Hetman Khodkevich, time of troubles. Invincible military leader, Great Hetman of Lithuania Jan Karol Chodkiewicz. Hetman Khodkevich's troops

Early in the morning of August 24, Hetman Khodkevich began moving north, breaking through the path of the convoy. The main group of the hetman's forces walked in front of the convoy, breaking into Trubetskoy's resistance. The left wing covered this movement from Pozharsky’s warriors.
The breakthrough was planned along the main “artery” of Zamoskvorechye – Ordynka Street.
Dmitry Mikhailovich, seeing the advance of the Poles, ordered hundreds of noble cavalry to attack Khodkevich’s regiments until they approached the ditch of Zemlyanoy Gorod. The Russian cavalry rushed to the left wing of the hetman's troops. However, this maneuver, like August 22, did not bring success. After a stubborn battle for many hours, the Polish cavalry overthrew the cavalry of the militia, and it rushed to the Crimean Ford - to move to the safe side of the river. Trubetskoy's Cossacks, who also tried to stop Khodkevich, were defeated and retreated.
Pozharsky and his main forces barely held their position near the Crimean Ford. Subsequently, this bridgehead will make it possible to resume hostilities in Zamoskvorechye. But for now there was no question of a new attack: it was necessary to stop the panic and bring the broken troops into order.
The hetman, deciding that Pozharsky’s militia was finished, left a barrier of two companies near the ford and transferred all his forces to another direction. It was the turn of the Russian infantry, defending the ruins of the Wooden (Earth) city. It was difficult for the Polish cavalrymen to approach it. The archers and Cossacks fired, killing one enemy fighter after another. The small Zemstvo artillery showered the enemy with cannonballs from behind the earthen embankments.
Khodkevich pulled up his guns, and a return cannonade began. The Russian infantry stood stubbornly and did not want to leave their positions. However, she was left without the support of her own cavalry. This time, the hundreds of nobles did not receive the order to dismount and repel the Poles along with the infantry... The critical moment for the foot archers came when Khodkevich ordered the mounted gentry and Zaporozhye Cossacks to hurry, and then sent them to storm the Wooden City. It was not possible to hold back the attack of such numerous forces with shooting alone. And when the Polish cavalrymen, skilled saber fighters, crossed the ditch, the massacre began. Lacking many years of training in handling edged weapons, the archers and Cossacks began to suffer terrible losses. If the militia nobles had been with them, they probably would have been able to push back the attackers. But they left the battlefield long ago. And the Russian infantry began to scatter, abandoning the defensive line.
The next stage of the battle for Moscow began unhappily for Russian weapons.
And for a good half of the day, failures will haunt the militias one after another...
The fierce battle in southern Zamoskvorechye is described in many sources, which show how tragically this day began. The chronicle says: “And there was a great battle from the morning until the sixth hour; The hetman, seeing the strong standing of the Moscow people against him, attacked them with all his people, crushed hundreds and regiments and trampled the Moscow river. Prince Dmitry himself and his regiment barely stood against them. Prince Dmitry Trubetskoy and the Cossacks all went to the camps. The hetman, having arrived, stood at [the church of] Catherine the Martyr of Christ and set up camps.” The chronicle lines are echoed by the “Legend” of Abraham Palitsyn: “As Monday dawns, half of the people begin to converge: for there are countless people from both countries. The damned Luthori, Polish and Lithuanian people, impudently attacked the Moscow army with bestial zeal. By God's permission, the soldiers sinned for our sake, throwing their shoulders back and rushing to escape; So did all the pedestrians who left the ditch and ran.”
The Polish officer Budilo reports in great detail about the fighting on the morning of August 24, which turned out so happily for his compatriots: “The hetman, inspired by great concern for the besieged, strained all his strength to help them out. He moved his entire convoy and, although his army was small, he had to divide it into two parts, because the Russians also had two armies; one - Pozharsky, attacking the hetman from his camp, and the other - Trubetskoy, attacking him from his camp. One part of the hetman’s army, turning to Pozharsky, fought with him for a long time, finally broke the Russians, drove them into the river and captured the battlefield. Having retired across the river, the Russians lowered their hands and watched to see how soon the hetman would bring food into the fortress. The other part of the hetman’s army also did its job. Walking alongside the convoy, she drove the Russians from the battlefield. When the hetman's camp came to the Wooden City, where part of the Russian infantry with two guns sat down near the ditches, our people began to shoot at it heavily. The hetman, seeing that it was impossible to take it like that, ordered half of the cavalry to dismount and, together with the infantry, rush at it with hand weapons. When the Cossacks and infantry, well prepared, bravely rushed at the Russians with sabers, the Russian archers, seeing our bravery and not being able to restrain them, began to scatter. Our people chopped them down, whichever of them was caught [on the spot].”
Now the Poles could rest, look around, and regroup their forces. They are deeply wedged into Zamoskvorechye. This is clearly evidenced by the words of the chronicle that Khodkevich pulled the convoy to the church of the Holy Great Martyr Catherine. The building of the Catherine Church has been renovated several times. But the place where new buildings were built over and over again remained the same. Now this is the 60th building on Bolshaya Ordynka Street. But from there it’s only half an hour at a brisk pace to the St. George’s Church, where the haiduks have been standing since the night!
Here, not far from the Church of St. Catherine, the militia apparently had a prison. The Poles now entered it.

The Khodkevichs descend from Boreyka, a boyar at the court of Prince Viten of Lithuania, and his son Ivan Boreykovich, as follows from the letter of King Sigismund-August granting the title of count to Khodkevich, Genute Kirkiene

Biography

Start of service

Son of Jan Hieronymus Chodkiewicz, castellan of Vilna, and Krystyna Zborowska. He studied at Vilna University (Academy), then went abroad. In 1586-1589, together with his brother Alexander, he studied philosophy and law at the Jesuit Academy in the city of Ingolstadt (Bavaria). After his studies, he visited Italy and Malta to study the art of war, and also fought in the Spanish service in the Netherlands, where he had the opportunity to personally meet the Duke of Alba and Moritz of Orange.

He began serving in the troops of the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth under the command of Hetman Zolkiewski during the suppression of the Nalivaiko uprising. He took part in campaigns in Moldova under the command of Jan Zamoyski. In 1601 he became full hetman of the Grand Duchy of Lithuania.

War with Sweden

Actively participated in the war with Sweden. Despite difficulties (for example, lack of help from King Sigismund III and the Sejm), he won victories. In 1604 he took Dorpat (now Tartu, Estonia); defeated Swedish troops twice. For his victories in March 1605, he was rewarded with the title of Grand Hetman of the Grand Duchy of Lithuania.

However, Chodkiewicz's biggest victory was still ahead of him. In mid-September 1605, Swedish troops were concentrated near Riga. Another Swedish army, led by King Charles IX, was also heading here; thus, the Swedes had a clear advantage over the troops of the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth.

