Mikhail Borisovich Shein. Modern image
Signed on December 1, 1618 in the village of Deulin belonging to the Trinity-Sergius Monastery between Russia and the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth, an armistice was signed for a period of 14 years and 6 months. This peculiar feature was summed up under the events of a long, incredibly difficult, sometimes even hopeless Time of Troubles and which became an integral part of the Russian-Polish war. The terms of the truce cannot be called easy and painless for the Russian side. The belonging to the Polish crown of the cities already captured by the Poles was confirmed: among them Smolensk, Novgorod-Seversky, Roslavl and others.
In addition, part of the territory formally controlled by Russian troops passed under the control of the Commonwealth. Toropets, Starodub, Krasny, Chernigov and a number of other settlements, together with their districts and counties, were to be transferred to the Polish crown. It was especially stipulated that all fortresses should be given away together with cannons and ammunition for them. The entire population, primarily peasants and burghers, remained in places of permanent residence. Unhindered moving was allowed only for nobles with servants, merchants and clergy. The young Tsar Mikhail, the first of the Romanov dynasty, officially renounced the titles of Prince of Smolensk, Livonian and Chernigov. Now their bearer was the Polish king. The Poles pledged to return the participants in Filaret's embassy, who were actually in the position of hostages, Sigismund III Vasa refused the title of Tsar of Russia.
There is still no consensus on the need for the Russian side to sign such an unprofitable agreement. Despite the presence of the Polish army in the depths of Russia, in the vicinity of Moscow, the foreign policy position of the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth in other directions was far from favorable. Contradictions with Sweden grew, the young sultan Osman II, who ascended the Istanbul throne, like many of his predecessors, wanted to start his reign with new victories and began to prepare for a major campaign in Poland. The military invasion of the Turks took place in 1621, but was stopped by King Vladislav at the Battle of Khotin. In the north, in the same 1621, the Swedish king Gustav II Adolf landed with a large army, which was the beginning of a grueling eight-year Swedish-Polish war. However, given the seemingly favorable political conditions for the continuation of the war, Russia was by the beginning of 1618 in an extreme stage of ruin and devastation. Destroyed and depopulated cities, a weak central government so far, an abundance of all kinds of gangs and free detachments engaged in robbery, huge losses among the population - all this lay on the other side of the scales in negotiations with the Poles. And this bowl outweighed.
Deulinskoe truce
Between turmoil and war
Russia received such a long-awaited respite in order to somehow put in order almost all aspects of the state structure. It was difficult to overestimate all the destructive consequences of the Troubles. The shaky truce with the Commonwealth did not bring calm on the western borders. Despite the fact that attempts to throw the dice on a large scale in the game called "False Dmitry" have already been made three times and each time less and less successfully, some daredevils were still there. From time to time, the Russian borderlands shuddered from the next rumors and "reliable news" about the next "miraculously saved prince", but the matter did not come to any large-scale actions. From time to time the borders were violated by private armies or gangs of Polish magnates, who did not care about any subtleties of a diplomatic nature.
At the interstate level, tension was maintained by the fact that the son of Sigismund III still continued to bear the title of Grand Duke of Moscow and was in no hurry to give it up. The desire for compromise and "political detente" was clearly not included in the arsenal of Polish diplomacy. Moreover, the aristocracy of the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth expressed open skepticism about the legitimacy of the election and the right to the throne of the young Tsar Mikhail Fedorovich Romanov. Many noble lords were sure that, they say, the tsar was installed by Cossacks, thieves and other rabble without the consent of the boyars. However, the noble gentry preferred not to modestly recall the conditions under which the Polish kings were elected.
