How the Cossacks drove the Turks out of Azov, and why the Russian army could not do it

2024 Author: Richard Flannagan | [email protected]. Last modified: 2023-12-15 23:55

Speaking about the most striking episodes from the history of the Cossacks, it is worth remembering the glorious Azov seat. In terms of the level of heroism and tension shown, this event is equated by historians only with the Great Siege of Malta. The defense of the Azov fortress by the Cossacks was important for the entire Russian state and played on the international image of the country. The huge army of the Ottoman Empire was defeated by the free Cossacks, and attempts to regain their former borders led to an even more shameful flight of the Turks.

Attractive countryside and impregnable Turkish fortress

Since ancient times, the area in which Azov is located has attracted different peoples. The gateway to the Sea of Azov located on a hill made it possible to control the surroundings. The owners in the settlement changed regularly. Once these lands were occupied by the Pontic king. After the Greeks, the Italians came, then Azov was controlled by the Russians, and later the Horde took the upper hand. In 1471, the Turks settled here, sparing no effort and finances to build fortifications. Under them, a stone fortress with three dozen towers and a wide moat appeared in the city.

At least 4 thousand Ottoman soldiers held the defense with 200 guns of all calibers. The Turks were provided with ammunition and food for the year ahead. But despite the seriousness of the fortifications and preparation, the fortress was often subjected to Cossack raids. During the attacks of 1625 and 1634, the Cossacks even managed to partially destroy the stone walls. The Turkish Azov blocked the way for the Cossacks to the Sea of Azov, so they decided at all costs to get rid of the strangers.

Distracting the Turks to the Persians and a chance for the Cossacks

In 1637, the Turkish sultan conceived a joint campaign with the Crimean Khanate against the Persians. Having made peace with the Commonwealth, Murad relaxed and did not see the threat to the local controlled lands. This moment became decisive - the gathering of the troops began on the Don. Up to 5 thousand Don Cossacks, about a thousand Zaporozhye Cossacks, as well as Don traders and artisans volunteered to go to Azov. Taking Mikhail Tatarinov as chieftain, the volunteers set out on a campaign.

The cavalry was walking along the bank, the infantry with a hundred cannons moved along the river. On April 21, the siege of the city began, at the same time fortifications, embankments and ditches were erected. A month later, help came from Voronezh from the tsar - provisions and ammunition. When they realized that the fire on the fortress was ineffective, they set about digging. The operation was successful, and part of the fortress wall collapsed. In the resulting 20-meter gap, the Cossack units went headed by the chieftain. The city was noisy with street hand-to-hand fighting, and from the back side the Cossacks stormed Azov with the help of ladders. A few days later, the city came under Cossack control. The new masters freed up to 2 thousand Orthodox slaves and captured a couple of hundred Turkish cannons. Losses in the Cossack army reached a thousand people.

New sultan and new solutions

Cossacks ran Azov for 5 years. Their forces restored the historic Cathedral of St. John the Baptist, built a new church for Nicholas the Pleasant, and Azov was declared a free Christian city. This place attracted thousands of merchants from Kafa, Kerch, Taman, thanks to which the Azov marinas were teeming with many goods. But the Cossacks understood that the enemy would not accept the loss of such a fertile land and sooner or later would return again. When the Turkish sultan sent claims to the Russian tsar, he literally renounced involvement in the conquest of Azov and stated that the Cossacks acted without permission. The Sultan, confident that the Cossacks were deprived of the royal support, ordered the Crimean army and the soldiers of Temryuk and Taman to return Azov. But the initiatives of the field hordes were easily repulsed by the Cossacks, and the Turkish satellites were massively captured.

Soon Murad was succeeded on the throne by his brother. He did not take into account the severity of his own external situation and announced the preparation of a mass march on Azov. In 1641, the Pasha's army moved to the Cossack lands. Not counting the mercenaries from Venice, Moldovans and Vlachs, the Turkish army numbered at least 40 thousand janissaries with spagi, half a hundred thousand Crimean Tatars and up to 10,000 Circassians. The fleet delivered to Azov over 100 thousand break-through cannons with two-pound cannonballs, up to 700 small-shell cannons and several dozen incendiary mortars. Azov had a personnel of seven thousand, headed by Ataman Petrov. Moreover, about 800 of them were women.

Persistent 24/7 attacks and Turkish shame

On the first day, about 30 thousand Pasha soldiers stormed the fortress. The Cossacks threw back the enemy with cannon fire, rushed at those who approached the walls in hand-to-hand combat, chopped down the janissaries. On that day, the number of Turks decreased by 6 thousand. Defeated from the start, they switched to siege tactics, erecting multiple fortifications and preparing for a long confrontation. Cossacks from the adjacent territories also came to the rescue, cutting off the connection of the Turks with the Crimea and striking at the rear. But with many times superior forces, the enemy managed to simultaneously erect high ramparts along the fortress walls and prepare for the bombing. Mortars threw bombs at Azov, hundreds of heavy cannons broke down the Cossack walls, methodically destroying them to the ground. But the Cossacks held on, pouring a new and new rampart behind each broken fortification.

Squeezed between the Cossacks, the Turks began to experience food shortages. And with the arrival of autumn, their ranks were thinned out by an aggressive epidemic. And while the enemy was dealing with the existing problems, the Cossacks, as they say, buried themselves in the ground. Having equipped fire shelters, dwellings and underground passages below ground level, they cut out the enemy during night sorties.

The pasha's new tactics did not help either - daily to send 10 thousand fresh rested soldiers to the assault. Of course, the Cossacks had a hard time, about half were already dead, they ran out of ammunition and food, but the Azov sitting continued. Disappointed in this operation, the Crimean Khan could not stand it first, removing his army and going home. The desperate Pasha continued his continuous attacks. It got to the point that, seeing no other way out, the Turks began to bribe the defectors.

But even here they were in for a failure - there were no people willing to betray their brothers for a lot of money. At some point, the Cossacks also lost heart, for a long time living beyond the limits of human capabilities. Having written a farewell letter to the tsar and the patriarch, the surviving soldiers moved forward to meet the enemy. But approaching the enemy's positions, the Cossacks found an empty Turkish camp. It so happened that a few hours earlier, the Pasha declared the siege over and led the army to the ships. Exhausted, but inspired by such a miracle, the Cossacks found the strength to rush in pursuit. Having overtaken the enemy, the soldiers who withstood a three-month siege turned the Turks into panic and flight. Escaping, they crushed each other and overturned boats.

So the fight against the Azov defenders ended in complete defeat for the arrogant janissaries. According to various estimates, the Turks lost from 20 to 60 thousand of their people, retreating in disgrace.

By the way, even today we know very little about the Ottoman Empire. For example, about the simple fact that some sultans were brought up in cages.