Battle of the Cosmin Forest

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Battle of the Cosmin Forest
Date October 26, 1497 Location Cosmin Forest, Ukraine Result Moldavian victory
Combatants
Kingdom of Poland	Principality of Moldavia
Commanders
King John I Albert Stanisław Chodecki	Stephen III of Moldavia
Strength
90 000	38 000
Casualties
5 000	minimal

The Battle of the Cosmin Forest (1497) (Romanian: bătălia de la Codrii Cosminului; Polish: bitwa pod Koźminem) was fought between the Moldavian Prince, Ştefan cel Mare (Stephen the Great), and King John I of Poland (John Albert) of the Kingdom of Poland. The battle took place in northern Moldavia, about 50 km north of the-then capital of Suceava (Polish: Suczawa), in the hills between Adâncata (nowadys Hlyboka), situated in the valley of the Siret river, and Cernăuţi (nowadays Chernivtsi), situated in the valley of the Prut river, and resulted in a major victory for Moldavia.

[edit] Reasons for the war

After the Moldavian loss of Chilia and Cetatea Albă, the Ottoman threat seemed more evident. Albert was suzerain of Moldavia, and, when Ştefan asked him for military assistance, they met, in 1494 at the conference of Levoča, where together with King Ladislaus II of Hungary and Elector Johann Cicero of Brandenburg, they forged plans for an expedition against the Porte. The objective was to recapture Chilia and Cetatea Albă. However, in unexplained circumstances, Ştefan received misleading reports from Hungary that Albert prepared to place his own brother, the Polish prince Sigismund (later king, as Sigismund I the Old), on the Moldavian throne^{[citation needed]}.

Albert managed, in 1496, to gather 80,000 men and was preparing for the expedition when Ştefan invaded Galicia and pillaged it^{[citation needed]}. The plans for the Ottoman invasion were put aside and Albert went against Moldavia, instead. After the abortive siege of Suceava, his forces were compelled to retreat through Bukovina to Sniatyn, harassed all the way by the forces of the prince.