On September 27, 1605, the Battle of Kirchholm (now Salaspils, Latvia) took place. Chodkiewicz had about 4,000 soldiers - mostly heavy cavalry (hussars). The Swedish army consisted of about 11,000 people, most of them (8,500 people) were infantrymen.

However, despite such an unfavorable superiority of forces, Khodkiewicz managed to defeat the Swedish army within three hours. The key role in this was played by the competent use of cavalry: having lured the enemy from his fortified positions with a feigned retreat, Khodkiewicz’s troops crushed the advancing Swedish infantry and, with the support of artillery, defeated the main enemy forces. King Charles IX was forced to flee the battlefield, and the Swedish army, ending the siege of Riga, returned back to Sweden. Chodkiewicz received letters of congratulations from Pope Paul V, Catholic sovereigns of Europe (Rudolph II of Austria and James I of England), and even from the Turkish Sultan Ahmed I and the Persian Shah Abbas I.

However, even such a significant victory did not improve the financial situation of Chodkiewicz’s troops. There was still no money in the treasury, and the army simply began to scatter. Internal troubles led to the fact that the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth never took advantage of the fruits of victory.

Rokosh Zebrzydowski

For the next five years, Jan Chodkiewicz actively participated in the internal struggle that flared up within the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth. Attempts by King Sigismund III to somewhat centralize the administration of the state caused an uprising (the so-called “rokosh”) led by Mikołaj Zebrzydowski (Polish. Miko?aj Zebrzydowski). Among the Lithuanian nobility, the Rokoshans were supported by one of the Calvinist leaders, Jan Radziwill. In 1606, the opposition turned to hostilities.

Initially, Chodkiewicz remained neutral in the escalating conflict, however, after Jan Radziwill (an enemy of the Chodkiewicz) joined the Confederates, he condemned the rokosh and supported the king. On July 6, 1607, in the decisive battle of Guzov, the royal army defeated the opposition; Khodkiewicz commanded the troops on the right flank.

The victory over the opposition and the suppression of its speeches, however, did not allow the king to continue the reforms of public administration that he had begun. A compromise triumphed, which actually meant the end of the centralizing policy of King Sigismund.

Return to Inflyany

Meanwhile, Swedish troops became active again. The internal troubles of the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth allowed them to take White Stone in the spring of 1607, and on August 1, 1608, Dynamünde (now Daugavgriva, since 1924 - part of Riga).

In October 1608, Khodkevich returned to Inflyany and immediately launched a counteroffensive. On March 1, 1609, an army of two thousand under his command took Pernov (now Pärnu) in a night assault and then returned to Riga. Success again accompanied Chodkiewicz: his cavalry detachments defeated the advanced troops of the Swedes, which forced the Swedish commander-in-chief Count Mansfeld to retreat from Riga. The capture of the Dynamunde fortress and the victory of the small Polish-Lithuanian fleet over the superior Swedish fleet provided the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth with an advantage in this region. Khodkiewicz again did not receive reinforcements - King Sigismund was preparing for war with Russia. The death of the Swedish king Charles IX on October 30, 1611 allowed peace negotiations to begin, and until 1617 hostilities in the Baltic ceased.

Participation in campaigns against Russia: background

The reason for the start of the war with the Moscow state was the introduction of a Swedish corps into Russian territory under the command of J. Delagardie at the request of Tsar Vasily Shuisky. Since the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth was at war with Sweden, this was regarded as a hostile act.

King Sigismund personally led the troops that invaded Russian territory. In September 1609, he began the siege of Smolensk, which ended in June 1611 with the fall of the city. After the shameful defeat of the Moscow army under the command of D.I. Shuisky (the king’s brother) from the troops of Hetman S. Zholkiewsky near Klushin (near Gzhatsk; July 24, 1610), Tsar Vasily Shuisky was overthrown. The new government, “Seven Boyars,” invited Prince Vladislav to the Moscow throne, but Sigismund did not let his 15-year-old son go to Russia; Moscow was occupied by a Polish-Lithuanian garrison led by Stanislav Zholkiewski.

Jan Karol Chodkiewicz, as the Great Hetman of Lithuania, opposed assistance to False Dmitry II and the war with Russia. The experience of the confrontation with Sweden, when the lack of money and reinforcements did not allow Khodkiewicz to inflict a decisive defeat on the enemy, did not give reason to hope for a quick victory. However, in April 1611, Khodkevich marched on Pskov and besieged the Pskov-Pechersky Monastery for five weeks, but was unable to take it and retreated.

In the early autumn of 1611, Jan Karol Chodkiewicz, by order of the king, led troops to help the Polish-Lithuanian garrison in the Moscow Kremlin. In Shklov, supplies and ammunition were collected, as well as about 2,500 soldiers, who approached Moscow on October 6, 1611. Khodkevich's troops had to endure a number of skirmishes with detachments of the 1st militia under the command of Dmitry Trubetskoy; their arrival saved the Polish-Lithuanian garrison of the Kremlin from surrender, but it was not possible to deliver supplies to the besieged. In Khodkiewicz’s detachment, contradictions between the Poles and soldiers from the Grand Duchy of Lithuania intensified, and at the beginning of November 1611, the army, reduced to 2,000 people, retreated to Rogachevo. Here Khodkevich again collected supplies, and on December 18 he finally delivered them to the Kremlin garrison.

In 1612, such campaigns to supply the Polish-Lithuanian garrison with provisions were successfully repeated twice more; the next campaign took place at the end of August - beginning of September 1612. At the same time as Khodkevich, King Sigismund and Prince Vladislav headed to Moscow to take the throne; They were accompanied by Chancellor Lev Sapega. However, near Moscow, Khodkevich was met by the troops of the 2nd and the remnants of the 1st militia, which together had more forces; he failed to get through to the Kremlin. On August 31, 1612, Khodkevich’s troops were 5 kilometers from the walls of Moscow, on Poklonnaya Hill. On September 1, they occupied the Novodevichy Convent and tried to enter Moscow through the Chertolsky Gate, but were repulsed. The next day, Khodkevich tried to break into Moscow from the south, through the Donskoy Monastery and the Kaluga Gate. His troops managed to break through to Zamoskvorechye to Bolshaya Ordynka and Pyatnitskaya streets, but again failed to break through to the Kremlin and Kitay-Gorod. On September 2, Chodkiewicz resumed his attacks. His soldiers came close to the bank of the Moscow River, but even now the militia did not allow them to the bank itself. And at this time, Kuzma Minin with selected forces crossed the Moscow River and struck in the area of ​​the Crimean courtyard (now the area of ​​the Crimean bridge). Khodkiewicz was finally defeated; Having lost about 500 people and a supply train, he was forced to retreat. The victory of the militia decided the fate of the Polish-Lithuanian troops in the Kremlin: on November 1, Kitay-Gorod was surrendered, and on December 6, having exhausted all food supplies, the Kremlin garrison capitulated.

