AN INTERESTING PAINTING

[Jim McDougall]

We crossed posts Norman, WOW!! there are some fantastic illustrations!!!!

[Norman McCormick]

Originally Posted by Jim McDougall

We crossed posts Norman, WOW!! there are some fantastic illustrations!!!!

Hi Jim,
Thanks, I find these illustrations/paintings helpful in understanding how weapons were worn and seeing the accessories carried in support e.g. powder horns etc. As always these types of images can be subject to artistic license but if you look at a lot of different ones you can usually get a good general idea of what is in all probability correct.
My Regards,
Norman.

[Jim McDougall]

Originally Posted by Norman McCormick

Hi Jim,
Thanks, I find these illustrations/paintings helpful in understanding how weapons were worn and seeing the accessories carried in support e.g. powder horns etc. As always these types of images can be subject to artistic license but if you look at a lot of different ones you can usually get a good general idea of what is in all probability correct.
My Regards,
Norman.

Absolutely excellent point Norman!!! As with most research, several concurrences usually will strengthen the proof factor. Most importantly as you well note, these works offer fantastic context to the weapons we collect and study, as well as perspective into those who used them.

All the best,
Jim

[spiral]

Heres some of the paintings I was thinking of...

linky

The "living" quality of the art is amazing!


Also One of my favourites by Gerome...{bad photo sadley...}

No one still living can paint like these men did .... sadley the Same as many other lost craft skills we admire on this forum including including jewellery & steel forging metal working skills.. {IMHO] { I realise not everyone agrees...}

Spiral

[Ibrahiim al Balooshi]

The Battle of Berestechko (Polish: Bitwa pod Beresteczkiem; Ukrainian: Берестецька битва, Битва під Берестечком) was fought "after a two-year truce", between the Ukrainian Cossacks, led by Hetman Bohdan Khmelnytsky, aided by their Crimean Tatar allies, and a Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth army under King John II Casimir.

Fought over three days from 28 to 30 June 1651, the battle took place in the Polish province of Volhynia, on the hilly plain south of the Styr River. The Polish camp was on the river opposite Berestechko and faced south, towards the Cossack army about two km away, whose right flank was against the Pliashivka (Pliashova) River and the Tartar army on their left flank. It was, very probably, the world's largest land battle of the 17th century.

This description of the battle comes from Wikepedia and the actual report contains superb order of battle diagrams I show below thus, please see http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_of_Berestechko though I should go on to unroll the entire battle here ~

The number of Polish troops is uncertain. One of the senior Polish commanders on the day, Duke Bogusław Radziwiłł, wrote that ~

The Polish army had had 80,000 soldiers, which included "40,000 regulars and 40,000 nobles of the levy en masse, accompanied by roughly the same number of various servants, footmen, and such." Modern historians Zbigniew Wójcik, Józef Gierowski, and Władysław Czapliński have reduced this figure to 60,000-63,000 soldiers.

The Cossack army totaled 80,000 men, including 28,000-33,000 Tatars and an uncertain number of Ukrainian peasants or as much as 100,000 men, most of them low-grade foot troops, plus 40,000 to 50,000 allied Crimean Tatar cavalry and a few thousand Turks and Vlachs, for a total of 200,000.

Both sides had about 40,000 cavalry. Fighting was close, with the core of excellent Cossack infantry making up for the weakness of their cavalry; much of the decisive fighting was by the infantry and dismounted dragoons of each side.

To be continued...

[Ibrahiim al Balooshi]

The Battle of Berestechko Part 2.

The Armies
On 19 June 1651, the Polish Army numbered 14,844 Polish cavalry, 2,250 German-style cavalry, 11,900 German-style infantry and dragoons, 2,950 Hungarian-style infantry (haiduks), 1,550 Lithuanian volunteers, and 960 Lipka Tatars. In addition there was a huge militia force, of limited value, numbering 30,000 noblemen of the levée en masse.

The Polish commanders were hoping to break into the Cossack ranks with an impetuous charge of the famous Polish 'Winged' Hussars - a tactic proven effective in many previous battles, including Kircholm, and Kłuszyn (and which would later prove successful at the 1683 Battle of Vienna against the Turks). The Cossack army were well acquainted with this Polish style of war fare, having much experience of fighting against the Poles and alongside them. Their preferred tactic was to avoid an open field battle, and to fight from the cover of a huge fortified camp.

