In the mid-1540s, a turning point was outlined in the eastern policy of the Russian state. The era of boyar rule in Moscow, which switched the main attention and forces to the struggle for power, ended. This put an end to the Moscow government's doubts about the Kazan Khanate. The Kazan government of Safa Giray (Kazan Khan in 1524-1531, 1536-1546, July 1546 - March 1549) actually pushed the Muscovite state to take decisive action. Safa Giray stubbornly clung to an alliance with the Crimean Khanate and constantly violated peace agreements with Moscow. Kazan princes regularly made predatory raids on the Russian border lands, receiving significant income by selling people into slavery. On the border between the Moscow kingdom and the Kazan Khanate, an endless war continued. Strengthened Moscow could no longer ignore the hostility of the Volga state, the influence of the Crimea (and through it the Ottoman Empire) and put up with the raids of the Tatars.

The Kazan Khanate had to be "forced to peace." The question arose - how to do it? The previous policy of supporting the pro-Russian party in Kazan and placing Moscow's henchmen on the throne actually failed. Usually, as soon as Moscow placed “its own khan” on the throne of Kazan, he quickly mastered and began to pursue a policy hostile to Russia, focusing on the Crimea or the Nogai Horde. At this time, Metropolitan Macarius had a great influence on the policy of the Russian state, who became the initiator of many enterprises of Ivan IV. Gradually, in his entourage of the metropolitan, the idea of ​​a forceful solution of the issue began to emerge, as the only means of stopping the Tatar incursions into the eastern regions of the state. At the same time, initially the complete conquest and subjugation of Kazan was not envisaged. Kazan was supposed to maintain autonomy in internal affairs. Already in the process of hostilities 1547-1552. these plans have been adjusted.

Kazan campaigns of Ivan IV (1545-1552)

Several Kazan campaigns of Tsar Ivan Vasilyevich are known, in most of which he took a personal part. This circumstance emphasized the importance attached to these campaigns by the sovereign and his inner circle. Almost all operations were carried out in winter, when the Crimean Khanate usually did not conduct campaigns against Russia, and it was possible to transfer the main forces from the southern borders to the Volga. In 1545, the first campaign of Moscow troops against Kazan took place. The operation had the character of a military demonstration in order to strengthen the Moscow party, which at the end of 1545 managed to expel Khan Safa Giray from Kazan. In the spring of 1546, a Moscow protege, the Kasimov prince Shah-Ali, was placed on the Kazan throne. However, soon Safa Giray, with the support of the Nogais, managed to regain power, Shah Ali fled to Moscow.

In February 1547, troops were sent "to Kazan places" under the command of the governor Alexander Gorbaty and Semyon Mikulinsky. The regiments under their command were sent from Nizhny Novgorod in response to an appeal for help from the Cheremis (Mari) centurion Atachik (Tugai) “with comrades”, who declared their desire to serve the Grand Duke of Moscow. The tsar himself did not participate in the campaign, as he was busy with wedding affairs - he married Anastasia Romanovna Zakharyina-Yuryeva. The Russian army reached the mouth of the Sviyaga and fought many Kazan places, but then returned to Nizhny Novgorod.

The next operation was led by the king himself. In November 1547, troops led by Dmitry Belsky were transferred from Moscow to Vladimir, and on December 11, the sovereign himself left the capital. Infantry regiments and artillery ("outfit") were concentrated in Vladimir. The troops were to go from Vladimir to Nizhny Novgorod, and then to Kazan. On Meshchera, a second army was being prepared for the campaign under the command of the governor Fyodor Prozorovsky and Shah Ali. It included cavalry regiments. Due to the unusually warm winter, the exit of the main forces was delayed. Artillery was brought to Vladimir, with great effort due to rain and impassability, only on December 6th. And the main forces reached Nizhny Novgorod only at the end of January, and only on February 2 the army went down the Volga, to the Kazan border. Two days later, due to the new warming, the army suffered heavy losses - most of the siege artillery fell into the river, many people drowned, the troops had to stop on the island of Rabotka. The loss of artillery, which sank in the Volga at the very beginning of the campaign, did not bode well for the planned enterprise. This circumstance forced the tsar to return to Nizhny Novgorod, and then to Moscow. However, part of the army, uniting on February 18 on the Tsivil River with Shah Ali's cavalry regiments, moved on. In the battle on the Arsk field, the soldiers of the Advanced Regiment of Prince Mikulinsky defeated the army of Safa Giray and the Tatars fled for the walls of the city. However, the Russian commanders did not dare to storm without siege artillery, and after standing for a week at the walls of Kazan, they retreated to their own borders.

