BATTLE // January 1, 1788

Siege of Khotin

Name: Siege of Khotin
Start: 1788-01-01
End: 1788-01-01
Location: Siege of Khotin

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Significance

The siege of Khotyn in 1788 secured a key Ottoman fortress on the Dniester for the allied Habsburg and Russian forces during the concurrent Austro-Turkish and Russo-Turkish wars. An Austrian army of 18,000 marching from Bukovina, joined by an Imperial Russian force under Ivan Saltykov, invested the fortress and compelled the Ottoman garrison to capitulate after holding out for more than two months. The terms of surrender — which permitted the Pasha's forces to march out with flags flying and provided civilian refugees with food and carts — drew widespread European criticism as excessively lenient toward the defeated garrison. Following capitulation, Russian forces occupied Khotyn and held it through the end of the Russo-Turkish war in 1792, making the siege an early operational gain in a conflict that would continue for several years across the region.

Tactics

The Habsburg Austrian army marched from Bukovina to invest the fortress of Khotyn, where it was joined by an Imperial Russian army. The combined allied force besieged the Ottoman garrison inside the fortress, which held out for more than two months before capitulating.