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Revision as of 11:13, 10 November 2005 by Space Cadet (talk | contribs)(diff) ← Previous revision | Latest revision (diff) | Newer revision → (diff)The Smolensk War (Polish-Muscovy War of 1632-1634) was a conflict fought in the years 1632-1634 between the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth and Muscovy. After recovering to a certain extent from the Time of Troubles, Muscovy, expecting the Commonwealth to be weakened by the death of king Sigismund III, launched the war in an attempt to recover the key city of Smolensk which it lost to the Commonwealth in 1611, during the Dimitriads wars. Smolensk was often contested - before the 17th century it belonged to the Grand Duchy of Lithuania, which became the part of the federated Commonwealth with Poland in 1569.
A large, carefully prepared Russian army of 34,500 men under Mikhail Borisovich Shein reached Smolensk in October of 1632 and began a siege. The city held out for the following year while the Commonwealth, under its newly elected king Wladislaus IV, organised a relief force. This force, led personally by the king, finally arrived near Smolensk in September of 1633 and began immediate operations against the besieging forces.
In a series of fierce combats, the Muscovites were first forced to break their siege of Smolensk by October 3, and then by the end the month were themselves surrounded by forces of the Commonwealth. The surrounded Muscovites waited for relief but none arrived. Finally they surrendered on March 1, 1634. The war ended soon afterwards with the Treaty of Polanów signed in May of 1634. The peace treaty confirmed the pre-war status quo, with Russia paying a large war indemnity (20,000 rubles in gold), while Wladislaus IV agreed to surrender his claim to the Muscovite throne and return the royal insignia to Muscovy.
The treaty ended the almost unbroken series of wars that the Commonwealth waged with its neighbours since the start of the 17th century. The 14 years of peace that followed were arguably the most prosperous in Commonwealth's history.
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