Polish–Lithuanian occupation of Moscow

ThePolish-Lithuanian Commonwealthoccupation of Moscow took place between 1610 and 1612 during thePolish intervention in Russia, when theKremlinwas occupied by the Polish garrison with additional Lithuanian units under the command ofhetmanStanisław Żółkiewskiand assisted by Russianboyarsled by Mikhail Saltykov. The occupation coincided with Russia'sTime of Troubles.
From March 1611 to the autumn of 1612, theCossacksof PrinceDmitry Trubetskoybesieged Moscow and the Polish-Lithuanian forces there. The city was finally liberated by the Second People's Militia, and the date of the capture ofKitay-Gorodis celebrated in modern Russia as theDay of National Unityon November 4, alongside festivities in honour ofOur Lady of Kazan.
In October–November 1610, aftertsaristtroops were defeatedat Klushinoand theSeven Boyarsagreed to elevate Polish princeWładysław IV Vasato the Russian throne so as to maintain order in the capital until the arrival of a new head of state, theCommonwealthtroops ofStanisław Żółkiewskientered Moscow without a fight. Żółkiewski camped on theKhoroshyovsky MeadowsandKhodynka Field. Although he personally opposed the occupation of the Russian capital, he entered the city under the pressure of Polish kingSigismund III.
At the end of 1610, about 6,000 armored and cavalry soldiers, 800 infantrymen, and 400hajdukswere stationed at Moscow andNovodevichy Convent, led byAleksander Korwin Gosiewski,Marcin Kazanowski,Aleksander ZborowskiandLudwik Wejher. For every soldier, there were three civilians who had joined them on the way to Moscow acting as servants,sutlersand prostitutes.
Żółkiewski placed the soldiers in Moscow so that in the event of an attack they could come to each other's aid or retreat to the Kremlin. A significant part of the garrison was located west of the Kremlin wall near theNeglinnayaRiver. To maintain order, a tribunal was established in which the Russian side was represented byGrigory Romodanovskyand Ivan Streshnev, and the Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth side by Aleksander Koryciński and a Lieutenant (Porucznik) Maliński.
When Żółkiewski went toSmolenskin November for a meeting with Sigismund III, he took his regiments with him. Several units were left at the Novodevichy Convent to control the roads toMozhayskandVolokolamsk. The rest were staged closer to the besieged Smolensk, inVereyaand Mozhaysk.
In March 1611, in connection with the formation of the First People's Militia, the commander of the Polish-Lithuanian garrison, Aleksander Gosiewski, engaged in severalstreet battlesduring which most of Moscow was burned. Having broken the townspeople's resistance in advance, Gosiewski hoped to minimize support for the First Militia.
In April and early May of that year, the militias stormed the ramparts ofZemlyanoy Cityand the walls of theWhite City, liberating most of the territory of Moscow, after which they locked the invaders behind theKitay-GorodandKremlin Walls. TheCossacksof PrinceDmitry Trubetskoylaid siege to the Kremlin garrison itself, which was manned by Poles. Also inside the walls were members of theSemiboyarshchina, including the future TsarMikhail Fedorovich Romanovand his mother.
Provisions for the garrison were collected in the Moscow region by the regiment ofJan Piotr Sapieha. According to the testimony of the memoiristSamuel Maskiewicz, "what anyone liked, and whether the greatestboyar's wife or daughter, they took them by force."After the death of Sapieha in September 1611, Lithuanian commanderJan Karol Chodkiewicztook over the difficult task of collecting food.
At the end of 1611, carts with provisions collected bySamuel Koreckireached the Kremlin. In January 1612, a regiment was able to break through to Moscow, which temporarily eased the food situation. However, the Hungarian infantrymen of Felix Nevyarovsky did not bring their provisions, and their presence only accelerated the return food scarcity.
The entire first half of 1612 was unusually cold, and many of the garrison's soldiers formed aconfederationand abandoned the Russian capital.Faminebegan in the city; speculators sold bread at 30 times its regular price.
Russian historianAvraamy Palitsynclaims that after they entered into the Kremlin,Dmitry Troubetskoy's Cossacks discovered salted human flesh, "and under the slings, there is a lot of human corpse," suggesting that the garrison resorted to cannibalism when food supplies ran out.
Throughout 1612, Polish-Lithuanian formations began to leave Moscow. Commander Gosiewski left in June, along with the veterans of theKlushino Battleand the remnants of the Kremlin's treasury.Mikołaj Struścommanded what remained of the garrison. The garrison itself was almost resupplied during theBattle of Moscowin September, but forces with some 400 carts of provisions were forced to retreat after getting within two kilometers of the Kremlin.
Trubetskoy's Cossacks established control ofKitay-Gorodat the beginning of November,after which Struś opened negotiations on terms of surrender. The Kremlin garrison formally capitulated on November 7. Although Trubetskoy promised to "leave the defeated in health and have respect," they were massacred instead: "The Cossacks beat the whole regiment, leaving a few."
Before theTruce of Deulinowas signed in 1619, which ended the Russian-Polish War and fostered an exchange of prisoners, the Poles and Lithuanians captured in the Kremlin were settled inYaroslavl,Balakhna,Nizhny Novgorodand other Upper Volga cities. In Nizhny Novgorod, the mother of Prince Pozharsky put in her word for the prisoners, so they only were thrown "in a dungeon very dark, poor and stinking, in which they had been sitting for nineteen weeks".The prisoners held inGalichand along the riverUnzhawere completely exterminated.