Tatar Logistics

In contrast to the little-studied archives, literary sources (European and Turkish travellers' accounts, historians, and polemicists) and ethnograph­ic sources (Ukrainian, and to a much lesser extent Polish and Russian historical songs) give a detailed and vivid picture of Tatar raids and Turk­ish captivity, and testify to their importance in the general history of the Ukrainian Steppe.

The first kind of raid - a sefer - engaged the entire military might of the Horde. These raids were led either by the khan himself or a high-ranking member of his clan, either the kalga sultan (second in the line of succession) or the nurredin (third). They sought plunder and captives but also had mili­tary and political objectives. For example, these ventures could put military or political pressure on an opponent, draw his forces from another theatre of operation, affect territorial arrangements, or simply cripple or destroy his defences. Very often such operations were coordinated with foreign allies or followed an “invitation” from the Ottoman sultan. They caused enormous devastation by fire and sword and killed or abducted thousands of people. Podhorodecki estimated an average of about five thousand prisoners from each such expedition.²⁵

A mid-sized expedition (chapul, hence the Ukrainian chambuly) involved a few thousand Tatars led by some aristocrat, a bey or a mirza. These were principally for plunder, but also applied military and economic pressure and extracted “gifts” for the Tatars. If continuing over a long period, they could even rearrange territorial holdings. Of course, such attacks were much less destructive, but, well organized, a single one could take as many as three thousand yasir.²⁶

A small raid - besh bash (five heads) - was the most frequent type and needed only a few hundred or, at most, a few thousand attackers.

The Tatar armies were made up of mounted archers, and always travelled light and fast. Mobility and surprise were their advantages, but a determined enemy, even small groups of Cossacks or other soldiers equipped with firearms, could easily deflect them or force them to retreat empty-handed. The Tatars almost always avoided strong points and fortresses, and the agricultural Slavs could usually retreat to such places.²⁸

Crimean Tatars followed many “paths” (really general directions, avoiding river crossings) to the populated regions of northern Ukraine and neighbouring lands, but used especially three on the right bank of the Dnieper and one on the left. The “Black Path” (Chornyi Shliakh) led through Cherkasy, Korsun, Kyiv, and then swung sharply west to Lviv; the Kuchman path ran from Ochakiv on the Black Sea through Bar and then to Lviv in Red Rus'; the Volos, or Pokuttia, path followed the Dniester River to Lviv. The left bank of the Dnieper offered only the Muravian Path (Muravskyi Shliakh). These four main routes covered the enormous area from the confines of ethnic Poland to the southern borders of Muscovy, and the Tatars, travelling swiftly by day or night, often took Ukrainian villagers by surprise.²⁹

Once they had arrived in the area to be ravaged, the Tatars established a main base (kosh) from which they fanned out over the countryside looting and pillaging where there was no resistance, and bypassing any defended locations. Having captured as much plunder and as many captives as pos­sible, the Tatars bound or chained their prisoners and, herding them like cattle, retreated by forced marches as quickly as possible. The Habsburg diplomat Sigismund von Herberstein and other sources seem to imply that the very young, the old, the infirm, and anyone who might delay the retreat were dispatched immediately, and without mercy.³⁰