De la Gardie Campaign

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The De la Gardie Campaign refers to the actions of a 15,000-strong military unit commanded by Jacob De la Gardie in alliance with the Russian commander Mikhail Skopin-Shuisky against the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth in the Polish-Russian War (1605-1618). The campaign was a result of an alliance between Charles IX of Sweden and Vasili IV of Russia, whereby the latter promised to cede Kexholm to Sweden.

The combined Russo-Swedish forces set out from Novgorod late in 1609 and marched towards Moscow, relieving the Siege of Troitse-Sergiyeva Lavra on their way. They dispersed the supporters of False Dmitry II, who maintained an alternative court in Tushino near Moscow and challenged the authority of Vasily IV. In the aftermath, some of the Tushino boyars summoned Wladyslaw IV to lay his claim to the Russian throne, while Skopin-Shuisky was poisoned at the behest of his uncle and rival, Prince Dmitry Shuisky.

In June 1610, De la Gardie and Dmitry Shuisky departed from Moscow in order to lift Żółkiewski's Siege of Smolensk. The campaign ended with most of De la Gardie's forces being destroyed by the Polish hetman Stanisław Żółkiewski at the Battle of Klushino in 1610. The De la Gardie Campaign can be considered a prelude to the Ingrian War.