In March 1604, an unknown young man
came to the court of King Sigismund III in Krakow. He met with the Polish King and
introduced himself as Dmitry Ivanovich, the son of the deceased Tsar
of Russia Ivan the Terrible, and the brother of the last Russian Tsar
of the Rurik dynasty, Fyodor I Ivanovich. This meant that he was the legitimate heir to the
Russian throne, and the entire Tsardom, which was going through a difficult period of crisis due
to the extinction of the ruling Rurik dynasty.
In addition to rebellions and battles for
the throne, Russia was hit by a huge famine in which hundreds of thousands of people died.
This period is known as the Time of Troubles. Until then, it was believed Tsar Dmitry Ivanovich, the youngest son of Ivan the Terrible, had died
13 years earlier under mysterious circumstances. So it was a minor miracle when he arrived in
Krakow to ask Sigismund and the Polish nobles for support in overthrowing the usurper
of the Russian throne, Boris Godunov.
Privately, many Polish and Lithuanian magnates
doubted Dmitry’s aristocratic origins. But they conveniently stayed silent on
the matter, for their ambition was to take advantage of the vast Russian territories.
To garner support with the Polish king, Dmitry converted to Catholicism and promised
territorial concessions if he became Russian Tsar. Sigismund saw this as an opportunity to expand his
influence towards Russia, while the proponents of Catholicism wanted to use this to spread their
religion to the east. In addition, the idea for the formation of the Polish-Lithuanian-Muscovite
Commonwealth was again at the top of the agenda.
However, with his armies busy on other fronts,
the Polish king could not officially support this enterprise. BUT, he gave a handsome sum of
money to this young man, who claimed to be Dmitry, to hire mercenary troops, while some of
the nobles of the Commonwealth provided the majority of the army in support of this campaign.
Soon, news that Tsarevich Dmitry Ivanovich was coming with an army reached Moscow. Alarmed, Tsar
Boris Godunov went public and spread the story that the man who pretended to be Dmitry Ivanovich
was actually a runaway monk Yuri Otrepyev, and that the real Dmitry died 13 years ago,
in 1591. But despite Godunov’s declarations, his popularity sharply declined, as he lost
support of an ever-larger number of nobles.
By the fall of 1604, Dmitry had gathered
around 1,600 soldiers from Poland, 2,000 Cossacks from Ukraine, and some mercenaries.
And then, in October, he invaded Russia.
Early on Dmitry had the advantage and conquered
certain cities without encountering much resistance. But soon he suffered a heavy
defeat in the Battle of Dobrynichi.
As fortune would have it, he overcame
this difficult situation exclusively due to the sudden death of Tsar
Boris Godunov in April 1605.
Boris’ son Fyodor II Godunov ascended the throne.
But both he and his mother were killed soon after. In June, the man claiming to be
Dmitry triumphantly entered Moscow and was crowned Russian Tsar.
To strengthen his alliance with Poland, he married a Polish noblewoman Marina Mniszech,
who became the Russian Tsarina, in May 1606.
But the situation quickly deteriorated from there
for the new Tsar. Russian boyars were quick to notice that Dmitry was surrounded by foreigners at
his court, primarily Poles. The strong influence of the Catholic Church at the palace was also
a source of irritation. The last straw was that the new Tsarina Marina did not convert to
Orthodoxy, which was a tradition in Russia. Fearing westernization of Russia, the boyars
plotted an attack on the Kremlin. False Dmitry was killed, cremated, and his ashes fired
from a cannon in the direction of Poland. Vasily IV Shuisky, a leading Russian boyar
with distant origins from the Rurik dynasty was proclaimed Tsar of Russia. Further unrest
followed, with Moscow itself besieged. However, the rebellion ultimately died down.
Stranger still, in the summer of 1607, another Dmitry Ivanovich appeared, claiming he
had survived the attack on the Kremlin and then started a rebellion against Vasily IV.
It was lost on no one that this man was an impostor of an impostor. Yet, the new
Dmitry garnered support from the magnates who supported the previous Dmitry, who’s
charred remains were fired from a cannon. Even Marina Mniszech, the wife of the
previous impostor, confirmed that this new Dmitry WAS her husband.
In the ensuing turmoil, Dmitry was able to gather a strong army and
took control over a large territory in Russia. The Crimean Tatars and the Nogai Horde used the
upheaval to ravage unprotected Russian lands, which created complete chaos.
Vasily, realizing that he was in a very difficult position, in February
1609 made an alliance with the Swedish King Charles IX to defeat Dmitry, and in return
handed over the Korela Fortress to Sweden.
In March, the Swedish army under the
command of General Jacob De la Gardie went to the aid of the Russians. In Novgorod,
it united with a part of the Russian army, and headed for Moscow, which was under siege.
