On December 11, 1618, an armistice was signed in the town of Deulino near the Trinity-Sergius Monastery, which suspended the war between Russia and the Commonwealth for 14 years. This was one of the most shameful agreements in the entire history of Russia. The world was bought at a high price - Smolensk, Chernigov and Novgorod-Seversky and other Russian cities ceded to the Poles.
Russian-Polish war
The Polish gentry and magnates intervened in the affairs of the Russian kingdom from the beginning of the Troubles. The Commonwealth and the Vatican supported the impostor False Dmitry, who promised the Polish elite vast lands and the union of Orthodoxy with Catholicism (in fact, the subordination of the Russian Church to Rome). The Polish gentry was promised land and Russian wealth. As a result, detachments of Polish magnates, gentry and adventurers took an active part in the Russian Troubles, robbed and destroyed cities and villages. The Poles helped False Dmitry to seize the Russian throne.
After the murder of the impostor (How False Dmitry I was killed), the Poles actively participated in the subsequent events of the Troubles. They fought on the side of the new impostor - the Tushino thief. An open Polish intervention began in 1609. The Poles, taking advantage of the collapse of the Russian state, were able to occupy the vast Russian lands, after a long and heroic defense they took the strategic fortress of Smolensk (1609-1611). After the catastrophic defeat of the Russian-Swedish army in the battle near the village of Klushino (June 1610), Moscow was left without an army, and the boyars overthrew Tsar Vasily Shuisky (Heroic defense of Smolensk; Defense of Smolensk. Part 2; Klushin catastrophe of the Russian army; How Russia almost became colony of Poland, Sweden and England). The boyar government (Seven Boyars) in August 1610 signed a treacherous agreement, according to which the Polish prince Vladislav was invited to the Russian throne. A Polish garrison was sent to Moscow. Traitor boyars minted coins on behalf of the new tsar. However, Vladislav's wedding to the kingdom did not take place. The Polish prince was not going to convert to the Orthodox faith.
Continuation of the Troubles
Only in 1612, the Second Zemstvo Militia, led by Minin and Pozharsky, was able to free Moscow from the invaders. The public consciousness is dominated by the myth, formed by the historians of the Romanov dynasty, that the surrender of the Poles in the Kremlin was the turning point of the Troubles or even its end. And the accession of Mikhail Romanov finally completed the period of Troubles in the Russian state. However, in reality, in 1613, the war only flared up with renewed vigor. The new Moscow government had to simultaneously fight the Polish army in the west, the Cossacks of Ivan Zarutsky in the south (the ataman planned to put Marina Mnishek's son on the Russian throne) and the Swedes in the north. Also, the war continued with gangs of thieves Cossacks and Polish troops throughout the European part of the country. There was no clear front in this war. Cossack detachments repeatedly approached Moscow, defeated their camps near the capital. Only with great difficulty did the tsarist governors manage to protect Moscow and drive off the "thieves".
Only in 1614, the dangerous uprising of Zarutsky, threatening a new wave of Cossack-peasant war, was able to suppress. Ataman was captured and taken to the capital:
"In Moscow, the same tovo Zarutskovo put on a stake, and Vorenka (Ivan Dmitrievich - the son of False Dmitry II. - The author) hanged, and Marina will die in Moscow."
In fact, the Romanovs hid their ends in the water, eliminating witnesses to the organization of the Troubles. And the murder of 4-year-old (!) "Tsarevich" Ivan became a terrible sin in the house of the Romanovs. The war with Sweden was unsuccessful and ended with the signing of the Stolbovo Peace Treaty on February 27, 1617. Moscow returned Novgorod, Ladoga and some other cities, lands, but lost the fortresses Ivangorod, Yam, Oreshek, Koporye, Korela and access to the Baltic (returned only under Tsar Peter the Great).
