Battle of Zhovti Vody

Battle of Zhovti Vody
Part of the Khmelnytsky Uprising
Attack of the Zaporozhian Cossacks and Crimean Tatars on the Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth
Date 29 April — 16 May, 1648 Location Zhovti Vody, Kyiv Voivodeship, Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth Result Cossack–Tatar victory
Belligerents
Zaporozhian Host Crimean Khanate	Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth
Commanders and leaders
Bohdan Khmelnytsky Mykhailo Krychevsky Maksym Kryvonis Fylon Dzhalaliy Tugay Bey	Stefan Potocki (POW) Stefan Czarniecki (POW)
Strength
4,000–5,000 Zaporozhian Cossacks[1] 3,000–4,000 Crimean Tatars[1]	3,500 Polish–Lithuanian hussars, cavalry and infantry[1]
Casualties and losses
Light	1,700 killed[1] 1,500 defected[1] 300 captured[2]

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The Battle of Zhovti Vody (Ukrainian: Битва під Жовтими Водами, Polish: Bitwa pod Żołtymi Wodami — literally means “Yellow Waters”; 29 April — 16 May, 1648) was the first significant battle of the Khmelnytsky Uprising. Near the site of the present-day city of Zhovti Vody on the Zhovta River in Ukraine, the forces of the Zaporozhian Host and Crimean Khanate under the command of Hetman Bohdan Khmelnytsky, Colonels Mykhailo Krychevsky, Maksym Kryvonis and Fylon Dzhalaliy with Tugay Bey attacked and defeated the Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth's forces under the command of Hetman Stefan Potocki and General Stefan Czarniecki, both of them were captured in the battle by the Zaporozhian Cossacks and Crimean Tatars.

The events took place about 20 miles in the North of the city of Zhovti Vody on the Zhovta River in the present-day on the border between the Kirovohrad Oblast and Dnipropetrovsk Oblast in South–Central Ukraine, where the Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth's forces were attacked and defeated by the Zaporozhian Cossacks and Crimean Tatars. The Registered Cossacks, who were originally allied with the Crown Army, arrived and unexpectedly joined to the forces of the Zaporozhian Host and Crimean Khanate under the command of Hetman Bohdan Khmelnytsky and Khan İslâm III Giray, the Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth’s forces under the command of Hetman Stefan Potocki and General Stefan Czarniecki were annihilated while attempting to retreat in the 18-day battle, only days before the reinforcements were to arrive.