Polish-Ottoman War

The Battle of Bratslav, one of the most decisive battles in the war

Belligerents| **Ottomans*** Crimea
* Nogai
* Tlemcen
	+ Novgorod (Swedish vassal)
	+ Norway (Swedish vassal)
	+ Livonia (Swedish vassal)

Commanders and leaders| Leaders:**Ahmed II** of Ottomans (also commander)Commanders:* Numan Abaza of Ottomans
* Huseyin Ohrili of Ottomans
* Celaleddin Salih of Ottomans
* Seyfeddin Oruc of Ottomans
* Junayd Essaid of Crimea

Commanders:* Mariusz Drzewicki of Poland
* Igor Lubranski of Poland†

Admirals:* Zygmunt Tyzenhaus of Poland

Strength| **Ottomans: 150,000 men, 84 ships*** Crimea: 12,000 men, 20 ships
* Nogai: 9,000 men
* Tlemcen: 10,000 men, 17 ships
	+ Novgorod: 2,000 men, 5 ships
	+ Norway: 2 ships
	+ Livonia: 1,000 men, 1 ship

Casualties and losses| **Total: 186,000+ men*** Ottomans: 72,829 men
* Crimea: 21,953 men
* Nogai: 14,924 men
* Tlemcen: 15,089 men
* Sweden: 3,764 men
The **Polish-Ottoman War** was a war between Poland and the Ottomans over Lesser Poland and Galicia-Volhynia.

## Background

The Ottomans have been expanding everywhere for a long time, and in Europe have successfully taken eastern Hungary (i.e. Transylvania) and southern Austria. Their next target would be Poland, who was strong but not strong enough. Their allies England and Sweden were already fighting in the Transatlantic War, and only the latter nominally joined the war against the Ottomans.

## The War

War was declared on 8 October 1589. Poland took the initiative and besieged Zemplen. The Polish took the initiative and besieged Zemplen in Ottoman-owned Slovakia. The fortress fell on 19 April 1590, after which the Poles targeted Dalmatia. It took until August for the Ottomans to properly counterattack and attempt to retake Zemplen, and even then only a force of 13,000 men were sent, a small amount compared to their massive army.

Poland also attacked Crimea and occupied lands the latter took from Lithuania in the Lithuanian-Crimean War. During this time of distraction, the small 13,000-strong force - which was led by the extremely talented general Numan Abaza - besieged Warsaw itself. They were terribly defeated though, a shock to the Ottoman government.

Crimean troops besieged Podole but were attacked by Polish and Swedish troops. The combined forces then attacked the Crimeans again in neighboring Bratslav, ending in a decisive victory. Just afterwards though, the main Ottoman force attacked them, and the Poles and Swedes were forced to retreat to Drakestad.

Nogaian troops invaded Polish Russia, specifically Ryazan, but retreated due to the advancing Polish armies. Ottoman troops renewed their invasion of Galicia-Volhynia, and Crimea attacked Polish Russia again. Swedish troops, who were hiding in Nya Stockholm, retreated to Sweden proper. The Ottomans continued their invasion and occupied Warsaw on 22 December 1592.

By the time the Transatlantic War ended, the Ottomans had occupied more than half of Poland proper and Polish Russia. Polish troops attacked the Ottomans at Osterode on 20 September 1593, but they were beaten, with Polish general Igor Lubranski being killed. Ottoman troops then besieged Nya Stockholm, which fell after just two months on 27 November. Other forces led by Seyfeddin Oruc attacked Swedish Pomerania and Livonia. Polish troops did attempt to take back their lands, but Aleksander I famously said regarding this that "It's just a lost cause".

## End

The Treaty of Constantinople was signed on 15 March 1595, which ended the Polish-Ottoman War. Poland had to cede Przemysl and Nowy Sacz to the Ottomans. They also had to give Kuma, Kudak, Tyn, Tichorieck, Lower Don, and Bachmut to Crimea.