In early 1595 Sigismund Báthory, Prince of Transylvania, convinced Ștefan Răzvan, a commander of Hungarian mercenaries in the service of the Hospodar Aaron the Tyrant to rebel.

In response the Ottoman Sultan Mehmed III, who had been Aaron's protector and sovereign, decided to put an end to the ongoing power struggles in Moldavia, Wallachia, and Transylvania between various magnates.

The Ottoman intervention aroused alarms in the Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth which sought to reestablish its influence in the region, having lost sovereignty over Moldavia some hundred years earlier after the Battle of the Cosmin Forest.

[2] After the victory of the Polish army at Cecora and the recognition of Ieremia Movilă as hospodar, Moldavia became a de facto Polish-Ottoman condominium, paying tribute to the Ottomans while at the same time being a vassal state of the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth.

The shelling was followed by a counterattack by the Transylvanian cavalry, which was smashed by Potocki, the Poles broke into Răzvan's camp, who defended himself bravely although he had to give way and retreat with the remnants of his troops.