WI: King Sigismund III does not claim the title of Tsar of Russia

The second-wave of the Polish-Muscovite War was declared by Polish king Sigismund III in response to Tsar Vasili declaring a military alliance with Sweden. The war had two goals. The primary goal was to weaken Sweden's ally and to gain territorial concessions. A secondary goal was to also Catholicize Russia, a goal which was supported by the Pope.

What made Russia even more inviting was that Russia was in absolute chaos as a result of the Troubles, so the Russians were fighting over a new Tsar.

Russian boyars had offered Sigismund support by supporting his 15-year old son, Prince Wiadyslaw, for the position of Tsar, hoping that the Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth would end the despotic rule of their current tsars, by having Wiadyslaw as the Tsar of Russia.

The Polish Army won several early victories and had even reached Moscow. However, there was a fine print to the boyars' support. They had also pledged to support Wiadsyslaw for the throne if he converted to Orthodoxy which made Sigismund furious.

Eventually, Wiadyslaw was elected Tsar, but Sigismund stabbed his supporters in the back by then declaring himself Tsar. Knowing that Sigismund wanted to convert the Russian masses from Orthodox to Catholic, the boyars soon changed sides and the Polish presence in the country was soon met with hostility.

A 1611 uprising in Moscow would soon end any Russian support for Polish-Lithuanian Intervention in the Troubles.

So what if Sigismund did not attempt to claim the Tsardom and allowed his son, Wiadyslaw, to convert to Orthodxy as a prerequisite to becoming the Tsar of Russia?
 
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Wonder if Tsar Vyacheslav (I?) would be more successful with some of his ideas in Moscow than he was in Warsaw. Either way, Wlad going to Moscow gives his stepmother what she wanted (namely the throne for her own kids) since no way is Poland-Lithuania going to accept a PU with Russia willingly (or rather, the reverse). And a third line of Vasas could make for fun times - esp if Sweden and Poland both default as OTL.
 
Slightly out of context but Vladislav and Vyacheslav are different names.
Sigmund's son was Władysław/Vladislav/Vladislovas/(V)ladislaus in Polish/Russian/Lithuanian/Latin rather than Wacław (Więcesław)/Vyacheslav/?/Wencesla(u)s.
 
Slightly out of context but Vladislav and Vyacheslav are different names.
Sigmund's son was Władysław/Vladislav/Vladislovas/(V)ladislaus in Polish/Russian/Lithuanian/Latin rather than Wacław (Więcesław)/Vyacheslav/?/Wencesla(u)s.

Whoops. I just remembered there was a Russian grand duke given the name ans he was born in Poland, so my mind went to Wladyslaw rather than Wenceslas.

Thank you
 
Whoops. I just remembered there was a Russian grand duke given the name ans he was born in Poland, so my mind went to Wladyslaw rather than Wenceslas.

Thank you
No worries. It can be easy to confuse similar names. Especially when there are plausible linguistic changes to go from vladi to viladgi to viatchi.
 
Would you mind sharing a source that Sigismund declared himself a Tsar? As far as I know he was unwilling to let Wladislaw go to Moscow and declared himself a ruler-regent of Russia but it never came down to outright declaring himself a Tsar.

The main issue however was religion as you noted correcly. Sigismund was unwilling to let Wladislaw convert to Orthodoxy and a Catholic monarch was absolutely unacceptable to most powers in Russia. Had he been more like Henry IV of France on the subject of religion Russia would almost certainly have tsar Vladislav I ( since numeration of Russian Tsars was from first princes of Moscow, not from Kiev Rus).


In my opinion Wladislaw converting into Orthodoxy would have the following consequences:

It would certainly cost him a Polish crown but would create a lot of interesting butterflies possibly even leading to a war against his brother John Casimir after their father’s death.
While nobility Grand Duchy of Lithuania was rapidly polonizing at the time, a large portion of it was still orthodox and East-Slavic-speaking ( as far as general population of easter part of PLC goes, it never lost a stable orthodox-East-Slavic majority). IOTL representatives of this nobility remained largely loyal to Polish Crown (after early XVI century) despite their religion and language, but they might be much more willing to side with Wladislaw ( who of course would be closer to them than any OTL Russian tsar).

A Russia that controls large parts of modern Ukraine and Belorussia by XVII century but not because it was able to conquer it, but rather by a combination of dynastic dynamics, local support and conquest( thus creating a much more comfortable atmosphere to local nobles including recognition of a least a part of their “golden rights” and possibly even a separate government of Grand Duchy of Lithuania at the beginning of the union), can be a very interesting place.
 
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