While Russia continued to recover and solve the heap of problems that had accumulated almost since the reign of Fyodor Ioannovich, the Rzeczpospolita was going through a not most prosperous period in its history. In 1618, the uprising in Prague marked the beginning of the longest and bloodiest conflict of the 17th century, which went down in history as the Thirty Years' War. Europe was divided into two irreconcilable camps: at first, Catholicism fought against Protestantism, then religious affiliation did not play a special role in the choice of opponents and allies. Rzeczpospolita found itself, as it were, away from the storm that broke out in the center of Europe, but in 1621 a conflict with Sweden that lasted for eight years began. Its origins lay, on the one hand, in the desire of Sigismund III to unite Poland and Sweden under his rule, and on the other, in the stubborn desire of his cousin, Gustav Adolf II, to prevent this from happening. The long war ended with the signing of the Altmark Peace Treaty in September 1639, according to which Sigismund III recognized his cousin's rights to the Swedish throne and transferred Livonia to him, along with Riga, Memel, Pillau and Elbing. Interestingly, during this conflict, the Swedes persistently tried to involve Russia in the war as an ally, but Moscow completely rejected this venture.
The terms of the Deulinsky truce, of course, were recognized as unacceptable and requiring revision, however, for such a step, appropriate preparation was needed - in those days, agreements between states were contested mainly with iron, and only when it was dull did the turn of leisurely conversations in tents and tents come. Russia was preparing for revenge.
Preparing for revenge
The fact that the ceasefire signed with the Poles was nothing more than a pause before another conflict was understood in both capitals. But in Moscow, where they felt oppressed, this was perceived more sharply. Relations with the Commonwealth, and so deprived of good-neighborly cordiality, constantly deteriorated. Economic rivalry played a significant role in this. Europe, devastated by the war, was in dire need of bread, and the main grain suppliers were Russia and the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth. Food prices rose by several orders of magnitude, and trade was a very profitable business. Needless to say, Russian and Polish merchants fiercely competed with each other in the grain market, and this also did not contribute to the stabilization of relations between Warsaw and Moscow.
While Imperial and Protestant armies marched across the fields of Europe, Russia prepared its resources for the upcoming battle. First, as theorists and practitioners of the art of war from different times used to say, three things were needed for a war: money, money, and more money. Patriarch Filaret, being the father of the young tsar and having the official title of co-ruler, often made extraordinary extortions from monasteries for military needs. Most of the income earned from the sale of grain abroad was also spent on reorganizing and arming the army. In addition to the available funds in England, a loan of 40 thousand gold was taken. Of course, the British helped Russia with money and purchases of various materials for military purposes not from a sudden surge of philanthropy. The fact is that the Catholic Rzeczpospolita in Protestant circles was considered a potential ally of the Habsburgs, and, therefore, a war between the Russian Tsar and the Polish king would be a profitable enterprise for them. Through Hamburg and Dutch merchants, purchases of military equipment were carried out - every year the cost of this item increased. In the years 1630-1632. large quantities of lead and iron were delivered to Arkhangelsk from Holland, Sweden and England. Despite the ban on the export of metals from Foggy Albion, an exception was made for Russia. The entry of the Commonwealth into the Thirty Years' War was perceived by the lords as much more evil than the concession of valuable raw materials to the Russians. Weapons were also bought - in 1629 an order was placed in Holland for the manufacture of 10 thousand muskets.
Much attention was paid not only to material and technical support, but also to the personnel issue. After all, the experience of the battles of the Time of Troubles has shown that the archers and the noble cavalry are not sufficiently prepared for the modern conditions of war and are often inferior in organization to the Poles. To solve this problem, the movement was carried out in two directions. First, it was decided to reinforce the Russian army with detachments of mercenaries. Secondly, just before the war, the formation of "regiments of the new system" began from their own human resources.
To recruit foreign "soldiers of fortune" in January 1631, Colonel Alexander Leslie, a Scotsman in the Russian service, went to Sweden. He was an experienced military man who had served the Polish and Swedish crowns in his military career. In 1630 he arrived in Moscow as part of a Swedish military mission, was received by the tsar and subsequently expressed a desire to go into Russian service. On his way to his former employers, Leslie was tasked with recruiting five thousand infantry and helping to recruit foremen into the Russian service who excelled at making weapons. The Swedish king Gustav Adolf was sympathetic to the mission of the Scotsman, however, preparing for an active participation in the Thirty Years War, he refused to provide soldiers. Leslie had to make an effort and select a suitable contingent in other countries: mercenaries were recruited in Holland, England and Germany. In total, four regiments were ready to be sent to Russia. One was dominated by the British and Scots, the rest by the Germans and the Dutch. However, due to desertion and illness, no more than four thousand people made it to Moscow.
