Cecora, Battle of
.jpg&page=pages%5CC%5CE%5CCecoraBattleof.htm&id=1828&pid=14073&tyt=Cecora,%20Battle%20of&key=Cecora%2C+Battle+of "Jozef Brandt: Struggle for the Turkish Banner (Battle of Cecora).")
Cecora, Battle of. During the Polish-Turkish War of 1620–1, which was started by Turkey in an attempt to annex Ukraine, a battle took place near the Moldavian village of Ţuţora [Cecora], not far from the town of Iaşi on the Prut River. On 20 November 1620 the Turkish-Tatar army, numbering close to 40,000, surrounded the advancing Polish-Cossack army, numbering about 8,400, under the leadership of Crown Hetman Stanisław Żółkiewski. The Polish-Cossack army retreated in disorder and was completely crushed. Żółkiewski died in battle, as did Mykhailo Khmelnytsky, the father of Bohdan Khmelnytsky. B. Khmelnytsky was captured and spent the next two years as a Turkish prisoner. After the battle the Tatars ravaged a large part of Podilia and eastern Galicia.
[This article originally appeared in the Encyclopedia of Ukraine, vol. 1 (1984).]