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Events on Wednesday 7 October 1620 2
1547 – 1620Stanislaw Zolkiewski (1547-1620)Died 7 October 1620, aged 73Zolkiewski served as Grand Hetman of the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth and led its forces against Ottoman and Tatar armies in Moldavia. He was killed covering the retreat of his defeated army at the Battle of Cecora, and his severed head was reportedly sent to Constantinople as a trophy. His death removed the Commonwealth's most experienced commander on the eve of the larger Ottoman invasion of 1621.
1620Battle of CecoraOttoman and Tatar forces defeat a Polish-Lithuanian army in MoldaviaAn Ottoman and Crimean Tatar army destroyed a Polish-Lithuanian expeditionary force near the Prut River in Moldavia. Grand Hetman Stanislaw Zolkiewski was killed covering the retreat, and the defeat opened the way for a much larger Ottoman invasion of the Commonwealth the following year. It was the opening engagement of the Polish-Ottoman War of 1620-1621.