Battle of Chmielnik

Infobox Military Conflict
conflict=Battle of Chmielnik
partof=the Mongol invasion of Poland


caption=
date=March 18, 1241
place=Chmielnik
(near Kraków, Poland)
result=Decisive Mongol victory
combatant1=Mongol Empire
combatant2=Poles (from Kraków and Sandomierz provinces)
commander1=Baidar
commander2=Włodzimierz, voivode of Kraków †
Pakosław, voivode of Sandomierz †
strength1=several thousands?
strength2=several thousands?
casualties1=Unknown
casualties2=Heavy

The Battle of Chmielnik occurred on 18 March 1241 during the Mongol invasion of Poland. It ended in the total defeat of the Polish armies of Sandomierz and Kraków provinces. The Mongols were able to move unimpeded, and plunder the abandoned city of Kraków.

Background

The Mongols invaded Poland in early 1240, and were advancing westwards. The Poles had already suffered a defeat (battle of Tursk), and the Mongol forces split into two or three armies, the main of which, under Baidar, was heading towards Kraków (Cracow), a large city (and capital of the fragmented Polish Kingdom) in central-southern Poland (two other Mongol commanders, Kadan and Orda Khan, were advancing more to the north).

Battle

Details of the battle were recorded in the chronicles of Jan Długosz.pl icon [http://www.chmielnik.website.pl/zabhist.htm Historia Chmielnika] (History of Chmielnik) from the town's official pages] Incidentally, the oldest mention of the town Chmielnik dates to the battle. In 1241, it was a village (Chmielnik would gain city rights only in mid-16th century). [pl icon [http://www.wbp-kielce.one.pl/wydaw/Chmielnik.pdf MIASTO I GMINA CHMIELNIK W PUBLIKACJACH. BIBLIOGRAFIA] ]

Polish forces were commanded by the Włodzimierz, voivode (palatine) of Kraków, and Pakosław, voivode of Sandomierz, and represented most of Polish knights from those two provinces (the Kraków Province, also known as the Seniorate Province, and the Sandomierz Province) of fragmented Poland."Bitwa pod Leginicą" Chwała Oręża Polskiego Nr 3. Rzeczpospolita and Mówią Wieki. Primary author Rafał Jaworski. 12 August 2006, p.9 pl icon] Mongols were commanded by Baidar. Duke of Kraków, Bolesław V the Chaste, withdrew prior to the battle and did not participate in it.Richard A. Gabriel, "Subotai the Valiant", Greenwood Publishing Group, 2004, ISBN 0275975827, [http://books.google.com/books?id=ePgHOJs0YU0C&pg=PA112&dq=battle+Chmielnik&lr=&as_brr=3&sig=ACfU3U3ML6tJ5ig0tuXRsNrwo38AasPZ1Q Google Print, p.112] ] Bolesław's escape damaged the morale of the army, and caused many others to withdraw as well, weakening the forces available to Włodzimierz and Pakosław.

While the Polish forces had the advantage in the first phase of the battle, the Mongols, seeing that they would not defeat the Poles in straight combat, feigned a retreat and when the Polish forces begun to pursue them, they were hit by the Mongol's reinforcements and defeated comprehensively. Polish casualties were very heavy (Norman Davies wrote: "At Chmielnik, the assembled nobility of Malopolska perished to a man" [Norman Davies, "God's Playground", Columbia University Press, 2005, ISBN 0231128177, [http://books.google.com/books?id=07vm4vmWPqsC&pg=PA71&vq=chmielnik&dq=battle+Chmielnik&lr=&as_brr=3&source=gbs_search_s&sig=ACfU3U3fZ91MTYxOlfiWdY04puFg4zZxaA Google Print, p.71] ] ), Włodzimierz and Pakosław were slain.

Aftermath

With the defeat of the Polish army, panic spread through the nearby Polish lands. Kraków, one of the largest and most prosperous cities of Poland, was abandoned, as inhabitants fled, and the Mongols spent several days pillaging it and the neighboring hamlets (accounts vary on how soon after the battle Mongols entered the city, but it is certain they were burning it by March 24).

In the modern town of Chmielnik there is a monument dedicated to this battle.

Notes