ORDER OF BATTLE // September 3, 1612
Battle of Moscow
Estimated force strength by side, with confidence labels per surviving record.
Forces engaged
2 sides catalogued · combined 20,000 estimated
Poland–Lithuania
12,000
Medium-confidence figure
Russia
8,000
Medium-confidence figure
Battle context
The Battle of Moscow, fought on 3 September 1612 during the Polish–Muscovite War, brought forces under Jan Karol Chodkiewicz of Poland–Lithuania against a Russian force commanded by Dmitry Pozharsky. With 12,000 Polish–Lithuanian troops engaged against 8,000 Russian soldiers, and each side sustaining approximately 1,500 casualties, the engagement was closely contested and costly for both parties. The battle occurred at a pivotal moment in the wider conflict over control of the Muscovite state, in which Polish–Lithuanian forces had occupied the Moscow Kremlin and Russian national resistance was organizing to expel them. Pozharsky's forces represented the Second Volunteer Army, which had assembled to relieve the siege of Moscow, while Chodkiewicz sought to resupply and reinforce the Polish garrison holding the Kremlin. The outcome of this engagement bore directly on whether Polish–Lithuanian control over Moscow could be sustained or broken.
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