First day of battle
2000 Polish cavalry (one regiment under the command of Aleksander Koniecpolski, supported by Jerzy Lubomirski, six pancerni cavalry companies of Jeremi Wiśniowiecki and Winged Hussars under the command of Stefan Czarniecki ) repulsed the Tatars, who suffered heavy losses. During the first day of "skirmishes by the Tatar and Cossack vanguard regiments", the Poles were victorious "since their army sustained that first attack cheerfully and in high spirits".

Second day of battle
The Poles, encouraged by their success on the first day, deployed all their available cavalry against the "main Tatar horde" and "Cossack vanguard regiments". The Polish infantry and artillery remained in camp and didn't support the cavalry. This time, Tatar cavalry gained the upper hand, pushing the Poles back to their camp but were then "barely repelled" by heavy fire from the Polish infantry and artillery. The Poles lost 300 soldiers, including many officers of "caliber", and the "escort troop of Hetman Mikolaj Potocki". During the second day of the battle, the rebels were victorious, although "the Tatars, too, were unpleasantly surprised by the determination and endurance of the Polish army in both battles and, having suffered rather painful losses of their own; they lost heart".

Third day of battle
The "king insisted, at a night council, on engaging the enemy in a decisive battle the next day, Friday, 30 June". The Polish army appeared out of the "morning mist in full strength" but only the Tatars engaged in skirmishes which were met by the Polish artillery. At 3 p.m. Duke Jeremi Wiśniowiecki led a successful charge of 18 cavalry companies against the right wing of the Cossack-Tatar Army and "the zealous cavalry attack was a success: it broke up the rows of Cossack infantry and the wagons moving in coraal formation". The Polish infantry centre, under the personal command of King John Casimir, advanced slowly forward and "drove the Tatars from the field". During the fighting, a Polish nobleman called Otwinowski noticed the Tatar Khan's standard, and Polish artillery was directed to fire at it. A Tatar standing next to the Khan fell dead. With the battle already turning badly, the Tatar forces panicked, "abandoning the Khan's camp as it stood", with the Khan taking Khmelnytsky and Vyhovsky hostage. With their cavalry support gone, the Cossack wagon-fort, containing the vast bulk of the Cossack army now stood isolated on the battlefield, and in effect was under siege by the Polish army.

The siege of the Cossack wagons
The Polish army and Cossack camp exchanged artillery fire for ten days while both sides built fortifications, the Polish intent to establish a blockade of the camp. Their leadership being without Khemlnytsky, the Cossacks were commanded by Colonel Filon Dzhalalii, but after a few days he was replaced by Ivan Bohun but some accounts state it was Matvii Hladky. When terms for surrender failed and the Poles dammed the Pliashivka River so as to flood the Cossack Camp, the Poles prepared to attack on July 10, while the Cossacks prepared to flee across the river.

When Bohun "went to the crossing point with two thousand cavalrymen and several cannon", the Cossacks thought the officers were fleeing and "everyone panicked in desperation and began to flee wherever he could, worse than at Pyliavtsi". The Polish forces attacked the panicked Cossacks and the battle turned into a slaughter with more than 20,000 killed or drowned. "Khmelnytsky's tent was captured intact, with all his belongings", which included two banners, one he received from John II Casimir's 1649 commission and one from Wladyslaw IV in 1646.

Regards,
Ibrahiim al Balooshi.

[Ibrahiim al Balooshi]

One of the most significant yet little known tactics employed by the Cossacks was the mobile fortress. This system of wagons created a defensive square or triangular perimeter of collosal proportions and able to withstand bombardment and attack ...with all round defence depth mutual support and interlocking\overlapping arcs of fire, principles still used by modern armies to this day. In many ways this was the fore runner to the devastating Waterloo Square formations. They looked like this~

[Ibrahiim al Balooshi]

[KraVseR]

Norman McCormick, I don't see Zaporozhian cossacks on your images. I see only greek and ottoman warriors.

Generally Repin's painting causes great controversy in its historicity. In any case, that's funny reconstruction of this famous painting: