The war of Moscow Russia against the Livonian Order, the Polish-Lithuanian state, Sweden and Denmark for hegemony in the Baltic.
In addition to Livonia, the Russian Tsar Ivan IV the Terrible hoped to conquer the East Slavic lands that were part of the Grand Duchy of Lithuania. In November 1557, he concentrated a 40,000-strong army in Novgorod to march into the Livonian lands. In December, this army, under the command of the Tatar prince Shig-Aley, Prince Glinsky and other governors, moved to Pskov. The auxiliary army of Prince Shestunov at that time began fighting from the region of Ivangorod at the mouth of the river Narva (Narova). In January 1558 royal army approached Yuriev (Derpt), but could not take him. Then part of the Russian troops turned towards Riga, and the main forces headed for Narva (Rugodiv), where they joined up with Shestunov's army. There was a lull in the fighting. Only the garrisons of Ivangorod and Narva fired at each other. On May 11, Russians from Ivangorod attacked the Narva fortress and captured it the next day.
Soon after the capture of Narva, Russian troops under the command of the governor Adashev, Zabolotsky and Zamytsky and the duma clerk Voronin were ordered to capture the fortress of Syrensk. On June 2, the regiments were under its walls. Adashev set up barriers on the Riga and Kolyvan roads in order to prevent the main forces of the Livonians under the command of the Master of the Order from reaching Syrensk. On June 5, large reinforcements from Novgorod approached Adashev, which the besieged saw. On the same day, artillery shelling of the fortress began. The next day the garrison surrendered.
From Syrensk, Adashev returned to Pskov, where everything was concentrated Russian army. In mid-June, it took the fortresses of Neuhausen and Dorpat. The entire north of Livonia was under Russian control. The army of the Order was inferior in number to the Russians by several times and, moreover, was scattered over separate garrisons. It could not oppose anything to the army of the king. Until October 1558, Russian rati in Livonia captured 20 castles.
In January 1559, Russian troops marched on Riga. Near Tirzen they defeated the Livonian army, and near Riga they burned the Livonian fleet. Although it was not possible to capture the Riga fortress, 11 more Livonian castles were taken. The Master of the Order was forced to conclude a truce before the end of 1559. By November of this year, the Livonians managed to recruit landsknechts in Germany and resume the war. However, failures continued to haunt them. In January 1560, the army of governor Borboshin took the fortresses of Marienburg and Fellin. Livonian Order how military force practically ceased to exist.
In 1561, the last master of the Livonian Order, Kettler, recognized himself as a vassal of the Polish king and divided Livonia between Poland and Sweden (Esel Island went to Denmark). The Poles got Livonia and Courland (Kettler became the Duke of the latter), the Swedes got Estland.
Poland and Sweden demanded the withdrawal of Russian troops from Livonia. Ivan the Terrible not only did not fulfill this requirement, but also invaded the territory of Lithuania, allied to Poland, at the end of 1562. His army numbered 33,407 men. The purpose of the campaign was the well-fortified Polotsk. On February 15, 1563, the city, unable to withstand the fire of 200 Russian guns, capitulated. Ivan's army moved to Vilna. The Lithuanians were forced to conclude a truce until 1564. When the war resumed, Russian troops "occupied almost the entire territory of Belarus. However, the repressions that began against the leaders of the "chosen council" - the actual government until the end of the 50s, had a negative impact on the combat capability of the Russian army. Many governors and
nobles, fearing reprisals, preferred to flee to Lithuania. In the same 1564, one of the most prominent governors, Prince Andrei Kurbsky, who was close to the Adashev brothers, who were members of the elected Rada, and feared for his life, moved there. The subsequent oprichnina terror further weakened the Russian army. In 1569, as a result of the Union of Lublin, Poland and Lithuania formed single state The Commonwealth (Republic) under the leadership of the Polish king. Now to the rescue Lithuanian army Polish troops arrived. In 1570, hostilities both in Lithuania and Livonia intensified. To secure the Baltic lands, Ivan the Terrible decided to create his own fleet. At the beginning of 1570 he issued " letter of commendation"On the organization of a privateer (private) fleet, acting on behalf of the Russian Tsar, to the Dane Carsten Rode. Roda managed to arm several ships, and he caused significant damage to the Polish maritime trade. To have a reliable naval base, Russian troops in the same 1570 tried to capture Revel, thereby starting a war with Sweden. However, the city freely received supplies from the sea, and Ivan had to lift the siege after seven months. The Russian privateer fleet never became a formidable force.
After a seven-year lull, in 1577, the 32,000-strong army of Tsar Ivan undertook new campaign to Revel. However, this time the siege of the city was not successful. Then the Russian troops went to Riga, capturing Dinaburg, Wolmar and several other castles. However, these successes were not decisive.
Meanwhile, the situation worsened Polish front. In 1575, an experienced military leader, the Transylvanian prince Stefan Batory, was elected king of the Commonwealth. He managed to form a strong army, which also included German and Hungarian mercenaries. Bathory made an alliance with Sweden, and the united Polish- swedish army in the fall of 1578, she defeated the 18,000-strong Russian army, which lost 6,000 people killed and captured and 17 guns.
By the beginning of the 1579 campaign, Stefan Batory and Ivan the Terrible had main armies of about 40,000 men, approximately equal in number. The Russian tsar, after the defeat at Wenden, was not confident in his abilities and offered to start peace talks. However, Batory rejected this proposal and launched an offensive against Polotsk. In autumn, the Polish army laid siege to the city and after a month-long siege captured it. Rati governor Sheina and Sheremeteva, sent to the rescue of Polotsk, only reached the Sokol fortress. They did not dare to engage in battle with superior enemy forces. Soon the Poles also captured Sokol, defeating the troops of Sheremetev and Shein. Ivan the Terrible clearly did not have enough strength to successfully fight on two fronts at once - in Livonia and Lithuania. After the capture of Polotsk, the Poles took several cities in Smolensk and Seversk lands, and then returned to Lithuania.
In 1580, Batory undertook a large campaign against Russia, capturing and ruining the cities of Ostrov, Velizh and Velikiye Luki. Then the Swedish army under the command of Pontus Delagardi captured the city of Korela and
Eastern part Karelian Isthmus.
In 1581, Swedish troops captured Narva, and in next year occupied Ivangorod, Yam and Koporye. Russian troops were expelled from Livonia. The fighting was transferred to the territory of Russia.