Retreating, Khodkevich met in Vyazma with an army in which, together with his father (King Sigismund), was Prince Vladislav IV, who was heading to Moscow to take the Russian throne. However, this army lingered near Volokolamsk and did not have time to prevent the surrender of the Polish-Lithuanian garrison of the Kremlin.

In February 1613, the Zemsky Sobor elected M.F. Romanov to the Russian throne of Russia, and the hopes of the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth and King Sigismund for the Russian crown became even more illusory.

In 1613-1615, Chodkiewicz commanded the Polish-Lithuanian troops in the newly formed Smolensk Voivodeship. At this time, the royal court returned to the plan to place Prince Vladislav on the Moscow throne. Chodkiewicz led the Polish-Lithuanian troops.

On October 11, 1617, Khodkevich’s troops took the Dorogobuzh fortress; after some time they besieged and took Vyazma. From here, Vladislav began sending letters to various segments of the Russian population. However, these charters had little success; Most of the boyars, nobles and Cossacks remained indifferent to them. After the occupation of Vyazma, frosts struck and military operations stopped. The prince and the hetman remained in Vyazma, preparing for a further campaign. The fighting was reduced to raids on the surrounding, already war-ravaged, areas of the light cavalry detachments of Alexander Lisovsky (“lisovchiki”). In the spring of 1618, forces were gathered for an attack on Moscow. Khodkevich had 14,000 people under his command, including about 5,500 infantry. However, discipline in the army was weak. In the high command, disputes began over command posts. Prince Vladislav and his favorites often interfered in the decisions of the command. The situation was made even worse by the news that the Diet had authorized funding for the campaign against Russia only for 1618.

In June 1618, Khodkevich's troops began a campaign against Moscow. The hetman himself wanted to advance through Kaluga, but Vladislav managed to insist on a direct attack on the Russian capital. In early October 1618, Polish-Lithuanian troops occupied the village of Tushino (north of Moscow) and began preparations for the assault. At the same time, the 20,000-strong Cossack army of Hetman P. Sagaidachny approached Moscow from the south. On the night of October 11, Polish-Lithuanian troops began an assault on Moscow, trying to break through the Tver and Arbat gates, but the attack was repulsed. In the face of the approaching winter and lack of funding, Prince Vladislav agreed to negotiate. On December 11, 1618, in the village of Deulino (near the Trinity-Sergius Monastery) a truce was signed for a period of 14 and a half years. According to its terms, Russia ceded the Smolensk land, which became part of the Grand Duchy of Lithuania, as well as the Chernigov and Seversk lands, which became part of the Polish crown.

Jan Karol Chodkiewicz returned from this campaign disappointed. Years of constant wars seriously affected his health, and he became sick more and more often. Not all was well in the family. Khodkevich retired from government affairs for some time and began managing his estates.

War with Turkey (1620-1621)

In 1620, the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth was drawn into a war with the Ottoman Empire. In August 1620, the Polish army suffered a crushing defeat at Tsetsora (near Iasi). The Great Crown Hetman Stanislav Zholkiewski was killed, and the Crown Hetman Stanislav Konetspolsky was captured. In December 1620, Jan Karol Chodkiewicz received command of all the forces of the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth.

In September 1621, having gathered troops, Khodkevich crossed the Dniester and occupied the Khotyn fortress. Despite the difficult food situation, Chodkiewicz's troops repelled all attacks by the significantly superior troops of Turkey and its vassal - (the Crimean Khanate. On September 23, the seriously ill Chodkiewicz transferred command of the army to the crown prince Stanislav Lubomirski. The great hetman of Lithuania, Jan Karol Chodkiewicz, died on September 24. Upon learning of this , the Turks tried to capture the camp of the Polish-Lithuanian troops again, but again suffered heavy losses, the Ottoman Empire was forced to make peace with the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth; the agreement was signed on October 9, 1621. Hetman Chodkiewicz won his last battle; completed.

Personal life

Jan Karol Chodkiewicz married in 1593 the daughter of the Podolsk governor and hetman of the great crown Nicholas Mielecki, the widow of the Slutsk prince Jan Simeon Olelkovich Sofia Mielecka (1567-1619). From this marriage he had a son Jerome (1598-1613) and a daughter Anna Scholastica (1604-1625), who was married to Jan Stanislav Sapieha (1589-1635), the eldest son of Leo Sapieha, Chancellor of the Great Lithuanian.

After the death of his wife, Jan Karol Chodkiewicz married for the second time to Anna Aloysia Ostrog (1600?1654). Political motives played a key role in this marriage: the 60-year-old hetman was persuaded to marry the 20-year-old princess by his brother, Alexander Khodkevich, who did not want his brother’s richest possessions to pass into the possessions of the Sapega family. The marriage took place on November 28, 1620 in Yaroslav. Immediately after the marriage, the hetman went to the Diet in Warsaw, and then on his last campaign.

After Jan Karol Chodkiewicz, large estates remained. The main ones were: Bykhov and Gory in the Orsha povet, Lyakhovichi - in Novogrudok, Svisloch - in Volkovysk, Shkudy and Kretinga - in Samogitia. Together with his brother Alexander, he was the owner of Shklov and Shklov County. It is worth noting that due to the lack of government funding, Jan Karol Chodkiewicz spent his personal funds on the troops, and therefore his debts before his death reached 100 thousand zlotys (more than the annual income from all his possessions). However, over Khodkevich's property, feuds began between the magnate families that were related to him. Claims to him were made by: daughter, Anna Scholastica, and her husband, Stanislav Sapieha; Jan Karol's brother Alexander Chodkiewicz; and, finally, the young widow Anna-Aloisia Chodkiewicz (née Ostrogskaya) along with her guardians.

The struggle for property ended only two years later, in May 1623, when all relatives finally divided the hetman's inheritance. The hetman's widow ensured that his body was buried not in the city of Kretinga, which belonged to the Chodkevichs (where his first wife was buried), as he himself wanted, but in the residence of the Ostrog princes - the city of Ostrog in Volyn.

In 1612, on this day, the second militia, led by D. Pozharsky and K. Minin, defeated the Polish troops of Hetman Chodkiewicz near Moscow.