Seeing Sweden's interference in the
Russian civil war, King Sigismund III immediately prepared for the campaign, not
allowing Sweden, of which he was once king, to expand its influence. Since the Zebrzydowski
rebellion in Poland ended at this time, Sigismund rallied support of the nobles, the Catholic
Church and the Pope, and raised a strong army.
The Polish-Lithuanian host of about
22,000 soldiers, under the command of King Sigismund III himself, invaded Russia
in September and besieged Smolensk.
The imposing fortress of Smolensk was of
great strategic importance at this time. The one who controlled it could easily break
through towards Moscow. However, the city was well fortified, and the siege dragged on.
On the other hand, Sigismund's campaign negatively affected Dmitry’s position, because most of the
Polish troops serving under him now deserted and joined the army of the Polish King. In
addition, Sigismund's ambitions grew, and he no longer wanted to appoint Dmitry as Tsar of Russia
but wanted the whole of Russia for himself.
Allied Russian-Swedish forces under the command
of Shuisky inflicted several defeats on Dmitry and then gathered a large army and set out to deal
with the greatest Russian threat - the Poles.
Learning of the movement of the Russian army,
Hetman Stanisław Żółkiewski led a small part of the army, primarily cavalry, to intercept the enemy,
while most of the Poles remained near Smolensk. At the end of June 1610, Żółkiewski defeated
a Russian vanguard of about 5,000 men near Tsaryovo-Zaymishche, and then
surrounded and besieged their camp. Realizing that the rest of the Russian army
was nearby, he left some of his men to watch on the besieged enemy soldiers, and with
the rest he went to the Russian main army.
After a long night march, Polish soldiers appeared
in front of the encamped Russian army before dawn on July 4, 1610. As Russian Commander Dmitry
Shuisky was not even aware that the enemy was in their vicinity, Stanisław Żółkiewski
wanted to carry out a surprise attack, but as he waited for all the soldiers
from the long marching column to arrive, such an attack was impossible to carry out.
Dmitry Shuisky's army was deployed in two camps. In one camp were the Swedish mercenaries
gathered from all over Europe and numbered about 3,300 soldiers. In the second camp were
Russian forces numbering about 20,000 troops. In addition to this, they also had 11 cannons.
On the other hand, Żółkiewski had only 2,500 cavalry under his command, mostly winged hussars,
then 400 Cossack and 200 Polish infantry, and 2 cannons. The infantry and cannons were late,
and they were still far from the battlefield.
Before the battle itself, Stanisław Żółkiewski
ordered the surrounding villages to be burned, so that enemy infantry could not use them for
defensive purposes. The fence and obstacles that served to slow down the onslaught of
cavalry were also partially destroyed.
Russian forces were soon also deployed, but
because they were located between the Vdovka and Gzhat rivers, they could not be spread to
take advantage of their numerical superiority. Their troops took up positions behind the damaged
fence. Behind the left wing of their army, was a strong group of Russian soldiers, mostly composed
of mobilized men, and they served as a reserve, because it was not possible to
deploy them on such a terrain.
It is noticeable that Żółkiewski concentrated
his main forces on his right wing.
At about 4 o'clock in the morning polish
trumpets and drums gave the signal to the hussars and marked the beginning of the battle.
Alexander Zborovski's heavy cavalry attacked the center. At first they advanced
slowly, but when they approached, a fierce charge was launched towards the enemy
in order to collide at the highest speed.
The first contact was disastrous for the front
lines of the Russian army. Although the Polish hussars could only pass through the gaps in the
fence that they had partially destroyed before the battle, they inflicted heavy losses
on the enemy. Russian battle formations gradually started to disintegrate, and
were forced into a slow withdrawal.
The hussars, having lost momentum, quickly
reorganized their formations, and launched a new attack on the second Russian line.
In response to this, the Russian cavalry from the second row set out to meet them. A new
bloody showdown ensued. However, the Polish riders lost most of their long lances in the previous
charge, limiting the shock of their charge.
A fight with swords and sabers occurred.
Yet the Poles continued to advance into the depths of the Russian army formation.
And again, as they lost momentum and became threatened from the flanks and rear, they
withdrew in formation to the starting positions.
During that time, the Polish left wing, under the
command of Mikołaj Struś, had difficulties with the Swedish mercenaries. Since the fence on this
part of the front was only slightly destroyed, the cavalry charges were less effective. Although
the Swedish mercenaries were unmotivated to fight because they did not receive their salary
on time, their discipline, training and equipment successfully matched the Poles.
The Poles found themselves in a very difficult position here. Enemy musketeers, protected by
the fence fired at cavalry from close range, while pikemen did not allow the
Poles to break through the lines.
Meanwhile, a new charge on
the Polish right wing occurred with fresh Polish units. The hussars again
dealt a heavy blow to the enemy's front line. They began to break through the mass of Russian
soldiers, and gradually advanced north. However, when they broke through, the Poles were
again left without most of their lances, and the second Russian line stopped them again.
