Smolensk War

The Smolensk War of 1632-1634 was fought between the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth and Russia. It began in October 1632, soon after the death of King Sigismund III Vasa, when a Russian army under Mikhail Shein crossed the border and besieged Smolensk, which Russia had ceded to the Commonwealth in 1618. The city held out through 1633 until a relief army led by the new king, Władysław IV, arrived and gradually overran the Russian field works, and Shein's army, surrounded in its camp, signed a surrender on 25 February 1634. The Treaty of Polyanovka, signed in June 1634, confirmed the pre-war status quo, with Russia paying an indemnity and Władysław giving up his claim to the Russian throne. The article names the late arrival of Russian siege artillery and the disruption of Russian supply lines by Commonwealth cavalry as the main reasons Russia did not win.