Polish–Muscovite War (1605–1618) in the context of "House of Romanov"

Nizhny Novgorod (/ˌnɪʒni ˈnɒvɡərɒd/ NIZH-nee NOV-gə-rod; Russian: Нижний Новгород, IPA: [ˈnʲiʐnʲɪj ˈnovɡərət] , lit. 'Lower Newtown') is both a city and the administrative centre of Nizhny Novgorod Oblast and the Volga Federal District in Russia. The city is located at the confluence of the Oka and the Volga rivers in Central Russia, with a population of over 1.2 million residents, and roughly 1.7 million residents in the wider urban area. Nizhny Novgorod is the sixth-largest city in Russia, and the second-most populous city on the Volga and Volga Federal District. The city is located 420 kilometers (260 mi) east of Moscow. It is an important economic, architectural, educational and cultural centre in Russia and the Volga-Vyatka Economic Region, and provides the majority of Russia's river tourism.

The city was founded on 4 February 1221 by Prince George II of Vladimir. In 1612, Kuzma Minin and Prince Dmitry Pozharsky organized an army for the liberation of Moscow from the Poles and Lithuanians. In 1817, Nizhny Novgorod became a great trade centre of the Russian Empire. In 1896, at the trade centre, an All-Russia Exhibition was organized. During the Soviet period, the city turned into an important industrial centre, and was known as Gorky. In particular, the Gorky Automobile Plant was constructed in this period. Around this time, the city was given the nickname "Russian Detroit". Shortly before the dissolution of the Soviet Union the city was renamed Nizhny Novgorod once again. In 1985, the Nizhny Novgorod Metro was opened. In 2016, Vladimir Putin opened the new 70th Anniversary of Victory Plant, which is part of the Almaz-Antey Air and Space Defence Corporation.

Unity Day, also called the National Unity Day (Russian: День народного единства, romanized: Denʹ narodnogo yedinstva) and the Day of People's Unity, is a national holiday in Russia held on 4 November [O.S. 22 October]. It commemorates the popular uprising which ended the Polish-Lithuanian occupation of Moscow in November 1612, and more generally the end of the Time of Troubles and turning point of the Polish intervention in Russia.

The day's name alludes to the idea that all classes of Russian society united to preserve Russian statehood when there was neither a tsar nor a patriarch to guide them. In 1613 tsar Mikhail Romanov instituted a holiday named Day of Moscow’s Liberation from Polish Invaders. It was celebrated in the Russian Empire until 1917, when it was replaced with October Revolution Day, a commemoration of the Russian Revolution. Unity Day was reinstituted by the Russian Federation in 2005, when the events of the year 1612 have been celebrated instead of those of 1917 every 4 November since. The day is also the feast day of the Russian Orthodox icon of Our Lady of Kazan.

Kuzma Minin (Russian: Кузьма́ Ми́нин), full name Kuzma Minich Zakhariev-Sukhoruky (Russian: Кузьма́ Ми́нич Заха́рьев Сухору́кий; c. 1570s – May 21, 1616), was a Russian merchant who, together with Prince Dmitry Pozharsky, formed the popular uprising in Nizhny Novgorod against the Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth's occupation of Russia during the Polish intervention in Russia (1605-1618) coinciding with the Time of Troubles. The popular uprising ultimately led to Russian victory at the Battle of Moscow and the end of Polish occupation in 1612. Minin and Pozharsky become national heroes in Russian culture and were honored in the Monument to Minin and Pozharsky in Moscow's Red Square.

A native of Balakhna, Minin was a prosperous butcher in Nizhny Novgorod. When the popular patriotic movement to organize volunteer corps in his home city was formed, the merchants chose Minin, a trusted and respected member of the guild, to oversee the handling of the public funds donated by them to raise and equip the Second Volunteer Army (Russian: Второе народное ополчение).

The Russian famine of 1601–1603, Russia's worst famine in terms of proportional effect on the population, killed perhaps two million people: about 30% of the Russian people. The famine compounded the Time of Troubles (1598–1613), when the Tsardom of Russia was unsettled politically and was later invaded (1605–1618) by the Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth. The many deaths contributed to social disruption. The famine resulted from a volcanic winter, a series of worldwide record cold winters and crop disruption, which geologists in 2008 linked to the 1600 volcanic eruption of Huaynaputina in Peru.

The Monument to Minin and Pozharsky (Russian: Па́мятник Ми́нину и Пожа́рскому) is a bronze statue designed by Ivan Martos and located on the Red Square in Moscow, Russia, in front of Saint Basil's Cathedral. The statue commemorates two Russian national heroes Prince Dmitry Pozharsky and Kuzma Minin, who in 1612 organized a popular uprising that ultimately led to the end of the Polish occupation of Moscow during Polish intervention in Russia, thus putting an end to the Time of Troubles.

The Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth occupation of Moscow took place between 1610 and 1612 during the Polish intervention in Russia, when the Kremlin was occupied by the Polish garrison with additional Lithuanian units under the command of hetman Stanisław Żółkiewski and assisted by Russian boyars led by Mikhail Saltykov. The occupation coincided with Russia's Time of Troubles.

From March 1611 to the autumn of 1612, the Cossacks of Prince Dmitry Trubetskoy besieged Moscow and the Polish-Lithuanian forces there. The city was finally liberated by the Second People's Militia, and the date of the capture of Kitay-Gorod is celebrated in modern Russia as the Day of National Unity on November 4, alongside festivities in honour of Our Lady of Kazan.