Janusz Radziwiłł

Janusz Radziwiłł Historical Figure Nationality: Lithuanian Year of Birth: December 12, 1612 Year of Death: December 31, 1655 Cause of Death: Died during a siege Religion: Calvinist Fictional Appearances: 1632 series POD: May, 1631 Appearance(s): 1636: The Kremlin Games Type of Appearance: Direct Date of Death: August 1634 Cause of Death: Killed in battle (?)

Prince Janusz Radziwiłł of Trąby (also known as Janusz the Second or Janusz the Younger, 1612–1655) was a notable Polish–Lithuanian noble and magnate. Throughout his life he occupied a number of posts in the state administration, including that of Court Chamberlain of Lithuania (from 1633) and Field Hetman of Lithuania (from 1654). He was also a voivode of Vilna Voivodeship, as well as a starost of Samogitia, Kamieniec, Kazimierz and Sejwy.

In his times he was one of the most powerful people in the Commonwealth, often described as a de facto ruler of the entire Grand Duchy of Lithuania.

Janusz Radziwiłł in 1632

In June of 1634, Janusz Radziwiłł, apparently acting on his own initiative, took around 3,000 troops into Russia and seized the town of Rzhev, on the Volga. One of his spies had led him to believe that Russia was planning an attack and that there was an arms depot in Rzhev. However, the depot only existed on paper, even though a small unit of mercenary troops had been sent to guard it.

Radziwiłł decided to stay in Rzhev, reasoning that it would make no difference if he stayed or left. The Russians, initially believing that Radziwiłł had a far larger force than he did, responded by sending a reconnaissance-in-force under General Artemi Izmailov. This force included the experimental airship Testbed.

In July of 1634, Radziwiłł easily repelled a cavalry attack led by Colonel Ivan Khilkov, even though the two forces were almost equal in size. By routing Khilkov, Radziwiłł effectively deprived Izmailov of cavalry. This led him to believe that he could hold Rzhev, even though he was still heavily outnumbered, so he did not attempt to keep Izmailov from reaching the town.

However, he could not bait Izmailov into making rash attacks. Instead, Izmailov used the gulyay-gorod to surround Rzhev and even used their mobility to slowly move closer to it. This seemed to be a new way of using the gulyay-gorod, and Radziwiłł was uncomfortable with it. He also discovered that the Russians had better guns with a longer range.

When the Russians re-took Rzhev, Radziwiłł was killed.