From the Newsletters on the Initial Period of War between the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth and the Ottoman Empire in 1672–1676

Abstract

In this article, the author examines the newsletters (news, vouchers, information, relays, etc) related to the first year of the Polish-Turkish war in 1672–1676. These documents served as contemporary newspapers, and were more numerous than printed works in terms of both quantity and efficiency. They allow us to reveal the details of the events in the first half of 1672 (before the fall of Kamianets-Podilskyi), during which the Ottoman Empire’s vassals — the Crimean Khanate, Moldova, and Wallachia — were actively engaged. At the same time, they vividly reflect the difficult situation in the Right-Bank Hetmanate, which was forced to fight the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth, the Muscovy, and the Ottoman Empire, which led to the outbreak of internecine struggle. Furthermore, the military and political situation in Podillia and unknown facts about the activities of Hetmans Petro Doroshenko, Mykhailo Khanenko, and colonels (Ivan Sirko, Lysytsia, Kyiashko, and others) are presented. It should be noted that, despite the undoubted positive aspects, newsletters have certain drawbacks that affected the degree of their reliability. First of all, this is the use of rumors, unverified second-hand information, although it was not always possible to verify the information received.