In the winter of 1612, Polish soldiers who had not received pay formed a confederation and left the city, under which the troops of Minin and Pozharsky soon appeared.
And at that moment another great actor appeared on the stage - the full Lithuanian hetman Jan Karol Chodkiewicz, a commander famous for the defeat of the Swedes at Kirchholm. At first, everything went well, he even managed to achieve a smooth replacement of troops in the Kremlin garrison. But already on September 1, Khodkevich found himself face to face with militia detachments. The battle at the walls of Moscow was inevitable.
This prospect did not upset the hetman at all. On the contrary, like every Old Polish military leader, he had in his blood a desire for a decisive battle, despite the numerical superiority of the enemy. This was the worldview of a boxer who knew the strength of his blow (in our case, the attack of the hussars) and at the same time his poor training (or a chronic lack of money for a long campaign) and sought to knock out his opponent as quickly as possible. The military art of the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth was mired in virtuous and pervasive squalor. The Polish army, as usual, had no chance in a maneuverable war with any marches and counter-marches. Moreover, at that time, Polish commanders were accustomed to victories, confident in themselves and the abilities of their subordinates. In the decisive battle, they beat everyone who came to hand, and not just the Moscow regiments, whose combat readiness they disdainfully assessed. Usually it all ended in complete defeat, after which there were only chases, massacres and trophies. But during the Moscow campaign the bar was raised higher. Here it was necessary to fight the enemy entrenched in the city, and certainly with street fighting. This prospect brought little joy to the army, which was accustomed to deciding the outcome of a battle with a cavalry attack.
Khodkevich's goal was to deliver reinforcements to the Kremlin. This was the main and rather exotic criterion for the old Polish military art of victory in the battle. However, the hetman did not know that the outcome of the fight would not be determined in the first rounds - the fierce battle continued intermittently for two days. The numerical superiority of the enemy was not so impressive - against the ten thousandth hetman army (1500 cavalry, 1800 infantry and about 7 thousand Cossacks) Pozharsky's 14 thousand detachments stood up, in which several thousand Cossacks also fought. So, one of the most important Polish-Russian battles was, in a certain sense, a battle between Cossacks and Cossacks.

1800 meters were not enough
Chodkiewicz drew up a plan entirely in the spirit of the Polish military school. First, the cavalry (as usual with the hussars in the leading role) was supposed to crush the enemy on the outskirts of the city and, with the help of the infantry, take possession of the streets of the westernmost part of the city - Skorodoma. Secondly, a powerful convoy of one hundred carts - a mobile fortress - was supposed to enter the half-burnt city. The Hetman managed to come to an agreement in advance with the commander of the Kremlin garrison Mikolai Strus (Gosevsky had long left Moscow), who was supposed to launch sabotage attacks in the rear of Pozharsky.
But an unpleasant surprise awaited the Polish commander: Pozharsky lined up his troops in two echelons, one wing obliquely to the other (a technique almost like that of the ancient Greek Epaminondas!), which, under the threat of encirclement, forced Khodkiewicz to divide his modest forces. At the same time, the Poles fought with the river behind them. The joker in Pozharsky’s deck was supposed to be a noble detachment of several hundred, the command over which the prince gave to the leader of the first militia, Dmitry Trubetskoy, who had quarreled with him. The Moscow commander assumed that at a critical moment of the battle the attack of this reserve detachment could hold back the breakthrough of the Poles.
The battle began on September 1 at about one o'clock in the afternoon. Despite the Klushino lesson, Khodkevich apparently believed that his battle-hardened units would instantly be able to defeat the enemy in the field and quickly penetrate the city. But Pozharsky (who also had not learned Klushino’s lesson, when it was precisely the attempt to seize the initiative that led to disaster) began to attack himself. The Moscow soldiers (just like at Klushino) held on courageously - the battle on the plain continued until eight o'clock in the evening - it was almost eight hours of terrible carnage. One of the eyewitnesses recalled that it was a deadly battle: “There was a great massacre, a great pressure on both sides, usually one fell on the other fiercely, directing their spears and striking mortally; arrows whistled in the air, spears broke, and the dead fell thickly.”
Finally, in the twilight of the dying day, the ranks of Moscow soldiers began to crack. Pozharsky ordered his cavalry to return behind the line of Skorodom fortifications, where the archers had dug in. Khodkevich threw the Cossacks at them, who quickly dealt with the enemy and burst into the streets littered with ashes. Almost at the same moment, Strus’ soldiers struck from the Kremlin. The morale of the Russians was bound - as had happened before - to fade. The hetman was already in the kings...
But at this time, lo and behold, the battle began to develop to Pozharsky’s advantage. Strus's attack failed (most likely because his warriors were exhausted from hunger). Pozharsky's noble reserve, placed under the command of Trubetskoy, got involved in the battle. Trubetskoy’s Cossacks came to his aid, sometimes even against the will of the commander, who sincerely despised Pozharsky. This is the paradox of this battle - everything happened contrary to the wishes of the combatants!
In the darkness, the hetman's soldiers began to fall more and more often. It was already one o'clock in the morning; all that was left was to move away. Chodkiewicz's losses were alarming: on the first day, almost a thousand soldiers, mostly infantrymen and Cossacks, were killed. True, Pozharsky suffered no less losses, but he was not the one who had to rack his brains about how to deliver reinforcements to the Kremlin. Khodkevich nevertheless still hoped to win. A day later (September 2, he moved into battle after noon and was unable to finish the battle before darkness) attacked Skorodom from the south. And this was perhaps the best idea, which gave more chances of success. The Zamoskvorechye area was more extensive, but also more difficult to defend. Trubetskoy's detachments were smaller in number here (only 3-4 thousand soldiers, mostly Cossacks), and their fighting spirit was in doubt. However, several hundred fighters from Pozharsky’s camp arrived to help, but previous battles greatly limited their capabilities. They did not want to fight in an open field.
As before, the Lithuanian hetman took up sabotage work. The Hungarian infantry he sent to the Kremlin occupied one of the two Zamoskvoretsk churches, converted by Trubetskoy’s Cossacks into a fortress. Control over it brought dominance over the river crossing and the nearby section of the road leading to the heart of Moscow. Soon after this, on September 3 at six o'clock in the morning, the hetman's troops entered the battle. However, only at noon they managed to knock out Pozharsky’s banners from the Skorodom rampart. The prince himself was wounded. Trubetskoy's Cossacks, seeing the retreat of the nobles, left their positions en masse and reached for their camps. The Hetman ordered a convoy to be brought into the city limits, which, however, quickly got stuck - and at that moment the Poles were separated from the Kremlin by only some 1800 meters! The merchants' servants, who, under the cover of the hetman's troops, were planning to penetrate the Kremlin, had already begun clearing the main street. At the same time, a special detachment of Cossacks under the command of Alexander Zborovsky temporarily captured the second of the key fortresses in the area. Temporarily, because due to neglect of the supposedly defeated enemy, the security of this place was too weak, and it was quickly recaptured by other Cossacks, this time Prince Trubetskoy.
Khodkiewicz faced a serious threat. The clock was about to strike five o'clock in the evening, and the convoy of a hundred carts was still stuck among the ruins. At this time, the enemy began to gather strength again. In addition - and this is an extremely important detail for understanding the course of events - the wounded Pozharsky found an opportunity to strengthen the morale of his Cossacks. Unable to mount a horse, he sent Abraham Palitsyn, a monk of the Trinity-Sergius Monastery, to Trubetskoy’s camp to persuade the Cossacks to fight. Throwing a heavy wallet with money from the monastery vaults on the table, Palitsyn was able to raise the fellows to their feet. Such things always pleased their pride.
The blow of Trubetskoy’s Cossacks brought lightning-fast effect: the Lithuanian hetman’s convoy, attacked from several sides, was quickly defeated, and his servants were completely destroyed. In the face of disaster, Chodkiewicz again ordered a retreat. This was the end of hopes of helping the garrison. The hetman lost almost all of his infantry, and the cavalry also emerged from this alteration badly battered. There is nothing to remember about the hetman’s Cossacks: a few days later they set off to seek their fortune (that is, booty) on their own way. It was necessary to retreat from the city. Two months later, the starving Polish garrison in the Kremlin - terrible things were happening there, with scenes of cannibalism - laid down their arms. Since then, Moscow has been waiting for Polish soldiers for exactly 200 years: now they will come only with Napoleon.
And the question arises: why did Khodkevich, a commander covered only with victories, lose in this battle, which (and not Klushino!) predetermined the outcome of the entire campaign? It can be assumed that if he had immediately struck the southern part of Skorodom, he would have been able to deliver his convoy to the Kremlin. Perhaps intelligence, which was usually the strong point of Polish military art, failed. Conducting street battles is far from the same as fighting in the field, where flying cavalry quickly controlled the enemy. But even without that, the hetman here, as Henryk Sienkiewicz used to say, “gave some slack.”

