Battle of The Vorskla River - Aftermath

Aftermath

Vytautas barely escaped alive, but many princes of his kin (including his cousins Demetrius I Starszy and Andrei of Polotsk) and allies (as for example, Stephen I of Moldavia and two of his brothers) died in the battle. It is estimated that some 50 dukes fought under Vytautas' banners and about 20 of them were killed. The victorious Tatars besieged Kiev, but it paid a ransom. The Tatars pillaged as far west as Lutsk, in pursuit of Tokhtamysh, who spent the next seven or eight years in hiding and was assassinated in 1407 or 1408.

Vytautas' defeat at the Vorskla effectively blocked Lithuanian expansion to southern Ruthenia. His state also lost access to the Black Sea as the Tatars reconquered the southern steppe all the way to Moldavia; land that was not reclaimed until the Crimean Khanate broke away from the Golden Horde some forty-two years later. After the battle, Yury of Smolensk revolted from Lithuania and Smolensk was not recaptured for five years. Veliky Novgorod and Pskov also rebelled against Lithuanian rule drawing Vytautas into a war with the Grand Duchy of Moscow.

Vytautas was forced to abandon his plans to break the Union of Kreva and to ally himself once again with his cousin and King of Poland Jogaila. The Polish–Lithuanian union was reaffirmed in the Union of Vilnius and Radom. Vytautas also turned his plans from expansion southwards to east (against Moscow) and west (against the Teutonic Knights). It is suggested that Vytautas learned the staged retreat tactic during the battle and successfully used it himself in the Battle of Grunwald (1410), one of the largest battles in medieval Europe and important defeat of the Teutonic Knights.