Siege of Velikiye Luki 1580
Recorded location from Wikidata; battle sites are often approximate.
Key facts
| Year | 1580 | Wikidata P585 (point in time) |
|---|---|---|
| Era | Early modern (1500–1799) | derived from year |
| Location | Russia | Natural Earth (modern borders) |
| Continent | Europe | Natural Earth |
| War / conflict | Livonian War | Wikidata P361 |
| Participants | Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth, Tsardom of Russia | Wikidata P710 |
| Coordinates | 56.3500, 30.5167 | Wikidata P625 |
About the battle
The siege of Velikiye Luki was one of the battles of Livonian campaign of Stephen Báthory. It took place between 1 and 5 September 1580, and ended in Polish-Lithuanian victory. Forces of the Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth captured the Russian fortress of Velikiye Luki.
On 18 July 1580, King Stefan Batory called a council of his hetman, during which two plans were designed - either to march towards Pskov, or to attack Smolensk. After a discussion, a compromise was achieved, in which capture of Russian-held Velikiye Luki was designed. After the siege, Polish-Lithuanian forces were to march towards Pskov, to cut links between Livonia and Russia.
The fortress of Velikiye Luki, located by the Lovat River, was made of wood and earth. Next to it, a wooden town stood, which was burned by the Commonwealth forces so as it would not give cover to the defenders. The siege began on September 1 with an artillery barrage and infantry attack. Velikiye Luki was set in flames, and the still burning fortress surrendered on September 5. Hungarian mercenaries, who were first to enter it, began widespread looting, not paying attention to the fire, which in the meantime reached the gunpowder magazine. The magazine exploded, killing app. 200 Poles and Hungarians, together with defenders of the fortress.
Text adapted from the Wikipedia article Siege of Velikiye Luki (revision 1370746271), licensed under CC BY-SA 4.0. Changes: excerpted from the article lead section; formatting and citations removed. No text added.
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Other battles of the Livonian War
- Siege of Narva (1558) 1558
- Battle of Ērģeme 1560
- Siege of Fellin (1560) 1560
- Battle of the Ula 1564
- Siege of Reval (1570–1571) 1570
- Battle of Lode 1573
- Siege of Wesenberg (1574) 1574
- Battles of Wenden (1577–1578) 1578
- Siege of Narva (1581) 1581
- Siege of Pskov 1581
All 11 battles of the Livonian War →
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