On November 4, 1612, Kitai-Gorod was liberated from the Poles, and the Polish-Lithuanian invaders, who had come to Moscow on legal grounds two years earlier, were forced to take refuge in the Kremlin, dooming themselves to starvation and defeat.
So why couldn't the Poles keep Moscow in 1612?
Diplomatic mistakes
One of the fundamental problems of the Poles in the history of the intervention was their absolute inability to negotiate and make coordinated decisions beneficial to all parties. It all started with the fact that Hetman Zholkevsky, whose troops had been stationed near Moscow since August 1610, was against going to Moscow. He understood perfectly well that the maintenance of a huge mass of people could lead to a banal shortage of resources, but the pressure from the captains of the Zborovsky regiment, who threatened to refuse service, as well as the pressure of Sigismund III, overcame his fears. Later, when Zholkiewski left Moscow to negotiate with Sigismund, he left a garrison in the city under the referendar of the Lithuanian Alexander Gonsevsky. This did not lead to anything good for the Poles: Zholkiewski never reached an agreement with Sigismund, and an uprising broke out in Moscow.
Treason of the Cossacks
Another fatal failure of the Poles was the betrayal of the "Tushino Cossacks". The death of False Dmitry in December 1610 put the Cossacks, led by Ivan Zarutsky and Andrey Prosovetsky, in a difficult position, from which they found the only right way out, namely, they joined the first people's militia. Significant forces, brought by them under the walls of the Kremlin, seriously strengthened the militia.
Promotional video:
Revolt of 1611
Alexander Gonsevsky ruled in Moscow, as they say, "with a firm hand", but firmness in his management was evidently more than wisdom. Wanting to forestall the riots that could arise due to the spread of news about the First Militia, Gonsevsky provoked clashes in Moscow, which led to fierce battles, the total pacification of the population. According to some reports, up to 7 thousand Muscovites died. Most of Moscow burned down, White and Zemlyanoy cities burned down. The vanguard detachments of the militia led by Pozharsky, Baturlin and Koltovsky forced the Poles to retreat. Without coming up with anything more convincing, the Poles began to burn Moscow. Special troops set fire to the city from different sides, many churches were looted and destroyed. The Poles were trapped in the Kremlin.
Bad logistics
The Poles faced huge problems due to the lack of an established supply system. The armed forces of the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth did not yet have a centralized quartermaster service. Neither at the level of the banner, let alone the regiment, was there a person responsible for supplying this unit with food. This caused not only trouble, but became a real tragedy for the Polish troops, especially after they were in the besieged Kremlin. Ultimately, it was the problem with logistics, with the inability to deliver provisions to the Polish troops, that became the decisive factor.
Famine of 1612
The famine of 1612 became a terrible page in the history of the Polish-Lithuanian intervention. There is no point in retelling the terrible details of it. Suffice it to say that cannibalism flourished with might and main. Even a kind of price list was established for certain parts of the bodies. In the second half of October, famine, desertion and the decline of discipline reached their climax. Due to the prowling gangs of cannibals, movement through the streets of the Kremlin and Kitai-Gorod after dark was extremely risky. An interesting detail characterizing the level of hunger of the besieged Poles is the version that the library of Ivan the Terrible, "Liberia", which still cannot be found, was eaten just during the siege of the Kremlin.
Not recognized …
If the Poles, imprisoned in the Kremlin, knew that the future Russian tsar, the first of the Romanov dynasty, was under siege together with them … Russian history could have taken a completely different path, if in those days everything had turned out a little differently. Wait for the Poles for another week, reach the wagons with provisions, or suddenly, for some reason, do not survive the siege Mikhail Fedorovich …
Broken promise
Despite the promise of pardon, most of the Polish garrison was killed by the Cossacks right during the surrender. On November 9, Pozharsky and the nobles began to send groups of prisoners to cities in the provinces. There, however, a tragic fate awaited them. The arriving Poles were simply exterminated. Only the most "useful" prisoners who could be useful were able to protect themselves. Only in 1619, according to the Deulinsky truce, there was an exchange of prisoners.
Yulia Popova