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11 June in military history: Battle of Hodów, 1694

Military history · 11 June · Polish-Ottoman WarFull calendar

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Map marking the battle site: Hodów (today Hodiv), Podolia, in western Ukraine
Location: Hodów (today Hodiv), Podolia, in western Ukraine. Location map: © Echoes of Battle (data: Natural Earth, public domain)
Quick answer

On 11 June 1694, during the war between the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth and the Ottoman Empire, a Tatar horde returning from a raid into Ruthenia trapped Polish cavalry from the frontier fort of Okopy Świętej Trójcy at the village of Hodów. Barricaded in the village, the horsemen beat off assaults for hours until the Tatars withdrew.

Battle of Hodów 1694: A Few Hundred Poles vs a Tatar Army

11 June 1694 · 332 years ago

Eleven years after the relief of Vienna, the war with the Ottoman Empire and its Tatar allies still went on.

Read the full story of Battle of Hodów 1694: A Few Hundred Poles vs a Tatar Army ›

Battle of the Riachuelo, 1865: the river battle that turned the Paraguayan War

11 June 1865 · 161 years ago

In the Paraguayan War, Paraguayan gunboats towing floating batteries, helped by guns on shore, attacked the Brazilian squadron on the Paraná near the Riachuelo. The Brazilians beat them off after fierce fighting, and the defeat began to turn the war against Paraguay.

Read the full story of Battle of the Riachuelo, 1865: the river battle that turned the Paraguayan War ›

Also on this day

1940: Malta received the first of its many air raids early in the morning, when ten Italian aircraft attacked the island, and more raids followed the same day. Its only fighters were a few Fleet Air Arm Gladiators taken out of packing cases and flown by volunteers; three of them came to be known as Faith, Hope and Charity.1

Frequently asked questions

How many Tatars attacked at Hodów?

Nobody knows. On 11 June 1694 Jan Stanisław Jabłonowski noted news of a sultan with 30,000 men, the king later spoke of 40,000 and the monument says 70,000. The historian Zbigniew Hundert holds that the number cannot be fixed and cites a suggestion that some 4,000 Tatars took part.

Were the defenders of Hodów all hussars?

No. The Okopy cavalry was a mixed force of hussars, pancerni and Wallachian light horse, and Hundert argues that at most one Okopy soldier in four at Hodów can have been a hussar.

Who commanded the Poles at Hodów?

Zahorowski commanded the cavalry of Okopy Świętej Trójcy, and Tyszkowski led the men from the Szaniec Panny Marii. Tyszkowski was taken prisoner.

Is there a monument at Hodów?

Yes. King John III Sobieski raised it in 1695, and the renovated obelisk was unveiled in 2014.

Notes

A number in the text points to a note; each note names the works that paragraph draws on, listed in full under Sources.

  1. I. S. O. Playfair et al., “The Mediterranean and Middle East, vol. I, chapter VI”; “Luchtaanvallen op Malta”; Denis Richards, “Royal Air Force 1939-1945, vol. I”; Richard Raskin, “Five explanations as to who named Malta’s Gloster Gladiators Faith, Hope and Charity in 1940-1941”. ↩

Sources

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