Chodkiewicz Jan Karol(1560-1621), representative of an old noble family, outstanding military leader, Great Hetman of Lithuania (1605). He won a major victory over the Swedes near Kirgholm (1605). Commanded the troops of the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth during the conflict between Moscow and Warsaw (1611-1612, 1617-1618). Successfully acted against the Turks near Khotyn (1621).

Just as trees are strong with their roots, so are peoples and states with their history. Nowadays there is a great interest in society in the past, in historical figures from a long time ago. In particular, the Institute of History of the National Academy of Sciences of Belarus is conducting excavations at the site of the ancient Khodkevich family castle - in the village Ryzhkovichi, Shklovsky district. It is known that the castle existed in the 16th-18th centuries. Archaeologists began exploring this historical place relatively recently, but already last year many items were found there: weapons, jewelry, fragments of clothing and utensils. Meanwhile, historians are studying archival documents related to the life and activities of representatives of the Khodkevich noble family. One of them, a well-known commander in the Grand Duchy of Lithuania and the entire Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth, is discussed in this article.

From his grandfather, Karol Chodkiewicz, he inherited it from Jan coat of arms "Griffin". The griffin is an invincible creature, a symbol of intelligence and strength. But sometimes griffins die. Around Hetman Jan Chodkiewicz, with their heads bowed, stood royal commissioners, Belarusian-Lithuanian and Polish knights, Cossack elders, and nobility. The once powerful body was shackled by immobility. In the darkness of the tent, the face seemed deathly pale. Only the eyes... The eyes that saw thousands of broken enemies, the faces of beloved women and the grave of the only son-heir, still remained alive.

Before falling into eternal sleep, the hetman apparently remembered his distant childhood. He saw himself, a carefree boy, who ran up the bastion of the ancestral Myshansky castle faster than others. (This place was, according to historical sources, near the current city of Baranovichi in the Brest region.) " Victorium! Give up!“- the boy shouted loudly, waving a wooden sword over the heads of his peers. " Ya-an!- I heard the cheerful, invigorating voice of grandfather Geronim. - The enemies of the Motherland must be chopped down!»

Jan Karol Chodkiewicz was born for war. Probably especially for the war that the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth waged for its place in the sun. Such people rarely come into this world, not in every era, as evidenced by the decline and collapse of a once mighty state. The country needed a great leader and a great warrior, but it was led mainly by worthless, pompous rulers. And he rushed along the roads of war from north to south, from west to east, attacked, surrounded, stormed and chopped, chopped, chopped... But he was not a beast. After the Kirgholm victory, Khodkevich personally attended the magnificent funeral ceremony of the dead enemy princes, and in letters to his wife and comrades he admitted that he was losing his mind from the horrors of war, thousands killed, grief and crying...

Belarusian Mars was dying near Khotyn, in Bessarabia. There, in 1621, his 60,000-strong army held back the onslaught of the much larger army of the Turkish Sultan Osman II and forced the Turks to make peace. The hetman often had to fight in the minority. " It is not great strength that is needed, but courage. When the army works well, it will have not possible, but real success" This happened near Kokenhausen, where in 1601, together with Janusz Radziwill, they snatched victory from six thousand Swedes. And near White Stone in 1604, with two thousand soldiers of the Grand Duchy of Lithuania, he defeated seven thousand Swedes. Near Kirgholm in 1605, his four thousand soldiers defeated a 14,000-strong Swedish army, losing just over a hundred people killed. You can also recall the defense of Riga, Dynamund, Dorpat, Weilenstein...

This was the case during the campaign of 1611-1612, when Chodkiewicz, involved in the Warsaw-Vilna-Moscow palace intrigues, had to confront a huge Moscow army in order to preserve his army and the honor of the state. Oh, these “ordinary” problems: the eternal shortage of money, people, horses, artillery, food and medicine. But there was never any shortage in the ill-conceived plans of the crown bearers. In fulfilling them, he had to rely only on himself and his people - the king had no time for that... And now, “by the grace of God,” he is hunting somewhere near Lvov and listening to the news of the Khotyn massacre like fairy tales.

What was the hetman, who turned gray in the battles, thinking about in his last minutes? Apparently, about the founder of the family, Ivan Khodkevich, a glorious Belarusian knight who fought with the crusaders, the governor of Kiev. He died in captivity among the Crimean Tatars. Or maybe he remembered his great-grandfather Alexander, the governor of Novogrudok, a wise statesman, diplomat, and deputy of the Seimas. Or grandfather Geronim, an ardent supporter of a union state with Poland due to the threat from the east. Or the father, Jan Geronimovich, a talented military leader and diplomat, who returned to the Fatherland access to the Baltic Sea, cut off by the crusaders back in the 13th century. He probably thought about his wife Sofia Meletskaya - “dearest Zosenka” - and about his beloved son Geronimka, whom he outlived, and about his daughter Anna, and his second wife Anna Ostrozhskaya, to whom he was no longer destined to return...

What people, enemies and comrades, surrounded him! For example, a great king and a great commander Stefan Batory- young student Jan saw him in Vilnius. Duke of Alba, who fought against the Sea Geese - Dutch rebels who fought the Spanish government. And the Knights of the Order of Malta, who have been opposing the Ottoman Empire for decades! And the king Sigismund Vasa, who replaced the deceased Batory, was an adventurer, a lover of feasts and hunting; instead of money for the maintenance of the army, he sent promises and laudatory odes to Khodkiewicz in Livonia.