In September 1581, a 50,000-strong Polish army led by the king laid siege to Pskov. It was a very strong fortress. The city, which stood on the right, high bank of the Velikaya River at the confluence of the Pskov River, was surrounded by a stone wall. It stretched for 10 km and had 37 towers and 48 gates. True, from the side of the Velikaya River, from where it was difficult to expect an enemy attack, the wall was wooden. Under the towers there were underground passages, which provided covert communications between various defense sectors. The upper tiers of the towers were also connected by passages. The height of the walls was 6.5 m, and the thickness was from 4 to 6 m, which made them invulnerable to the then artillery. Inside the Great Walls there was Middle city, also surrounded by walls, in the Middle City - the fortified Dovmont city, and in the Dovmont city - stone Kremlin. Above the river great wall Dovmont's towns rose 10 meters, and the Kremlin - 17 meters, which made these fortifications almost impregnable. The city had significant stocks of food, weapons and ammunition.
The Russian army was dispersed over many points, from where an enemy invasion was expected. The tsar himself with a significant detachment stopped in Staritsa, not daring to meet the Polish army marching towards Pskov.
When the tsar found out about the invasion of Stefan Batory, the army of Prince Ivan Shuisky, who was appointed "great commander", was sent to Pskov. Seven other governors were subordinate to him. All the inhabitants of Pskov and the garrison were sworn in that they would not surrender the city, but would fight until last drop blood. Total population Russian troops defending Pskov, reached 25 thousand people and was about twice outnumbered Batory's army. By order of Shuisky, the surroundings of Pskov were devastated so that the enemy could not find food and food there.
On August 18, the Polish army approached the city at a distance of 2-3 cannon shots. During the week, Batory conducted reconnaissance of the Russian fortifications and only on August 26 ordered his army to approach the city. However, the soldiers soon came under fire from Russian guns and retreated to the Cherekha River. Here Batory set up a fortified camp.
The Poles began to dig trenches and set up tours to get closer to the walls of the fortress. On the night of September 4-5, they rolled rounds to the Pokrovskaya and Svinaya towers on the southern face of the walls and, placing 20 guns, on the morning of September 6, they began to fire at both towers and 150 m of the wall between them. By the evening of September 7, the towers were badly damaged, and a breach 50 meters wide was formed in the wall. But the besieged managed to build a new wooden wall against the breach.
On September 8, Polish troops launched an assault. The attackers managed to capture both damaged towers. However, shots from a large cannon "Bars", capable of sending cores over a distance of more than 1 km, the Pig Tower occupied by the Poles was destroyed. Then the Russians blew up its ruins, rolling up barrels of gunpowder. The explosion served as a signal for a counterattack, led by Shuisky himself. The enemy could not hold the Pokrovskaya Tower either - and retreated.
After the failure of the assault, Batory ordered digging to blow up the walls. The Russians managed to destroy two tunnels with the help of mine galleries, the rest of the Poles could not be completed. On October 24, Polish batteries began to fire at Pskov from behind the Velikaya River with red-hot cannonballs to start fires, but the city's defenders quickly put out the fire. Four days later, a Polish detachment with crowbars and pickaxes approached the wall from the side of the Great Between corner tower and the Intercession Gate and destroyed the sole of the wall. It collapsed, but it turned out that behind this wall there is another wall and a ditch that the Poles could not overcome. The besieged threw stones and pots of gunpowder on their heads, poured boiling water and
On November 2, Batory's army undertook final assault Pskov. This time the Poles attacked western wall. Prior to that, for five days it was subjected to heavy shelling and was destroyed in several places. However, the defenders of Pskov met the enemy with heavy fire, and the Poles turned back, never reaching the breaches.
By that time morale the besiegers fell noticeably. But the besieged also experienced considerable difficulties. The main forces of the Russian army in Staritsa, Novgorod and Rzhev were inactive. Only two detachments of archers of 600 people each tried to break into Pskov, but more than half of them died or were captured.
On November 6, Batory removed the guns from the batteries, stopped siege work and began to prepare for the winter. At the same time, he sent detachments of Germans and Hungarians to capture the Pskov-Caves Monastery, 60 km from Pskov, but the garrison of 300 archers, supported by monks, successfully repelled two attacks, and the enemy was forced to retreat.
Stefan Batory, convinced that he could not take Pskov, in November handed over command to Hetman Zamoysky, and he himself left for Vilna, taking with him almost all the mercenaries. As a result, the number of Polish troops decreased by almost half - to 26 thousand people. The besiegers suffered from cold and disease, the death toll and desertion increased. Under these conditions, Bathory agreed to a ten-year truce. It was concluded in Yama-Zapolsky on January 15, 1582. Russia renounced all its conquests in Livonia, and the Poles liberated the Russian cities they had occupied.
In 1583, the Treaty of Plus was signed with Sweden. Yam, Koporye and Ivangorod passed to the Swedes. For Russia there was only a small section of the Baltic coast at the mouth of the Neva. However, in 1590, after the expiration of the truce, hostilities between the Russians and the Swedes resumed and this time were successful for Moscow. As a result, according to the Tyavzinsky Treaty on " eternal peace» Russia regained Yam, Koporye, Ivangorod and Korelsky district. But that was only small consolation. In general, Ivan the Terrible's attempt to gain a foothold in the Baltic failed.
At the same time, sharp contradictions between Poland and Sweden on the issue of control over Livonia facilitated the position of the Russian tsar, excluding a joint Polish-Swedish invasion of Russia. The resources of Poland alone, as the experience of Batory's campaign against Pskov showed, were clearly not enough to capture and hold a significant territory of the Muscovite kingdom. At the same time, the Livonian War showed that Sweden and Poland in the east had a formidable enemy that had to be seriously reckoned with.
Livonian War (1558–1583).The reasons wars:
1. The desire of Russia to go to the Baltic, to get seaports and trade directly with Europe.
2. Acquisition of new economically developed lands.
Cause for war: Delay by the Livonian Order of 123 Western specialists invited to serve in Russia and non-payment of tribute by the Livonian Order for the city of Yuryev (Derpt, or Tartu) over the past 50 years.
In the 1550s, there was an opportune moment for an attack. Livonia weakened, did not have a single government and consisted of three independent structures - the Livonian Order, catholic church and self-governing cities. The king was a supporter of the war for the Baltic. His advisors from The chosen one is glad, in particular A. Adashev, advocated a war with the Crimea and access to the Black Sea. The point of view of Ivan IV prevailed.
First stage of the Livonian War (1558–1561) Russian troops took Narva, Dorpat, Marienburg, advanced on Revel (Tallinn, or Kolyvan). In 1560 the Order was crushed. Residence of the Master of the Order - castle fellin was taken, and the Master of Landmeister himself Wilhelm von Furstenberg was captured and exiled to the city of Lyubim near Yaroslavl, where he lived the rest of his life. The Livonian Order ceased to exist. Now Russia is faced with three powers - Poland, Denmark and Sweden, who have claimed the rights to the Livonian lands. The war dragged on.
