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It's hard to imagine it now, but 400 years ago, Russia was THE underdog in Europe. 

Racked by the aftershocks of the Time of Troubles (1603 - 1618) Russia's Tsar had a long way to go before the name Romanov would spread far and wide. And he had a score to settle. 

The King of Poland, Sigismund III, had invaded and occupied Russia all the way to Moscow barely a decade before. Sigismund claimed that his own son was the true Tsar of Russia, not Michael Romanov, or whatever he called himself. But how to get even with an all powerful Polish King, who had friends in very high places - the Habsburgs?

The Tsar's solution was simple - with an old enemy, the Swedes, he would forge an alliance of critical importance. Nor had the Tsar thought small - the Ottoman Empire and Transylvania were also included, creating a coalition, which would be levelled squarely against the Poles, and their Habsburg allies

This treaty was especially important for King Gustavus Adolphus of Sweden. With Russia threatening to attack Poland's eastern flank, there would be no danger of Sigismund making war on Sweden. Such an insurance policy was necessary for two main reasons. First, Sigismund was his Catholic cousin, and would stop at nothing to reclaim the Swedish crown. Second, Gustavus Adolphus' eyes had shifted from the Polish threat, and had landed on the Habsburgs themselves. 

As Cardinal Richelieu's agents had often whispered, it was surely time for Sweden to make its mark on the Holy Roman Empire, by attacking Emperor Ferdinand II, and destroying the Habsburg supremacy in a stroke. Gustavus didn't have to be forced. Sigismund's war had been directly funded and supported by the Emperor. Ferdinand had fired the first shot, now he would pay the price.

Just as the Russian envoy arrived in Stockholm to get Gustavus Adolphus' signature though, he received the news that the King was absent. Such a signature was not necessary - the King of Sweden trusted the word of the Tsar. The King of Sweden, the envoy was told, had gone to Germany, and the next phase of the Thirty Years' War had begun.

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