From the moment of the liberation of Moscow until the Deulinsky armistice, the war with Poland did not stop. In 1613 the Russians lifted the siege of the enemy from Kaluga, liberated Vyazma and Dorogobuzh, who surrendered to them voluntarily. Then the tsarist governors laid siege to the White fortress, and in August forced the Poles to surrender. After that, the siege of Smolensk began, but due to low combat effectiveness, lack of forces, ammunition, provisions and enemy opposition, it dragged on. In November 1614, the Polish lords sent a letter to the Moscow government, in which they accused Vladislav of treason and cruel treatment of noble Polish prisoners. But, despite this, the Poles offered to start peace negotiations. The Moscow boyars agreed and sent Zhelyabuzhsky as ambassador to Poland. These negotiations yielded nothing, resulting in a stream of mutual insults and accusations. The Poles did not want to hear anything about Tsar Mikhail Romanov. In their opinion, Michael was only the steward of Tsar Vladislav.
Lisovsky's hike
Alexander Lisovsky (formerly one of the commanders of the army of False Dmitry II, then went into the service of the Polish king) in 1615 made another devastating raid by the Polish cavalry in Russia in order to divert Russian troops from Smolensk. His detachment (fox), described a large loop around Moscow and returned to Poland. Lisovsky was a brave and experienced commander, his detachment consisted of elite cavalry (its number ranged from 600 to 3 thousand people). Among the foxes were Poles, representatives of the West Russian population, German mercenaries and thieves' Cossacks. In the spring Lisovsky besieged Bryansk, in the summer he captured Karachev and Bryansk. He defeated the tsarist army under the command of Prince Yuri Shakhovsky near Karachev.
After that, the government of Martha (Mikhail Romanov himself was a dummy, so his mother, the nun Martha, then his father Fyodor Romanov, Patriarch Filaret, who was released by the Poles, decided to send voivode Dmitry Pozharsky against the foxes. The prince was an experienced and skillful commander, but he was ill from previous wounds, that is, he could not fully pursue the enemy mobile army. In fact, in the government of Mikhail the Romanovs were interested in disgracing Pozharsky, who until recently was a possible candidate for the Russian throne. On June 29, 1615, Pozharsky, with a detachment of nobles, archers and a few foreign mercenaries (about 1 thousand soldiers in total), set out to catch foxes. Lisovsky at that time was in the city of Karachev. Learning about the rapid movement of Pozharsky through Belev and Bolkhov, Lisovsky burned Karachev and retreated to Orel. The scouts reported this to the governor, and he moved to intercept the enemy. On the way to Pozharsky, a detachment of Cossacks joined, and in Bolkhov - the Tatar cavalry. Pozharsky's detachment doubled its strength.
In August-September, Pozharsky's detachment pursued the enemy with varying success, but could not defeat it. On the other hand, the Poles were unable to destroy the army of Prince Pozharsky near Orel. Then Pozharsky fell ill and transferred command to other governors. Without the prince, the royal army largely collapsed and lost its combat capability. As a result, the foxes continued their raid, took Przemysl, went to Rzhev, which was barely defended by voivode Sheremetev, burned Torzhok, tried to take Kashin and Uglich, but there the voivods coped with their duties. Then the foxes no longer tried to attack the cities, but walked between them, devastating everything in their path. Lisovsky went between Yaroslavl and Kostroma to the Suzdal district, then between Vladimir and Murom, between Kolomna and Pereyaslavl-Ryazansky, between Tula and Serpukhov to Aleksin. Several governors were sent in pursuit of the enemy, but they only fruitlessly circled between the cities, not finding Lisovsky. Only in December, the royal army of Prince Kurakin managed to impose a battle on the enemy in the area of the city of Aleksin. But he retreated without significant losses. In early January 1616, the foxes repeatedly and unsuccessfully tried to take Likhvin, and then went to the Smolensk region, to their own.
Thus, Lisovsky managed to quite calmly leave for the Rzeczpospolita after an amazing and long-remembered raid around Moscow in the Russian state. This campaign showed all the precariousness of the position of the then Russia. Lisowski in Poland has become a symbol of elusiveness and invincibility. True, this lightning-fast raid negatively affected the health of Lisovsky himself. In the fall of 1616, he again gathered a detachment to destroy Russian cities and villages, but suddenly fell from his horse and died. Lisovchikov was headed by Stanislav Chaplinsky - another field commander in the former army of the Tushinsky thief (False Dmitry II). Chaplinsky in 1617 captured the cities of Meshchovsk, Kozelsk and approached Kaluga, where he was defeated by Pozharsky's army.
