An exhausting night march brought Stanisław
Żółkiewski, the field crown hetman of Poland, and his men to a vast field near the village
of Klushino. On his command, the Polish-Lithuanian winged
hussars charged forward, ready to pierce any enemy unfortunate enough to get in their way. They were welcomed by musketry, sturdy pikes
and eleven field guns. The hussars were about clash with a Russian
army superior in numbers on a very challenging battlefield. One of the most famous battles of the winged
hussars and one of the most controversial ones, had just begun. This video will contain a whole lot of names
in various languages, some of them will unfortunately be pronounced incorrectly. [insert some incorrect pronunciations] If
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money-back guarantee! Chapter 1: The False Dimitrys
In 1604 Borís Fyodorovich Godunóv the Tsar of Russia was challenged by a pretender to
his throne. His rival claimed to be Dimitry, the son of
Ivan the Terrible and therefore legitimate heir to the Tsardom of Russia. Godunóv ordered to arrest and question the
so-called false Dimitry, but the man fled to Poland where he quickly gained the support
of several nobles and even the King of Poland and Grand Duke of Lithuania, Sigismund III. With this much backing, Dimitri hired mercenaries
and acquired troops from nobles by promising them a share of the spoils in case of success. Once he had an army of about 3’500 soldiers,
he set out to claim the Russian throne by force. Supported by the Cossacks and several other
enemies of the Tsar, his small army conquered Chernigov, Putivl, Sevsk, and Kursk before
they were eventually defeated. However, their cause was spared from doom
when Tsar Boris Godunóv died from a lengthy illness in April 1605. His 16-year-old son Fyodor II followed him
to the throne, but support for the boy was fickle. He was soon deserted by his army and then
killed in a plot organized by Dimitry. Now Dimitry, the pretender, installed himself
on the throne; though not for long. He soon angered the Boyars, the highest-ranking
Russian nobles, and was killed after only a year. He was succeeded by the boyar Vasili Shuisky,
a leader of the uprising against Dimitry. Vasili wasn’t very popular and in 1608 faced
another pretender, simply called the second false Dimitry, who claimed to be in fact the
first Dimitry, who had miraculously survived the attempt on his live. The second Dimitry soon also marched towards
Moscow with a large army. Confronted with this major military threat
Vasili IV had no choice but to accept an offer by King Charles of Sweden, who was promising
military support in exchange for the province of Keksholm. According to the historian Stewart Oakley,
in 1609 5’000 men, mostly Finns, under the experienced commander Jacob de la Gardie marched
to Russia in order to support the Tsar. The following joint venture of Sweden and
Russia is known as the De la Gardie campaign. De la Gardie started his offensive in Vyborg,
joined approximately 3’000 Muscovites under Mikhail Skopin-Shuisky near Novgorod and marched
on towards Moscow. They defeated the army of the second false
Dimitry, again consisting mostly of troops from the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth, near
Tver. But most of their soldiers deserted after
the battle because they hadn’t been paid. De la Gardie didn’t give in and returned
to Novgorod, where he recruited a new, even bigger army and set out for Moscow again. After lifting the Siege of Troitse-Sergiyeva
Lavra he arrived near the Russian capitol in March 1610, dispersed Dimitri’s parallel
court in Tushino and forced him to retreat. At this point Sigismund III decided to enter
the struggle and exploit the chaos. He argued that the joint venture of Sweden
and Muscovy had violated the current Russo-Polish armistice and claimed the Tsar's throne for
himself. Soon a substantial army marched towards the
border and laid siege to Smolensk. Dmitry Shuisky, the brother of the Tsar immediately
began to rally an army near Mozhaysk in order to lift the Siege and avert a Polish invasion. With the siege of Smolensk dragging on and
Shuisky incoming, Sigismund's plans were in danger. He called a council of war on 1 June and ordered
Stanisław Żółkiewski, the field crown hetman of Poland to prepare a counterstrike. Chapter 2: Counterstrike
Żółkiewski left the trenches of Smolensk on 7 June. With about 3’000 men, mostly cavalry, he
marched to Shuyskoye, where two weeks later he met with additional companies from Smolensk. Meanwhile Shuisky, who had been joined by
De la Gardie and his mercenaries, sent an advance force of 6’000-8’000 men to a
village close to Shuyskoye. This forced the field hetman to take action. On 24 June he attacked the strongly fortified
position of the Russian vanguard which was commanded by Grigory Valuev. The Russians, who had burned the nearby village
to the ground, awaited him behind field fortifications close to a forest and a swampy area. For the next hours the two armies engaged
in indecisive skirmishes with very light losses on both sides. When Commonwealth reinforcements arrived on
the next day, the Russians quickly abandoned their field fortifications and pulled back
into a well-prepared wooden fort, where they were amply supplied and had running water. As Żółkiewski had no siege equipment, he
decided to surround the camp and wait the Russians out. His strategy paid off. The circumstances in the fort deteriorated
from day to day. When news of this perilous situation reached
Dmitry Shuisky in Mozhaysk he was outraged. A council of war on 1 July decided it was
not an option to abandon Grigory Valuev’s men. The army got ready to move and rushed westwards
in a forced march. The commanders pushed their men to their limits
