This war, according to many historians, was the first attempt of Russia’s appearance towards the southern borders and the assertion of Russians on the shores of the Bosphorus, an attempt to completely liberate the Slavic lands from the unbearable Turkish yoke. The reunification of Russia and Ukraine in 1654 did not bring the long-awaited peace in this region. The Ottomans and Poles wanted to snatch their piece from the cake, so the population of Right-Bank and Left-Bank Ukraine did not know peace from either Poland or the Ottoman Empire.
And the Cossacks regularly showed their displeasure with the Pereyaslav agreement. In February 1667, the Andrusovsky truce (for 13.5 years) ended the war between Russia and Poland. According to the agreement, the Left Bank remained to the Russian Tsar, and the Right Bank of Ukraine remained to Poland. Kiev was to be Russian, but only 2 years old. Turkey was eager to intensify the confrontation between Poland and Moscow and gain complete control over the territory of Right-Bank Ukraine, in this it was facilitated by the ambitious hetman Petro Doroshenko, who announced in 1669 that Ukraine would be transferred to the Ottoman Empire.
Having established itself in the south of Little Russia, the Turks, together with the Crimean Tatars, unceremoniously began to threaten both Polish and Ukrainian territories, which could not but cause a military conflict. Doroshenko, who sought to take power over all of Ukraine, openly fomented a civil war. Having settled in Chyhyryn, which had by then become the capital of the Right Bank, he constantly opposed Little Russian Cossacks.
A conflict was brewing, which in 1672 developed into an armed attack by the Turks and their vassals of the Crimean Tatars on the Commonwealth. The Turkish onslaught ended with a peace treaty in Buchach, according to which Podolia left the Ottoman Empire, and the Cossacks received the Bratslav and Kiev voivodships. But it did not bring satisfaction to either side, the conflict was growing.
Inevitability of war
The Ottoman Empire was clearly preparing for expansion north of the Black Sea. Turkey, which promised Doroshenko to return the Left Bank and Kiev at the end of the war with Poland, was actively discussing plans for their conquest. In addition, the Bashkirs, Astrakhan and Kazan Tatars insisted on freeing them from the Gentiles. Tsar Alexei Mikhailovich considered that only war can resolve the conflict situation in Ukraine.
Unable to achieve results in the search for allies, in December 1672 he issued a decree on preparations for war with the Ottoman Empire and the Crimean Khanate. It was necessary to protect the Orthodox population of Podolia and help the Polish king. The meeting of the Boyar Duma on December 18 marked the beginning of the collection of the military tax. Russia was on the verge of war.
Year 1673 - on the eve of victories and defeats
The year was marked by campaigns of Russian troops towards Kiev (the army under the command of Prince Yu. P. Trubetskoy), and detachments were sent to the Don. Despite Russia's demands to cease hostilities, the Crimean Tatars, led by Khan Selim Gerai, attacked the Belgorod cut-off line, partially destroying it in the area of Novy Oskol. But, fearing complete encirclement, they considered it necessary to retreat.
In Ukraine, dissatisfaction with the Turkish occupation increased, Ottoman atrocities crossed all borders, Podolia, included in the Ottoman Empire, moaned under the yoke, all the fortresses on its territory were destroyed, the Turks offered Doroshenko to destroy all right-bank fortresses, leaving only Chigirin. He was leaning more and more toward Moscow, while demanding a number of privileges for himself, but by this time many of his associates had taken the side of the Russians, and his authority was noticeably shaken.
The first campaign of the Russian troops
In the winter of 1674, the first Chigirinsky campaign took place. Under what king did these events take place? When Fedor Alekseevich. The war brought the first successes. The troops of G. G. Romodanovsky and I. Samoilovich successfully crossed the Dnieper and occupied Cherkasy and Kanev almost without resistance.
The Tatars who tried to help Doroshenko were defeated, and then finished off by local residents. Only two regiments remained faithful to Doroshenko - Pavolochsky and Chigirinsky. And on March 15 in Pereyaslav, elected Cossacks of the right-bank regiments elected I.S. to the post of hetman of both sides. Samoilovich, at the same time the conditions were accepted subordination of the Cossacks of the Right Bank of the Moscow Tsar.
Strategic City
May brought new successes in the Chyhyryn campaign (briefly about these events - hereinafter). The Russians again crossed the Dnieper and, breaking the Janissary, were able to capture I. Mazepa, who was sent to the Crimean Tatars for help. On July 23, Russian-Ukrainian forces besieged Chigirin, a city strategically important for both sides, which has since become the center of hostilities. But the superior Turkish offensive forces of Fazyl-Ahmed Pasha crossed the Dniester and entered Ukrainian territory.
