,000 Muscovite soldiers, capturing their camp and commander. These numbers and proportions have been disputed by some modern historians.

Eve of battle

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At the end of 1512, theGrand Duchy of Moscowbegan a new war for theGrand Duchy of Lithuania'sRuthenianlands in present-dayBelarus,UkraineandRussia.Albrecht I,Grand Master of theTeutonic Knights,rebelled and refused to give a vassal pledge toSigismund I the Oldof Poland-Lithuania, as required by theSecond Peace of Thorn (1466).Albrecht I was supported byMaximilian I, Holy Roman Emperor.[6]

The fortress ofSmolenskwas then the easternmost outpost of the Grand Duchy of Lithuania and one of the most important strongholds guarding it from the east. It repelled several Muscovite attacks, but in July 1514 a Muscovite army besieged and finally captured it. Spurred on by this initial success, theGrand Prince of MoscowVasili IIIordered his forces farther into present-day Belarus, occupying the towns ofKrichev,Mstislavl,andDubrovna.

Meanwhile,Sigismund the Oldgathered some 35,000 troops, most of whom (57%) were Poles,[7][dubious–discuss]for war with his eastern neighbor. His army was inferior in numbers, but consisted mostly of well-trainedcavalry.

The regular Polish army was commanded byJanusz Świerczowski[pl].It was the largest one that theCrownhad hitherto put in the field.Wojciech Sampoliński[de]was in charge of the private Polish detachments and household troops. The Lithuanian landed service (some 15,000 soldiers) was led by Grand HetmanKonstanty Ostrogskiand Field HetmanJerzy Radziwiłł.[7]The Lithuanian-Polish forces included 32,500 cavalry and 3,000mercenaryinfantry.[6]Sigismund left 4,000–5,000 men in the town ofBarysau,while the main force, placed under the command of Hetman Konstanty Ostrogski and around 30,000 strong, moved on to face the Muscovites.[6][8]

At the end of August, several skirmishes took place at the crossings of theBerezina,Bobr,andDrut Rivers,but the Muscovite army avoided a major confrontation.

Suffering negligible losses, the Muscovites advanced to the area betweenOrshaandDubrovnoon theKrapivna River,where they set up camp.Ivan Chelyadnin,confident that the Lithuanian–Polish forces would have to cross one of the two bridges on theDnieper River,split his own forces to guard those crossings. However, Ostrogski's army crossed the river farther north via twopontoon bridges.On the night of 7 September, the Lithuanian-Polish army began preparations for a final battle with the Muscovites. Hetman Konstantyn Ostrogski placed most of his 16,000 horses from the Grand Duchy in the center, while most of the Polishinfantryand the auxiliary troops manned the flanks. TheBohemianandSilesianinfantry were deployed in the center of the line, in front of the reserves comprising Lithuanian and Polishcavalry.

Size of the Muscovite army

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Russo-Polish war, image from Jacob PisoDie Schlacht von dem Kunig von Poln und mit dem Moscowiter,1514

The size of the Muscovite army remains an unsolved question. Narrative Lithuanian sources generally give large numbers. King Sigismund wrote toPope Leo Xabout a "horde of Muscovites" which consisted of 80,000 men.[9]Sigismund also claimed that his army had killed 30,000 Muscovites and taken prisoner 46 commanders and 1,500 nobles. Extant Polish and Lithuanian documents, however, list all captured nobles by name; only 611 men in all. The Polish historian Bohun considers it improvident to rely on what he terms "propaganda data" given by Sigismund.[10]Gembarowicz (another Polish researcher) is of the opinion that the Muscovite army was about 40,000 strong. It also remains unclear why – if the figure of 70,000–80,000 men is to be trusted – King Sigismund (who knew about this superiority of the Muscovite army fromMikhail Glinsky's letters) kept a personal guard of about 5,000 men (about 15% of his army) in reserve, without sending them into the battle. The Muscovite chronicles (NovgorodianandSophian codexes) claim a Lithuanian numerical superiority.[5]

The Russian historian A. Lobin tried to calculate the size of the Muscovite army at Orsha based on the mobilisation capacities of the towns which had to send townspeople for military service.[11]It is known that except for Boyar sons of the sovereign's regiment, the army consisted of people from at least 14 towns:Novgorod,Pskov,Velikie Luki,Kostroma,Murom,Borovsk,Tver,Volok,Roslavl,Vyazma,Pereyaslavl,Kolomna,Yaroslavl,andStarodub.[12]Based on figures from the well-documentedPolotskcampaign of 1563, the author gives the following estimates: 400–500 Tatars, 200 boyar sons of the sovereign's regiment, 3,000 Novgorodian and Pskovians, and about 3,600 representatives of other towns, altogether about 7,200 noblemen. Once servants are included, the overall size of the Muscovite army could be 13,000–15,000 men. Considering the losses during the campaign, the level of desertion which is documented in the sources and the number of soldiers left as a garrison in Smolensk; the number of Muscovite troops present at Orsha could have been as low as about 12,000 men.[5]This calculation method has been backed by Brian Davies (University of Texas at San Antonio),[13]and Russian historians N. Smirnov, A. Pankov, O. Kurbatov,[14]М. Krom,[15]and V. Penskoy.[16]

Battle

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Russian campaign against the Lithuanians(oil on canvas bySergey Ivanov,1903).