Threatened from the flanks, these units started to retreat, while a third wave of fresh
Polish hussars started to advance.
The less numerous Polish left wing could not
make similar breakthroughs. Swedish mercenary pikemen and musketeers proved a solid defensive
combination, and musket fire also had an important psychological effect on humans and horses.
After a long fight, the first line of cavalry started retreating here as well.
When the first line successfully left the battle, troops from the Polish second line of the
left wing rushed forward. Here, the Poles carried out attacks by expanding their ranks, in
order to be a harder target for the musketeers.
The charge was no more
effective than the previous one. Although the Poles tried to widen the gaps in the
fences, which was a dangerous obstacle for them, they were not successful. Enemy
musketeers, although inaccurate, opened fire on the hussars again and again.
After a Polish horseman was left without his lance, he was forced to fight with a saber, which
made the battle easier for the Swedish pikemen.
The situation on this part of the front improved
when after the Polish infantry and two cannons finally arrived on the battlefield. They opened
fire from a distance, in support of the hussars.
Meanwhile, the right wing was almost completely
left without fresh units. It seemed that, despite strong charges and deep breakthroughs,
they could not break the enemy formations.
Because of this, Stanisław Żółkiewski
gradually sent reinforcements from the army reserve to his right wing. But despite this,
most hussars were still left without their lances, and were by now tired and demoralized.
Nevertheless, the hussars continued to carry out their orders, and launched a new attack on their
opponent. As the front lines of the Russian left wing were by now weakened by the intense fighting,
the Russian cavalry set out to meet the hussars in order to slow down the Polish attack
and give their comrades time to regroup.
Soon the two armies clashed and a real cavalry
battle ensued. The very beginning of the fight was uncertain, but soon the skill and
discipline of the hussars prevailed and gave results. The Russians set out on a
total retreat north, followed by Polish cavalry.
However, the Russian cavalry managed to fulfill
its task and slow down the opponent, and the Poles, realizing that they had lost momentum
again, retreated to their starting positions.
Shortly after this retreat, the Russian ranks
spread and opened the way for a new cavalry detachments that set out to attack. These were the
Reiter detachments, cavalry that carried firearms in addition to their swords.
The Polish troops, which had been resting and preparing for the next attack so far,
reacted quickly and set out to meet the enemy.
When the Poles came within range, the
Reiter detachments abruptly turned and opened fire. They then wheeled about
and galloped back towards their own army.
The Poles remained steadfast and continued
to advance, but the second line of Reiter detachments appeared in front of them
and also performed the same maneuver.
This time, the hussars proved their mettle by accelerating into the hail of bullets,
catching up with their opponent. A new cavalry battle occurred. The clashing of
steel and the screams of men pierced the air, as the highly trained Reiters and Hussars stood
toe to toe. The Polish advance slogged forward, but it seemed that this was another attack
that would end with only limited success
But the stubborn Poles refused to
back down and at one point the Reiter detachments reached their breaking point
and started fleeing towards their comrades. Seeing the mass of their own cavalry and
Polish horsemen rushing towards them, the whole Russian left wing collapsed
in panic. The first ranks began fleeing, and their escape provoked a chain reaction in
which the entire Russian left wing set out in an unorganized retreat towards their camp.
Fleeing the Polish cavalry, many were cut down, while continued their retreat
much further than the camp.
During that time, the Russian right wing was
still stable, but was soon exposed to new attacks. An important role was also played by Polish
infantry, who first shot at the enemy, then drew their swords and also launched a charge.
Probably the greatest impact on the breakdown of the Russian right wing was the attack on
their left flank, which was now fully exposed. After a long battle, it was clear that
the Swedish mercenaries could not win and they started to retreat.
Unlike the left wing, the Russian right wing withdrew in an organized manner, and
here some of the Reiter units played a major role covering the retreat of the infantry.
After more than three hours of heavy fighting, the Battle of Klushino ended. Although Stanisław
Żółkiewski managed to defeat his more numerous opponent, two enemy camps full of soldiers
posed a major threat. However, Żółkiewski offered the mercenaries to side with him, and
a good deal of them did, probably disappointed because they did not receive their payment
on time from the Russians. Those who refused to accept this offer were permitted to leave
the camp peacefully and head back to Sweden.
Dmitry Shuisky then initiated the withdrawal
of the remainder of the Russian army. The Poles took advantage of this and rushed towards
his camp, to plunder it as soon as possible.
After the battle the Russian soldiers, surrounded
near Tsaryovo-Zaymishche, heard about defeat of their army and decided to surrender, with
some of them joining the Polish army.
Reinforced by additional troops, Żółkiewski
continued with his army to the east and soon entered the Russian capital of Moscow
on October 8, 1610. He captured the Russian Tsar Vasily Shuisky, as well as the defeated
commander Dmitry Shuisky. This marked the beginning of the Polish occupation of the
Russian capital, which lasted for two years.