The population hoping for Russian help desperately resisted Ottoman aggression, as a result of which seventeen cities were ravaged and destroyed, while the population was driven into slavery. There was no mercy for men, in Uman they were all brutally carved to one. A few Russian army had to lift the siege of the city and retreat to Cherkasy, but they could not resist here. Without waiting for reinforcements, after minor battles with the Turks, it was decided to burn the city and, taking the population, cross to the Left Bank.
Second Chigirinsky campaign of Russian troops (1676)
The next two years of the war took place in the Polish territories - In Podolia and Volhynia, where the Turkish army and the Crimean horde conducted offensive operations. In March 1676, Ivan Samoilovich, at the head of 7 regiments, approached Chigirin, but it never came to military action against Doroshenko, obeying the tsar’s decree, he retreated and went on to negotiate, trying to bring the enemy to submission.
Rumors about the movement of the Ottoman forces forced Moscow to send the troops of Vasily Golitsyn to reinforce the army of Romodanovsky and Samoilovich’s detachments, which allowed the latter to go on the offensive on Chigirin, having first sent Kasogov’s army and Polubot forward and forced Doroshenko to surrender and swear allegiance to the Russian Tsar, which happened on September 19 .
The Turks were unhappy with the outcome of the second Chigirinsky campaign (1676-1677), but preferred to solve the Polish question first. Polish troops were surrounded in the Lviv region and surrendered. As a result of the Chigirinsky campaign (1677), Podolia and most of the Right Bank were again transferred to the Ottoman Empire. How did events develop further?
Ottoman troops: their first Chigirin campaign
The Russian-Turkish war continued. Having occupied Chigirin, the Russian regiments under the command of Shepelev and Kravkov actively began preparations for the defense. With great difficulties, guns and fortifications were repaired, supply issues were resolved. In Chigirin 3 rifle orders were sent (2,197 people), and 4 Cossack regiments (450 infantry people) were sent by the hetman Samoilovich, and a little later another 500 Cossacks.
At the time of the siege, the forces of the defenders were about 9,000 men, commanded by A.F. Traurnicht, and a military engineer Jacob von Frosten was sent to help him. The army of Ibrahim Pasha, in May, marching to Ukraine, amounted to 60 thousand people. Therefore, the task of the defenders was to withstand the arrival of the main forces - the armies of Romodanovsky and Golitsyn.
Under siege
The siege began on August 5, the same day the Turks sent a demand for surrender. Having been refused, they began to bombard the city with heavy guns, which led to significant destruction. But Traurnicht managed to strengthen the fortifications, and a new shaft, poured three meters behind the fortress wall, made it possible to install guns that immediately hit the enemy. On August 8, Yuriy Khmelnitsky addressed the besieged , whom the Turks proclaimed the hetman of Ukraine, but his speeches calling for the surrender of the city were unsuccessful.
Sagittarius and Cossacks tried to attack the enemy, but their attacks did not succeed. The Turks managed to blow up the fortress wall and attack the breach, but they were thrown back. On August 17, the Turks made another assault attempt, blowing up 8 fathoms of the wall, and again failure.
Last assault
On August 20, the besieged met reinforcements — a detachment of Colonel F. Tumashev. And on August 23, artillery volleys were heard from the Dnieper - Russian-Ukrainian troops reached the great river. The Turks tried to prevent the crossing of the army, but failed. The last assault on the fortress did not bring Ibrahim Pasha success, although it was the most bloody. On August 29, the Turkish camp was burned, and the Ottoman troops hastily retreated. The Russian army and Cossacks entered Chigirin on September 9.
Ottoman Second Campaign
Knowing that the Turks would try to take revenge, Romodanovsky and Samoilovich strongly recommended strengthening Chigirin, which was done. I.I. Rzhevsky, who became the head of the garrison, took care of the supply of gunpowder, weapons and food. In July 1678, Chigirin was again besieged by the Turkish-Crimean army, but this time it was headed by the great vizier Kara-Mustafa. Almost simultaneously, Russian troops and the Ottoman army approached the fortress.
Turks and Tatars attacked the troops of Romodanovsky and Samoilovich, military operations were with varying success, and on August 3, after exhausting battles, the Russian troops captured Strelnikova mountain, connecting with the garrison. On August 11, the systematic destruction of the city by troops of both armies began, the garrison retreated, connecting with the main force of the Russian troops, which began to retreat to the Dnieper, pursued by enemy troops.
The outcome of the war
The defeat in the Chigirin campaigns (date - 1674-1678) predetermined the end of the war. Everyone needed the world. The Turkish protectorate over Right-Bank Ukraine was restored. On December 22, the messenger Vasily Daudov went to Istanbul with peace offers. After protracted negotiations, Russia was forced to agree to Turkish conditions. Only two years later, on January 13, 1681, the Bakhchisaray peace treaty was signed. The war ended in a draw, only the entire Right-Bank Ukraine, devastated and plundered, licked its wounds.