The Tatars organized a retaliatory attack. A large detachment under the command of Arak attacked the Galician lands. The governor of Kostroma, Zakhary Yakovlev, organized the persecution, overtook and defeated the enemy burdened with captivity and prey on the Gusev field, on the Ezovka river.

In March, Moscow received news of the death of the implacable enemy of the Russian state, Khan Safa Giray. According to the official version, the ruler "drunk killed in the palace." The Kazan embassy was unable to get a new "king" from the Crimea. As a result, the two-year-old son of the deceased khan, Utyamysh-Girey (Utemysh-Girey), was proclaimed khan, on whose behalf his mother, Queen Syuyumbike, began to rule. This was reported to Moscow by the Cossacks, who intercepted the Kazan ambassadors in the "Field". The Russian government decided to take advantage of the dynastic crisis in the Kazan Khanate and conduct a new military operation. Back in the summer, advanced forces were sent under the command of Boris Ivanovich and Lev Andreevich Saltykov. By the late autumn of 1549, the main forces were busy - they were guarding the southern border.

Winter campaign 1549-1550 was prepared very thoroughly. Regiments gathered in Vladimir, Shuya, Murom, Suzdal, Kostroma, Yaroslavl, Rostov and Yuriev. On December 20, artillery was sent from Vladimir to Nizhny Novgorod under the command of governor Vasily Yuryev and Fyodor Nagogoy. The tsar, having received the blessing of Metropolitan Macarius, marched with regiments to Nizhny Novgorod. On January 23, 1550, the Russian army headed down the Volga to the Kazan land. Russian regiments were near Kazan on February 12, the Tatars did not dare to give battle under the walls of the city. Preparations began to storm the well-fortified city. However, weather conditions again had a decisive influence on the disruption of the operation. According to the chronicles, the winter was very warm, slushy, heavy rains did not allow to conduct a correct siege, organize a heavy bombardment of the fortress and provide rear areas. As a result, the troops had to be withdrawn.

Preparing for a new trip. The political situation in the Kazan Khanate and negotiations with Moscow

The Russian command came to the conclusion that the main reason for the unsuccessful campaigns of 1547-1550. hides in the inability to establish a good supply of troops, the lack of a strong rear support base. Russian troops were forced to operate on enemy territory, far from their cities. It was decided to build a fortress at the confluence of the Sviyaga River into the Volga, not far from Kazan. Having turned this fortress into a large base, the Russian army could control the entire right bank of the Volga (“Mountain Side”) and the near approaches to Kazan. The main material for the walls and towers, as well as living quarters and two churches of the future Russian stronghold, was prepared already in the winter of 1550-1551 on the Upper Volga in the Uglitsky district in the fatherland of the Ushatykh princes. The clerk Ivan Vyrodkov, who was responsible not only for the manufacture of the fortress, but also for its delivery to the mouth of the Sviyaga, supervised the work.

Simultaneously with this complex engineering operation, a number of military measures were carried out, which were supposed to cover fortification work on Round Hill. Prince Peter Serebryany received an order in the spring of 1551 to lead the regiments and go "exiled to the Kazan Posad". At the same time, the Vyatka army of Bakhtear Zyuzin and the Volga Cossacks were supposed to occupy the main transportation along the main transport arteries of the Kazan Khanate: the Volga, Kama and Vyatka. To help the governor Zyuzin, 2.5 thousand detachment of foot Cossacks, led by atamans Severga and Elka, were sent from Meshchera. They were supposed to go to the Volga with the "Wild Field", make ships and fight the Kazan places up the river. The actions of the Cossack detachment were successful. Other detachments of service Cossacks operated on the Lower Volga. Ishmael, Nuradin of the Nogai Horde, complained about their actions to the Moscow sovereign, who reported that the Cossacks “have taken away both banks of the Volga and have taken away our will and our uluses are fighting.”