Vladislav's Moscow campaign
In the summer of 1616, Russia and the Commonwealth exchanged blows. The tsarist voivods raided Lithuania, defeating the outskirts of Surezh, Velizh and Vitebsk. In turn, a detachment of Lithuanians and Cossacks operated near Karachev and Krom. They were chased by the Moscow governors, but without much success. Most of the Lithuanians went abroad.
Inspired by Lisovsky's raid, the Poles decided to organize a large campaign against Moscow led by the prince Vladislav. However, the army was not entrusted to one prince, the army was led by the best Polish commander, the great hetman of Lithuania Jan Chodkiewicz, who had already led troops to Moscow in 1611-1612. In addition, the Diet sent eight special commissars with the king: A. Lipsky, S. Zhuravinsky, K. Plikhta, L. Sapega, P. Opalinsky, B. Stravinsky, J. Sobiesky and A. Mentsinsky. They had to make sure that the prince did not oppose the conclusion of peace with Moscow. After the capture of the Russian capital, the commissars had to make sure that Vladislav did not deviate from the conditions worked out by the Seim. The main conditions were: 1) the union of Russia and Poland into an indissoluble union; 2) the establishment of free trade; 3) the transfer of the Commonwealth of the Smolensk principality, from the Seversk land: Bryansk, Starodub, Chernigov, Pochep, Novgorod-Seversky, Putivl, Rylsk and Kursk, as well as Nevel, Sebezh and Velizh; 4) Moscow's renunciation of its rights to Livonia and Estonia. It is clear that the strife and intrigue in the Polish command did not add to the army's combat effectiveness.
The second half of 1616 and the beginning of 1617 took place in preparation for the campaign. There was no money in the treasury, so 11-12 thousand soldiers were recruited with great difficulty. It was mainly cavalry. Lithuania even introduced a special tax to pay for mercenaries. The Polish army consisted of two parts: the crown army under the command of Vladislav and the Lithuanian troops of Hetman Chodkiewicz. At the same time, a significant part of the crown army had to be sent to the southern borders due to the threat of war with the Turks. Meanwhile, in the western and southwestern parts of Russia, gangs of thieves' Cossacks continued to rage, among whom there were practically no real Don and Zaporozhye Cossacks. Many of them were delighted with the campaign and the new opportunity to "walk" across Russia. They joined the royal army.
In May 1617, the advanced Polish troops under the command of Gonsevsky and Chaplinsky unblocked Smolensk. The Russian siege army, led by Mikhail Buturlin, left the fortifications near Smolensk and retreated to Belaya. Vladislav set out from Warsaw in April 1617, but went in a roundabout way through Volhynia to scare Turkey. In the summer, a significant part of the army had to be sent to the southern border to the army of the Crown Hetman Zolkiewski because of the threat of war with the Ottoman Empire. Therefore, the prince returned to Warsaw for a while. Only in September Vladislav arrived in Smolensk, and Khodkevich's troops approached Dorogobuzh. In early October, the governor Dorogobuzh Adadurov went over to the side of the Poles and kissed the cross to Vladislav as the Russian tsar. This caused panic in Vyazma, local governors with part of the garrison fled to Moscow and the fortress was surrendered to the enemy without a fight. Obviously, this caused a lot of enthusiasm in the Polish ranks. The Polish command, hoping to repeat the success of False Dmitry in 1604, when he occupied Moscow without a fight, sent several governors, led by Adadurov, who had gone over to Vladislav's side, in order to "seduce" the Moscow people. But they were arrested and sent into exile.
The advanced Polish detachments reached Mozhaisk and tried to take the city with a sudden blow. Mozhaisk governors F. Buturlin and D. Leontyev closed the gates and decided to fight to the death. From Moscow, reinforcements were immediately sent to their aid under the command of B. Lykov and G. Valuev. On the way of the enemy, the Moscow government put up three ratios headed by D. Pozharsky, D. Cherkassky and B. Lykov. Some of Vladislav's advisers suggested attacking the poorly fortified Mozhaisk and the weak Russian army stationed here on the move. But the time for the trip to Moscow was lost. Mercenaries and Polish gentry demanded money. The treasury was empty. Winter was coming, food was scarce. The Cossacks, seeing no booty and money, began to desert. As a result, the Polish army stopped in the Vyazma area for "winter quarters".