Soldiers of the regiments of the new order
The regiments of the "new order" began to form shortly before the war. At the beginning of 1630, letters were sent to large cities about the recruitment of "homeless" boyar children to serve in Moscow for training with foreign specialists in the amount of two thousand people, of which it was then planned to form two regiments. Those who signed up were promised a salary of five rubles a year and the so-called fodder money. Gunpowder, pishchal and lead were issued at public expense. However, despite the call, the number of boyar children wishing to join the new regiments did not at first exceed a hundred people. Then it was decided to expand the recruiting contingent, allowing representatives of different classes to enroll in soldiers.
By these measures, by December 1631, it was already possible to recruit more than three thousand people without much difficulty. In total, by August 1632, four regiments were formed, divided into companies. Most of the officers were foreigners, and the personnel were Russian. The successful experience of creating infantry regiments was also used in the cavalry. In the summer of 1632, the formation of the Reitarsky regiment began. Its completion took place at a more satisfactory pace, mainly due to the fact that the nobility considered service in the cavalry a much more prestigious occupation than pulling the infantry strap. By December 1632, the regiment was brought to almost full strength. Its composition was expanded - it was decided to create an additional dragoon company, and the number of the regiment to increase to 2,400 people. All in all, this unit had 14 companies in its composition. Already during the hostilities, another cavalry regiment was formed, this time a dragoon regiment.
Revenge
In April 1632, the king of the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth Sigismund III died - an interregnum began in the country, accompanied by the confusion of the gentry. In order to comply with the procedure for electing a new king, traditional for Poland, it was necessary to convene an electoral diet. On the whole, it was a very convenient moment for the start of hostilities, for which they had already been preparing for a long time. Europe blazed hotly with the flames of the Thirty Years War, and its participants were absorbed in sorting out relations with each other. Formally, Protestant Sweden could be Russia's ally, but its king Gustav Adolph II preferred to act in Germany, where he found his death on the battlefield of Lützen in November 1632.
In the spring, the Russian army began to concentrate on the western borders. On June 20, the Zemsky Sobor declared war on the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth. In the same month, the troops, led by the governors of the princes Dmitry Cherkassky and Boris Lykov, began to move towards Smolensk. A very successful situation developed to strike at the Poles, but personal circumstances intervened in the events. Lykov and Cherkassky became substitutes and began to find out which of them was more noble and, therefore, the main one. While the commanders were engaged in such an important, but not the most appropriate action, the troops were forced to stop. The commanders could not figure out which of them was more "cool", and a special commission headed by Prince Khilkov was sent to the army from Moscow. Arriving at the main apartment, the capital's emissaries were embroiled in a princely litigation that dragged on for almost two months. Finally, in order to put an end to this empty and harmful red tape in the context of the outbreak of war, Tsar Mikhail, at the suggestion of Patriarch Filaret, replaced the brawler voivode with the boyar Mikhail Shein, who was the head of the defense of Smolensk in 1609-1611.
The steppe factor was added to the conflict in the highest military circles. Taking advantage of the weakening of the Russian troops in the south, the Tatar army of Khan Janibek-Girey moved out of the Crimea and struck at the Kursk and Belgorod lands. Only by August did they manage to push the Crimeans back to the steppe. The crisis on the southern borders definitely hindered the development of military operations against Poland. The favorable summer months for the offensive were lost.
At the time of the arrival of the new commander in the army, it numbered more than 25 thousand people (of which almost four thousand were foreign mercenaries), 151 cannons and seven mortars. According to the war plan, Shein was ordered to seize Dorogobuzh, but if the city could not be taken on the move, then part of the army should be left at its walls, and with the main forces to go to Smolensk, which was the main goal of the war. Of the protracted squabbles among the leadership, as a result of which Prince Cherkassky nevertheless proved his eminence, but was still replaced by Shein, active hostilities began only at the end of August.
