Historical calendar: anniversary of the signing of peace by representatives of the Republic of Poland and the Russian Empire ending the alleged Smolensk War.
Today in our calendar we will look at the circumstances accompanying this treaty.
On 9 August 1632 the Tsarsk army received orders to concentrate and attack the Republic. Due to disputes in command and late mobilization, the first troops did not cross the border until September. The main forces under Mikhail Shein headed for Smolensk. The auxiliary blows occurred at the full dimension of the border, from Infinant to Chernich. The attackers managed to get a number of smaller border fortresses, specified as White or Dorohobuzh.
This last town captured and murdered, a Scottish mercenary on the Tsaric Service, Alexander Leslie. Due to his experience, he was promoted to colonel and took command of 2 Tsarist infantry regiments (including 1 reformed soldat regiment).
Despite its first successes, Smolensk was not under siege until late October.
Slow concentration and slow Russian actions allowed to be conducted in Poland, the calmest always free election. On 8 November, the boy of Sigismund III Vasa, Władysław IV, was elected king. After the coronation of February 6, 1633, the fresh ruler proceeded to recruit an intensive army. The parliament had well established taxes on the army, and the king had it equipped with the latest weapons and had it build peculiar arsenals for it.
Most of the mobilized forces moved along with the king at Smolensk to unlock the besieged city. any of the troops under the leadership of the captain Stanislaw Koniecpolski went south to cover the border against the expected Turkish and Tartar invasion. In July, Koniecpolski defeated the Tatars at the conflict of Sasowy Rog. However, this did not prevent the main Turkish-Moldavian-Tatar forces under Abazi Pasha from attacking. On October 22, 1633, the invasion was halted in the winning conflict of Panikov, after which the Turks withdrew behind Dniestr.
The impact of the mercenaries on the part of Silesia did not occur, and the collected troops were dispersed or passed under command of the militants in this area of Swedes and Austrians. This had to do with the death of King Gustav Adolf at the conflict of Lützen in November 1632. most likely the Polish side did not know about the planned action at all, as the border from this side remained unprotected throughout the Smolensk War.
The Polish army in strength of about 20,000 soldiers reached Smolensk in September 1633. Given the considerable advantage of the enemy (about 35,000 troops) the position war was decided. The Russians were slow and effectively rejected from subsequent positions, leading to their lap. At the same time, the Polish camp was constantly receiving reinforcements, so that by the end of the year the forces of opponents equalized. The blocked Tsar army was haunted by hunger and disease.
February 25, 1634, Mikhail Szein capitulated. More than 100 pieces of various divisions of the department and more than 8,000 muskets entered Polish hands and most of the Russian abroad regiments moved to the Polish side.
At the time erstwhile Shein was blocked under Smolensk, Polish forces of the border magnates burned and plundered Russian borderlands. The most successful was the young Jeremi Wiśniowiecki, who went deep into Russian territory, and his plans to conquer Moscow only thwarted the conclusion of the truce.
On 14 June 1634 a peace was signed in Polanów. Under his power, Władysław IV waived the title of Tsar of Russia, while Michał Romanow waived the rights to Inflant. Additionally, the Republic renounced parts of its lands in the east with the Sierpiejski for Moscow. Though the Tsar paid 200,000 rubles in silver in return, The fact of giving up a immense territory to the losing side is simply a global phenomenon.
The basis of this decision was fear of the protracted war and a possible fresh action from Turkey, which does not explain the territorial concessions erstwhile the opponent was on his knees. It only encouraged the Moscows, who came to the apparent conclusion – 1 should press diplomatically and attack the Republic of Poland armedly at all opportunity, due to the fact that even if they lost the war, 1 can bargain on naive Poles.
Despite all the imperfections of the Polan peace, The Republic defended sovereignty, and a large coalition of Protestants, Orthodox and Muslim was broken. Among the causes of the large conspiracy are the abrupt death of the King of Sweden and the slowness of Moscow activities, which allowed the Polish army to meet and join the counteroffensive.
Previous entry from our calendar is available Here.