and beyond. Some even collapsed in the dry summer heat. On 3 July the army arrived exhausted at an
open field about five miles east of the village of Klushino. There, Shuisky decided to rest. As they didn’t intend to stay for long the
soldiers only roughed out two camps, one for the Russians and one for the foreign mercenaries
and built some makeshift field fortifications out of wagons. Then they went to bed. As the Russo-Swedish army was preparing its
camp, Żółkiewski called together his commanders a few miles to the south. The hetman was very secretive about his plan
but would advise all men to be on the ready. Nothing should be leaked to the Russians. Around 6 p.m. officers silently went from
tent to tent with written instructions, passing orders for the following operation. Shortly before nightfall the army left the
camp. Clearly, it was put together for fast, decisive
action. The wagons, most camp followers, and a guard
of about 5’000, mostly Zaporozhian Cossacks, remained in the camp to keep up the siege. They should pretend the whole army was still
there. The part of the army that was leaving only
took with it the most necessary equipment, food for two days and two small cannons. Then they silently left for Klushino. Chapter 3: A Rude Awakening
Early the next morning Shuisky’s men were woken by trumpets sounding alarm. Everybody got up immediately and rushed to
arms. Samuel Maskiewicz, a Polish-Lithuanian officer
who wrote a first-hand report about the battle, writes mockingly that in the ensuing chaos
he overheard an enemy officer shout “saddle the trousers and bring me my horse”. Obviously he couldn’t have heard such a
thing as he was at the far end of the battlefield, where the troops of the Commonwealth emerged
from the forest and took battle order. Between the two armies lay a flatland narrowing
towards the Russian camp near the village of Łoszczinka. To the west it was limited by the river Vdovka,
swamps and a forrest; to the east by the river Gzhat and two villages, Cziernawka and Preczistoje. The hetman ordered his men to burn Preczistoje
and another small hamlet, Pirniewo, to the ground and destroy a series of fences. For the most part we do not know the location
or make of these fences. Some sources describe them as sturdy palisades,
others as simple pasture fences. Most likely they primarily had an agricultural
function but still were a significant obstacle for the Polish-Lithuanian cavalry. The men of the Commonwealth cleared the way,
but in some places only partially. In a fence stretching east from Cziernawka
they only made some gaps. This would become a major problem later on. While the exact topography of the battlefield
has sparked some discussion, the question of numbers has caused heated debates. Most of the (Polish) primary accounts massively
overstate the difference in size of the armies to magnify the achievement of the winged hussars. Samuel Maskievicz for example estimates that
2’700 Commonwealth troops faced 50’000 Russians and mercenaries. While the Russians indeed outnumbered the
Commonwealth, such an immense imballance has been dismissed by almost all modern scholars. More considerate estimates, for example the
one of Robert Frost, a western expert on the northern wars, arrive at roughly 5'500 winged
hussars, 1’000 cossack light cavalry and 200 infantry with 2 falconets on the Polish-Lithuanian
side, against about 5-7’000 mercenaries and 16’000 soldiers on the Russian side,
not including 14’000 peasant auxiliaries with 11 canons. In fact, not only are the numbers controversial
but also the course of events. Because it hasn’t been fully reconstructed
yet, we mainly stick to the accounts of two Polish experts, Radoslaw Sikora and Przemysław
Gawron, while also taking into account western perspectives such as Robert Frost’s. Info Aufstellung
While Żółkiewski succeeded in surprising the enemy, it’s quite likely that much of
the advantage was lost because it took a lot of time to remove the obstacles on the battlefield. This gave Shuisky’s army time to deploy
in an orderly fashion.INFO De la Gardie had supreme command over the mercenaries who took
the right flank, Shuisky over the Russians on the left flank. Because of the limited space on the narrow
field, they couldn’t exploit their numerical superiority and set up in a somewhat deeper
manner than usual with the mercenaries in a slightly advanced position. Both sides were ready for battle. Chapter 3: Charging Home
Around dawn Żółkiewski sounded the attack. Outflanking was impossible due to the terrain
so that the only option was a frontal attack. Zborowski’s hussars opened the battle by
charging a regiment of Finnish cavalry under Evert Horn. Horn's Finns, surprised by the momentum of
the charge, only put up a short fight and then retreated. When the hussars tried to follow through,
they were stopped by mercenary Reiters in the second line, cuirassiers and mounted arquebusiers
that is. While these two cavalry units struggled, Struś'
regiment of winged hussars charged the Taube infantry on the left flank. They had a hard time because Taube used what
was still standing of the fence stretching east from Czerniawka as cover. In finest pike and shot manner his musketeers
welcomed the Hussars with volley fire before stepping behind the pikemen who absorbed the
impact of the charges. Struś' men were forced to attack in small
groups of ten because the gaps didn’t allow for more horses to pass through at once — while
the musketeers could focus their fire on them. To change this unbearable situation, the hussars
needed to charge the actual fence before they could attack Taubes men. This caused several losses but after some
time the gap was wide enough for the hussars to attack in proper formation. Over the course of the next hour, they charged
