Henadź Sahanovіč. The Grand Duchy of Lіthuanіa and the Army Confederatіons of 1612-1614

Confederations of soldiers, known in the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth since 1590, acquired scale during the war intervention, which Sigismund III Vasa led on the Moscow state. In 1612-1614, more than 10 thousand unpaid soldiers organized in unions left the front and returned to their homeland to demand their due wages. Their problem was discussed at two Sejms in 1613. While the authorities collected taxes, the rebelling army looted the land, flatly refusing to defend it from the enemy. The Moscow army used the military weakness of The Grand Duchy of Lithuania and actively attacked not only Smaliensk but the territories of modern Belarus. It coasted the state enormously to pay off and abolish the confederates and to end the war successfully. However, these events left their mark in the mind of nobility (szlachta). After having suffered an unbearable offence from their soldiers, they began to mistrust the central authorities who were unable to prevent the violence.