Having received news of Vladislav's "sitting" in Vyazma, the Seim sent a letter to the commissioners with a proposal to start peace negotiations with Moscow. At the end of December 1617, the royal secretary Jan Gridich was sent to Moscow with a proposal to conclude an armistice before April 20, 1618, exchange prisoners and begin peace negotiations. The Moscow boyars refused him. The Diet decided to continue the hostilities. Vladislav returned the units that had previously been sent to the southern border and transferred new forces at the head of Kazanovsky. As a result, the size of the Polish army was increased to 18 thousand people. In addition, the Poles persuaded the Cossacks led by Hetman Peter Sagaidachny to act against Moscow.
In early June 1618, the Polish army launched an offensive from Vyazma. Khodkevich suggested going to Kaluga in lands less devastated by the war so that the troops could find provisions. But the commissars insisted on a campaign against Moscow. But on the way of the enemy was Mozhaisk, where the voivode Lykov stood with the army. Fighting for the city began at the end of June. The Poles stood under the city, but could not carry out a full-fledged siege. The Poles could not take this relatively weak fortress by storm due to the lack of siege artillery and a lack of infantry. And they were afraid to leave the Russian fortress in the rear. Fierce battles near Mozhaisk continued for over a month. Then the main forces of the Russian army under the command of Lykov and Cherkassky, due to a lack of food, withdrew to Borovsk. At the same time, the garrison of Fyodor Volynsky was left in Mozhaisk. He repulsed enemy attacks for a month. On September 16, without taking Mozhaisk, Vladislav set out for Moscow. At the same time, part of the Polish-Lithuanian army, without receiving a salary, returned home or scattered to plunder Russian lands.
As a result, Vladislav and Khodkevich brought about 8 thousand soldiers to Moscow. On September 22 (October 2), the Polish-Lithuanian army approached Moscow, settling on the site of the former Tushino camp. Meanwhile, the Sagaidachny Cossacks broke through the weakened southwestern borders of the Russian state. The main forces of Moscow were connected by battles with the Polish army, so they could not stop the Cossacks. The Cossacks took and plundered Livny, Yelets, Lebedyan, Ryazhsk, Skopin and Shatsk. The main part of the Cossacks was scattered for plunder, and Sagaidachny led several thousand people to Moscow. The Cossacks settled at the Donskoy Monastery. The garrison of Moscow numbered about 11-12 thousand people, but mainly it was the city militia and the Cossacks. The main line of defense ran along the fortifications of the White City.
Chodkiewicz did not have artillery, infantry and supplies for a proper siege. He did not even have the strength for a full-fledged blockade, reinforcements could penetrate into the city and detachments could leave for sorties. The delay in the operation led to the strengthening of the garrison, there was a threat of the appearance of strong Russian detachments in the enemy rear. The troops were unreliable, standing still led them to rapid decay. Therefore, the hetman decided to take the city almost on the move. Only a daring attack could lead to success. On the night of October 1 (11), 1618, the Poles began an assault. The Zaporozhye Cossacks were to launch a diversionary attack in Zamoskvorechye. The main blow was delivered from the west at the Arbat and Tversky gates. The infantry had to break open the fortifications, take the gates and clear the way for the cavalry. The successful breakthrough of the Poles led to the blockade of the Kremlin or even its capture with the Russian government.
The assault failed. The Cossacks were in no hurry to storm the fortifications. The defectors warned the Russians of the main threat and reported the time of the attack. As a result, the Poles encountered stubborn resistance. The assault on the Tverskaya Gates was choked immediately. Knight of the Order of Malta Novodvorsky made a break in the wall of the Earthen City and reached the Arbat Gate. But the Russians made a sortie. The enemy attack was repulsed. Novodvorsky himself was wounded. By evening, the Poles were driven out of the fortifications of Zemlyanoy Gorod. The Poles did not have the strength for a new assault. But the Moscow government did not have the resources to launch a decisive counteroffensive and drive the enemy away from the capital, drive the Poles out of the country. Negotiations began.
"Raunchy" truce
Negotiations began on October 21 (31), 1618 on the Presnya River near the walls of Zemlyanoy Gorod. The Polish side is forced to remove the demand for Vladislav's accession to Moscow. It was about the cities that were to go to the Commonwealth, and the timing of the armistice. Both Russians and Poles rested. Therefore, the first negotiations yielded nothing.
