Hajdúk a kozákok ellen Bethlen Gábor első Habsburg-ellenes hadjárata idején
Hajduk against Cossacks during Gábor Bethlen's first anti-Habsburg campaign

Summary/Abstract: To compensate for the lack of mobility of the imperial army during the Thirty Years War, imperial generals hired Cossack light horsemen, who were tasked with neutralizing the Hajduk, who employed similar tactics. But the Cossacks proved to be less effective because – as opposed to the Hajduk – they were fighting on foreign land, for a foreign ruler and a foreign religion, which substantially limited their military performance and reliability. As waging open battles were not among their strengths, the presence of the Cossacks on the Habsburg side was actually more important psychologically, but with their independent operations and frequent disobedience to orders they caused a lot of trouble to Ferdinand II. Primarily this is what explains why the emperor was quick to urge their dissolution once serious danger was over. But it must be noted that ultimately it was the foreign conflicts of 1619–1920, the defeat of the Bohemians at White Mountain, the Sultan's fiasco against the Rzeczpospolita at Chocim in 1620 and the counterattack of Ferdinand II, that forced the Transylvanian prince to a compromise. In all these events the Cossacks played a decisive role. After the pacification of the Bohemian and Moravian territories, the Cossacks became an uncomfortable burden for the Emperor, so they were quickly dismissed. This way, ultimately it was the absence of the Cossack auxiliary troops that forced the imperial government to sign the Treaty of Nikolsburg with Gábor Bethlen.

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