The second stage of the Livonian War (1561–1578). The betrayal of Andrei Kurbsky. In 1563, the tsar personally led a 60,000-strong army to the city of Polotsk and took it. Ivan concluded a truce, began negotiations with the Poles about marrying the sister of Sigismund-August - Catherine. Negotiations failed, the war resumed. In 1564, the Russianswere defeated by the Lithuanians near Polotsk, Orsha and on the river. Ole. Ivan IV suspected everyone of treason and unleashed terror.
Governor Prince Andrey Kurbsky had a secret correspondence with the Polish-Lithuanian king and had long been plotting to escape. In 1564, he fled to Lithuania, where he lived until his death in 1583. In his letters to Ivan the Terrible, Kurbsky accused the “fierce autocrat” of tyranny, blood drinking and senseless executions: “Why, tsar, voivode, given to you by God to fight enemies betrayed to various executions? “You closed the Russian kingdom, as if in a hellish stronghold”; committed "the devastation of the earth with your Khemushniks" ("Kromeshniks" - guardsmen). Kurbsky spoke for limited monarchy, his political ideal was the activity of the Chosen Rada. To govern the state, in his opinion, it is necessary to involve "wise advisers" and "people of the people." In response letters filled with profanity to Kurbsky, Ivan IV proclaimed: “Russian autocrats from the beginning themselves own their kingdoms, and not the boyars and nobles. And I am free to pay my lackeys, but they are free to execute ... ". The king believed that he was God's chosen one, his autocratic power should not be limited by any laws. supreme court- this is the monarch himself, and all subjects are serfs, whose life the sovereign could dispose of autocratically.
AT 1569 Poland and Lithuania concluded in the city of Lublin L Yu pancake union and united in the state Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth(Polish Rzeczpospolita - republic). This state was a noble republic, where the king was chosen by the nobility - shl I hta. In 1572, the childless king of the Commonwealth died Sigismund II August. Ivan the Terrible refused the offer of the Poles to raise his 16-year-old son to the vacant throne Fedora, putting forward unacceptable conditions related to differences in religion. Thus, the unique chance of the dynastic unification of Russia, Lithuania and Poland into a single Slavic state, the largest in Europe, was missed. In 1576, a protege of Turkey, a talented commander, a 43-year-old Transylvanian governor, was elected king of the Commonwealth Stefan Batory (1533–1586).
In 1570, Ivan IV created a vassal puppet “Kingdom of Livonia”. The king made a Danish prince his king Magnus, marrying him to his 13-year-old niece Maria, daughter of the executed Vladimir Staritsky. Last major success Russian troops began to capture the Polish part of Livonia in 1577.
Ivan IV and Elizabeth I. Ivan the Terrible was looking for rapprochement with England and hoped for the supply of English weapons. The king made a marriage proposal to the English Queen Elizabeth I and even planned to emigrate to England. Elizabeth told the next applicant that she decided to remain a virgin, because she was engaged to her nation. Ivan IV flew into a rage, canceled benefits for English merchants and expelled them from Russia. In a letter to Elizabeth in 1570, the tsar openly insulted the English queen, calling her a “vulgar girl” (that is, an ordinary, commoner). Ivan IV wrote: “And we hoped that you were the sovereign in your state and ruled by yourself ... Even if you have people who rule past you, and not only people, but also merchant men ... And you stay in your girlish rank, like there is a vulgar girl ".
Third stage of the Livonian War (1579–1583) Stefan Bathory, in alliance with the Swedes, retook Polotsk in 1579 during the offensive, in 1581–1582. laid siege to Pskov. Defenders of Pskov, led by the prince Ivan Shuisky for 5 months of the siege, 31 assaults were repelled. Thanks to the feat of Pskov, the Poles were stopped. In 1582, in Zapolsky Pit, Russia and the Commonwealth signed Yam-Zapolsky truce while maintaining the old borders. In 1583 by Plus Truce with Sweden, Russia lost the fortresses of Yam, Koporye, Ivangorod, Korela (Kexholm), retaining part of the Baltic coast with the mouth of the Neva.
Causes of Russia's defeat in the Livonian War.
1. Incorrect assessment by Ivan IV of the balance of power in the Baltic states.
2. The diversion of troops to repel the Crimean raids.
3. The backwardness of the Russian economy, not capable of many years of war.
4. The weakening of Russia due to the oprichnina terror of Ivan IV.
- the war of Moscow Russia against the Livonian Order, the Polish-Lithuanian state, Sweden and Denmark for hegemony in the Baltic states. In addition to Livonia, the Russian Tsar Ivan IV the Terrible hoped to conquer the East Slavic lands that were part of the Grand Duchy of Lithuania. In November 1557, he concentrated a 40,000-strong army in Novgorod to march into the Livonian lands. In December, this army, under the command of the Tatar prince Shig-Aley, Prince Glinsky and other governors, moved to Pskov. The auxiliary army of Prince Shestunov at that time began hostilities from the Ivangorod region at the mouth of the Narva (Narova) River. In January 1558, the tsarist army approached Yuryev (Derpt), but could not take it. Then part of the Russian troops turned towards Riga, and the main forces headed for Narva (Rugodiv), where they joined up with Shestunov's army. There was a lull in the fighting. Only the garrisons of Ivangorod and Narva fired at each other. On May 11, Russians from Ivangorod attacked the Narva fortress and captured it the next day.Soon after the capture of Narva, Russian troops under the command of the governor Adashev, Zabolotsky and Zamytsky and the duma clerk Voronin were ordered to capture the fortress of Syrensk. On June 2, the regiments were under its walls. Adashev set up barriers on the Riga and Kolyvan roads in order to prevent the main forces of the Livonians under the command of the Master of the Order from reaching Syrensk. On June 5, large reinforcements from Novgorod approached Adashev, which the besieged saw. On the same day, artillery shelling of the fortress began. The next day the garrison surrendered.
From Syrensk, Adashev returned to Pskov, where the entire Russian army was concentrated. In mid-June, it took the fortresses of Neuhausen and Dorpat. The entire north of Livonia was under Russian control. The army of the Order was inferior in number to the Russians by several times and, moreover, was scattered over separate garrisons. It could not oppose anything to the army of the Tsar. Until October 1558, Russian rati in Livonia captured 20 castles.
In January 1559, Russian troops went trip to Riga. Near Tirzen they defeated the Livonian army, and near Riga they burned the Livonian fleet. Although it was not possible to capture the Riga fortress, 11 more Livonian castles were taken. The Master of the Order was forced to conclude a truce before the end of 1559. By November of this year, the Livonians managed to recruit landsknechts in Germany and resume the war. However, failures continued to haunt them. In January 1560, the army of governor Borboshin took the fortresses of Marienburg and Fellin. The Livonian Order as a military force practically ceased to exist. In 1561, the last master of the Livonian Order, Kettler, recognized himself as a vassal of the Polish king and divided Livonia between Poland and Sweden (Esel Island went to Denmark). The Poles got Livonia and Courland (Kettler became the Duke of the latter), the Swedes got Estland.
