Raid on Balta

Raid on Balta
	Part of the Koliivshchyna
Date	June 1768
Location	Balta, Ottoman Empire (now Ukraine)
Result	Haidamak victory The onset of the diplomatic crisis between Russia and the Ottoman Empire and its escalation into War;
Belligerents
Haidamaks (disputed, see Aftermath)	Ottoman Empire; Crimean Khanate
Commanders and leaders
Semen Shylo	Yakub-aga Rudzevich
Casualties and losses
Unknown	Entire garrison killed
	about a thousand civilians killed

The Raid on Balta (Ukrainian: Напад на Балту) was a military action by the insurgent Haidamaks as a part of Koliivshchyna, when the Haidamak rebel units attacked the city of Balta, which at the time was a part of the Ottoman Empire, defeated the Tatar garrison in the city and sacked it.

Background

In response to the szlachta's repression against the Ruthenians, a large uprising, known as Koliivshchyna began, the rebels captured a large part of the Right-Bank Ukraine, including Smila, Korsun, Zhabotyn and Cherkasy.^[2] The Haidamaks committed mass murders against the Polish and Jewish population of the Right-Bank Ukraine, which forced the civillians to escape, sometimes to the Ottoman territory.

Attack

In mid-June 1768, soon after the massacre at Uman, a detachment of Zalizniak's haidamaks was pursuing some Confederates through Podolia toward the Kodyma River. According to other version, the Haidamaks entered the Ottoman territory after the kaymak of Balta refused to give up the Poles who had attacked the village of Paliyeve Ozero together with Tatars before this.^[3] The Haidamaks had entered the town of Balta on the Moldavian side of the border,^[4]^[1] defeated the Tatar garrison and killed approximately a thousand of civillians.^[1] Another unit of Haidamaks led by colonel Nezhyvyi attacked the town of Golta near Balta and massacred Poles and Jews there.^[4]

Aftermath and controversy

Following the attack, Insurgents murdered the Jewish civillians in the city and retreated on the Haidamak-controlled territory.^[3] Haidamak action became a pretext for the new Russo-Turkish war.^[5] It is not certain about who were actual perpetrators. Several sources claim that the perpetrators were Haidamaks who were chasing the Confederates,^[4]^[2]^[3]^[6]^[7] however some sources claim that the attack was carried by the Zaporozhian Cossacks on the service of Russia.^[8]^[9]^[5] It is also mentioned that the hetman of Ottoman Ukraine, Yakub-aga Rudzevich caused the attack himself and then sent false claims about the "Cossack raid", which caused the crisis and eventually a war between the Russia and the Ottoman Empire.^[7]^[10]

References

^ ^a ^b ^c Davies, Brian L. (2016-01-28). The Russo-Turkish War, 1768-1774: Catherine II and the Ottoman Empire. Bloomsbury Publishing. p. 12. ISBN 978-1-4725-1415-8.
^ ^a ^b "КОЛІЇВЩИНА". resource.history.org.ua. Retrieved 2025-05-22.
^ ^a ^b ^c Yaromenko, I. B. (2018). Напад гайдамаків на м. Балта в 1768 р. (PDF). K. D. Ushinsky South Ukrainian National Pedagogical University.
^ ^a ^b ^c Гайдамацький рух на Уманщині. Коліївщина 1768 року : Хрестоматія. Ministry of Education and Science of Ukraine; Pavlo Tychyna Uman State Pedagogical University. 2002. p. 45.
^ ^a ^b Martin Sicker (2000). The Islamic World in Decline. Praeger. pp. 69–70. ISBN 3540606912.
^ "Петро Мірчук. Коліївщина. - [9] До окремих питань Коліївщини". exlibris.org.ua. Retrieved 2025-05-25.
^ ^a ^b Грибовський, Владислав (2019-01-01). "Єврейський сюжет у «Балтській справі» 1768 року". Грибовський В. Єврейський сюжет у «Балтській справі» 1768 року // Запорожские еврейские чтения. Сборник статей и материалов (19–20 апреля 2019 г.). Днипро: Украинский институт изучения Холокоста «Ткума», 2019. С. 40–53.
^ Kolodziejczyk, Dariusz (2011-06-22). The Crimean Khanate and Poland-Lithuania: International Diplomacy on the European Periphery (15th-18th Century). A Study of Peace Treaties Followed by Annotated Documents. BRILL. ISBN 978-90-04-19190-7.
^ Steinberg, John W. (2024-01-11). The Military History of the Russian Empire from Peter the Great Until Nicholas II. Bloomsbury Publishing. ISBN 978-1-350-03720-5.
^ Gribovskiy, V.V. (2017). "Якуб Рудзевич на службе Крымскому ханству". KiberLeninka. pp. 74–75.

[:10-1] Davies, Brian L. (2016-01-28). The Russo-Turkish War, 1768-1774: Catherine II and the Ottoman Empire. Bloomsbury Publishing. p. 12. ISBN 978-1-4725-1415-8.

[:2-2] "КОЛІЇВЩИНА". resource.history.org.ua. Retrieved 2025-05-22.

[:1-3] Yaromenko, I. B. (2018). Напад гайдамаків на м. Балта в 1768 р. (PDF). K. D. Ushinsky South Ukrainian National Pedagogical University.

[:0-4] Гайдамацький рух на Уманщині. Коліївщина 1768 року : Хрестоматія. Ministry of Education and Science of Ukraine; Pavlo Tychyna Uman State Pedagogical University. 2002. p. 45.

[:3-5] Martin Sicker (2000). The Islamic World in Decline. Praeger. pp. 69–70. ISBN 3540606912.

[6] "Петро Мірчук. Коліївщина. - [9] До окремих питань Коліївщини". exlibris.org.ua. Retrieved 2025-05-25.

[:4-7] Грибовський, Владислав (2019-01-01). "Єврейський сюжет у «Балтській справі» 1768 року". Грибовський В. Єврейський сюжет у «Балтській справі» 1768 року // Запорожские еврейские чтения. Сборник статей и материалов (19–20 апреля 2019 г.). Днипро: Украинский институт изучения Холокоста «Ткума», 2019. С. 40–53.

[8] Kolodziejczyk, Dariusz (2011-06-22). The Crimean Khanate and Poland-Lithuania: International Diplomacy on the European Periphery (15th-18th Century). A Study of Peace Treaties Followed by Annotated Documents. BRILL. ISBN 978-90-04-19190-7.

[9] Steinberg, John W. (2024-01-11). The Military History of the Russian Empire from Peter the Great Until Nicholas II. Bloomsbury Publishing. ISBN 978-1-350-03720-5.

[10] Gribovskiy, V.V. (2017). "Якуб Рудзевич на службе Крымскому ханству". KiberLeninka. pp. 74–75.

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