This is an English translation of important writings on the Thirty Years' War by the great Soviet historian B. F. Porshnev. Little is known of the Muscovite contribution to the conflict and Paul Dukes - arguably Britain's senior historian of ancien regime Russia - has selected the most valuable areas of Porshnev's unparalleled archival research to fill a crucial gap in the literature of the seventeenth century. In placing this work in the context of Porshnev's larger undertaking, Professor Dukes' substantial introduction assesses Porshnev's critics and evaluates his contribution to our understanding of the Thirty Years' War and of relations between Eastern and Western Europe at the time. A significant reinterpretation of a fascinating period, the book will interest both Russian specialists and those working more generally in seventeenth- century European history.

Table of Contents

1. Muscovy and the entry of Sweden into the Thirty Years' War; 2. Gustavus Adolphus and preparation for the Smolensk War; 3. The conflict concerning the Russo-Swedish alliance in 1631-2; 4. The social and political situation in Germany at the time of Gustavus Adolphus's invasion, 1630-1; 5. Russia's 'Great Embassy' to Sweden in 1633; 6. Death of the leaders; 7. Death of the alliance.