The Battle of Vilnius was the first time a foreign power managed to capture a group of cultural, and historic structures on the left bank of what river?
Battle of Vilnius (1655) The Battle of Vilnius, Wilno, or Vilna was an attack by Russian and Cossack forces on Vilnius (Wilno), the capital of the Grand Duchy of Lithuania within the Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth, that occurred on 8 August 1655 during the Russo-Polish War (1654–67). The Polish–Lithuanian forces under the leadership of hetman Janusz Radziwiłł were defeated by the Russian army of Alexis of Russia. It was the first time that a foreign power managed to capture the Vilnius Castle Complex. The six-year Muscovite occupation that followed resulted in a major depopulation and a decline of the city for many years to come. The defeat was one of the reasons Janusz Radziwiłł and several other Lithuanian magnates surrendered the Grand Duchy to Sweden at the Union of Kėdainiai.
Duchy of Livonia The Duchy of Livonia (Polish: "Księstwo Inflanckie" ; Lithuanian: "Livonijos kunigaikštystė" ; Latin: "Ducatus Ultradunensis" ; Estonian: "Üleväina-Liivimaa hertsogkond" ; Latvian: "Pārdaugavas hercogiste" ; also referred to as Polish Livonia or Inflanty) was a territory of the Grand Duchy of Lithuania—and later the Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth—that existed from 1561 to 1621. It corresponds to the present-day areas of northern Latvia and southern Estonia.