Poland and Sweden demanded the withdrawal of Russian troops from Livonia. Ivan the Terrible not only did not fulfill this requirement, but also invaded the territory of Lithuania, allied to Poland, at the end of 1562. His army numbered 33407 people. The purpose of the campaign was the well-fortified Polotsk. On February 15, 1563, the city, unable to withstand the fire of 200 Russian guns, capitulated. Ivan's army moved to Vilna. The Lithuanians were forced to conclude a truce until 1564. When the war resumed, Russian troops occupied almost the entire territory of Belarus. However, the repressions that began against the leaders of the "chosen council" - the actual government until the end of the 50s, had a negative impact on the combat capability of the Russian army. Many governors and nobles, fearing reprisals, preferred to flee to Lithuania. In the same 1564, one of the most prominent voivodes, Prince Andrey Kurbsky, close to the Adashev brothers, who were members of the elected council, and feared for his life. The subsequent oprichnina terror further weakened the Russian army.
In 1569, as a result of the Union of Lublin, Poland and Lithuania formed a single state, the Commonwealth (Republic), under the leadership of the Polish king. Now Polish troops came to the aid of the Lithuanian army. In 1570, hostilities both in Lithuania and Livonia intensified. To secure the Baltic lands, Ivan the Terrible decided to create own fleet. At the beginning of 1570, he issued a "letter of commendation" for the organization of a privateer (private) fleet, acting on behalf of the Russian Tsar, to the Dane Carsten Rode. Roda managed to arm several ships, and he caused significant damage to the Polish maritime trade. In order to have a reliable naval base, in the same 1570, Russian troops tried to capture Reval, thereby starting a war with Sweden. However, the city freely received supplies from the sea, and Ivan had to lift the siege after seven months. The Russian privateer fleet never became a formidable force.
After a seven-year lull, in 1577, the 32,000-strong army of Tsar Ivan undertook a new trip to Revel. However, this time the siege of the city was not successful. Then the Russian troops went to Riga, capturing Dinaburg, Wolmar and several other castles. However, these successes were not decisive.
Meanwhile, the situation on the Polish front worsened. In 1575, an experienced military leader, the Transylvanian prince Stefan Batory, was elected king of the Commonwealth. He managed to form a strong army, which also included German and Hungarian mercenaries. Batory entered into an alliance with Sweden, and the combined Polish-Swedish army in the autumn of 1578 defeated the 18,000-strong Russian army, which lost 6,000 people killed and captured and 17 guns.
By the beginning of the 1579 campaign, Stefan Batory and Ivan the Terrible had main armies of about 40,000 men, approximately equal in number. The Russian tsar, after the defeat at Wenden, was not confident in his abilities and offered to start peace negotiations. However, Batory rejected this proposal and launched an offensive against Polotsk. In autumn, the Polish army laid siege to the city and after a month-long siege captured it. Rati governor Sheina and Sheremeteva, sent to the rescue of Polotsk, only reached the Sokol fortress. They did not dare to engage in battle with superior enemy forces. Soon the Poles also captured Sokol, defeating the troops of Sheremetev and Shein. Ivan the Terrible clearly did not have enough strength to successfully fight on two fronts at once - in Livonia and Lithuania. After the capture of Polotsk, the Poles took several cities in Smolensk and Seversk lands, and then returned to Lithuania.
In 1580, Batory undertook a large campaign against Russia, capturing and ruining the cities of Ostrov, Velizh and Velikiye Luki. Then the Swedish army under the command of Pontus Delagardi captured the city of Korela and eastern part Karelian isthmus. In 1581, Swedish troops captured Narva, and the following year they occupied Ivangorod, Yam and Koporye. Russian troops were expelled from Livonia. The fighting was transferred to the territory of Russia.
In September 1581, a 50,000-strong Polish army led by the king laid siege to Pskov. It was a very strong fortress. The city, which stood on the right, high bank of the Velikaya River at the confluence of the Pskov River, was surrounded by a stone wall. It stretched for 10 km and had 37 towers and 48 gates. True, from the side of the Velikaya River, from where it was difficult to expect an enemy attack, the wall was wooden. Under the towers there were underground passages that provided covert communication between various defense sectors. The upper tiers of the towers were also connected by passages. The height of the walls was 6.5 m, and the thickness was from 4 to 6 m, which made them invulnerable to the then artillery. Inside the Great Walls there was the Middle City, also surrounded by walls, in the Middle City - the fortified Dovmont city, and in the Dovmont city - the stone Kremlin. Above the level of the Velikaya River, the walls of the city of Dovmont rose 10 m, and the Kremlin - 17 m, which made these fortifications almost impregnable. The city had significant stocks of food, weapons and ammunition.
The Russian army was dispersed over many points, from where an enemy invasion was expected. The tsar himself, with a considerable gradual detachment, stopped in Staritsa, not daring to meet the Polish army marching towards Pskov.
When the tsar learned about the invasion of Stefan Batory, the army of Prince Ivan Shuisky, who was appointed "great commander", was sent to Pskov. Seven other governors were subordinate to him. All the inhabitants of Pskov and the garrison were sworn in that they would not surrender the city, but would fight to the last drop of blood. The total number of Russian troops defending Pskov reached 25 thousand people and was about half the size of Batory's army. By order of Shuisky, the surroundings of Pskov were devastated so that the enemy could not find food and food there.
On August 18, the Polish army approached the city at a distance of 2-3 cannon shots. During the week, Batory conducted reconnaissance of the Russian fortifications and only on August 26 ordered his army to approach the city. However, the soldiers soon came under fire from Russian guns and retreated to the Cherekha River. Here Batory set up a fortified camp.
The Poles began to dig trenches and set up tours to get closer to the walls of the fortress. On the night of September 4-5, they rolled rounds to the Pokrovskaya and Svinaya towers on the southern face of the walls and, placing 20 guns, on the morning of September 6, they began to fire at both towers and 150 m of the wall between them. By the evening of September 7, the towers were badly damaged, and a breach 50 meters wide was formed in the wall. But the besieged managed to build a new wooden wall against the breach.
On September 8, Polish troops launched an assault. The attackers managed to capture both damaged towers. However, shots from a large cannon "Bars", capable of sending cannonballs over a distance of more than one kilometer, the Pig Tower occupied by the Poles was destroyed. Then the Russians blew up its ruins, rolling up barrels of gunpowder. The explosion served as a signal for a counterattack, led by Shuisky himself. The enemy could not hold the Pokrovskaya Tower - and retreated.
