Battle of Kagul

Battle of Cahul
Battle of Kagul, by Daniel Chodowiecki
Date 1 August 1770 (21 July at Julian Calendar) Location Kagul River, southern Bessarabia Result Decisive Russian victory
Belligerents
Russian Empire	Ottoman Empire Crimean Khanate
Commanders and leaders
Pyotr Rumyantsev	Ivazzade Halil Pasha
Strength
42,000, 118 guns	Ottoman: 75,000, of them 50,000 infantry Tatar: 80,000-100,000 cavalry
Casualties and losses
ca 1,500 killed and wounded[citation needed]	20,000 killed and wounded, 2,000 taken prisoner, 130 guns lost[citation needed]

The Battle of Cahul (Russian: Сражение при Кагуле) was the most important land battle of the Russo-Turkish War, 1768-1774 and one of the largest battles of the 18th century. It was fought on 1 August 1770 (21 July at Julian Calendar), just a fortnight after the Russian victory at Larga.

The Russian commander Pyotr Rumyantsev arranged his army of 40,000 soldiers in solid squares and surprisingly chose to go on the offensive against the allied forces of the Khanate of Crimea and the Ottoman Empire, which consisted of 30,000 Ottoman infantry and 45,000 Ottoman cavalry. About 80,000 Crimean Tatar cavalry were deployed within 20 km from the battlefield but they did not engage in battle.

The comparatively small Russian army assaulted the Ottomans and put them to flight. The Russian casualties were 1,000, while casualties on the Ottoman side amounted to over 20,000 soldiers killed and wounded. In the wake of this victory, the Russians captured 130 Ottoman cannons and overran all major fortresses in the region - İşmasıl (now Izmail), Kilya (now Kilia), Akkerman (now Bilhorod-Dnistrovskyi), Ibrail (now Brăila), Isaccea, and Bender.^{[citation needed]} On the same day four years later, Russian and Ottoman empires signed the Treaty of Küçük Kaynarca ending the war.

Sources

• Media related to Battle of Kagul at Wikimedia Commons
• (Russian) "Cyrill and Methodius" Encyclopedia: "The battle of Kagul"