Editing Alexis of Russia (section)

===Wars against Poland and Sweden===
[[File:Znamia bolshogo polka 1654.JPG|thumb|left|Banner of Tsar Alexis, 1654]]
{{Main|Russo-Polish War (1654–1667)|Russo-Swedish War (1656–1658)}}

In 1653, the weakness and disorder of Poland, which had just emerged from the [[Khmelnytsky Uprising]], encouraged Alexis to attempt to annex the old [[Kievan Rus'|Rus']] lands. On 1 October 1653 a [[Zemsky Sobor|national assembly]] met at Moscow to sanction the war and find the means of carrying it out, and in April 1654 the army was blessed by [[Patriarch Nikon of Moscow|Nikon]], who had been elected [[patriarch]] in 1652.<ref name="EB1911"/>

The [[Russo-Polish War (1654–1667)|campaign of 1654]] was an uninterrupted triumph, and scores of towns, including the important fortress of [[Smolensk]], fell into the hands of the Russians.<ref name="EB1911"/> Ukrainian [[Hetman]] [[Bogdan Khmelnitsky]] appealed to Tsar Alexis for protection from the Poles, and the [[Treaty of Pereyaslav]] brought about Russian dominance of the [[Cossack Hetmanate]] in [[left-bank Ukraine]].
[[File:Tsar Alexey Mihajlovich on review of armies in 1664.jpg|thumb|300px|Tsar Alexei inspecting his troops in 1664, painting by [[Nikolai Sverchkov]]]]
In the summer of 1655, a sudden invasion by [[Charles X of Sweden]] briefly swept the Polish state out of existence, in what became known as the [[Deluge (history)|Deluge]]. The Russians, unopposed, quickly appropriated nearly everything that was not already occupied by the Swedes. When the Poles offered to negotiate, the whole grand duchy of [[Lithuania]] was the least of the demands made by Alexis. However, Alexis and the king of [[Sweden]] quarrelled over the apportionment of the spoils, and at the end of May 1656, with encouragement by the [[Habsburg monarchy|Habsburg]] [[Ferdinand_III,_Holy_Roman_Emperor|emperor]] and the other enemies of Sweden, Alexis [[Russo-Swedish War (1656–1658)|declared war]] on Sweden.<ref name="EB1911"/>

Great things were expected by Russia of the Swedish war, but nothing came of it. [[Dorpat]] was taken, but countless multitudes of men were lost in vain before [[Riga]]. In the meantime, Poland had so far recovered herself as to become a much more dangerous foe than Sweden, and, as it was impossible to wage war with both simultaneously, the tsar resolved to rid himself of the Swedes first. In the [[Peace of Kardis]] (2 July 1661), Russia retroceded all her conquests.<ref name="EB1911"/>
[[File:Россия. Портрет царя Алексея Михайловича на коне. ~1670-е гг. ГИМ e1.jpg|thumb|262px|Portrait of Alexis on horseback, 1670s]]
The Polish war dragged on for six years longer and was then concluded by the [[Truce of Andrusovo]] (11 February 1667), nominally for thirteen years, which proved the most durable of treaties. According to the truce, [[Polotsk]] and Polish [[Livonia]] were restored to Poland, but the more important cities of [[Smolensk]] and [[Kiev]] remained in the hands of Russia together with the whole eastern bank of the [[Dnieper]] river. This truce was the achievement of [[Afanasy Ordin-Nashchokin]], the first Russian chancellor and diplomat in the modern sense, who after the disgrace of Nikon became the tsar's first minister until 1670, when he was superseded by the equally able [[Artamon Matveyev]], whose beneficent influence prevailed to the end of Alexis's reign.<ref name="EB1911"/>