After the failure of the assault, Batory ordered digging to blow up the walls. The Russians managed to destroy two tunnels with the help of mine galleries, the rest of the Poles could not be completed. On October 24, Polish batteries began to fire at Pskov from behind the Velikaya River with red-hot cannonballs to start fires, but the city's defenders quickly put out the fire. Four days later, a Polish detachment with crowbars and picks approached the wall from the Velikaya side between the corner tower and the Pokrovsky Gate and destroyed the base of the wall. It collapsed, but it turned out that behind this wall there is another wall and a ditch that the Poles could not overcome. The besieged threw stones and pots of gunpowder on their heads, poured boiling water and pitch.
On November 2, Batory's army launched the last assault on Pskov. This time the Poles attacked the western wall. Prior to that, for five days it was subjected to heavy shelling and was destroyed in several places. However, the defenders of Pskov met the enemy with heavy fire, and the Poles turned back, never reaching the breaches.
By that time, the morale of the besiegers had fallen noticeably. But the besieged also experienced considerable difficulties. The main forces of the Russian army in Staritsa, Novgorod and Rzhev were inactive. Only two detachments of archers of 600 people each tried to break into Pskov, but more than half of them died or were captured.
On November 6, Batory removed the guns from the batteries, stopped siege work and began to prepare for the winter. At the same time, he sent detachments of Germans and Hungarians to capture the Pskov-Caves Monastery, 60 km from Pskov, but the garrison of 300 archers, supported by monks, successfully repelled two attacks, and the enemy was forced to retreat.
Stefan Batory, convinced that he could not take Pskov, in November handed over command to Hetman Zamoysky, and he himself left for Vilna, taking with him almost all the mercenaries. As a result, the number of Polish troops decreased by almost half - to 26 thousand people. The besiegers suffered from cold and disease, the death toll and desertion increased. Under these conditions, Bathory agreed to a ten-year truce. It was concluded in Yama-Zapolsky on January 15, 1582. Russia renounced all its conquests in Livonia, and the Poles liberated the Russian cities they had occupied.
In 1583 it was signed Plus Armistice with Sweden. Yam, Koporye and Ivangorod passed to the Swedes. For Russia there was only a small section of the Baltic coast at the mouth of the Neva. However, in 1590, after the expiration of the truce, hostilities between the Russians and the Swedes resumed and this time were successful for Moscow. As a result, according to the Tyavzinsky treaty on "eternal peace", Russia regained Yam, Koporye, Ivangorod and Korelsky district. But that was only small consolation. In general, Ivan the Terrible's attempt to gain a foothold in the Baltic failed.
At the same time, sharp contradictions between Poland and Sweden on the issue of control over Livonia facilitated the position of the Russian tsar, excluding a joint Polish-Swedish invasion of Russia. The resources of Poland alone, as the experience of Batory's campaign against Pskov showed, were clearly not enough to capture and hold a significant territory of the Muscovite kingdom. Simultaneously Livonian War showed that Sweden and Poland in the east had a formidable enemy that had to be seriously reckoned with.
According to the materials of the portal "Great wars in the history of Russia"
Exit to Baltic Sea for
linkages with WE
defense of the western borders
the possibility of acquiring already developed land
delay of 123 Western specialists heading to Russia
non-payment of tribute for the city of Derpt (= Yuryev = Tartu) for 50 years
military alliance of the Livonian Order with the Polish king and led. Prince of Lithuania
1st stage of the war
1558- IV moved troops to Livonia. Capture of 20 cities (including Narva, Yuriev). Advance towards Riga and Revel (Tallinn).
1560- the troops of the order were defeated, Master V. Furstenberg was captured
1561- the collapse of the Livonian Order. Lands - under the jurisdiction of Poland, Denmark, Sweden.
New master G.Ketler - possession of Courland. Recognized dependence on Poland
1563- the capture of the city of Polotsk.
2nd phase of the war
The war became protracted. 3 European powers are involved - Poland, Denmark, Sweden. Dissatisfaction with the war among the boyars. The hesitation of A. Adashev and Sylvester (from the inner circle of the king) considered the war unpromising.
1553- during a dangerous illness IV, many boyars refused to swear allegiance to their little son Dmitry!
1560– termination of the activities of the Chosen Rada. IV - a course towards strengthening personal power.
1564- Kurbsky goes over to the side of the Poles. Treason. Correspondence between Kurbsky and Grozny.
1565- introduction of oprichnina.
1569- the unification of Poland and Lithuania into a single state - the Commonwealth (Union of Lublin). The troops of the Commonwealth and Sweden captured Narva, conducted successful military operations against Russia.
1581- defense of Pskov. "Pskov seat". 30 assaults were repulsed, about 50 sorties against the Polish king Stefan Batory.
1582- Yam-Zapolsky truce for 10 years.
1583– Plyusskoe truce with Sweden.
RESULT: the defeat of Russia. Exchange of Livonia for captured Russian cities (except Polotsk).
Behind Sweden - the coast of the Baltic, the years. Korely, Yam, Narva, Koporye.
The failure of the Livonian War is a consequence of backwardness.
The ruin of the country during the years of the oprichnina aggravated the situation.
Annexation of Siberia
IV - letters to merchants-industrialists Stroganovs for land holdings along the river. Tobol.
At their own expense, they formed a detachment of 840 (600?) Free Cossacks, led by Ermak Timofeevich Alenin.
1581- Yermak penetrated the Siberian Khanate.
1582- defeated the troops of Khan Kuchum and took the capital Kashlyk (Isker).
The population pays a natural quitrent in fur - yasak. The positive effect of reconnection. Russia is a country with a more developed economy and economy. The ruling class eventually became part of the Russian one.
Exploration of the Wild Field.
16th century – development wild field. Task: protect the lands from the raids of the Crimean Khan! Mid 16th century - Tula notch line. Efremov. 30-40s 17th century - Belgorod serif line. The notch line is the blockages of the forest. Between them - wooden fortresses (prisons) do not allow the cavalry to pass.
Question #10
Events at the turn of the XVI-XVII centuries. received, with light hand contemporaries, title " Time of Troubles". The time of hard times affected all aspects of Russian life - the economy, power, domestic and foreign policy, ideology and morality. The reasons for the unrest were the aggravation of social, estate, dynastic and international relations at the end of the reign of Ivan IV and under his successors.
Tsar Fedor Ioannovich. Another cause of unrest was the dynastic crisis. Oprichnina did not completely resolve the differences within the ruling class. She strengthened the personal power of the king, but there was still a fairly strong boyars. The ruling class has not yet reached a firm consolidation. The contradictions escalated in connection with the termination of the legitimate dynasty that kept score from the legendary Rurik.
