Battle of Vilnius (1655)

For other battles, see Battle of Vilnius (disambiguation).

Battle of Vilnius (1655)
Part of the Muscovite–Polish War (1654–1667)

Map of Vilnius in 1659
Date29 July 1655 (O.S.)
8 August 1655 (N.S)
Location
Vilnius, Vilnius Voivodeship, Grand Duchy of Lithuania, Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth
Result Muscovite–Cossack victory
Belligerents
link Tsardom of Muscovy
border=no Cossack Hetmanate		 Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth
Commanders and leaders
link Yakov Cherkasskiy [ru]
border=no Ivan Zolotarenko [uk]		 Janusz Radziwiłł
Wincenty Korwin Gosiewski
Strength
41,000–180,000[1][2] 5,000–7,000[2]
Casualties and losses
Unknown 2,000 killed and wounded[2]
~20,000 civilians were massacred [ru][3]

The Battle of Vilnius,[4] Wilno,[5] or Vilna[6] was an attack by Russian and Cossack forces on Vilnius, the capital of the Grand Duchy of Lithuania within the Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth, that occurred on 8 August 1655[7] during the Russo-Polish War (1654–67). The Polish–Lithuanian forces under the leadership of Great Hetman Janusz Radziwiłł were defeated by the Russian army of Alexis of Russia. It was the first time that a foreign power managed to capture the Vilnius Castle Complex.[8] The six-year Muscovite occupation that followed resulted in a major depopulation and a decline of the city for many years to come.[9] The defeat was one of the reasons Janusz Radziwiłł and several other Lithuanian magnates surrendered the Grand Duchy to Sweden at the Union of Kėdainiai.[5]

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  3. ^ Norman Davies. Dievo žaislas: Lenkijos istorija: du tomai = «God’s Playground»: A History of Poland. The Origins to 1795, Volume 1. — p. 467. — 605 pp. — ISBN 0-231-04326-0. / Iš anglų kalbos vertė Inga Mataitytė, Linutė Miknevičiūtė. — 2-asis pataisytas leidimas. — Vilnius: Lietuvos rašytojų sąjungos leidykla, 1998. — Vol. I: Nuo seniausių laikų iki 1795 metų. — p. 502. — 637 pp. — ISBN 978-9986-39-520-1.
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  5. ^ a b Cite error: The named reference frost was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
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  9. ^ Cite error: The named reference ochma was invoked but never defined (see the help page).