Muscovy enters a period of continuous chaos.

The Time of Troubles includes a civil war in which a struggle over the throne is complicated by the machinations of rival boyar factions, the intervention of regional powers Poland and Sweden, and intense popular discontent.

The first False Dmitriy and his Polish garrison are overthrown, and a boyar, Vasiliy Shuyskiy, is proclaimed tsar in 1606.

In his attempt to retain the throne, Shuyskiy allies himself with the Swedes.

A second False Dmitriy, allied with the Poles, appears.

In 1610 this heir apparent is proclaimed tsar, and the Poles occupy Moscow.

The Polish presence leads to a patriotic revival among the Russians, and a new army, financed by northern merchants and blessed by the Orthodox Church, drives the Poles out.

In 1613 a new zemskiy sobor proclaims the boyar Mikhail Romanov as tsar, beginning the three-hundred-year reign of the Romanov family.