12 Russia's Troubles Continue
When the appointment of a Chancellor and Hetman for Ruthenia became known, Tsar Vasily of Russia sent strenuous objections to King Andreas I. In his missive Vasily claimed all of Ruthenia east of the Dniester River as Russian domains. Andreas rejected these claims without any misgivings as he knew Vasily’s position was too weak to mount any serious challenge to the Commonwealth. The fact that the Russian Tsar could so easily be ignored was a testament to the weak position of that nation.
Vasily IV had remained childless but he refused to nominate an heir. His brother Dmitry was trying to place himself to become the Tsar on his brother’s death but Dmitry remained unpopular with many of the boyars. The nobles in Russia looked on in envy at the stability of the Commonwealth and many talked of having an elected monarch as that country enjoyed. Any attempt to discuss the succession with Vasily was treated by him as forming a conspiracy to replace him. He even ordered the murder of some boyars who pressed him too closely.
With the lack of an heir the Regent of Sweden, Duke Charles, who had been disappointed that he had been unable to press a claim for the Swedish throne when his brother the king became childless on the death of Sigismund Vasa, looked to Russia to stake a place for his lineage. Subsequent to the birth of his brother’s second son, also John, in 1589 and the death of John III in 1592 Charles had been declared Regent. During the infancy of John, Charles had tried to convince the Riksdag to declare him as king. However, as John was being raised as a good Lutheran in Charles own household and there was no external threat Charles could not build a convincing case to have John deposed from the line of succession.
Once Charles accepted this he looked for ways for his sons to be advanced. The instability in Russia possibly presented an opportunity. Charles planned that if the Russian throne could become vacant he would use Swedish resources to place his son Gustav Adolph on the throne. This could not be achieved without exerting force of arms so Charles ensured that Gustav was given the best military education that could be obtained. He also bent his attention to modernising the Swedish military.
On John’s eighteenth birthday in 1607 he had been proclaimed by the Riksdag as John IV. Having been raised in the same house as Gustav Adolph, John regarded him as a brother and was eager to lend his weight behind the project to raise Gustav to the throne of Russia.
The much anticipated demise of Tsar Vasily IV occurred in mid 1613. Dmitry Shuisky proclaimed himself as the new Tsar, as Dmitry II, but almost immediately he met with opposition from many of the Russian nobility. In an attempt to secure his place on the throne Dmitry II ordered troops to arrest the heads of the families most vocal in opposition. This backfired as a message from within Dmitry II’s household was sent out ahead of the troops and the nobles who were targeted fled. In some cases the arresting troops , angry that they had missed their targets, inflicted damage on the noble’s estates and in a few cases caused the death of members of the nobles households. This further deepened the hatred for the self proclaimed Tsar.
Dmitry II’s opponents started gathering forces to fight back. Dmitry II knew that this would lead to his deposition and assassination. Feeling unsure of both the loyalty of his own forces and of the size of the army being led by his opponents he fled from Moscow. With the support given by Duke Charles previously to place Vasily on the throne Dmitry II decided to make a plea to the Regent’s son Duke Gustav for aid.
With his king’s permission Duke Gustav offered to provide aid to DmitryII to place him on the throne and to provide forces to keep him there. However, the price for this was to name Duke Gustav as his heir and to make further territorial concessions to the Swedish crown, this included all of Karelia, the area east of Novgorod up to Vologda, the Kola Peninsula and including the port of Archangel.
With the improvements to the Swedish military that his father had developed Gustav quickly mobilised an army to support Dmitry II’s claim to the throne. Advancing from the Swedish possessions in the region of Novgorod the Swedish army met little opposition until they came close to the gates of Moscow. Here they encountered large Russian army. The ranks of the troops of the nobles had been swelled by proclaiming a patriotic resistance to foreign invasion. The army was led by Princes Dmitry Pozharsky and Dmitry Troubetskoy.
With the better training and weaponry of the Swedish army, Gustav’s forces easily defeated the brave but disorganised Russian forces. In the battle Dmitry Troubetskoy was severely wounded and had to be carried from the field. He was unable to take much further part in the struggle against Gustav. Dmitry Pozharksy was able to escape with his shattered army. He set about organising further resistance to those he castigated as foreign invaders.
The Swedish army entered Moscow and restored Dmitry Shuisky on the throne. However, his remit did not run far beyond the walls of Moscow. Duke Gustav found that he had to apply his forces totry to pacify the country. Further campaigning to extend the area controlled would be required in1614.
Much of the region east and south of Moscow became devastated as resistance to the Swedish takeover of power stiffened. Late in the summer Dmitry Shuisky died and Duke Gustav had himself anointed as Tsar Gustav I. Almost all of the new Tsars actions after his coronation only worsened his position with the Russians.
