Cossack raid on Istanbul (1615)

Raid on the capital of the Ottoman Empire

Map of Istanbul which was attacked and burned by the Cossacks during the campaign

Date	June 1615
Location	Istanbul, Scutari District, Marmara Region, Ottoman Empire
Result	Cossack victory

Belligerents

Zaporozhian Cossacks

Ottoman Empire

Commanders and leaders

Petro Konashevych-Sahaidachnyi

Ahmed I

Hasan Pasha (POW)

Ali-Pasha (WIA)

Strength

~4,000
80+ boats

Unknown

Casualties and losses

Unknown

Several killed, wounded and captured

10+ galleys destroyed
100+ boats destroyed

The Cossack raid on Istanbul (Ukrainian: Козацький рейд на Стамбул, Turkish: İstanbul'a Kazak baskını; June 1615) led by Petro Konashevych-Sahaidachnyi on the capital of the Ottoman Empire as a part of the Cossack Naval Campaigns. The Cossacks on the Chaykas attacked the harbor of the city and burned it, capturing the Admiral Hasan Pasha during the unsuccessful counterattack done by the defenders. During the naval campaign, several Ottoman personnel were killed, wounded and captured cause of the defending and counterattacking. After which the attackers successfully returned back with a looted property.

Background

The Cossack communities emerged in the fourteenth century in the Ukrainian steppe by the Dnieper River. The Cossacks developed highly militaristic communities largely responsible for raids on Tatars. Neighboring states, including the Kingdom of Poland, employed them in times of conflict. In the 1500s, the Cossacks frequently attacked the Crimean Tatars and Ottomans with the intention of plundering treasure and liberating Christian slaves. By the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries, the Cossacks began raiding communities in the Black Sea, including the cities of Varna, Perekop, Bilhorod, Izmail, and Trebizond.

Raid

In May 1615, a group of Cossacks embarked to Turkey on eighty small boats, each one carrying approximately 50 men. By mid-June they crossed the Black Sea and landed in the vicinity of Constantinople. The Cossacks captured and set on fire the Istanbul neighborhood of Scutari (now Üsküdar), as well as the ports of Mizevna and Archioca. After raiding the city, the Cossacks returned to Ukraine.

Sultan Ahmed I, noticing smoke from his windows caused by the fire, sent a fleet of galleys in pursuit. The Ottomans caught up with the Cossacks at the mouth of the Danube. However the Cossacks defeated them and the admiral of the fleet was captured.

Aftermath

The raid strengthened the morale of the Cossacks, who were now successfully attacking strongholds which neither the Holy Roman Empire nor the Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth dared to attack. European diplomats brought news of the Cossack raid to the West. French historian Michel Baudier wrote: "The mere mention of Cossacks brings dread and terror to Constantinople".

As retribution, Ahmed I sent a fleet under the command of Admiral Ali-Pasha the following year with the intention of raiding the Cossacks at Dnieper. They were met by chaikas under the command of Konashevich-Sagaidachny. The Cossacks again defeated the Ottomans, seizing a dozen galleys and nearly a hundred boats. Ali-Pasha narrowly escaped.

The Cossacks subsequently blockaded the Crimean Peninsula and attacked and conquered Kaffa, which was at the time one of the most important Turkish ports on the Black Sea and a center of the Ottoman slave trade.

Sources

1. Крип'якевич І., Гнатевич Б. та ін. Історія українського війська. – Львів, 1992. – С.193-194

2. Davies, Brian (2014). Warfare, State and Society on the Black Sea Steppe, 1500–1700. Routledge; 978-1-134-55283-2. pp. 24-25

References

Stone, Daniel (2014). The Polish-Lithuanian State, 1386-1795. Seattle: University of Washington Press. p. 146. ISBN 978-0295980935.
Prazmowska, Anita (2011). A History of Poland. New York: Palgrave Macmillan. p. 102. ISBN 9780230252356.
Stone, p. 146.
Imber, Colin (2009). The Ottoman Empire, 1300-1650: The Structure of Power. New York: Palgrave Macmillan. p. 66. ISBN 978-0230574502.

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