Chigirin Campaigns of 1677–78

Chigirin Campaigns of 1677–78 

campaigns of the Russian Army and Ukrainian cossacks during the concluding period of the Russo-Turkish War of 1676–81, when Turkish troops undertook two sieges of the city of Chigirin, the most important political and strategic center of the southern Ukraine.

In the first Chigirin campaign, the Turkish Army, commanded by Ibrahim Pasa, advanced from the Danube in late June 1677 and on August 3 laid siege to Chigirin, where it was joined by more than 40,000 Crimean Tatars. The city garrison withstood a number of attacks and undertook several sorties. The joint Russian-Ukrainian forces, led by Prince G. G. Romodanovskii and the hetmán I. Samoilovich, crossed to the right bank of the Dnieper on the night of August 26 and crushed the Turkish Army in a decisive battle.

In the second campaign, the Turkish Army, led by the vizier Kara Mustafa, approached Chigirin on July 9, 1678, and began constructing siege works. The Russian Army, having crossed the Dnieper, won a major battle on July 12. In bitter fighting from August 1 to August 3, the Russian Army repulsed the Turkish Army beyond the Tisman River. However, because Romodanovskii missed the opportunity of completely surrounding the Turkish troops, the Turks seized Nizhnii Gorod, and on the night of August 11, the Russian garrison abandoned the fortress. A new battle on August 19 ended in a Russian victory. On August 20, the Turkish troops began retreating. The reverses suffered by the Turks near Chigirin presaged the failure of the aggressive plans of the Ottoman Empire with respect to the Ukraine.

REFERENCES

Smirnov, N. A. Rossüa i Turtsiia v XVI–XVII vv., vol. 2. Moscow, 1946.
Ocherki istorii SSSR: Period feodalisma, XVII v. Moscow, 1955.