Maybe he remembered the gloomy Severin Nalivaiko, whose rebellion he suppressed, because from time immemorial the Cossacks defended the borders of the Grand Duchy, and Severin robbed and killed, demanded ransom from the cities, chopped up husbands, wives and small children. Another thing - Petr Konashevich-Sagaidachny, Ukrainian hetman, a talented military leader, through whose victories the Fatherland returned the Northern Land. And now, near Khotin, if it were not for him and the battle-hardened Cossack army, they would not have held the Ottoman horde.

Maybe at the moment of his death he imagined those with whom his banners were cut: the Wallachian prince Mihai the Brave, whose 60,000-strong army Jan Karol defeated in 1600 near Ploiesti in Romania, for which he received the mace of full hetman. And it happened that the Swedish king Charles said, smiling at the captured Belarusian nobleman: “ Your hetman is crazy, that with his small companies he came out against my army of thousands" Karl also paid, and his son Karlson was beaten and captured.

I probably remembered Janusz Radziwill, a talented military leader, a representative of a magnate family, the traditional rival of the Khodkiewicz. What it came to: because of Janusz’s fiancée Sofia Olelkovich, the Radziwills and Chodkiewicz fought so hard that armies were assembled with guns, things were heading towards war, and the king could not dissuade them. Thank God, they made peace and did not shed blood. They didn’t spill then, and later, during the rebellion against the king, the heroes of the Livonian battles met in a battle, where Janusz was defeated.

Jan Chodkiewicz had dozens, hundreds of worthy and unworthy opponents. And now I’m young and cruel Osman II drove almost 300,000 troops to Khotyn. Turks, Arabs, Tatars, Greeks, Serbs, Bulgarians, Albanians, Wallachians, Moldavians, Egyptians and warriors of other nations gathered under his banner. The Sultan did not pay attention to the huge losses. He needed victory at any cost.

The Hetman may have remembered dozens of large and small commanders who were ready to give their lives for the Fatherland: his own brother Alexander Khodkevich, Alexander Radziwill, Sapieha, Tishkevich, Yuri and Dominik Zaslavsky. Here, near Khotyn, they brought their banners, Voino, Belozor, Nemirov, Boguslav and Nikolai Zenovich, Kisel, Zelenko, Kishka... The regiments are fighting not for the king, but rather for him, the hitherto invincible hetman Bogdanovich, Zakrevsky, Sinyata, Jan Zawisha, Korsak, Gulevich, Smolin, Pinsky and many others.

And how can we not remember the thousands of soldiers, rootless but persistent! Thousands of soldiers who bore the burden of war on their shoulders, who fought for the state - and were deceived by the same state more than once. How many times did the hetman persuade them - wounded, exhausted in campaigns, hungry and sick, involved in adventures and abandoned without pay - to stay, not to leave. He threatened with death, persuaded, paid from his wallet. A handful of the most loyal warriors remained, and they were worth hundreds each. But some gentry or boyars hid in the camp under carts before the battle, they were pulled out, escorted in front of the line, blacklisted, deprived of their property and doomed to eternal shame.

Tears of helplessness were born in the corners of his tired eyes. Khodkiewicz will never forget the horror in the Moscow Kremlin and his powerlessness: he could do nothing to help the Polish garrison besieged there. I didn’t want to go, I told the king: “ I am not taking any steps to Moscow. I'm looking for my own Fatherland, I don't want someone else's" Did you know that he was going to Moscow to get the royal crown for Sigismund Vasa? If he did know, maybe he convinced himself that he was obliged to save those who were dying? One way or another, I remembered the regiment - that it was his “sacrifice of sincerity.”

This happened during the so-called “time of troubles” in the Russian state, at the beginning of the 17th century, when, due to the absence of a legitimate heir to the Russian throne, contenders for power created several groups. They were supported simultaneously by the gentry of the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth and the Russian state. We visited the throne False Dmitry I, Vasily Shuisky, False Dmitry II and finally the party of the Polish prince won Vladislav. On August 17, 1610, Vladislav was called to the Russian throne, and his army on September 21, 1610, the Russian boyars opened the Kremlin gates. The representative of another group is the prince Pozharsky- besieged the Moscow Kremlin and the Polish garrison located in it. Hetman Khodkevich set off to lift this blockade.

A terrible famine in the surrounded Kremlin turned people into animals. First they ate grass, roots, caught dogs, cats, and mice. Then it was the turn of the prisoners. They dug up and ate the dead, cursing and proving their right, as if to an inheritance, to eat a friend or relative... People lost their minds, ate the earth, gnawed their hands and feet, prayed to God to turn the brick into bread - and in this frenzy the brick was bitten. And under these conditions, the besieged still found the strength to fight, make forays and undermine.

The horror could not be stopped. Pozharsky's militia was unable to defeat Khodkevich's small army, but the hetman could not lift the siege of the well-fortified city. I didn't have enough strength. Khodkevich left, but when he returned to the walls of Belokamennaya to enthrone Prince Vladislav, the weakness of both sides and the storming of the capital served as the reason for signing the Deulin truce.

History knows the names of hundreds of commanders, but what makes a few of them great? Maybe knowledge of wonderful recipes for victory, military secrets known to few? There are such recipes, and they are available to everyone. Reconnaissance, surprise, rapid night marches when it was forbidden to make fires, attacking small detachments from ambushes, competent use of terrain, building a battle formation, strengthening the camp with carts, misleading the enemy... And much more was used by both Khodkevich and his enemies. And also - smell! That's real talent! The sense of smell to accurately evaluate, and the sense of smell to accurately select the desired product. And then - victory! Then God, smiling, agrees with the commander’s choice.

« The field requires deeds, not words!“- Khodkevich used to say. In Livonia, when there were not enough people, the hetman placed transporters in a line in front of the carts, with banners in their hands: they say, reinforcements have arrived from the Principality. There, fighting with Mansfeld, the best commander of the Habsburg Empire, whose army was large, pretended to retreat. The enemy rushed across the bridge to the other side, where he was immediately counterattacked, not allowing him to form a battle formation. Complete destruction.

Another time, having hidden part of his forces, he sent envoys to the enemy to inform him that he did not want to fight with such a large army. He said so and retreated. The enemy regiments rushed into battle, from which few returned.

Jan Karol Chodkiewicz took the wind, the smoke of fires, and the dust that obscured the eyes of an opponent attacking the seashore as his allies. Once we even had to attack... ships! He remembered the sea geezes! Having boarded the acquired and captured ships with infantry that had never even seen the sea before, the hetman ordered to sneak up on the Swedish ships in the port of Salliso at night, set them on fire with burning fireships and shoot them from cannons. The Litvin-Belarusians brilliantly carried out the order, recording the first naval battle in the history of the army, which was also successfully won.

