Russo-Swedish War (1656-1658)

Russo–Swedish War 1656–1658
Part of Second Northern War
Date July 1656 – June 21, 1658 Location mostly in Livonia and Finland Result Status quo ante bellum
Belligerents
Swedish Empire	Tsardom of Russia
Commanders and leaders
Gustav Adolf Lewenhaupt Magnus Gabriel De la Gardie Gustav Evertsson Horn	Alexis of Russia Matvey Sheremetev  † Ivan Khovansky
Strength
Finland: 2,230 in 1656 In the end, 25,000 Swedish soldiers participated in the war.	42,000–45,000
Casualties and losses
13,000 Swedish soldiers dead	between 5,000 and 16,500 soldiers

The Russo-Swedish War of 1656–1658 was fought by Russia and Sweden as a theater of the Second Northern War. It took place during a pause in the contemporary Russo-Polish War (1654-1667) as a consequence of the Truce of Vilna. Despite initial successes, Tsar Alexis of Russia failed to secure his principal objective—to revise the Treaty of Stolbovo, which had stripped Russia of the Baltic coast at the close of the Ingrian War.

When Charles X of Sweden invaded Poland, captured Warsaw and announced his claims on the Russian conquests in the orbit of the Grand Duchy of Lithuania, Afanasy Ordin-Nashchokin (who led Russian diplomacy at the time) decided it was an opportune time to suspend hostilities against the weakened Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth and to attack the rear of the Swedish Empire instead. To that end he opened negotiations and concluded a truce with Poland in summer 1656 (the Truce of Vilna, also known as the Truce of Niemież), a move which enraged a major ally of Russia, Ukrainian hetman Bogdan Khmelnytsky who maintained good relations with Sweden and was fighting against Poland.

In July, a reserve force of the Russian army struck across Swedish Ingria and overran two key Baltic fortresses — Nöteborg and Nyen. A separate detachment advanced on Dorpat (Tartu), which fell in October. The main forces marched along the bank of the Western Dvina towards Riga, taking Daugavpils (see Siege of Dyneburg) and Koknese (see Storm of Kokenhusen) on their way. By the end of August, the capital of Livonia was besieged and bombarded.

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