Defensive Battles for Kyiv and Cancellation of the City from the Army of the Grand Duchy of Lithuania 1651

Andrii Gurbyk
Candidate of Historical Sciences (Ph.D. in History), Senior Research Fellow,
Institute of History of Ukraine National Academy of Sciences of Ukraine (Ukraine, Kyiv),
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.15407/ul2017.04.053                

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Abstract

On July 16, 1651, Lithuanian hetman Y. Radziwill left the circle of Chernihiv, as well as Lyubech and Loev, their pledges and moved with the whole army to Kyiv. Part of the carriage, guns and infantry were sent on kayaks on the Dnieper. The main army with a cavalry numbering about 10,000 people moved on the left bank.

The hierarchs of the church – the Metropolitan of Kyiv and the Kyiv-Pechersk Archimandrite did not bless the Cossack detachments in defense of the city, but on the contrary wrote to the Kiev colonel A. Zhdanovich, so that he did not fight with the units of Y. Radzivilla. The Army of the Grand Duchy of Lithuania came to Kyiv on July 24, 1651, and the first clashes with the Cossacks began. Y. Radziwill began preparing an assault, planning to organize an offensive on three sides. F.Garkusha and A.Zhdanovich all day repulsed the attacks of the forces of Radzivil did not wait for help and finally retreated from Kiev. July 25 Y. Radziwill triumphantly entered the Golden Gate to Kiev. Thus ended the first stage of the battle for Kyiv. In general, the surrender of Kyiv caused more moral loss and did not mean a real loss to the war. Many Cossack units blocked the further promotion of Radziwill troops deep inside Cossack Ukraine. For a comprehensive offensive on Kyiv, all new Cossack forces were pulled up into the city. However, the inconsistency of the actions of the Cossacks, the ingenuity of the Lithuanian military powers and the passivity of the Tatars failed several attempts at the liberation of Kiev in early August 1651.

At this time, Y. Radziwill is negotiating a Polish hetman with M. Pototsky, promising the latter to take Kiev instead of the Lithuanian troops. On August 23, 1651, Radziwill, at the head of the 2000 detachment, was forced to leave Kiev and set off in the direction of Vasilkov for a meeting with the Crown Army, leaving the main forces and troops in the city. Subsequently, the main troops turned on, rushed from Kyiv to join the Crown Army, which took place on September 3 under Germanovka. After long negotiations and periodic battles of Ukrainian troops with the Polish-Lithuanian Army on September 18, 1651, the Bila Tserkva Treaty was signed.

In general, after the severe defeat near Berestechko (June 1651), the battle for Kiev in the summer of 1651 and the rise of the people’s war, in fact, saved the Cossack state from the destruction. The active hostilities of the Ukrainian regiments smashed the Lithuanian army in the city and forced it later to escape and connect with the Polish army.

 

Keywords

Grand Duchy of Lithuania, Ukrainian Hetmanate, Kiev, Army, Battle, Cossacks.

 

Archives

Archiwum Główne Akt Dawnych w Warszawie [Main Archive of Early Acts].
Архів Інституту історії України Національної академії наук України [The Archives Institute of History of Ukraine National Academy of Sciences of Ukraine].
Biblioteka Ks. Czartoryskich w Krakowie [The Princes Czartoryski Library in Krakow].
Центральний державний історичний архів України, м. Київ [The Ukraine State Historical Archive in Kyiv].
Львівська національна наукова бібліотека України імені В. Стефаника. Відділ рукописів [Vasyl Stefanyk National Scientific Library of Ukraine in Lviv. Department of Manuscripts].
Інститут рукопису Національної бібліотеки України ім. В. І. Вернадського [Manuscript Institute of the V. Vernadsky National Library of Ukraine].

 

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