The army of Prince Serebryany set out on a campaign on May 16, 1551, and already on the 18th was at the walls of Kazan. The attack of the Russian soldiers was unexpected for the Kazan Tatars. The soldiers of the governor of the Silver broke into the settlement and, taking advantage of the suddenness of the blow, inflicted great damage on the enemy. Then the Kazanians were able to seize the initiative and push the Russian soldiers back to their ships. The army of the Silver retreated and camped on the Sviyage River, waiting for the arrival of the army under the command of Shah Ali and the delivery of the main structures of the fortress. A huge river caravan, which was organized to deliver the materials of the fortress, departed in April and arrived at the site at the end of May.

In April, an army was sent from Ryazan to the "Field" under the command of voivode Mikhail Voronoi and Grigory Filippov-Naumov. The army was supposed to interrupt communications between Kazan and the Crimean Khanate. The activity of the Russian troops stunned the Kazan government and diverted attention from the construction of the Sviyazhsk fortress that began on May 24. The stronghold was erected in four weeks, despite the mistake of the designers, who made a mistake in the length of the walls by almost half. Russian soldiers corrected this shortcoming. The fortress was called Ivangorod Sviyazhsky.

The construction of a strong fortress in the center of the possessions of the Kazan Khanate demonstrated the strength of Moscow and contributed to the transition to the side of the Russians of a number of Volga peoples - the Chuvash and mountain Mari. The complete blockade of waterways by Russian detachments complicated the internal political situation in the Kazan Khanate. In Kazan, dissatisfaction was brewing with the government, composed of the Crimean princes, headed by the uhlan Koschak, the chief adviser to Princess Syuyumbike. The Crimeans, seeing that the case smelled of fried, decided to run away. They gathered their property, looted what was possible and fled the city. However, the Crimean detachment, which numbered about 300 people, failed to escape. Strong Russian outposts stood at all the crossings. In search of a safe path, the Crimeans deviated significantly from their original path and went to the Vyatka River. Here, the Vyatka detachment of Bakhtear Zyuzin and the Cossacks of atamans Pavlov and Severga stood in ambush. During the crossing, the Tatar detachment was attacked and destroyed. Koschak and forty prisoners were taken to Moscow, where "the sovereign ordered to execute them for their hardness of heart."

The new Kazan government was headed by Oglan Khuday-Kul and Prince Nur-Ali Shirin. They were forced to negotiate with Moscow and agree to accept Shah Ali (“Tsar Shigalei”), who was pleasing to Moscow, as a khan. In August 1551, the Kazan ambassadors agreed to extradite Khan Utyamysh-Girey and his mother, Queen Syuyumbike, to Moscow. Utyamysh was baptized in the Miracle Monastery, he received the name Alexander and was left to be raised at the Moscow court (he died at the age of twenty). After some time, Syuyumbike was given in marriage to the Kasimov ruler Shah-Ali. In addition, the Kazan embassy recognized the accession to the Russian state of the "Mountain" (western) side of the Volga and agreed to ban the slavery of Christians. On August 14, 1551, a kurultai took place on a field at the mouth of the Kazanka River, where the Tatar nobility and the Muslim clergy approved the agreement concluded with Moscow. On August 16, the new khan solemnly entered Kazan. Representatives of Moscow also arrived with him: the boyar Ivan Khabarov and the clerk Ivan Vyrodkov. The next day, the Kazan authorities handed over 2,700 Russian prisoners to them.

However, the reign of the new Tatar tsar was short-lived. The new khan could secure himself and a few of his supporters only by bringing a significant Russian garrison into the city. However, despite his precarious position, Shah Ali agreed to bring only 300 Kasimov Tatars and 200 archers into Kazan. Shah Ali's government was extremely unpopular. The extradition of Russian captives, the refusal of Moscow to fulfill the request of the khan to return the inhabitants of the Gornaya side to the rule of Kazan caused even greater irritation of the Tatar nobility. The Khan tried to suppress the opposition by force, but the repression only aggravated the situation (the Khan did not have the strength to be afraid of him).

In connection with the situation in the Kazan Khanate in Moscow, where they closely followed the development of events, they began to lean towards a radical solution: the removal of Shah Ali from Kazan and his replacement by a Russian governor. This idea was promoted by a part of the Kazan nobility. The unexpected actions of the Khan, who learned about the decision of the Moscow government, changed the situation for the worse. He decided to leave the throne, without waiting for an official decision, and left Kazan. On March 6, 1552, the Kazan Khan, under the pretext of a fishing trip, left the city and went to the Sviyazhsk fortress. With him as hostages, he took several dozen princes and murzas. Soon after this, Russian governors were sent to Kazan, but they failed to enter the city. On March 9, under the command of the princes of Islam, Kebek and Murza Alikey Narykov, an uprising began in the city. Power in Kazan was seized by supporters of the continuation of the war with the Russian state, headed by Prince Chapkun Otuchev. Many Russians who were in the city were taken by surprise and taken prisoner. The approaching Russian detachment could no longer change the situation, the Russian governors entered into negotiations and then were forced to retreat. At the same time, there were no hostilities, the settlements were not burned, the Russian governors still hoped to solve the matter peacefully.

