Mikhail Borisovich Schein

Michail Borissowitsch Schein ( Russian Михаил Борисович Шеин , scientific transliteration Michail Borisovič Šein ; * late 1570s in Moscow ; † 1634 ibid) was a Russian military leader, statesman and boyar . During the reign of Tsar Vasily Shuisky , he distinguished himself in the fight against Pseudodimitri I and Ivan Bolotnikow , which is why he was appointed voivode of the strategically very important city of Smolensk on the Polish-Lithuanian border in 1607 .

After the outbreak of the Polish-Russian war 1609-1618 , the troops of the Polish-Lithuanian king began the siege of Smolensk . The garrison of the Smolensk Kremlin, under the leadership of Schein, fended off attacks by the enemy for 20 months, even after Vasily Shuisky was overthrown in Moscow in 1610 and the Poles invaded the capital. It was not until the summer of 1611 that Smolensk fell into Polish hands, after almost all of the defenders had fallen. Schein was captured and spent the next nine years in Polish captivity. After his return to Moscow in 1620, he held various offices and led, among other things, the reconstruction of the Russian artillery system.

When the Smolensk War began in 1632 , Schein was appointed commander-in-chief of the Russian army by Tsar Michael I. The army was able to liberate numerous Russian cities from the Poles, but the siege of Smolensk was less successful. One of the reasons was that the Crimean Tatars, allied with the Poles, attacked the southern borders of Russia and numerous soldiers in Schein's army rushed to the affected areas to protect their families and property. When Władysław IV Wasa finally appeared in front of the town with the relief army , Schein's troops were gradually encircled. In the end, the experienced general, who was forbidden to withdraw until the end, had to surrender . Back in Moscow, Schein was charged with high treason and executed in Red Square .

literature

• А. Антонов: Воевода Шеин. АСТ, Moscow 2005, ISBN 5-17-029215-5 , 5-271-11640-9, 5-9578-1723-6
• В. В. Каргалов: Московские воеводы XVI-XVII вв. Глава 8. Михаил Шеин. ООО ТИД Русское слово — РС, Moscow 2002, pp. 180–241, ISBN 5-94853-007-8