The Ingrian War () was a conflict fought between the Swedish Empire and the Tsardom of Russia which lasted between 1610 and 1617. It can be seen as part of Russia's Time of Troubles, and is mainly remembered for the attempt to put a Swedish duke on the Russian throne. It ended with a large Swedish territorial gain (including Ingria) in the Treaty of Stolbovo, which laid an important foundation to Sweden's Age of Greatness.
Prelude
During Russia's Time of Troubles, Vasily IV of Russia was besieged in Moscow by the supporters of the False Dmitry II. Driven to despair by the Polish intervention, he entered into an alliance with Charles IX of Sweden, who was also waging war against Poland. According to the Vyborg Treatise of 1609, the tsar promised to cede Korela Fortress to Sweden in recompense for military support against False Dmitry II and the Poles. Russia also renounced all territorial claims on the coast of the Baltic Sea coast. The Swedish commander Jacob De la Gardie joined his forces with the Russian commander Mikhail Skopin-Shuisky and marched from Novgorod towards Moscow in order to relieve the tsar. In May, the De la Gardie campaign began, where the Swedish corps fought as part of the army of Skopin-Shuisky, who managed to clear a significant part of Russia from the interventionists.
Sweden's involvement in Russian affairs gave King Sigismund III Vasa of Poland a pretext to declare war on Russia. After the sudden death of Skopin-Shuisky, De la Gardie's troops were united with Shuisky's army, and the Poles defeated the combined Russo-Swedish force at the Battle of Klushino on . The Swedish mercenaries taking part in the De la Gardie Campaign surrendered and De la Gardie concluded an agreement with Polish hetman Stanisław Żółkiewski. The battle had serious consequences for Russia, as the tsar was deposed by the Seven Boyars and the Poles occupied the Moscow Kremlin, after which the Russian state began to fall into its constituent parts. De la Gardie then sought to take control of the Russian north-west in order to prevent the Poles from extending their power and therefore threaten Sweden with an offensive on its Baltic territories.
War
In July 1611, a Swedish expeditionary corps under Jacob De la Gardie captured Novgorod. He compelled the Novgorodians to acknowledge the Swedish king as their patron and forced them to choose one of his sons, Carl Filip or Gustavus Adolphus, to be installed as their monarch.
Meanwhile, Gustavus Adolphus ascended to the Swedish throne. The young king decided to pursue his brother's claim to the Russian throne, even after the Poles had been expelled from Moscow by a patriotic uprising in 1612, which resulted in Mikhail Romanov being elected as the new tsar.
Result
thumb|Treaty of Stolbovo at the 2013 exhibition "Romanovs. The beginning of the dynasty"
In 1617, the Treaty of Stolbovo was concluded between Russia and Sweden in which the Swedes acquired significant territories in Ingria, with the townships of Ivangorod, Jama, Koporye, and Nöteborg, as well as Kexholm in Karelia, but restored Novgorod and Gdov which they had occupied since 1611 and 1614, respectively. As a result, Russia was denied access to the Baltic Sea for about a century, despite its persistent efforts to reverse the situation. This led to the increased importance of Arkhangelsk for its trading connections with Western Europe. Russia also renounced all claims to Estonia and Livonia and were obligated to pay 20,000 rubles in war reparations, while Sweden recognised Michael Romanov as the rightful Russian tsar.