The new Kazan government invited the Astrakhan prince Yadygar-Mukhammed (Yediger) to the throne, who was accompanied by a detachment of Nogais. The Kazan Tatars resumed hostilities, trying to return the Mountain side under their power. Moscow decided to start preparing a new campaign and resumed the blockade of the river routes of Kazan.

Kazan campaign of June-October 1552. Capture of Kazan

Preparations for the trip began in early spring. In late March - early April, siege artillery, ammunition and provisions were transported to the Sviyazhsk fortress from Nizhny Novgorod. In April - May 1552, an army of up to 150 thousand people with 150 guns was formed in Moscow and other Russian cities. By May, the regiments were concentrated in Murom - Ertoulny regiment (cavalry reconnaissance regiment), in Kolomna - the Big Regiment, the regiment of the Left Hand and the Advanced Regiment, Kashira - the Right Hand Regiment. Part of the troops gathered in Kashira, Kolomna and other cities advanced to Tula, and repelled the attack of the Crimean troops by Devlet Giray, who tried to frustrate Moscow's plans. The Crimean Tatars succeeded in delaying the advance of the Russian army for only four days.

July 3, 1552 the campaign began. The troops marched in two columns. Through Vladimir, Murom to the Sura River, to the mouth of the Alatyr River, the Guard Regiment, the Left Hand Regiment and the Sovereign Regiment led by Tsar Ivan Vasilyevich went. Through Ryazan and Meshchera, the Big Regiment, the Right Hand Regiment and the Advanced Regiment under the command of Mikhail Vorotynsky moved to Alatyr. Near Boroncheev Settlement beyond the river. Suroy columns united. On August 13, the army reached Sviyazhsk, on the 16th they began crossing the Volga, which lasted three days. On August 23, a huge army approached the walls of Kazan.

The enemy managed to prepare well for a new war and fortified the city. The Kazan Kremlin had a double oak wall filled with rubble and clayey silt and 14 stone towers - "strelnitsa". The approaches to the fortress covered the riverbed. Kazanka - from the north and the river. Bulak - from the west. On the other sides, especially from the Arsk field, convenient for siege work, there was a moat, which reached 6-7 meters in width and up to 15 meters in depth. The most vulnerable places were the gates - there were 11 of them, although they were protected by towers. On the city walls, the soldiers were protected by a parapet and a wooden roof. In the city itself there was a citadel, which was located in the northwestern part of the city, on a hill. The “royal chambers” were protected from the rest of the city by deep ravines and a stone wall. The city was defended by 40 thousand people. the garrison, which included not only all the available soldiers, but also the entire male population of Kazan, including 5 thousand. contingent of mobilized eastern merchants. In addition, the Tatar command prepared an operational base for conducting military operations outside the city walls, in the rear of the besieging enemy army. 15 miles from the river. Kazanka, a prison was built, the approaches to which were reliably covered by notches and swamps. He was supposed to become a support for 20 thousand people. cavalry army of Tsarevich Yapanchi, Shunak-Murza and the Arsk (Udmurt) Prince Yevush. This army was to make surprise attacks on the flanks and rear of the Russian army.

However, these measures did not save Kazan. The Russian army had a great superiority in forces and applied the latest methods of warfare, not familiar to the Tatars (construction of underground mine galleries).

The battle for the city began as soon as the Russian troops approached Kazan. Tatar warriors attacked the Yertoulny regiment. The moment for the strike was chosen very well. The Russians had just crossed the Bulak River and were climbing the steep slope of the Arsk field. Other Russian troops were on the other side of the river and could not immediately take part in the battle. The Tatars who left the fortress from the Nogai and Tsar's gates hit the Russian regiment. The Kazan army consisted of 10 thousand foot and 5 thousand horse soldiers. The situation was saved by the Cossacks and archers who reinforced the Yertoulsky regiment. They were on the left flank and opened heavy fire on the enemy, the Kazan cavalry mixed up. At this time, reinforcements approached and strengthened the firepower of the Yertoulsky regiment. The Tatar cavalry was finally upset and fled, crushing their infantry formations. The first clash ended in victory for the Russians.