On 8 September, shortly after dawn,Ivan Chelyadningave the order to attack. The Muscovite forces attempted to outflank the Lithuanians and Poles by attacking their flanks, which were manned by Polish, Lithuanian light hussar, andTartartroops. One of the pincers of the attack was commanded by Chelyadnin personally, while the other was led by Prince Bulgakov-Golitsa. The initial attack failed, and the Muscovites withdrew toward their starting positions. Chelyadnin was still confident that the odds, almost 3:1 in his favor, would give him the victory. However, preoccupied with his own wing of the Muscovite forces, he lost track of the other sectors and failed to coordinate a defense against the counterattack by the Lithuanian light and Polish heavy cavalry, which until then had been kept in reserve.

The Lithuanian and Polishlight horseand Tartars attacked the overstretched center of the Muscovite lines in an attempt to split them. At the crucial moment the Polish cavalry seemed to waver, then went into retreat.[17]The Muscovites pursued with all theircavalryreserves. The Lithuanian Tartars and Polish cavalry, after retreating for several minutes under chase from the Russians, suddenly turned to the sides. The Muscovite cavalry now found themselves confronted byartilleryconcealed in the forest. From both sides, Lithuanian forces appeared and proceeded to surround the Muscovites. Ivan Chelyadnin soundedretreat,which soon became somewhat panicked. The Muscovite forces were pursued by the army of theGrand Duchy of Lithuaniafor five kilometres.

The Muscovite defeat is often attributed to repeated failures by Ivan Chelyadnin and Mikhail Golitsa to coordinate their operations.

Sigismund von Herbersteinreported that 40,000 Muscovites were killed.[6]According to accounts in Polishchronicles,30,000 Russians were killed and an additional 3,000 were taken captive, including Ivan Chelyadnin and eight other commanders. The forces of the Grand Duchy of Lithuania seized the Muscovitecampand all 300cannons.Upset at word of the massive defeat, Grand PrinceVasili IIIallegedly remarked that "the prisoners [were] as useful as the dead".[6]

Aftermath

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Hussarsduring the Battle of Orsha (1514)

Ostrogski's forces continued their pursuit of the routed Russian army and retook most of the previously captured strongholds, includingMstislavland Krychev, and the advancement of the Russians was stopped for four years.[6]However, the Lithuanian and Polish forces were too exhausted to besiegeSmolenskbefore the winter. This meant that Ostrogski did not reach the gates of Smolensk until late September, giving Vasili III enough time to prepare defense.

In December,HetmanKonstanty Ostrogskitriumphantly enteredVilnius.To commemorate the victory, two Orthodox churches were erected: the Church of the Holy Trinity and theChurch of Saint Nicholas,which remain among the most impressive examples ofEastern Orthodox Churcharchitecture in Lithuania. Immediately after the victory, the Polish–Lithuanian state started to exploit the battle for itspropagandaaimed at other nations in Europe, with the intent of improving the image of Poland-Lithuania abroad. Several panegyrical accounts of the battle were sent toRome."The Polish message was similar to Bomhover's: the Muscovites are not Christians; they are cruel and barbaric; they are Asians and not Europeans; they are in league with Turks and theTatarsto destroy Christendom ".[18]

Impressed by the scope of the Lithuanian and Polish victory, Maximilian I, Holy Roman Emperor, started peace negotiations with theJagiellonsin Vienna. On 22 July 1515, final agreements for peace were made and the broad coalition against Lithuania and Poland ceased.[6]

The war between theGrand Duchy of LithuaniaandGrand Duchy of Moscowlasted until 1520. In 1522 a peace was signed, under the terms of which Lithuania was forced to cede to Moscow about a quarter of its possessions within the lands of the formerKievan Rus',includingSmolensk.The latter city was not retaken until almost a century later, in 1611. After the peace agreement of 1522, the Grand Duchy of Lithuania tried to attack Moscow one more time, but major military conflicts were settled for around 40 years.[6]

Modern times

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Commemorative coins by Ukraine and Lithuania.

The battle is regarded by someBelarusiansas a symbol of national revival, with many seeing it as a Day of Belarusian Military Glory.[citation needed]On 8 September 1992, the 478th anniversary of the battle, cadets from Minsk Higher Military Engineering School and the Minsk Higher Military Command School (now the unifiedMilitary Academy of Belarus) took the first military oath of allegiance to theArmed Forces of Belarus,with their induction ceremony being held onIndependence Squarein the presence of defense ministerPavel Pavlovich Kozlovsky.[19][20][21]Subsequently, however, as a result of increasing ties to Russia, the regime of PresidentAlexander Lukashenkoactively suppressed celebration of the battle. In September 2005, four members of theBelarusian National Frontopposition were each fined almost 4,000,000Belarusian rubles(roughly€1,500) for celebrating the 491st anniversary of the battle.[citation needed]

Ukraine has public celebrations of the Battle of Orsha, as an important victory, within the wider history of Ukrainian-Russian conflicts. On October 14, 2014, the National Bank of Ukraine presented a commemorative coin on the occasion of the 500th anniversary of the Battle of Orsha.[22]There is Orsha Victory Street in Rivne.[23]

At theTomb of the Unknown Soldier, Warsaw,the Battle of Orsha is commemorated by the inscription "ORSZA 8 IX 1514".