On March 18, 1584, Ivan the Terrible died while playing chess. His eldest son Ivan was killed by his father in a fit of rage (1581), the youngest son Dmitry was only two years old. Together with his mother, the seventh wife of Ivan IV, Maria Naga, he lived in Uglich, given to him as an inheritance. The middle son of Grozny, twenty-seven-year-old Fyodor Ioanovich (1584-1598), who was gentle by nature, but incapable of governing the state, ascended the throne.
The personality of Fyodor Ivanovich, who grew up in an atmosphere of medieval cruelty, attracted the attention of many writers and artists. “I am a king or not a king” - the sacramental phrase put into his mouth by A.K. Tolstoy successfully characterizes Fyodor Ioanovich. Realizing that the throne passes to the blessed Fedor, Ivan IV created a kind of regency council under his son.
BorisGodunov. The brother-in-law of the tsar, the boyar Boris Fedorovich Godunov, became the de facto ruler of the state, to whose sister Fyodor was married. Godunov withstood a fierce struggle with the largest boyars for influence on state affairs. Among the boyars who were members of the regency council were Nikita and Fyodor Nikitich Romanov, the brother and nephew of the first wife of Ivan the Terrible, and Ivan Petrovich Shuisky, the father of the future Russian tsar.
In 1591, under unclear circumstances in Uglich, the last of the direct heirs to the throne, Tsarevich Dmitry, died, allegedly having run into a knife in a fit of epilepsy. Popular rumor, as well as accusations inspired by Godunov's opponents, attributed to him the organization of the assassination of the prince in order to seize power. However, historians do not have convincing documents that would prove Godunov's guilt.
With the death of the childless Fyodor Ioanovich in 1598, the old dynasty ended. A new tsar was elected at the Zemsky Sobor. The predominance of Boris Godunov's supporters at the council predetermined his victory.
Boris Godunov (1598-1605) was an energetic, ambitious, capable statesman. In difficult conditions - economic ruin, difficult international situation - he continued the policy of Ivan the Terrible, but with less cruel measures. Godunov led a successful foreign policy. Under him, further advancement to Siberia took place, mastered southern regions countries. Strengthened Russian positions in the Caucasus. After a long war with Sweden in 1595, the Treaty of Tyavzinsky was concluded (near Ivan-gorod). Russia regained the lost lands on the Baltic coast - Ivangorod, Yam, Koporye, Korela. The attack of the Crimean Tatars on Moscow was prevented. In 1598, Godunov, with a 40,000-strong noble militia, personally led a campaign against Khan Kazy Giray, who did not dare to enter Russian lands. Fortifications were being built in Moscow ( White City, Earthen City), in the border towns in the south and west of the country.
A major success was the establishment of the patriarchate in Russia. The rank and prestige of the Russian Church has risen, it has finally become equal in relation to other Orthodox churches. Job, a supporter of Godunov, was elected the first Russian patriarch in 1589. Four metropolitans (Novgorod, Kazan, Rostov, Krutitsky) and six archbishops submitted to him.
However, a weakened Russia did not have the strength to conduct large-scale military operations. This circumstance was used by its strengthened neighbors - the Commonwealth, Sweden, Crimea and Turkey. The aggravation of international contradictions will be another reason for the events that erupted during the Time of Troubles.
False DmitryI. People of that time explained the instability of the economy and social conflicts as God's punishment for the unrighteous actions of the illegal, "rootless" tsar - Boris Fedorovich Godunov. Boris, striving in every possible way to maintain power, did everything to remove potential contenders. So, one of his cousins, Fedor Nikitich Romanov, who was closest in blood to Fyodor Ivanovich, was forcibly tonsured a monk and exiled to the Anthony-Siya Monastery (near Arkhangelsk) under the name Filaret.
Rumors were widely spread that Tsarevich Dmitry, who “miraculously escaped” in Uglich, was still alive. In 1602, a man appeared in Lithuania, posing as Prince Dmitry. He told the Polish tycoon Adam Wisniewiecki that he had been replaced "in the bedroom of the Uglich palace." The patron of False Dmitry was the governor Yuri Mnishek.
According to the official version of the government of Boris Godunov, the man posing as Tsarevich Dmitry was the monk Grigory (in the world - a petty nobleman Yuri Bogdanovich Otrepyev). Yushka, as he was called in his youth, showed extraordinary abilities - he knew Latin and Polish languages, had a calligraphic handwriting, had a rare ability to quickly navigate in a particular situation. In his youth, he was a servant of Fyodor Nikitich Romanov, after whose exile he took monastic vows. In Moscow, he lived in the Miracle Monastery located in the Kremlin (now does not exist) and served under Patriarch Job.
V. O. Klyuchevsky rightly wrote that False Dmitry was only “baked in a Polish oven, and fermented in Moscow.” Having enlisted the support of the Polish-Lithuanian magnates, False Dmitry secretly converted to Catholicism and promised the Pope to spread Catholicism in Russia. False Dmitry also promised to transfer the Commonwealth and his bride Marina Mniszek, daughter of the Sandomierz governor, Seversky (Chernigov region) and Smolensk lands, Novgorod and Pskov. The adventure of False Dmitry was not his personal affair. False Dmitry appeared in an atmosphere of general dissatisfaction with the government of Boris Godunov on the part of both the nobility and Russian peasants, townspeople, and Cossacks. The Polish magnates needed False Dmitry in order to start aggression against Russia, disguising it with the appearance of a struggle for the return of the throne to the rightful heir. This was a covert intervention.
In 1604, False Dmitry, with the help of Polish magnates, having recruited 2 thousand mercenaries and using the discontent of the Cossacks, undertook a campaign against Moscow. He was supported by many boyars and nobles who were dissatisfied with Godunov. Supported False Dmitry and populace who connected with him hopes for getting rid of oppression and improving their situation.
Boris Godunov in the fight against False Dmitry I allowed whole line errors. He did not believe that the people would support the impostor, he announced a decree late on who was behind the supposedly resurrected Tsarevich Dmitry. Showing indecision, Godunov did not lead the campaign against the impostor. The fate of False Dmitry was decided near the city of Krema: the route of movement to Moscow was deliberately chosen through the areas where the Cossacks lived and there were many fugitive peasants. Near Kromy, the tsarist troops went over to the side of the impostor.
This event was preceded by the unexpected death of Boris Fedorovich Godunov at the age of 54. On the morning of April 13, 1605, he received ambassadors. After dinner and a short walk, blood gushed from his nose and ears, the king died. A day later, an oath ceremony was held to the new tsar - the son of Boris, sixteen-year-old Fyodor Borisovich.
