Battle of the Alma (1628)
| Battle of the Alma | |||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Part of the Crimean campaign (1628) and the Ottoman-Crimean-Zaporozhian conflict (1624-1629) | |||||||||
Cossack hetman Mykhailo Doroshenko | |||||||||
| |||||||||
| Belligerents | |||||||||
|
Zaporozhian Cossacks Supporters of Mehmed III[a] |
Budjak Horde Ottoman Empire Supporters of Canibek Giray | ||||||||
| Commanders and leaders | |||||||||
|
Mykhailo Doroshenko † Olifer Holub † Moyzhenitsa Shahin Giray | Khan Temir (WIA) | ||||||||
| Strength | |||||||||
|
4,000 Cossacks[b] Several artillery pieces | Way more than the Cossacks | ||||||||
| Casualties and losses | |||||||||
| 100 to 1,000 killed |
200 killed 12 cannons[2] | ||||||||
The battle of the Alma (Ukrainian: Битва на Альмі) was a battle that took place on 31 of May, 1628 between a 4,000-strong army of the Zaporozhian Cossacks led by hetman Mykhailo Doroshenko and a colonel Olifer Holub, and the Budjak Horde army of Khan Temir, supported by the Ottoman janissaries. In the course of battle, Zaporozhian Cossacks defeated the army of Khan Temir, which allowed them to lift the siege of Bakhchysarai. Despite the victory in this battle, both Mykhailo Doroshenko and Olifer Holub were killed, and the Cossack campaign itself eventually ended in a failure.
Background
The Ottoman−Crimean confrontation was going on since the year 1623, when Mehmed III Giray was elected as a khan. His Pro-independence and Anti-Ottoman policy did not fit the sultan's interests, he decided to overthrow him. In the spring of 1624, the Ottoman army led by Topal Recep Pasha invaded Crimea and declared about the installation of Canibek Giray on the Crimean throne. After Mehmed Giray refused, the Ottoman army started incursion into the Crimean territory. Near Karasubazar his army was attacked by the Zaporozhian Cossacks and the Crimean cavalry, which forced him to withdraw from Crimea and recognise Mehmed III as a khan. Soon after that, Shahin Giray and Mykhailo Doroshenko signed a treaty between the Zaporozhian Sich and Crimean Khanate, which was however broken by the Crimean side under the pressure of Poland-Lithuania that was fighting the Cossack rebels of Marko Zhmaylo.[3] In 1628, the Ottoman army once again started preparations for a replacement of Mehmed with Canibek Giray, leading to a new conflict between the two states. This time however, Mehmed Giray had much less support than in 1624, most of the Crimean Tatar nobility joined the side of Canibek, this was also accompanied by an unsuccessful attempt of Shahin Giray to force Khan Temir to fulfill his obligations in the face of Crimean Khanate. Shahin's campaign failed and led to Khan Temir's invasion into Crimean peninsula.[4] Soon, the Nogai army, supported by the Ottoman janissaries, laid siege on the khan's capital Bakhchysarai. Mykhailo Doroshenko found out about the situation in Crimea from Bolgar-Murza, who was sent by Mehmed Giray to Zaporozhia in order to negotiate.[4]
Battle
At the end of May, Doroshenko's army destroyed Aslan-Kerman and approached Perekop, where they were encircled by Nogai forces. The Cossacks had built up a defensive camp and started moving towards Bakhchysarai while repelling Nogai attacks.[5] At the Alma river near Bakhchysarai, a general battle took place − Doroshenko's army was attacked by the main forces of Khan Temir, who had left only a small regiment near Bakhchysarai.[5] As a result of the battle, Khan Temir's army was humiliated, he himself was wounded and forced to flee. It is known that the Cossacks used heavy artillery during their clashes with the Nogais.[6][7] The Cossacks lost, according to different sources, 100,[2] 200[8][7] or 1,000[5][1] people in this battle.
Aftermath
Following the battle, the Cossack army entered Bakhchysarai and united with the army of Mehmed III Giray, who had only several hundred men with him.[5] The united army then advanced towards Kaffa. Near the city, they once again defeated Khan Temir's army, almost killing him.[5] However, as soon as the Ottoman fleet of 25 ships, accompanied by the land armies of Huseyin Pasha and Kenan Pasha, started approaching Kaffa, a large part of Mehmed's army went over to Canibek's side,[5][9] which forced him to flee his camp together with some of his supporters. After that, the Cossack forces and Shahin Giray started their retreat towards Zaporozhia. Devlet Giray's attempts to pursuit them ended in a failure.[5] Canibek reached Bakhchysarai on 9 of July and was officially installed on the Crimean throne.[10] From Zaporozhia, Mehmed and Shahin Giray's continued their attempts to reclaim the government in Crimea - in November of 1628 the 14,000-strong Crimean-Cossack army invaded Crimea but was defeated at Perekop by the forces of Canibek Giray and Khan Temir.[3] Another attempt to invade Crimea took place in May of 1629, however, because of Mehmed's attempt to surrender to Canibek, he was killed by the Cossacks,[3][9] while Shahin Giray fled to Persia.[9]
See also
Notes
References
- ^ a b Smoliy 2014, p. 126.
- ^ a b "Перед Хмельниччиною. Життя за друзів". Крым.Реалии (in Ukrainian). 2022-10-02. Retrieved 2025-08-26.
- ^ a b c "Участь козаків у війнах за межами України в першій половині XVII ст. - Курс української історії: З найдавніших часів до ХХ ст. - 1998". uahistory.co (in Ukrainian). Retrieved 2025-08-26.
- ^ a b Redaktor (2020-07-09). "«Попереду Дорошенко веде своє військо...»: 390 років походу на Крим". Культура. Голос Криму (in Ukrainian). Retrieved 2025-08-26.
- ^ a b c d e f g "Том VIII. Розділ I. Стор. 6. Михайло Грушевський. Історія України-Руси". litopys.org.ua. Retrieved 2025-08-26.
- ^ Redaktor (2022-01-21). "Козаки Михайла Дорошенка: від Юрмали до Бахчисарая". Культура. Голос Криму (in Ukrainian). Retrieved 2025-08-26.
- ^ a b Букет, Євген. "Видатний полководець Михайло Дорошенко — засновник гетьманської династії" (in Ukrainian). Retrieved 2025-08-26.
- ^ "31.05.2021". Інститут Військово-Морських сил (in Ukrainian). 2021-05-31. Retrieved 2025-08-31.
- ^ a b c "Центр информации и документаци крымских татар". cidct.org.ua. Archived from the original on 2010-09-03. Retrieved 2025-08-26.
- ^ "83 Numaralı Mühimme Defteri", Başbakanlık Osmanlı Arşivleri Genel Müdürlüğü, Transkripsiyon, Ankara (2001), s. XV
Bibliography
Smoliy, V.A. (2014). Крим: шлях крізь віки. Історія у запитаннях і відповідях – 456 с. (PDF). Інститут історії України.