Gustav refused to convert to the Orthodox faith and had brought in a Lutheran cleric to officiate at his coronation. One of his first proclamations was to establish Lutheran churches in all the cities within the country. Most of the officials appointed in his administration were Swedes and he started confiscating estates from Russian nobles in opposition to him and awarding them to his Swedish supporters.
Dmitry Pozharsky was able to unite most of the Russian nobility in the struggle to eject the new Tsar. However, his efforts were hampered by the nobles not agreeing on who would become Tsar once victory was obtained. He managed to get agreement that the selection of a new Tsar would be decided at a Zemsky Zobor (National Assembly) once Gustav had been deposed. However, anytime an army was put into the field Gustav’s Swedish forces were victorious once a set piece battle was engaged.
Russia was descending into chaos. Bands of brigands were roaming the countryside and neither Gustav nor Dmitry was willing to apply forces to restore law and order. The stalemate was having as bad an effect on Gustav’s position as on the Russians. His cousin John IV was now reconsidering his support for Gustav as Tsar. It was now becoming costly in both money and military resources. As the year progressed more and more of Gustav’s requests for further aid were turned down.
Gustav I resolved to force a resolution to the struggle in 1615. He raised as much money as he could by squeezing taxes out of the areas under his control. With the monies he hired German mercenaries to bolster his forces. He then aggressively set out to track down Dmitry Pozharsky believing that if he could be eliminated then organised resistance to Gustav’s rule would collapse.
However, after several months of campaigning there had been no final battle, merely a series of skirmishes which chipped away at Gustav’s resources. Towards the end of the summer Gustav’s financial resources were exhausted and he was forced to retreat towards Moscow.
Once there the mercenaries realised that not only was there to be no further work for them but back pay that was owed would not be forthcoming. Once this was common knowledge amongst the mercenaries they began looting within Moscow to gain some recompense. Gustav was unwilling to use his remaining Swedish troops to suppress the mercenaries fearing losses amongst those he could most rely on. Instead he ordered his few Russian subordinates to lead their troops against the mercenaries.
The resulting struggle within Moscow caused huge devastation. Many citizens of Moscow were killed as a result of being caught between the opposing forces with many parts of the city going up in flames. The citizenry of Moscow joined with the Russian troops to attack the mercenaries and after many days of fierce fighting the mercenaries were finally suppressed. Tsar Gustav then tried to move back into Moscow with his Swedish troops.
To his dismay Gustav found that the Muscovites and his former Russian allies now banded together to prevent his entry into the city. With the gates locked against him he sought for ways to force entry. Meantime the Muscovites sent messages to Dmitry Pozharsky pleading for him to join with them in evicting the Swedes. With the opportunity to at last outmatch Gustav’s forces Pozharsky quickly organised his forces to march on Moscow.
Once Gustav learned of the approach of Pozharsky’s army he re-orientated his forces to face the new threat. However, once the two armies faced each other Tsar Gustav found his position being threatened by the Muscovites essaying forth from the city. In trying to match both sets of forces marching against them the Swedish army was repeatedly outflanked and whilst giving good account of themselves were forced to withdraw every time they tried to hold a position. This lasted for several days but eventually the Swedes found themselves forced to retreat from the city. Pozharasky was welcomed in to the city as the hero of the hour.
Gustav meantime withdrew back to the Swedish held city of Novgorod. He sent appeals to his cousin John IV for further aid. The reply received was that as Sweden was embroiled in a war with Denmark there were no forces that could be made available. Gustav then looked elsewhere for aid in restoring him to the throne and went on a trip to make supplication to Andreas I of the Commonwealth, the Elector of Brandenburg, the King of the United Kingdom and even the King of France but found no one who was willing to give him any aid further than token monetary assistance. Due to his fame at having won so many battles in Russia against great odds he received offers of positions to lead armies for many of the Princes he visited.
Meanwhile in Russia the succession to the throne had been resolved at a Zemsky Zobor. Dmitry Troubetskoy was the preferred candidate for Tsar , however, he felt that he could not accept as none of the other Troubetskoy’s adhered to the Orthodox faith. He proposed that the throne be given to his nearest relative of that faith, his sister’s son Michael Romanov. This was not accepted as it was not believed that a young man who had spent most of his youth in a monastery was suitable to lead Russia in turbulent times.
There were also many of the Russian nobility who were in favour of having an elected Monarch as practised in the Commonwealth. They supported Troubetskoy’s elevation to the throne as he would inevitably not start a dynasty and could represent a start to elective monarchy. Tsar Dmitry III was crowned by the recently appointed Patriarch.
Dmitry III’s first priorities were to prepare to resist any attempt by Gustav Adolph to reclaim the throne and to start restoring order to the country. There were some in the nobility who urged Dmitry III to muster forces to reclaim territory in the West which had been occupied by Sweden. However, he knew that Russia was not in a position to take on Sweden’s powerful army and any conflict with Sweden may provide a means of Gustav asserting his claim. Dmitry III’s aim was for a peaceful period to rebuild the shattered nation.