In Lithuania, the Battle of Orsha is commemorates as well by Lithuanian Ministry of Defense and Lithuanian government every year with concerts, conferences and military parades.

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On theBBCtelevision programBeing Human,Hal Yorkewas made a vampire after the Battle of Orsha.

Legacy

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In 1514, in appreciation for the victory in the battle,Konstanty Ostrogskibuilt theChurch and monastery of Holy TrinityinVilnius.

References

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  1. ^Лобин А. Н. К вопросу о численности и составе польско-литовской армии в битве под Оршей в 1514 г. // Праблемы інтэграцыі і iнкарпарацыі ў развіцці Цэнтральнай і Усходняй Еўропы ў перыяд ранняга Новага часу. Мінск, 2010. С. 18–42
  2. ^abPodhorodecki, Leszek (1997).Sławne bitwy Polaków.MADA. pp. 105–106.ISBN8386170247.
  3. ^abSpieralski, Zdzisław (1965).Wojskowość polska w okresie odrodzenia [w:] Zarys dziejów wojskowości polskiej do roku 1864, t. I, pod red. Janusza Sikorskiego.p. 331.
  4. ^abWojciechowski, Zygmunt (1946).Zygmunt Stary (1506–1548).p. 50.
  5. ^abcЛобин А. Н. К вопросу о численности вооружённых сил Российского государства в XVI в.//Studia Slavica et Balcanica Petropolitana 2009 Nr 1–2. p. 66
  6. ^abcdefghBaranauskas, Tomas(2006-09-08)."Oršos mūšis – didžiausia Lietuvos karinė pergalė prieš Rusiją"(in Lithuanian).Archivedfrom the original on 2007-02-10.
  7. ^abPlewczyński, Marek (2016). "The Battle of Orsha 8th September 1514". In Jasiński, Grzegorz; Włodarkiewicz, Wojciech (eds.).Polish battles and campaigns in 13th–19th centuries(PDF).Wojskowe Centrum Edukacji Obywatelskiej im. płk. dypl. Mariana Porwita Stowarzyszenie Historyków Wojskowości. p. 41.ISBN978-83-65409-12-6.
  8. ^Plewczyński 2016,p. 42.
  9. ^Лобин А. Н. К вопросу о численности вооружённых сил Российского государства в XVI в.//Studia Slavica et Balcanica Petropolitana 2009 Nr. 1–2. p. 61
  10. ^Bohun T. Bitwa pod Orsza 08.09.1514 // Rzeczpospolita. 2006. ¹ 4/20. S. 13.
  11. ^Лобин А. Н. К вопросу о численности вооружённых сил Российского государства в XVI в.//Studia Slavica et Balcanica Petropolitana 2009 Nr 1–2. pp. 45–78
  12. ^Лобин А. Н. К вопросу о численности вооружённых сил Российского государства в XVI в.//Studia Slavica et Balcanica Petropolitana 2009 Nr. 1–2. pp. 63–64
  13. ^Форум//Studia Slavica et Balcanica Petropolitana 2009 Nr 1–2. pp. 120–121
  14. ^Курбатов О. А. Отклик на статью А. Н. Лобина//Studia Slavica et Balcanica Petropolitana 2009 Nr 1-2. pp. 104–119
  15. ^Кром М. М. Еще раз о численности русского войска в XVI в. (По поводу статьи А. Н. Лобина)//Studia Slavica et Balcanica Petropolitana 2009 Nr 1–2. pp. 79–90
  16. ^Пенской В. В. Некоторые соображения по поводу статьи А. Н. Лобина «К вопросу о численности вооружённых сил Российского государства XVI в.»//Studia Slavica et Balcanica Petropolitana 2009 Nr. 1–2. pp. 79–90
  17. ^Plewczyński 2016,p. 45.
  18. ^Poe, Marshall T. (2001).A People Born to Slavery: Russia in Early Modern European Ethnography, 1478–1748.Cornell University Press. p. 21.ISBN0-8014-3798-9.
  19. ^Archived atGhostarchiveand theWayback Machine:"Присяга на Площади Независимости! Минск 06 сентября 1992 г."YouTube.
  20. ^"День, когда Площадь была заполнена солнцем и народом".
  21. ^"Белорусские офицеры присягнули на верность Родине".
  22. ^"Нову ювілейну монету презентував український Нацбанк"[The new jubilee coin was presented by the Ukrainian National Bank] (in Ukrainian).ТСН.14 October 2014.Archivedfrom the original on 30 May 2021.Retrieved30 May2021.
  23. ^kalagum."Перегляд документа".www.city-adm.rv.ua.Archived fromthe originalon 2016-03-03.Retrieved2016-04-21.
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