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9 October in military history: the Peace of Khotyn, 1621, and the Battle of Lesnaya, 1708

Military history · 9 October · Great Northern War · Full calendar

By Echoes of Battle

Eighteenth-century engraving of the Battle of Lesnaya seen from a wooded rise: Tsar Peter and his mounted staff in the foreground watch long lines of infantry advancing through smoke across a wide plain and woods, with a large oak at the right and a Russian inscription along the bottom.
A Russian print of the battle. The inscription describes the fight between part of the Russian army under the tsar's command and the Swedes of General Count Lewenhaupt at the village of Lesnaya, two miles from Propoisk, “on the 28th day of September 1708”, the Old Style date. Rijksmuseum, Amsterdam (RP-P-1965-385), CC0 public domain dedication.
Quick answer

On 9 October 1621 the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth and the Ottoman Empire signed the peace that ended the siege of the Polish camp at Khotyn. On 9 October 1708 Peter the Great caught Lewenhaupt's Swedish corps and its supply train at Lesnaya, the battle he later called the mother of Poltava. Each battle has its own full story below.

Khotyn, 1621

After a last failed assault on 28 September, Sultan Osman II opened talks with the Polish-Lithuanian army entrenched at Khotyn on the Dniester. The peace signed on 9 October restored the prewar situation and left Moldavia under Ottoman control.1

Read the full story of Khotyn, 1621 ›

Lesnaya, 1708

A Russian flying corps under Peter the Great caught General Lewenhaupt's Swedish corps escorting a great supply train to Charles XII near the village of Lesnaya, in today's Belarus. The Swedes held the field at nightfall but then abandoned their wagons and guns, and Lewenhaupt reached the king with about half his men.2

Read the full story of Lesnaya, 1708 ›

Also on this day

  • Battle of Schleiz, 1806. At Schleiz, a Prussian and Saxon division under Tauentzien ran into part of Bernadotte's French corps in the opening clash of the 1806 war against the Fourth Coalition. Tauentzien fell back, Murat pursued and cut off a Prussian battalion, and the allies retreated north to Auma.

Frequently asked questions

How did the siege of Khotyn end in 1621?

After a last failed Ottoman assault, Sultan Osman II opened talks, and the peace signed on 9 October 1621 restored the prewar situation and confirmed the border.

Khotyn, 1621 ›

Why did Peter the Great call Lesnaya the mother of Poltava?

Because the loss of the convoy weakened Charles XII's army before Poltava, and because his troops had beaten a Swedish army in a formal battle without greatly outnumbering it.

Lesnaya, 1708 ›

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. John Rickard, “Battle of Chocim, September to 9 October 1621 (NS)”; dzieje.pl, “W Łazienkach Królewskich otwarto wystawę poświęconą bitwie pod Chocimiem”. ↩
  2. John Rickard, “Battle of Lesnaja, 9 October 1708 (NS)”; State Russian Museum, catalogue entry for Alexander von Kotzebue, “Battle Between the Russians and the Swedes at Lesnaya”. ↩

Sources

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