Pozharski, Dmitri Mikhailovich, Prince

Pozharski, Dmitri Mikhailovich, Prince (dəmē`trē mēkhī`ləvĭch, pəzhär`skē), 1578–1642, Russian hero. During the "Time of Troubles" (1598–1613), when various pretenders vied for the Russian throne, he fought against the Poles, who, taking advantage of unstable political conditions, had invaded Russia. In 1611 he took command of a national militia formed on the initiative of the merchant Kuzma Minin of Nizhny Novgorod. With his improvised army he marched on Moscow (1612) and drove out the Poles, ending the effort of King Sigismund III to subjugate Russia. Pozharski summoned a representative assembly, which in 1613 elected Michael Romanov czar.