Tsar Fyodor Borisovich and his mother, at the request of the impostor, were arrested and secretly killed, and Patriarch Job was exiled to a monastery. On June 20, 1605, False Dmitry, at the head of an army that had gone over to his side, triumphantly entered Moscow and was proclaimed tsar. Moreover, he began to call himself emperor. The new patriarch, "the crafty and dodgy Greek" Ignatius crowned him king. Filaret (F. N. Romanov) was appointed Metropolitan of Rostov.
Once in Moscow, False Dmitry was in no hurry to fulfill the obligations given to the Polish magnates, realizing that if he tried to introduce Catholicism or give native Russian lands to the Polish feudal lords, he would not be able to stay in power. At the same time, False Dmitry confirmed the decisions taken before him. legislative acts enslaving the peasants (decree on a five-year investigation of the fugitives).
The continuation of the feudal policy, new requisitions in order to obtain the funds promised to the Polish magnates, the discontent of the Russian nobility, which especially intensified after the marriage of False Dmitry to Marina Mnishek, led to the organization of a boyar conspiracy against him. In May 1606, an uprising broke out against False Dmitry. The alarm bell struck. Muscovites, led by the boyars Shuisky, killed more than a thousand Poles. Marina Mnishek was saved by the boyars. She and her entourage were exiled to Yaroslavl. False Dmitry, pursued by the rebels, jumped out of the window of the Kremlin Palace and was killed. Contemporaries counted more than 20 wounds on the body of False Dmitry. Three days later, his corpse was burned, the ashes were laid in a cannon, from which they fired in the direction from which the impostor had come.
Vasily Shuisky. After the death of False Dmitry, the boyar tsar Vasily Shuisky (1606-1610) came to the throne. He gave an obligation in the form of a cross-kissing note (kissing the cross) to preserve the privileges of the boyars, not to take away their estates and not to judge the boyars without the participation of Boyar Duma. The nobility now tried to resolve the created deep internal and external contradictions with the help of the boyar tsar.
Patriarch Ignatius was deprived of his rank for supporting False Dmitry I. The patriarchal throne was taken by an outstanding patriot, the 70-year-old Kazan Metropolitan Hermogenes.
In order to suppress rumors about the rescue of Tsarevich Dmitry, his remains were transferred by order of Vasily Shuisky three days after the coronation from Uglich to Moscow. The prince was canonized as a saint.
By the summer of 1606, Vasily Shuisky managed to gain a foothold in Moscow, but the outskirts of the country continued to seethe. The political conflict, generated by the struggle for power and the crown, grew into a social one. The people, finally losing faith in the improvement of their situation, again opposed the authorities. In 1606-1607. an uprising broke out under the leadership of Ivan Isaevich Bolotnikov, which many historians consider the peak Peasants' War early 17th century
False DmitryII. At the time when Vasily Shuisky was besieging I. I. Bolotnikov in Tula, a new impostor appeared in the Bryansk region (Starodub). In agreement with the Vatican, the Polish gentry, opponents of King Sigismund III (hetmans Lisovsky, Ruzhitsky, Sapieha), united with the Cossack ataman I. I. Zarutsky, nominating False Dmitry II (1607-1610) as a pretender to the Russian throne. Externally, this man looked like False Dmitry I, which was noticed by the participants in the adventure of the first impostor. Until now, the identity of False Dmitry II causes a lot of controversy. Apparently, he came from a church milieu.
False Dmitry II, in response to the call of I. I. Bolotnikov, moved to Tula to join the rebels. The connection did not happen (Tula was taken by Shuisky's troops), and in January 1608 the impostor undertook a campaign against the capital. In the summer of 1608, False Dmitry approached Moscow, but attempts to take the capital ended in vain. He stopped 17 km from the Kremlin, in the town of Tushino, received the nickname "Tushinsky Thief". Soon Marina Mnishek also moved to Tushino. The impostor promised her 3,000 gold rubles and income from 14 Russian cities after his accession to Moscow, and she recognized him as her husband. A secret wedding was performed according to the Catholic rite. The impostor promised to promote the spread of Catholicism in Russia.
False Dmitry II was an obedient puppet in the hands of the Polish gentry, who managed to take control of the north-west and north of the Russian lands. The fortress of the Trinity-Sergius Monastery fought valiantly for 16 months, in the defense of which the surrounding population played a significant role. Actions against the Polish invaders took place in a number of major cities North: Novgorod, Vologda, Veliky Ustyug.
If False Dmitry I spent 11 months in the Kremlin, then False Dmitry II spent 21 months unsuccessfully besieging Moscow. In Tushino, under False Dmitry II, from among the boyars dissatisfied with Vasily Shuisky (the people aptly called them “Tushino flights”), their own Boyar Duma and orders formed. Captured in Rostov, Metropolitan Filaret was named patriarch in Tushino.
Seven Boyars. In the summer of 1610, a revolution took place in Moscow. The nobles, led by P. Lyapunov, overthrew Vasily Shuisky from the throne and forcibly tonsured him a monk. (Shuisky died in 1612 in Polish captivity, where he was sent as a hostage along with his brothers). Power was seized by a group of boyars led by F. I. Mstislavsky. This government, which consisted of seven boyars, was called the “seven boyars”.
In August 1610, the Seven Boyars, despite the protests of Patriarch Hermogenes, concluded an agreement on calling Vladislav, the son of King Sigismund, to the Russian throne, and let the interventionist troops into the Kremlin. August 27, 1610 Moscow swore allegiance to Vladislav. It was a direct betrayal of national interests. The country faced the threat of loss of independence.
First militia. Only relying on the people, it was possible to win back and preserve the independence of the Russian state. In 1610, Patriarch Hermogenes called for a fight against the invaders, for which he was arrested. At the beginning of 1611, the first militia was created in the Ryazan land, which was headed by the nobleman P. Lyapunov. The militia moved to Moscow, where in the spring of 1611 an uprising broke out. The interventionists, on the advice of the traitorous boyars, set fire to the city. The troops fought on the outskirts of the Kremlin. Here, in the Sretenka area, Prince D. M. Pozharsky, who led the forward detachments, was seriously wounded.
However, the Russian troops could not build on the success. The leaders of the militia called for the return of the fugitive peasants to their owners. Cossacks did not have the right to hold public office. Opponents of P. Lyapunov, who sought to establish a military organization of the militia, began to sow rumors that he allegedly wants to exterminate the Cossacks. They called him into the Cossack "circle" in July 1611 and killed him.
The first militia broke up. By this time, the Swedes captured Novgorod, and the Poles, after a months-long siege, captured Smolensk. Polish king Sigismund III announced that he himself would become the Russian Tsar, and Russia will enter in the Commonwealth.