Siege. The city was surrounded by long trenches, trenches and tours, and a palisade was built in a number of places. On August 27, artillery shelling of Kazan began. Artillery fire was supported by archers, repelling enemy sorties and preventing enemies from being on the walls. Among the "outfit" were "great" guns with names: "Ring", "Nightingale", "Flying Serpent", Ushataya, etc.

Initially, the siege was complicated by the actions of Yapanchi's troops, who made their attacks on a sign from the fortress - they raised a large banner on one of the towers. The first raid was made on August 28, the next day the attack was repeated and was accompanied by a sortie of the Kazan garrison. The actions of the Yapancha units were too serious a threat to ignore. A military council was assembled and it was decided to send 45,000 troops against the Yapanchi troops under the command of governor Alexander Gorbaty and Peter Serebryany. On August 30, the Russian governors lured the Tatar cavalry to the Arsk field with a feigned retreat and surrounded the enemy. Most of the enemy troops were destroyed, the field was simply littered with enemy corpses. Only part of the enemy army was able to break through the encirclement and hide in their prison. The enemies were pursued to the Kinderi River. From 140 to 1 thousand warriors of Yapanchi were taken prisoner, they were executed in front of the walls of the city.

On September 6, the army of Hunchbacked and Silver set out on a campaign to the Kama, having received the task of burning and devastating the Kazan lands. The Russian army stormed the prison on High Mountain, most of the defenders were killed. According to the chronicle, in this battle, all Russian military leaders dismounted and took part in the battle. As a result, the enemy's main base, which attacked the Russian rear, was destroyed. Then the Russian troops traveled more than 150 miles, destroying local villages and reaching the Kama River, they turned and returned to Kazan with victory. The Kazan Khanate suffered the fate of the Russian lands when they were ravaged by the Tatar detachments. The enemy was dealt a strong blow, which protected the Russian army from a possible strike from the rear. For ten days of the campaign, Russian soldiers destroyed 30 prisons, captured 2-5 thousand prisoners and many heads of cattle.

After the defeat of the Yapanchi troops, no one could interfere with the siege work. Russian batteries were getting closer and closer to the walls of the city, their fire was becoming more and more destructive. A large 13-meter siege tower was prepared opposite the Tsar's Gate, which was higher than the enemy walls. 10 large and 50 small cannons (squeakers) were installed on it, which from the height of this structure could fire at the streets of Kazan, causing great damage to the defenders. In addition, on August 31, Rozmysel, who was in the state service of the "nemchins", and his Russian students, trained in siege work, began to dig under the walls in order to lay mines. The first charge was laid under the Kazan secret water source in the Daurova tower of the fortress. On September 4, 11 barrels of gunpowder were placed in the underground gallery. The explosion not only destroyed the secret passage to the water, but also severely damaged the city fortifications. Then the gates of Nur-Ali (“Ant Gates”) were destroyed by an underground explosion. The Tatar garrison was hardly able to repulse the Russian attack that had begun and build a new line of defense.

The effectiveness of the underground war was obvious. The Russian command decided to continue destroying enemy fortifications and shelling the city, refraining from a premature assault, which could lead to heavy losses. At the end of September, new tunnels were prepared, the explosions in which were supposed to be the signal for a general assault on Kazan. Tours were moved to almost all the gates of the fortress, between the fortress wall and them there was only a moat. In those areas where they were going to conduct assault operations, the ditches were covered with earth and forest. Also, many bridges were built across the moat.

Storm. On the eve of the decisive assault, the Russian command sent Murza Kamai to the city (there was a significant Tatar contingent in the Russian army) with a proposal to surrender. It was resolutely rejected: “We don’t beat with our foreheads! On the walls and on the towers of Russia, we will put another wall, but we will all die or sit out. In the early morning of October 2, preparations for the attack began. Around 6 o'clock in the morning, the shelves were placed in predetermined places. The rear was protected by large cavalry forces: the Kasimov Tatars were sent to the Arsk field, other regiments stood on the Galician and Nogai roads, against the Cheremis (Mari) and Nogais, small forces that operated in the vicinity of Kazan. At 7 o'clock there were explosions in two tunnels, 48 ​​barrels of gunpowder were laid in them. The sections of the wall between the Atalykov Gates and the Nameless Tower, and between the Tsar's and Ar Gates were blown up.