The dead silence around the dying hetman's tent was broken by the neighing of horses. Horses... What could be more beautiful than a herd flying across a field, or an attack by sweeping away cavalry! Even under Batory, the winged hussars became the main part of the heavy cavalry. Both the impregnable squares of the Swedes and the Turkish horsemen at arms - the Spakhs - suffered from its five-meter peaks. There seemed to be no escape from the steel-rattling avalanche inevitably approaching the enemy. Many pious people saw it as the scourge of God; the wings on their backs gave the hussars the appearance of heavenly archangel warriors. The clatter of hooves, the noise of wings and proportors on pikes, the roar of hundreds of men's throats and a ramming blow of unprecedented force! Jan Khodkiewicz was in love with the hussar, and under him it reached its peak and maximum power. But everything comes to an end. Under the roar of artillery and increasingly accurate and frequent volleys of muskets, the sun set not only for the domestic cavalry. All over the world, professional infantry became the queen of the fields. The era of the knights-hussars was passing away, and with it one of its heroes.

The hetman prayed before each battle, asked God for victory, and after the battle - forgiveness for the mountains of human bodies, for the thousands of souls of killed soldiers. The essence of a military man was defined with the words: “ Prayer, saber, horse" He prayed now, standing on the threshold of Eternity: “ O Supreme Judge of human affairs! Yours is the strength, Your might and Your battle. By Your will, everything great happens on earth: wars, defeats, victories. You turn the weak into strong, you humiliate the proud, and elevate the humble. Thank You for the good news, providence and care for my Fatherland, for the defeat of the wild pagans and the great glory of Christianity». « I ask God for death, hellish hell, because it’s easier there than here!“he once wrote in a letter.

September 24, 1621 Jan Karol Chodkiewicz died, " and with him great happiness from the dear Fatherland", noted the participants of the Battle of Khotyn. God gave him both life and death - and, probably, not for many of the churches that the pious hetman built. He simply smiled and once again agreed with the commander’s choice.

Instead of an afterword. There will definitely be a monument to the “invincible Belarusian” in bronze. The country is bringing back the names of its glorious sons from oblivion. But small monuments to commander Jan Chodkiewicz still exist today. As stated in the Decree of the President of the Republic of Belarus dated December 1, 2004 No. 590, “ with the aim of restoring historical and creating new official heraldic symbols", the coat of arms and flag of the urban village of Krasnoselsky, Volkovysk region, were approved: a silver griffin in a red field. This - family coat of arms of the Chodkiewicz family, as a tribute to the memory of the family that once owned Krasnye Selo. And on the coat of arms of the city of Lyakhovichi, Brest region, there is an outline of the plan of the castle, turned into an impregnable fortress by Jan Chodkevich. There is also a sign-emblem of the social movement “ Courage and skill» Armed Forces of Belarus, decorated with the image of a griffin - a powerful and invincible creature who rose with a sword in his hand, uniting the glory of the gray-haired hetman and his descendants.

Victor LYAKHOR, member of the Heraldic Council under the President of the Republic of Belarus, July 3, 2008.

Weekly “Voice of Radzima”, original in Belarusian: http://www.golas.by/index.php?subaction=showfull&id=1214982253&archive=1216214400&start_from=&ucat=8

The summer of 1612 turned out to be alarming in Rus'. The country seemed to freeze in tense anticipation of a decision on its fate. The question was posed bluntly: will Russia exist as an independent state, or will it become part of a stronger competitor.

One day of Ivan Vasilyevich

Tsar Ivan Vasilievich Grozny, who took Kazan, Astrakhan and Revel, could not even imagine what consequences his typical outburst of anger that occurred on November 16, 1581 would lead to.

On that day, the pious monarch found his daughter-in-law, the wife of the heir to the throne Ivan Ivanovich, in an undershirt. Elena Sheremeteva, the third wife of the heir, was expecting a child. For the future of the monarchy, this child was extremely important - in Ivan Ivanovich’s first two marriages there were no children, for which the unfortunate spouses were tonsured as nuns.

The room was hot, the woman, who was about to give birth, was not expecting a visit from her father-in-law, and therefore found herself in somewhat looser attire.

This infuriated Ivan the Terrible. Having started to scold Elena, he could no longer stop, and then he used his fists. The heir came running to the noise and screams of his wife and stood up for his wife. The king, who had fallen into a frenzy, found no other way to defeat his opponent than to hit him in the temple with a heavy staff.

Ivan Vasilyevich came to his senses a few moments later. But everything had already happened - the bloodied Ivan Ivanovich was lying on the floor motionless, and his unfortunate wife was writhing in pain next to him.

The heir died and the daughter-in-law had a miscarriage. In a few minutes, Ivan the Terrible cut down the tree of the dynasty. Rurikovich.

There were also princes Fedor And Dmitriy, but the first was seriously ill, and the second was born Martha Naked, either the sixth or seventh wife of Ivan the Terrible. The Church did not recognize this marriage as legal, which means that the prince had no chance of winning the throne.

Troubles turning into occupation

Ivan the Terrible died, Dmitry died under unclear circumstances in Uglich, Fyodor Ioannovich died without leaving offspring, becoming the last of the Rurikovichs on the Russian throne.

Choosing a new king is not the most difficult thing. It is more difficult to ensure that the new dynasty strengthens and takes root on the throne.

But behind the new king Boris Godunov there was no string of royal ancestors stretching into eternity. This means that it was much easier not to recognize him, to challenge him.

And the bacchanalia began. The Godunov dynasty has fallen, the trickster has fallen False Dmitry I, fell ambitious Vasily Shuisky. The country fell apart into military camps warring with each other, and the outlying lands were already taken over by neighbors.

In 1610, boyar circles decided to call for the Polish kingdom Prince Vladislav on the condition that he convert to Orthodoxy. But the prince did not accept Orthodoxy. Moreover, his father, Polish King Sigismund strongly advised the Russians to accept Catholicism, and to recognize him as regent under his son.

In September 1610, a Polish-Lithuanian garrison under the command of Stanislav Zolkiewski. Formally, to protect the city from detachments False Dmitry II, but actually asserting Polish rule in Russia.

Movement Resistance

De facto, the country was turning into a piece of Poland, and representatives of the boyar nobility were ready to agree with this in order to maintain their position.

Icon "St. Hermogenes Patriarch of Moscow"

He spoke out against the traitors Patriarch Hermogenes, who sent out calls throughout the country to fight the occupiers. He will be thrown into prison, where he will die of hunger.

But the calls of the courageous Hermogenes were not in vain. Near Ryazan Prokopiy Lyapunov assembled units later known as the First People's Militia.

In March 1611, battles for Moscow began between the militia and the Poles. But the discord among the militia themselves led to the fact that on July 22, 1611, Lyapunov was hacked to death at the Cossack circle. The death of the leader led to the collapse of the militia. The Poles breathed a sigh of relief.

