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The Battle of Orsha took place September 8, 1514, between the forces of the Grand Duchy of Lithuania and Kingdom of Poland (less than 30,000 troops), under the command of Hetman Konstanty Ostrogski, and the army of Muscovy under Konyushy (конюший, "Tsar's Equerry") Ivan Chelyadnin (Иван Челяднин) and Kniaz (Prince) Mikhail Golitsa (Михаил Голица). The Battle of Orsha was part of a long chain of wars conducted by Russian tsars striving to gather Old Ruthenian lands under their rule.

The much smaller army of the Grand Duchy of Lithuania and Poland defeated the Muscovite forces and seized their camp, taking the enemy commander captive.

Eve of battle

At the end of 1512 Muscovy began a new war for the Ruthenian lands of present-day Belarus and Ukraine that were part of the Grand Duchy of Lithuania. The fortress of Smolensk was then the easternmost outpost of the Grand Duchy and one of the most important strongholds guarding it from the east. It repelled several Muscovite attacks, but in July 1514 a Muscovite army of 80,000 men and 300 guns besieged and finally captured it. (Some historians claim that the size of Muscovy's army has been overstated: see "Disputed data," below.)

Spurred on by this initial success, the Grand Prince of Muscovy Vasili III ordered his forces farther into Belarus, occupying the towns of Krychau, Mscislau, and Dubrouna.

Meanwhile Poland's King Sigismund the Old gathered some 35,000 troops for war with the eastern neighbor. This army was inferior in numbers, but comprised mostly well-trained cavalry. The forces of the Grand Duchy of Lithuania and Kingdom of Poland placed under the command of Hetman Konstanty Ostrogski included:

• 16,000 horse of the Grand Duchy,
• 14,000 Polish cavalry (light and heavy),
• 3,000 mercenary infantry,
• 2,500 volunteers, mostly from Bohemia.

Marching into Belarus, King Sigismund secured the town of Barysau with a 4,000-strong force, while the main forces moved on to face the Muscovites. At the end of August, several skirmishes took place at crossings of the Berezina, Bobr and Druts Rivers, but the Muscovite army avoided a major confrontation.

Suffering negligible losses, the Muscovites advanced to the area between Orsha and Dubrouna on the River Krapiuna, where they set up camp. Ivan Chelyadnin, confident that the Lithuanian-Polish forces would have to cross one of two bridges on the Dnepr, split his own forces to guard those crossings. However, Ostrogski's army crossed the river farther north via two pontoon bridges. On the night of September 7, it began preparations for a final battle with the Muscovites. Hetman Ostrogski placed most of his 16,000 Lithuanian (Litvin) horse in the center, while most of the Polish infantry and the auxiliary troops manned the flanks. The Bohemian and Silesian infantry were deployed in the center of the line, in front of reserves comprising Lithuanian and Polish cavalry.

Battle

On September 8, 1514, shortly after dawn, Chelyadnin gave the order to attack. The Muscovite forces attempted to outflank the Lithuanians and Poles by attacking the flanks, manned by Polish troops. One of the pincers of the attack was commanded by Chelyadnin personally, while the other was led by Prince Bulgakov-Golitsa. The initial attack failed, and the Muscovites withdrew toward their starting positions. Chelyadnin was still confident that the almost 3:1 odds in his favor would give him the victory. However, preoccupied with his own wing of the Muscovite forces, he lost track of the other sectors and failed to coordinate a defense against the counterattack by the Lithuanian cavalry, which until then had been kept in reserve.

The Lithuanian light horse attacked the overstretched center of the Muscovite lines in an attempt to split it. At the crucial moment the horse of the Grand Duchy seemed to waver, then went into retreat. The Muscovites pursued with all their cavalry reserves. The Lithuanian horse, after retreating for several minutes, chased by the Muscovites, suddenly turned to the sides. The Muscovite horse now found themselves confronted by artillery concealed in the forest. From both sides, Polish forces appeared and proceeded to surround the Muscovites. Chelyadnin sounded retreat, which soon became somewhat panicky. The Muscovite forces were pursued by the army of the Grand Duchy of Lithuania for five kilometers.

Among the reasons of defeat, repeated failures of Chelyadnin and Golitsa to coordinate their actions are mentioned.

According to later Polish chronicles, 30,000 Muscovites were killed in the Battle of Orsha. Additional 3,000 were taken captive, including Chelyadnin himself and 8 other commanders. In addition, the forces of Grand Duchy of Lithuania and Kingdom of Poland seized the Muscovian camp, as well as all 300 cannons.

Aftermath

Upset by the news of such a defeat, Muscovian Grand Prince Vasili III said that "prisoners are as good as the dead" and did not negotiate their return. The Battle of Orsha was one of the biggest battles in Europe in the 16th century. The forces of Ostrogski continued the pursuit of the routed Muscovite army and managed to retake most of the previously-taken castles. However, the forces of PLC were too depleted to successfuly besiege Smolensk before the winter. Also, Ostrogski did not reach the gates of Smolensk until late September, which gave Vasili III enough time to prepare the defence.

In December 1514 hetman Konstanty Ostrogski triumphantly entered Vilnia. To commemorate the victory two Orthodox churches were erected: Church of the Holy Trinity and church of the Saint Nicholas, which are preserved to the modern day and are one of the most impressive pieces of Orthodox architecture.

The war between the Grand Duchy of Lithuania and Muscovy lasted until 1520. In 1522 a cease-fire was signed, in which the Grand Duchy of Lithuania was forced to surrender about one fourth of its Ruthenian possessions together with the city of Smolensk to Muscovy. Smolensk was not retaken until almost a century later, in 1611.

Disputed data

Because of the spectacular defeat, the data about the battle of Orsha was suppressed in Russian chronicles. Even reputabe historians of Russian Empire, such as Sergey Solovyov rely on foreign sources. On the other hand, King Sigismund tried to gain as much political advatage as possible from his victory. Therefore the actual data about the numbers of participants, prisoners and dead are questioned by some modern historians.

In particular, the size of Russian army of 80,000 is thought to be serously exaggerrated. Even Ivan the Terrible, who commanded a larger territory than his father, could never muster more than 40,000 troops, of whom 20% were newly-conquered Tatars and Finns. As a consequene, the number 30,000 of killed is also questioned.

As an indirect proof of exaggerration may be the fact that King Sigismund sent a letter Pope Leo X and other European courts claiming that his army killed 30,000 Muscovites and took prisoner 46 commanders with 1,500 nobles. At the same time, there exist Polish and Lithuanian lists that enumerate all captured nobles by name, 611 persons in all.

References

• The battle was described by Sigismund von Herberstein in his Rerum Moscoviticarum Commentarii (1549) (Notes on Muscovite Affairs).

• Battles
• Polish battles
• Russian wars
• Belarusian history
• Lithuanian history
• Polish history