After a month-long siege, over 8,000 Polish hussars along with Lithuanians and Cossacks, halted the Ottoman army from invading Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth.
The battle, though officially a draw, forced the Ottomans to give up their dreams of adding Poland to their realm, and gave Poland its self-image of being the defender of Christianity in Europe.
As 'TheFirstNews' writes: Poland had enjoyed a long period of peace with the Ottomans. However, the 16-year-old Sultan Osman II wanted to prove himself in war, and persistent raiding by Cossacks, then nominal subjects of the Commonwealth, on Turkey's northern coast gave him the excuse he needed.
On 20 September 1620, an Ottoman army under the command of Iskender Pasha routed the Commonwealth army at the Battle of Cecora which allowed Tatar raiders to ravage southern Poland. The campaign was suspended for the winter. Both sides resumed hostilities in 1621.
In April 1621 an army of 120,000–160,000 soldiers, led by Osman II, advanced from Constantinople towards the Polish frontier. To stop this army the Commonwealth sent 25,000 Polish-Lithuanian armies joined by 20,000 Kosak army.
On September 2, around noon, the Sultan's army reached the Chocim fortress.
Day after day, until the beginning of October, Polish troops repelled the assaults of the Turkish army. By October 9, the two sides decided that further fighting was futile and signed an honorable peace.
After Poland recognized Turkish sovereignty over Moldavia and undertook to restrain the Cossacks from raiding southern Turkey. The Turks would stop the Tatars from raiding Poland. The Dniester remained the border between the two states. The relative peace lasted until 1683.
