Smolensk: Encyclopedia II - Smolensk - Between Russia Lithuania and Poland

Smolensk - Between Russia Lithuania and Poland

Although spared by the Mongol armies in 1240, Smolensk paid tribute to the Golden Horde, gradually becoming a pawn in the long struggle between Lithuania and Muscovy. It was taken by the Vitaut in 1395, 1404 and 1408. After the city's incorporation into Grand Duchy of Lithuania, some Smolensk boyars (e.g., the Sapiehas) moved to Vilnius; descendants of the ruling princes (e.g., the Tatischevs, Kropotkins, Mussorgskis, Viazemskis) fled to Moscow.

With a population of tens of thousands of people, Smolensk was probably the largest city in the 15th-century Lithuania. Three Smolensk regiments proved decisive during the Battle of Grunwald against the Teutonic knights. It was a severe blow to Lithuania when the city was retaken by Vasili III of Russia in 1514. To commemorate this event, the tsar founded the Novodevichy Convent in Moscow and dedicated it to the icon of Our Lady of Smolensk.

In order to repel future Polish-Lithuanian attacks, Boris Godunov made it his priority to heavily fortify the city. The stone kremlin constructed in 1597–1602 is the largest in Russia. It features remarkably thick walls and numerous watch-towers. Heavy fortifications didn't prevent the fortress from being taken by the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth in 1611 after a long 20-month siege, during the Time of Troubles and Dimitriads. Weakened Muscovy ceded temporarily Smolensk land to the Commonwealth in the Truce of Deulino and for the next forty three years it was the capital of the Smoleńsk Voivodship. To recapture the city, Muscovy launched the so-called "Smolensk War" against the Commonwealth in 1632. After a heavy defeat at the hands of king Wladislaw IV, the city remained in Polish-Lithuanian hands. The hostilities resumed in 1654 when the Commonwealth was being rocked by the Uprising of Ukrainian Cossacks and Swedish invasion. After another siege, on September 23, 1654 Smolensk was recaptured by Russia as the Polish garrison left the city. In the 1667 Treaty of Andrusovo the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth finally renounced its claims to the Smolensk.

Adapted from the Wikipedia article "Between Russia Lithuania and Poland", under the G.N U Free Docmentation License. Please also see http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki