Smolensk War

At a glance

Dates: 1632 – 1634.

Place: Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth.

Type: war.

Key figures / parties: Krzysztof Radziwiłł, Władysław IV Vasa, Marcin Kazanowski, Aleksander Korwin Gosiewski, Mikhail Shein, Tsardom of Russia, and Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth.

What came before

Part of: Thirty Years' War.

Background In 1632, Sigismund III Vasa , the king of Poland and Grand Duke of Lithuania , died. Although the Commonwealth nobility quickly elected Sigismund's son Władysław IV Vasa as their new ruler, Poland's neighbours, expecting delays in the electoral process, tested the Commonwealth's perceived weakness. [ 1 ] Swedish king Gustav II Adolph sent envoys to Russia and the Ottoman Empire to propose an alliance and war against the Commonwealth. [ 1 ] The Commonwealth was not ready for war. In 1631,

What happened

Aftermath King Władysław IV on horseback near Smolensk after seizing the Smolensk Fortress, painting by Jan Matejko , lost during the Second World War Already during the later stages of the war, when the Commonwealth army moved from Smolensk to Bely, a new threat begun to loom on the southern borders, where the Ottoman Empire was massing an invasion force. [ 1 ] Thus Władysław began redirecting his reinforcements to that theater. [ 1 ] Later that year,

Smolensk War: Forces from the Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth broke the Russian siege of Smolensk (depicted).