Winter was coming. Vladislav left Tushino and moved to the Trinity-Sergius Monastery. The Sagaidachny Zaporozhians left to the south, ravaged the townships of Serpukhov and Kaluga, but could not take the fortress. From Kaluga Sagaidachny went to Kiev, where he declared himself the hetman of Ukraine. Approaching the Trinity Monastery, the Poles tried to take it, but were repelled by artillery fire. Vladislav withdrew the troops from the monastery for 12 versts and set up a camp near the village of Rogachev. The Poles scattered across the region, plundering the surrounding villages.
In November 1618, the armistice negotiations were resumed in the village of Deulino, which belongs to the Trinity Monastery. From the Russian side, the embassy was headed by: boyars F. Sheremetev and D. Mezetskaya, okolnich A. Izmailov and clerks Bolotnikov and Somov. Poland was represented by commissars attached to the army. Objectively, time worked for Moscow. The second wintering of the Polish army was even worse than the first: the troops overwintered not in the city of Vyazma, but almost in an open field, the distance to the Polish border increased significantly. The nicknames grumbled and threatened to leave the army. Moscow could at this time strengthen the defense and the army. The prospect of the complete destruction of the enemy appeared. At the same time, the foreign policy situation for Warsaw was extremely unfavorable. Poland was threatened with war by Turkey and Sweden (the war with the Turks and Swedes began in 1621). And in Moscow they knew about it. Also in Western Europe in 1618, the Thirty Years War began and the Polish king Sigismund immediately got into it. In conditions when the prince Vladislav could get bogged down with the army in the Russian forests.
However, subjective factors intervened in the affairs of the Russian embassy. Thus, the leadership of the Trinity-Sergius Monastery was not worried about the fate of the western and southwestern Russian cities, but was concerned about the prospect of the enemy army wintering in the area of the monastery and, accordingly, the ruin of the monastic estates. And most importantly, the government of Mikhail Romanov and his mother wanted to release Filaret at any cost and return him to Moscow. That is, the Romanov government decided to make peace at a time when the Poles had no chance of taking Moscow and could lose their army from hunger and cold. Under the threat of war with Turkey and Sweden.
As a result, on December 1 (11), 1618, an armistice was signed in Deulino for a period of 14 years and 6 months. The Poles received the cities they had already captured: Smolensk, Roslavl, Bely, Dorogobuzh, Serpeysk, Trubchevsk, Novgorod-Seversky with districts on both sides of the Desna and Chernigov with the region. Moreover, a number of cities were transferred to Poland, which were under the control of the Russian army, among them were Starodub, Przemysl, Pochep, Nevel, Sebezh, Krasny, Toropets, Velizh with their districts and counties. Moreover, fortresses passed along with guns and ammunition, and territories with residents and property. The right to leave for the Russian state was received only by the nobles with their people, the clergy and merchants. The peasants and townspeople remained where they were. Tsar Mikhail Romanov refused the title of "Prince of Livonian, Smolensk and Chernigov" and granted these titles to the Polish king.
The Poles promised to return the previously captured Russian ambassadors headed by Filaret. The Polish king Sigismund refused the title of "Tsar of Russia" ("Grand Duke of Russia"). At the same time, Vladislav retained the right to be called the "Tsar of Russia" in the official documents of the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth. The icon of St. Nicholas of Mozhaisky, captured by the Poles in 1611, was returned to Moscow.
Thus, the Troubles in Russia ended in a very "obscene" peace. The border between Poland and Russia moved far to the east, almost returning to the borders of the times of Ivan III. Russia lost the most important strategic fortress in the western direction - Smolensk. The Commonwealth for a short period (before the capture of Livonia by the Swedes) reached its maximum size in its history. Warsaw retained the opportunity to claim the Russian throne. National interests were sacrificed for the sake of the interests of the House of Romanov.
In general, a new war with the Commonwealth was inevitable in the future. Poland during the Russian Troubles reached the maximum of its power, later it only degraded, which was used by Moscow (then St. Petersburg), step by step returning the West Russian lands to a single state, uniting parts of a single Russian people.
