Prelude
During Russia's Time of Troubles, Charles IX of Sweden sent an expeditionary corps under Jacob De la Gardie to capture the Russian fortress of Old Ladoga. On hearing about their arrival to Ingria, the Novgorodians asked the king to install one of his sons — Carl Filip or Gustavus Adolphus — as their monarch and on this understanding submitted the city to De la Gardie.
Vasily IV of Russia, besieged in Moscow by the Tushino gang and driven to despair by the ongoing Polish intervention, then entered an alliance with Charles IX, who was also waging war against Poland. The tsar promised to cede Korela Fortress to Sweden in recompense for military support against False Dmitry II and the Poles. Thereupon De la Gardie joined his forces with the Russian commander Mikhail Skopin-Shuisky and marched from Novgorod towards Moscow in order to relieve the tsar.
Sweden's involvement into the Russian affairs gave Sigismund III Vasa a pretext to declare war on Russia. The Poles engaged the combined Russo-Swedish forces at Klushino and destroyed most of the Russian force; the Swedish mercenaries taking part in the De la Gardie Campaign (July 1610) surrendered. The battle had serious consequences for Russia, as the tsar was deposed by boyars and the Poles occupied the Kremlin.
Read more about this topic: Ingrian War
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