Second militia. Minin and Pozharsky. In the autumn of 1611, the township elder Nizhny Novgorod Kozma Minin appealed to the Russian people to create a second militia. With the help of the population of other Russian cities, a material base liberation struggle: the people raised significant funds for waging war against the interventionists. The militia was headed by K. Minin and Prince Dmitry Pozharsky.
In the spring of 1612, the militia moved to Yaroslavl. Here the provisional government of Russia "Council of All the Earth" was created. In the summer of 1612, from the side of the Arbat Gates, the troops of K. Minin and D. M. Pozharsky approached Moscow and joined with the remnants of the first militia.
Almost simultaneously, along the Mozhaisk road, Hetman Khodkevich approached the capital, who was moving to help the Poles who had settled in the Kremlin. In the battle near the walls of Moscow, Khodkevich's army was driven back.
On October 22, 1612, on the day of finding the icon of Our Lady of Kazan, who accompanied the militia, Kitay-gorod was taken. Four days later, the Polish garrison in the Kremlin surrendered. In memory of the liberation of Moscow from the invaders on Red Square, a temple was erected in honor of the icon of Our Lady of Kazan at the expense of D. M. Pozharsky.
The victory was won as a result of the heroic efforts of the Russian people. The heroism of the Kostroma peasant Ivan Susanin, who sacrificed his own life in the fight against the Polish invaders, forever serves as a symbol of loyalty to the Motherland. Grateful Russia first sculptural monument in Moscow, she erected Kozma Minin and Dmitry Pozharsky (on Red Square, sculptor I.P. Martos, 1818). The memory of the defense of Smolensk and the Trinity-Sergius Monastery, the struggle of the inhabitants of the city of Korela against the Swedish invaders has been preserved forever.
The reign of the Romanovs. In 1613, the Zemsky Sobor was held in Moscow, at which the question of choosing a new Russian tsar was raised. As candidates for the Russian throne, the Polish prince Vladislav, the son of the Swedish king Karl-Philip, the son of False Dmitry II and Marina Mnishek Ivan, nicknamed "Vorenok", as well as representatives of the largest boyar families were proposed.
On February 21, the cathedral chose Mikhail Fedorovich Romanov, the 16-year-old great-nephew of Ivan the Terrible's first wife, Anastasia Romanova. An embassy was sent to the Ipatiev Monastery near Kostroma, where Mikhail and his mother were at that time. On May 2, 1613, Mikhail arrived in Moscow, and on July 11 he was married to the kingdom. Soon the leading place in the government of the country was taken by his father, Patriarch Filaret, who "mastered all the royal and military affairs." Power was restored in the form of an autocratic monarchy. The leaders of the fight against the interventionists received modest appointments. D. M. Pozharsky was sent as governor to Mozhaisk, and K. Minin became the Duma governor.
The war of Russia against the Livonian Order, Sweden, Poland and the Grand Duchy of Lithuania (from 1569 - the Commonwealth) for access to the Baltic Sea.
The formal reason for the war was the non-fulfillment of the agreements of 1554 in relation to Russia by the Livonian Order (payment of the Yuryev tribute for all overdue years, the obligation not to conclude allied agreements with Sigismund II, etc.). True reasons were the geopolitical need for Russia to gain access to the Baltic Sea, to actively participate in the division of the territory of the Livonian Order, the progressive decay of which was becoming obvious.
The conquest of Kazan and Astrakhan temporarily removed tensions in the east and south of Russia, a truce was concluded with Lithuania until 1562, therefore Ivan IV the Terrible in January 1558 he started the war, which became the fate of Ivan: it lasted with short breaks for 25 years and ended 7 months before his death.
1st stage (until 1561) ended with the defeat of the Livonian Order. In January-February, East Livonia and central regions. Narva was taken in May, Yuryev (Derpt) in July. In the winter of 1558-59. Russian troops reached the outskirts of the city of Riga. In March 1559, a truce was signed for six months and an agreement was being prepared on the vassal dependence of the Order on Russia. However, neighboring states joined the war. The Polish king Sigismund II took the Order under his protectorate. In June 1561, the knighthood of Northern Estonia and the city of Revel swear allegiance to the King of Sweden, Lithuanian troops are stationed near Riga.
According to the Treaty of Vilna (November 1561), the Livonian Order ceased to exist, its territory was transferred to the joint possession of Lithuania and Poland, the last master of the order received the Duchy of Courland. Instead of a weak opponent, the king now faced three strong states, however, with conflicting interests.
On the 2nd stage (until 1578) Russian troops were fighting mixed success. In 1562, Ivan the Terrible concluded a truce with Sweden, headed for an agreement with Crimean Khanate, which made it possible to prepare a grand campaign of the army led by the king to Lithuania in the winter of 1562-1563. In February 1563, the city of Polotsk, an important fortress in the upper reaches of the Western Dvina, was captured.
Further, the internal political situation aggravated, most of the leaders of the "Chosen Rada" were executed or fell into disgrace, in April 1564 he fled from Yuryev to Lithuania close friend young years Ivan the Terrible Andrei Mikhailovich Kurbsky. All this happened against the backdrop of military failures, which the king explained by treason. In September 1564 large forces Lithuanians besieged Polotsk, but they could not take it. At the beginning of 1565, Ivan the Terrible introduced the oprichnina, the planned royal campaign in Livonia was canceled. For several years military action proceeded sluggishly. In 1568-69, the Lithuanians managed to take several small fortresses. In March 1569, Poland and Lithuania concluded the Union of Lublin, a new state was formed - the Commonwealth.
A major campaign against Revel and its long siege in late 1570 - early 1571 did not bring success. In 1577, Ivan the Terrible tried to strike a decisive blow. The troops take many small and medium-sized fortresses, capture almost the entire territory north of the Western Dvina (with the exception of Revel and Riga with districts), but the victories were fragile.
On the 3rd stage (since 1579) Russian troops fought defensive battles [defense and surrender of Polotsk (1579), Velikie Luki (1580), six-month defense of Pskov 1581-82, etc.] against the army of Stefan Batory and Swedish troops who captured Narva and a number of Livonian fortresses. It ended with the signing of the Yam-Zapolsky and Plyussky truces, which were unfavorable for Russia.
Yam-Zapolsky world between Russia and the Commonwealth for 10 years. Concluded on January 15, 1582 near Zapolsky Pit, south of Pskov. One of the diplomatic documents that completed Livonian War 1558-83. Russians returned busy Polish troops cities, in return she refused Polotsk and Livonia.
Plus Armistice between Russia and Sweden, which ended the Livonian War of 1558-83. Concluded on the Pluss River in August 1583. The Russian cities of Ivangorod, Yam, Koporye, Korela with counties went to Sweden. Russia kept the mouth of the Neva.
