The Swedish king is forced after the…
October 1605 CE
The Swedish king is forced after the defeat at Kircholm to abandon the siege of Riga and withdraw by ship back across the Baltic Sea to Sweden and to relinquish control of northern Latvia and Estonia.
The Commonwealth proves unable to exploit the victory fully, however, because there is no money for the troops, who have not been paid for months.
Without pay, they cannot buy food or fodder for their horses or replenish their military supplies, and so the campaign falters.
An additional factor is the large number of trained horses lost during the battle, which prove difficult to replace.
Yet this great victory is absolutely fruitless, owing to the domestic dissent which is to prevail in the Commonwealth during the following five years.
Chodkiewicz's own army, unpaid for years, abandons him at last en masse in order to plunder the estates of their political opponents, leaving the hetman to carry on the war as best he can with a handful of mercenaries paid out of the pockets of himself and his friends.
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