Despite a two-month delay, at the initial stage, military happiness was favorable to the Russian army - the Poles were in such a difficult situation that they could not immediately organize effective resistance. On October 12, the city of Serpeysk was taken. On October 18, Voivode Fyodor Sukhotin and Colonel Leslie captured Dorogobuzh. In the future, Dorogobuzh was used as a supply center for the Russian army - extensive warehouses with various reserves were arranged in it. The White Fortress surrendered to Prince Prozorovsky, great damage was inflicted on Polotsk, where it was not possible to take the citadel with the Polish garrison, but the posad was burned. A number of cities were taken, including Novgorod-Seversky, Roslavl, Nevel, Starodub and others. Not satisfied with this success, Shein marched with the main forces at Smolensk.
On December 5, 1632, the Russian army began the siege of Smolensk. The city was surrounded by siege fortifications, and artillery began a systematic shelling. Unfortunately, Shein soon had to face supply problems - gunpowder for the guns was transported at an extremely slow pace, which directly affected the effectiveness of the bombing. The Poles were able to quickly eliminate the destruction in the walls, as an additional measure to increase the defenses behind the fortress walls, an earthen rampart was erected. On May 26, 1633, it turned out to blow up a section of the wall, but the attack undertaken on the breach was repulsed. On June 10, an assault was undertaken, which also ended in failure. The lack of gunpowder in the Russian army became permanent.
While the siege of Smolensk continued, the Polish gentry was completely absorbed in the election of the king. This procedure seemed to them much more important than the enemy army invading the country. While there were tense political disputes, accompanied by intrigues and bribery, no active steps were taken to unblock the besieged city. But the Poles did not disdain to pay a hefty sum of gold to the Crimean Khan for organizing a raid on Russian territory. Forming the army, the Russians had to greatly reduce the number of garrisons on the southern border, which the Crimeans took advantage of.
At the beginning of the summer of 1633, the son of Khan Mubarek-Girey led the campaign of a 30,000-strong army against Russia. The Tatars managed to devastate the environs of Serpukhov, Tula and Ryazan, to take a large amount of booty and prisoners. Upon learning of the raid, many nobles, whose estates were located in the regions subjected to devastation, simply deserted from the army under the plausible pretext of saving property. While the Khanate was organizing a robber "second front" for Polish gold, its sponsors finally gathered their thoughts and, as expected, elected the son of Sigismund III, Vladislav, who received the crown under the name of Vladislav IV, as king.
Under the walls of Smolensk
While Shein, overcoming logistical and organizational difficulties, stormed Smolensk, the new king hastily gathered an almost 25,000-strong army and at the end of August approached the city besieged by the Russians. He set up his camp on the Borovaya river, almost 10 km from Smolensk. Vladislav abandoned the wait-and-see tactics and decided to immediately push the enemy away from the city. The initial blow was planned to be applied to the positions of the Russian army on Pokrovskaya Gora. By this time, Shein's troops, which suffered more losses from desertion than from the influence of the enemy, numbered no more than 20 thousand people. The situation of the Polish garrison in Smolensk was extremely difficult - the inhabitants refused to assist the Poles, and they could only rely on their own forces. The commander, Prince Sokolinsky, still had provisions, but there was no fodder for the horses, and the situation was bad with poor water in the wells.
Against the suitable army of Vladislav, it was decided to act according to the method of Prince Skopin-Shuisky: to hide from the powerful Polish cavalry behind field fortifications and wear down the enemy with stubborn defense, followed by a counterattack. The first battle with the royal troops took place on August 28, 1633. The battle turned out to be grueling - the soldiers of the colonel in the Russian service of Yuri Mattison, among a few 1,200 people, successfully fought off the many Poles outnumbered them. The most significant success of King Vladislav that day was the successful delivery of a convoy of food to besieged Smolensk. On September 3, significant reinforcements in the person of the registered and Zaporozhye Cossacks approached the king, then artillery and crews arrived at the Polish camp, as well as a significant amount of gunpowder. Now the army of the Commonwealth, even without taking into account the garrison of Smolensk, had an advantage over the enemy.
