Battle of the Vorskla River

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The Battle of the Vorskla River occurred on August 12, 1399, near the Vorskla River in what is now Ukraine. It was a clash between the Golden Horde, led by Edigu and Temür Qutlugh, and a large Lithuanian-led Crusader army commanded by Vytautas the Great, with Tokhtamysh seeking to retake the Horde’s throne. The fight also drew in forces from the Polish–Lithuanian alliance, Ruthenian principalities, Moldavia, Wallachia, and the Teutonic Order.

Background
Tokhtamysh had been toppled by Temür Qutlugh and Emir Edigu after a split with his former master, Timur. Tokhtamysh fled to Lithuania and asked Vytautas for help in exchange for giving up his control over Ruthenian lands. Vytautas aimed to expand his power and gathered a large allied army that included Lithuanians, Ruthenians, Poles, Moldavians, and Wallachians. To win Teutonic Knights’ support, Vytautas signed the Treaty of Salynas, surrendering Samogitia. He also forged a coalition that planned several campaigns into Tatar territory from 1397 to 1399, reaching the Black Sea and Crimea and even as far as the Don River. In May 1399 Vytautas received a papal blessing for what he called a “Crusade against the Tatars,” seeking international legitimacy for his campaign.

The Battle
On August 5, 1399, Vytautas’s forces met the Tatars on the Vorskla River, just north of Poltava. Temür Qutlugh proposed a three-day truce to gather stronger forces, a tactic intended to deceive Vytautas. Vytautas planned to use a wagon fort and artillery to break the Tatars’ charge. Although Vytautas’s army was well equipped, it was smaller. The Tatars pretended to retreat but then attacked Vytautas from the rear with Edigu’s reinforcements, surrounding the Lithuanian army. Tokhtamysh fled the field as the battle turned against them. The Tatars used their artillery to destroy the Lithuanian cavalry and captured the wagon fort. Vytautas barely escaped, while many princes and allied leaders were killed, including some of his relatives and notable nobles. Eleven Teutonic Knights were killed as well.

Aftermath
The Tatars besieged Kiev and raided west as far as Lutsk. The victory restored Tatars’ control of southern lands and the Black Sea coast, interrupting Lithuanian expansion. Smolensk, Novgorod, and Pskov rose in revolt against Lithuania, drawing Vytautas into conflict with Moscow. The Lithuanian realm lost some of its momentum toward becoming a major power in the south, and Moscow benefited by staying strong against Lithuania. The Polish–Lithuanian union continued, but Vytautas redirected his efforts toward facing Moscow and the Teutons rather than expanding southward. The battle’s tactics, especially the use of a feigned retreat, influenced Vytautas’s later campaigns, including the famous Battle of Grunwald in 1410. In the wake of the conflict, some of the people captured during Vytautas’s campaigns formed refugee communities, such as Lipka Tatars and Crimean Karaites, who survive to this day.