and wheeled back three times but the experienced and battle-hardened mercenaries stood firm. The situation only tipped in favor of the
attackers when the infantry of the rearguard arrived, 200 Hajduks, who were late because
the falconets they had with them had been bogged down in the forest. The Hajduks joined Struś and together they
managed to break the resistance of the Taube regiment. In a combined attack the artillery, infantry
and hussars forced them into retreat. Taubes men dispersed and most of them fled
to the nearby forest. But Struś’ cavalry was stopped by the Reiters
in the second line, too. After wheeling back and reforming, the hussars
attacked them from the front and left flank at the same time. At this point most of the hussars had shattered
their lances and attacked with outflung swords and sabers. It seems like the Reiters had fired their
pistols and without time to reload now relied on their sabers as well. The hussars’ two-pronged attack threw the
reiters into disorder. Simultaneously, another Hussar unit, most
likely Kazanowski, Dunikowski or both circumvented their comrades to the right and charged the
Russian cavalry commanded by Vasili Buturlin. According to Radoslaw Sikora this was the
first actual encounter of Russian and Commonwealth troops at Klushino. At this point some of the hussars had charged
the enemy seven or eight times. Samuel Maskiewicz reports: “our arms and
armour were damaged and our strength ebbing from such frequent regrouping and charges
against the enemy.” Nevertheless, Buturlin’s cavalry cracked
and fled. Shuisky commanded the Russian infantry himself. His men were worried by the sight of their
fleeing cavalry, but he calmed them down and arrayed them in front of their camp. At this point the mercenary infantry had also
taken up position behind field fortifications near their camp while the remaining six companies
of reiters were positioned in the front. Two of them performed the caracole, one of
the most common western cavalry tactics at the time. Again, Maskiewicz took part in the encounter. He writes that the first rank of the reiters
came at them, fired their pistols and then wheeled away to make room for the second rank. When the second rank had fired, “We did
not wait, but at the moment all had emptied their pieces […], we charged them with only
our sabers in our hands; they, having failed to reload, while the next rank had not yet
fired, took to their heels.'' The Reiters fled, thereby throwing Shuisky’s
infantry into disarray. This was too much for many a Russian soldier,
especially for the inexperienced auxiliaries. For several hours they had been nervously
expecting the enemy to get to them, and their cavalry had left, and their reassuring organization
had been ripped apart. Panic was spreading. When the Commonwealth troops finally reached
them, resistance was virtually inexistent. The Russians turned to flight as well so that
within the blink of an eye the hussars were amidst them and even in their camp. Seeing this, the Russian organization decayed
into mayhem. Many ran headlong, chased by the Polish cavalry. The hussars pursued them blindly and left
those Russians who remained in the camp to restore the defenses. There, Shuisky’s army was ready to fight
its last stand. Chapter 4: Last stand
As some Hussars were also pursuing the fleeing Reiters, only Kazanowski, Wilkowski and Żółkiewski
remained on the battlefield and faced the fire from the enemy guns. Both Russians and mercenaries had now dug
in in their camps and tried to weaken the Commonwealth army with a barrage from their
11 guns. This prompted the remainder of Taube’s routed
infantry to emerge from the safety of the forest and join their comrades in the camp. Żółkiewski realized that it made no sense
to attack the camps given this new situation. His men were too few and too tired to attack
an enemy in a fortified position. Only at around 10 a.m. most of the hussars
returned to the battlefield. The hetman wanted to take his time, rest,
regroup and then attack with full force. His subordinates, however, anticipated his
plan and charged the mercenary camp on their own. They allegedly made it through the Spanish
horses in front of the camp, past the pikes of the infantry awaiting them and right to
the heart of the camp. However, this certainly must be taken with
a grain of salt, especially as the sources report that the mercenaries then miraculously
pushed the hussars back out of their camp, which seems unlikely after they had just been
overran. Howsoever this attack may have played out,
Żółkiewski soon gathered his men and arrayed them in front of the mercenary camp. He offered terms to the foreign soldiers,
more specifically to either join his army or leave unhampered. Horn and de la Gardie tried to keep their
men from leaving but their urging and pleading was to no avail – the mercenaries saw no
use in fighting a lost fight. When Shuisky heard of this, he made up his
mind quickly and fled, followed by the bulk of his infantry. Although some of the hussars chased them,
the majority focused on looting the abandoned camp. Meanwhile, the mercenaries dispersed. Some 300-400 left with de la Gardie and Horn
for Novgorod, while the rest joined the ranks of the Commonwealth. After five hours the battle had come to an
end. Hearing of the defeat, the Russian soldiers
at Tsaryovo-Zaymishche surrendered. In the wake of this defeat, Tsar Vasili IV
was deposed by the boyars. The Polish prince Władysław IV Wasa was
proclaimed Tsar for the time being and Żółkiewski marched to occupy Moscow. However, Władysław never assumed the throne
because his father failed to negotiate a lasting agreement with the boyars. In 1612 the Polish-Lithuanian occupation of
Moscow ended and in 1613 the title of Tsar went back to a Russian as the first Tsar of
the long-reigning house of Romanov, Michael I rose to the throne.
