The Smolensk War

Russia in the 17th century, weakened by the internal social crisis and Polish-Swedish intervention, was forced to put up with its territorial losses: Yai, Koporye, Ivangorod, and Smolensk, the Chernigov lands withdrew to its neighbors - Sweden and the Commonwealth. In the south the country was tormented by Crimean Tatars ...

At the same time, the country was not able to solve all these three tasks, and its priority was determined based on the international situation and its resources.

In the thirties of the 17th century, after the death of Sigismund, there was a very favorable situation in which to return Smolensk. Zemsky Sobor supported the decision of the government, and in 1632 the Smolensk War began, the goal of which was the return of the lands seized from it during the Troubles.

The adoption of such a lightning-fast decision was also greatly facilitated by the fact that the powerful European countries were drawn into the Thirty Years' War and they were not up to the situation in Eastern Europe.

For the 40,000-strong Russian war, which faced a fairly large-scale task, the Smolensk war of 1632 began in rather difficult conditions: the southern counties were constantly plundered by Crimeans, and therefore the government, fearing the arrival of a large army of Crimean feudal lords, delayed the withdrawal of troops from Moscow until August.

The trip was very slow, therefore, at Smolensk the troops were only in December, capturing along the way Serpeysk, Belaya, Roslavl, Nevel, Starodub.

In a hurry to take the city of Smolensk Shein - the commander of Russian troops - failed, and the siege stretched for eight long months. The fortress was fully reinforced shortly before the Smolensk War, and therefore the invaders had to retreat two whole times, even after the approach of siege artillery.

And in the Rech Pospolita at this time there were significant changes: Vladislav ascended to the throne instead of his father, who began to vigorously support the garrison of the besieged fortress.

The Smolensk war, the course of which was demoralized by the invasion of Crimean Tatars in Russia in 1633, radically changed its course. Many nobles fled the army to save their families and estates, and the "freemen", consisting of their peasants, serfs and townsmen, acted guerrilla, attacking not only the enemy, but all nearby manors.

Vladislav, who managed to cut Shein's army from the rear, arrived in time to the city. In the Russian troops, before which stood 15 thousand well-trained regular soldiers and 12 thousand Zaporozhye Cossacks, panic began. There was an acute shortage of fodder and food.

At the same time, part of Vladislav's troops moved to the east, liberating Dorogobuzh on the way, and then retaliation began over the villages of Velikiye Luk, Mozhaisk, Kozelsk, Kaluga, and so on.

On March 1, Shein capitulated, and in fact the Smolensk war ended. The negotiation phase began, which was completed in June of the same year with the signing of the Polyanovsky Treaty, according to which the Poles regained all the settlements that the Russians captured at the initial stage of the war, including the unconquered Smolensk. Vladislav, in turn, officially refused any claims to the Russian throne, which was one of the key conditions for concluding peace.

The Smolensk war, briefly described by historians as unsuccessful, deprived Russia of the opportunity to fight its southern neighbor in 1937, when the Don Cossacks managed to capture the Turkish Azov. Moscow did not dare to help, remembering the sad experience of the last war, and the Cossacks had no choice but to leave the fortress.

The Zemsky Sobor recognized the governor M. Shein as the culprit of the defeat in the Smolensk war and was cut off by the boyar judicial sentence.