Shein's position was aggravated by the beginning of an active flight of European mercenaries to Vladislav. On the morning of September 11, a large number of Poles again attacked the fortifications on Pokrovskaya Gora and the nearby camp of Voivode Prozorovsky, trying not only to knock out the Russians, but also cut them off from Shein's main camp. After a two-day bloody battle, Colonel Mattison retreated with the remnants of his detachment to the main force. Moreover, the retreat took place secretly from the enemy. On September 13, a blow was already inflicted on Prozorovsky's positions, and the royal troops were actively using artillery. Taught by experience, the Poles were in no hurry to attack the well-entrenched Russians, exhausting them with intense fire. The following days were filled with tense positional battles, where the king's soldiers tried to knock Prozorovsky out of his fortifications with artillery duels, attacks and counterattacks.
Vladislav managed to restore constant communication with Smolensk, the garrison of which was now regularly receiving supplies and reinforcements. After a week of almost continuous battles, Prozorovsky on September 19 retreated with his men to Shein's main camp. The loss of Pokrovskaya Gora was dangerous because communication with the main camp was interrupted. In the abandoned fortifications, some of which were prudently set on fire, the Poles got siege weapons and some of the supplies. Other siege camps were left near the walls of Smolensk. Prozorovsky performed this maneuver quite skillfully and, most importantly, secretly - despite the abundance of cavalry among the Poles, they could not prevent the withdrawal of the Russians from under the walls of the city. The king himself expressed his approval of Shein's actions: it is good that "we have become together with all our people!"
There was another reason why the Russian commander had to concentrate all his forces in one place: the unreliability of foreign mercenaries, who quite actively began to go over to the enemy. In fact, the siege of Smolensk ended, and both armies concentrated in their camps against each other. Given the numerical superiority of the enemy and the desertion of foreigners, it would be logical for Shein to retreat along the Moscow road in order to preserve and subsequently put in order the army. However, in Moscow they judged differently: Tsar Mikhail forbade in his letter to retreat from Smolensk, promising to soon send help in the person of the newly formed army under the command of the princes Cherkassky and Pozharsky. In addition, in the conditions of the beginning of the autumn thaw, serious difficulties would arise with the transportation of heavy siege artillery along the muddy roads.
Since the Poles considered it impossible to take Shein's heavily fortified camp by direct assault, from now on the efforts of the royal army were aimed at slowly strangling it by interrupting communications with the “mainland”. In early October, a Polish detachment captured and burned Dorogobuzh with all its huge reserves for the Russian army. On October 7, by order of the king, Zhavoronkova Gora was occupied, which dominated the Russian camp. This could not be left without consequences, and on October 9 Shein attacked the Polish positions. The bloody battle lasted all day and died down with the onset of darkness. Both sides suffered heavy losses, but the king managed to keep Zhavoronkov mountain behind him. Placing guns on it, the Poles began regular shelling of the Russian camp.
Interchange
The position of Shein's troops steadily worsened - the Poles took measures to ensure his dense blockade. The supply of provisions soon ceased. The enemy also managed to periodically intercept the messengers who delivered reports to Shein and from him to Moscow. Relations between foreigners became more and more strained. So, on suspicion of treason and the transfer of important information to the Poles, Colonel Leslie shot another colonel, an Englishman by nationality, Sanderson. In November, problems began with provisions, fodder and money. In order to pay salaries to the mercenaries, Shein had to borrow from the colonels. In December, diseases were added to the famine.
Nevertheless, skirmishes between the two warring parties took place on a regular basis. Aware of the deteriorating position of his opponent, Vladislav in mid-December sent envoys with a proposal to conclude a truce. It was proposed to exchange prisoners, and each of the armies had to retreat deep into its territory. Lacking the authority to sign an armistice without instructions from Moscow, from which there was no news due to the blockade, Shein, after long debates with his officers, left the Polish proposal unanswered. The unblocking army of Prince Cherkassky, concentrated near Mozhaisk, did not show activity, its other governor, Prince Pozharsky, became very ill.
