Martin Antonenko
A Fixture
- Joined
- Jul 11, 2008
- Messages
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3,000 defeat 35,000 ...!
The year is 1610.
Poland-Lithuania has been at war with Tsardom Muscovia for two years - as always, it is about power and influence.
In this case, the Polish King Sigismund III. Wasa ...
... wants to assert his claims to the Muscovite throne, however justified they may be!
From the Pole's point of view, this is a good time, because Muskowien is at this time in the so-called time of turmoil, the so-called "Smuta", which lasted from 1598 to 1613. The reason for this is the extinction of the ruling line of the Moscow Rurikids, which put the tsarist rule in limbo. This period is characterized by general anarchy, broken power relations and a temporary interregnum phase.
So Muskovia is weak!
Nevertheless, it is logical that the Muscovite Tsar, Vasily IV.
... does not like to see the claims of the Poles, so it comes to war!
Another Baltic Sea neighbour, Sweden, then hurriedly sent an envoy to Moscow, offering the tsar immediate help and a military alliance!
That is because in Sweden the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth is perceived as an increasingly dangerous competitor - and it certainly has something to do with the fact that the Polish king - his name gives it away! - until 1599 he was the Hereditary King of Sweden (from 1592), until the Swedish Diet got fed up with his autocratic behavior and chased him away.
Vasily IV. collects with swidisch help and (more important!) swedish money!) an army of 35,000 fighters (Muscovites and Swedes), who was huge for the time.
This army is under his formal command, but actually commanded of the boyars Boris Godunov (who will also become Tsar one day) ...
...and Mikhail Wassiljewitsch Skopin-Shuiskij...
... and immediately moves towards the Polish armed forces.
The army, the Sigismund III. in command, looks tiny against the Russian-Swedish armed forces, because the Pole had to deploy most of his troops for the siege of the border fortress Smolensk!
The Polish king commands only 3,000 riders!
On July 4, 1610, the battle broke out near Klushino (Polish: Kaluszino, about halfway between Moscow and Smolensk)...:
35,000 versus 3,000 - the meeting seems decided before it has even started! The Russians are sure of victory!
But with the 3,000 riders that the Pole personally leads ...
... they are all armored, well-armed and appropriately disciplined "Hussaria", the famous winged hussars!
And they practically make minced meat out of the undisciplined, poorly armed crowd of the Muscovian Tsar!
Those who cannot escape will be ridden down, sabered, stabbed or shot.
The tsar and his commanders can barely save themselves!
The defeat of the Russians and Swedes in this battle, which is practically unknown in the West, is so total that the tsar - as soon as he is back in the Moscow Kremlin - is unceremoniously deposed by the boyars, shorn to a monk and locked in a monastery, where he has his last Spends two years until his death in 1612.
The victory at Kluschino is considered to be the greatest success of the winged hussars in Poland to this day - historically perhaps only surpassed by the victory on the "Kahlenberg" near Vienna against the Ottomans on September 12, 1683.
When the war comes to an end, Muskowia (marked in green on the map below!) Can barely maintain its independence, but Poland-Lithuania (yellow!) Has incorporated a pretty piece of tsarism (red and light red!) And is now at the height of his power ...:
On the map, Poland-Lithuania now stretches from Szczecin and Gdansk to far behind Kiev!
So much for the theory.
However, if you look closely at the land mass marked in yellow on the map, you will see a place called "Sicz" at the lower right end.
This is the famous impregnable nest of the Zaporozhian Cossacks on the Dnieper island of Chortyza behind the seven rapids.
"Zaporoshians" is derived from the Russian words "sa porogami", which means "behind the rapids".
And the people of Zaporozhian Cossacks don't give a damn about letting anyone or anything conquer or even rule them, regardless of what is on the map!
They remain what they were: free.
The year is 1610.
Poland-Lithuania has been at war with Tsardom Muscovia for two years - as always, it is about power and influence.
In this case, the Polish King Sigismund III. Wasa ...
... wants to assert his claims to the Muscovite throne, however justified they may be!
From the Pole's point of view, this is a good time, because Muskowien is at this time in the so-called time of turmoil, the so-called "Smuta", which lasted from 1598 to 1613. The reason for this is the extinction of the ruling line of the Moscow Rurikids, which put the tsarist rule in limbo. This period is characterized by general anarchy, broken power relations and a temporary interregnum phase.
So Muskovia is weak!
Nevertheless, it is logical that the Muscovite Tsar, Vasily IV.
... does not like to see the claims of the Poles, so it comes to war!
Another Baltic Sea neighbour, Sweden, then hurriedly sent an envoy to Moscow, offering the tsar immediate help and a military alliance!
That is because in Sweden the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth is perceived as an increasingly dangerous competitor - and it certainly has something to do with the fact that the Polish king - his name gives it away! - until 1599 he was the Hereditary King of Sweden (from 1592), until the Swedish Diet got fed up with his autocratic behavior and chased him away.
Vasily IV. collects with swidisch help and (more important!) swedish money!) an army of 35,000 fighters (Muscovites and Swedes), who was huge for the time.
This army is under his formal command, but actually commanded of the boyars Boris Godunov (who will also become Tsar one day) ...
...and Mikhail Wassiljewitsch Skopin-Shuiskij...
... and immediately moves towards the Polish armed forces.
The army, the Sigismund III. in command, looks tiny against the Russian-Swedish armed forces, because the Pole had to deploy most of his troops for the siege of the border fortress Smolensk!
The Polish king commands only 3,000 riders!
On July 4, 1610, the battle broke out near Klushino (Polish: Kaluszino, about halfway between Moscow and Smolensk)...:
35,000 versus 3,000 - the meeting seems decided before it has even started! The Russians are sure of victory!
But with the 3,000 riders that the Pole personally leads ...
... they are all armored, well-armed and appropriately disciplined "Hussaria", the famous winged hussars!
And they practically make minced meat out of the undisciplined, poorly armed crowd of the Muscovian Tsar!
Those who cannot escape will be ridden down, sabered, stabbed or shot.
The tsar and his commanders can barely save themselves!
The defeat of the Russians and Swedes in this battle, which is practically unknown in the West, is so total that the tsar - as soon as he is back in the Moscow Kremlin - is unceremoniously deposed by the boyars, shorn to a monk and locked in a monastery, where he has his last Spends two years until his death in 1612.
The victory at Kluschino is considered to be the greatest success of the winged hussars in Poland to this day - historically perhaps only surpassed by the victory on the "Kahlenberg" near Vienna against the Ottomans on September 12, 1683.
When the war comes to an end, Muskowia (marked in green on the map below!) Can barely maintain its independence, but Poland-Lithuania (yellow!) Has incorporated a pretty piece of tsarism (red and light red!) And is now at the height of his power ...:
On the map, Poland-Lithuania now stretches from Szczecin and Gdansk to far behind Kiev!
So much for the theory.
However, if you look closely at the land mass marked in yellow on the map, you will see a place called "Sicz" at the lower right end.
This is the famous impregnable nest of the Zaporozhian Cossacks on the Dnieper island of Chortyza behind the seven rapids.
"Zaporoshians" is derived from the Russian words "sa porogami", which means "behind the rapids".
And the people of Zaporozhian Cossacks don't give a damn about letting anyone or anything conquer or even rule them, regardless of what is on the map!
They remain what they were: free.