Talented Polish commander Jan Chodkiewicz successfully broke through with food convoys into the Kremlin. In the fall of 1612, Chodkiewicz was supposed to deliver new food supplies to the Polish garrison in Moscow. Following this, the Polish King Sigismund and Prince Vladislav were supposed to arrive along the cleared path to the Kremlin. The latter - to officially be crowned as the Russian Tsar.

Jan Karol Chodkiewicz. Photo: www.globallookpress.com

Mission of Minin and Pozharsky

In September 1611, in Nizhny Novgorod, the zemstvo elder Kozma Minin united around himself people who believed that the salvation of Russia from the many years of Troubles was possible only through the liberation of Moscow from the occupiers. Minin led the collection of funds for the formation of the militia, as well as the recruitment of warriors themselves. The prince became the military leader Dmitry Pozharsky, an experienced warrior, just recovering from a wound received in battles with the Poles.

The second militia set out for Moscow from Nizhny Novgorod at the end of February - beginning of March 1612. Along the way, a new government was established. In April 1612 they entered Yaroslavl, where preparations for the liberation of Moscow continued. Yaroslavl became the temporary capital of Russia.

In July 1612, the leaders of the Second Militia, into which more and more new detachments were joining, received information that the detachments of Hetman Khodkevich, accompanying food convoys, were heading towards Moscow.

The second militia advanced to the Russian capital. The fight, in which the very existence of Russia was at stake, became inevitable.

The first day

Prince Pozharsky could count on 8,000 fighters. The additional force was 2,500 men under the command of the prince Dmitry Trubetskoy- remnants of the First Militia.

The hetman could field 12,000 soldiers against the Russians, not counting the 3,000 people in the Polish garrison of the Kremlin. Khodkevich was confident of success.

Prince Pozharsky was preparing to repel the attack of the Poles. The main task was to prevent food convoys from breaking through to the Kremlin. Without supplies, the besieged garrison was doomed to capitulate. A breakthrough by Chodkiewicz would have made the siege practically pointless.

At about one o'clock in the afternoon on September 1, 1612, Khodkevich's cavalry, moving from the Novodevichy Convent, attacked the militia. Then the hetman threw the infantry into battle. On the left flank, the militia wavered, losing the fortifications they had built to the enemy. At this moment, the Kremlin garrison tried to make a sortie in order to finally bring chaos into the actions of the Russians.

But this idea failed - the militia repelled the garrison’s attack, causing it serious damage.

Prince Trubetskoy was an unreliable ally. He watched the battle from the side, although his help was needed. Trubetskoy’s detachment consisted of Cossacks, and among them (which is quite traditional) fermentation began. Four atamans decided to act independently, leading their small groups to help Pozharsky. Reinforcements arrived in time to stop Khodkevich’s advance. This ended the first day of the battle.

Khodkevich was accustomed to the fact that during the Time of Troubles one could always find a traitor among the Russians. And this time it also happened - a certain nobleman succumbed to the hetman’s promises Orlov, who helped a detachment of 600 haiduks break into the Kremlin through Zamoskvorechye.

Engraving by Potz, original drawing by Koverznev: “The battle of Prince Pozharsky with Hetman Khodkevich near Moscow”

The Russian retreat was stopped by a cellarer with money

The detachment passed, but the convoy did not pass. Jan Chodkiewicz was preparing for a new day of battle, hoping this time to finish off Pozharsky. But on September 2, no big events happened. The Poles captured several fortifications and occupied the Donskoy Monastery, but did not encounter the main forces of the militia.

The moment of truth came on September 3. Zamoskvorechye became the field of the decisive battle for Moscow. This area was inconvenient for the main force of the Poles - the cavalry. The militia defended itself on the remains of earthen ramparts, as well as in the well-fortified Klimentyevsky fort.

Jan Chodkiewicz led his forces in the main assault. The main blow was to be delivered by the left flank, where he himself took command. The Poles rushed forward, regardless of losses.

Hundreds of mounted militia held out against the Poles for five hours, but still faltered. Even the personal intervention of Prince Pozharsky did not help stop the retreat to the other side of the river.

The collapse of Russian defense began. The hetman's troops occupied the earthen ramparts and then broke into the Klimentyevsky fortress. The Polish banner was raised over the fort, and food brought there for the Kremlin garrison began to be moved there. But this moment is a counterattack of the militia, undertaken not at the behest of the commanders, but at the call cellarer of the Trinity-Sergius Monastery Abraham Palitsyn, which promised the daredevils a salary from the monastery treasury, to the surprise of Khodkevich (and Pozharsky himself) ended in success. The Klimentyevsky fort was recaptured.

B. A. Chorikov “Grand Duke Dmitry Pozharsky liberates Moscow.” Photo: Public Domain

For the Motherland, for Minin!

There was a pause, during which each side counted its losses and prepared to continue. Minin and Pozharsky were convinced that, despite the loss of positions, the combat effectiveness of the militia was preserved. It was necessary to simply bring people to their senses and prepare a retaliatory attack.

Khodkevich was also in conflicting feelings. Success seemed to have been achieved, but the Russian counterattack was unexpected. But most importantly, his losses were significant, and there was already a shortage of infantry.

In the evening the militia went on the attack. One of the detachments this time was led by Kozma Minin, a leader who was primarily a civilian, not a military one. But at this hour his example was necessary to inspire the militia.

The Russian onslaught increased. The time had come for the infantry, and even the Russian cavalry units dismounted.

The hetman grew gloomier every minute. He had no infantry reserves, and the army began to retreat. But most importantly, in the hands of the Russians, in the recaptured Klimentyevsky fort, 400 carts with food remained. With every minute it became more and more clear that they were turning into a trophy for Pozharsky and Minin.

When the retreat of the Poles became obvious, the Russian cavalry returned to their usual activities, and their lightning strike completed the job.

Rumors of Russia's death have been exaggerated

Khodkevich, retreating, managed to convey to the Kremlin that he was leaving for new convoys and would return in three weeks, a maximum of a month.

But the experienced commander understood that he was making only a formal promise. The starving garrison will be taken into an even tighter ring by the militia, and the preparation of a new campaign against Moscow will take much more time than the Kremlin “inmates” can withstand.

Jan Karol Chodkiewicz will again come with an army to the walls of Moscow in 1618 in order to establish Prince Vladislav on the Russian throne. But there will no longer be a Polish garrison in the Kremlin, and the Russians will unite around their new Tsar Mikhail Romanov. The treaty, signed in 1618, led to extensive territorial losses for Russia, but de facto the Poles were forced to admit that the dreams of Polish power in Moscow were turned to dust.

As Polish chroniclers of that time wrote, “the wheel of fortune has turned.” Russia, slowly gaining strength and returning lands, at the end of the 18th century will achieve such power that it will simply remove the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth from the world map.

But that will come later. And late in the evening of September 3, 1612, the militia, watching the fleeing Poles, realized that the rumors about the death of the Russian state were exaggerated.