Perhaps the indifference to the agony of Shein's troops on the part of the eminent Moscow boyars was also caused by personal motives. At the very beginning of October 1633, Patriarch Filaret died, and Tsar Mikhail, left without a father and a chief adviser, had no time for Smolensk affairs. At the beginning of February, the food supply in the Russian camp came to an end, there was nowhere to wait for help, foreign mercenaries, not very adapted to the difficult conditions, expressed more and more fierce protest.
Shein's exit from the camp near Smolensk. Unknown Polish artist
On February 16, after long negotiations on Zhavoronkovaya Gora, an armistice was signed between the king and prince Shein. On February 19, Russian troops with rolled up banners, without drumming, began to leave the camp. Frustrated by the long, bloody and grueling siege, the Poles introduced a number of humiliating conditions into the armistice agreement: all the banners were folded at Vladislav's feet until the crown hetman in the name of the king allowed them to be raised. Shein and his other commanders had to dismount and bow deeply to the head of the Commonwealth. However, the soldiers went out with personal cold arms and firearms, pledging not to participate in the war for four months. Almost all the artillery and about two thousand sick and wounded were left in the camp, which the Poles had to take care of. From Smolensk Shein took home a little more than 8 thousand people - the overwhelming majority of the remaining two thousand foreign mercenaries, without further ado, went into the service of King Vladislav. Only a few have retained their loyalty to Russia. Among them was the Scotsman Alexander Leslie.
In Moscow, Shein's surrender became known on March 4, 1634. A "commission" was immediately created to investigate the incident, which included many eminent boyars. The prince was accused of many sins, hanging on him almost all the blame for the defeat. Despite Shein's previous merits during the defense of Smolensk, despite the fact that he managed to save the core of the army and withdraw it to Russia, on April 18, 1634, Mikhail Shein and two younger voivods, father and son Izmailov, were beheaded in Red Square … The verdict, cruel and unjustified, caused unrest in the capital - the prince enjoyed great respect among the people.
Meanwhile, intoxicated by the victory at Smolensk, the Poles, in joy, rushed to besiege the White fortress, which was defended by a small garrison. The offer of surrender was rejected by the Russians. The commander of the defenders of the fortress said that Shein's example inspires courage, not fear. Attempts to lay mines under the walls ended unsuccessfully for the Poles. The garrison made a skilful sortie and badly battered the besiegers. Illness and food shortages began in the royal army.
In addition, Vladislav received very disturbing news. Sultan Murad IV sent a large army to the Rzeczpospolita under the command of Abbas Pasha. In such, already becoming desperate, conditions, it was no longer up to regular sieges and dashing cavalry raids deep into Russian territory. Messengers were sent to Moscow offering peace. In Russia, they did not take advantage of the critical position of the enemy, and on June 3, 1634, the Polyanovsk Peace Treaty was signed between the two states. Its conditions were briefly reduced to the following: the "eternal" peace was established, the events of 1604-1634. were consigned to oblivion. The Polish king renounced the rights to the Russian throne and pledged to return the electoral act of the Moscow boyars sent to him in 1610 and signed among others by Mikhail Romanov's father Filaret. Vladislav refused the title "Prince of Moscow", and Tsar Mikhail Fedorovich removed from his title "Prince of Smolensk and Chernigov", pledging not to sign "the sovereign of all Russia." Russia renounced the rights to return Livonia, Courland and Estonia. Smolensk, Chernigov and a number of other cities were ceded to Poland, along with serf artillery and reserves. For the city of Serpeysk, left as part of Russia, Rzecz Pospolita was paid 20 thousand rubles.
The war did not solve a single problem between the two rival states, and the next peace treaty was, in fact, nothing more than an impressively formalized truce. And the Poles never returned the letter on the election of Vladislav, since in 1636 it was officially declared “lost”. The "eternal" peace between Russia and the Commonwealth lasted no more than twenty years. A new war, caused by old contradictions, as well as the adoption of the Zaporozhian Army into Russian citizenship, began in 1654 and lasted for 13 long years. After a long exhausting struggle, Russia regained its western bastion - Smolensk and many other lands lost during the Time of Troubles.