The fortress walls from the side of the Arsk field were almost completely destroyed, Russian soldiers burst into the gaps. In the first line of attackers there were 45 thousand archers, Cossacks and "boyar children". The attackers penetrated the city quite easily, but fierce battles unfolded in the narrow streets of Kazan. Hatred accumulated for decades, and the townspeople knew that they would not be spared, so they fought to the last. The main mosque of the city on the Tezitsky ravine and the “royal chambers” turned out to be the strongest centers of resistance. At first, all attempts to break into the inner citadel, separated from the city by a ravine, failed. The Russian command had to bring fresh reserves into battle, which finally broke the enemy's resistance. Russian soldiers made their way through the mosque, all its defenders, led by the supreme seid Kol-Sharif (Kul-Sharif), fell in battle. The last battle took place on the square in front of the Khan's palace, where 6,000 Tatar soldiers held the defense. Khan Yadygar-Muhammed was taken prisoner (he was baptized with the name Simeon and received Zvenigorod as inheritance). All other Tatar soldiers fell in battle, no prisoners were taken. Few men escaped, those who were able to escape from the walls crossed the Kazanka under fire and made their way into the forests. In addition, a strong pursuit was sent out, which captured and destroyed a significant part of the last defenders of the city.

After the suppression of resistance, Tsar Ivan the Terrible entered the city. He examined Kazan, ordered to put out the fires. He “took” the captured Kazan “king”, banners, cannons and the stocks of gunpowder available in the city, the rest of the property was given to ordinary warriors. On the Royal Gates, by the permission of the Tsar, Mikhail Vorotynsky hoisted an Orthodox cross. The rest of the city's population was resettled outside its walls, on the shores of Lake Kaban.

On October 12, the tsar will leave Kazan, Prince Gorbaty was appointed its governor, and governors Vasily Serebryany, Alexei Pleshcheev, Foma Golovin, Ivan Chebotov and clerk Ivan Bessonov remained under his command.

Effects

The vast territories of the Middle Volga region and a number of peoples (Tatars, Mari, Chuvashs, Udmurts, Bashkirs) were included in the Russian state. Russia received an important economic center - Kazan, control over the trade artery - the Volga (its establishment was completed after the fall of Astrakhan).

In the Middle Volga region, the hostile Ottoman-Crimean factor was finally destroyed. The threat of constant invasion and removal of the population into slavery has been removed from the eastern borders.

The Russians opened the way to further advance to the south and east: to the lower reaches of the Volga (Astrakhan), beyond the Urals.

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The reign of Ivan IV is known in history as a time of expanding state borders and increasing the territory of the Russian state. Aggressive foreign policy led to numerous wars with neighbors - the Astrakhan and Kazan khanates, with Livonia and Sweden. Not all campaigns were successful, but the increased combat capability of the Russian army thanks to the reforms helped the new kingdom to establish itself in the political arena.

After the collapse of the Golden Horde, the Kazan and Astrakhan khanates became the closest neighbors of Russia. The favorable location - on the Volga trade route - created a constant threat to the foreign trade of Russia. Endless border skirmishes, the ruin of border settlements forced Ivan IV to decide to conquer the Kazan Khanate.

The first Kazan campaign took place in the winter of 1547. However, the tsarist army did not even reach Kazan - due to the thaw, part of the army and almost all the guns drowned at the crossing of the Volga in the vicinity of Nizhny Novgorod. The trip had to end.

The second Kazan campaign was more successful. Despite the fact that Kazan still remained in the hands of the Tatars, part of the territories of the Khanate still managed to be subdued. The second campaign turned out to be longer than the first - it took place from the autumn of 1549 to the spring of 1550. As a result, not far from Kazan, on the orders of the king, the fortress of Sviyazhsk was erected. It became a stronghold for the subsequent, victorious campaign.

The first two attempts to solve militarily problems with the raiding neighbors showed the weakness and inconsistency of the Russian army. It was these campaigns that became the impetus for understanding the need for military reforms.

The third Kazan campaign began in the summer of 1552. The 150,000-strong tsarist army approached Kazan well prepared and armed. With 150 large cannons and a good engineering team, the army was ready for the siege of Kazan.

Under the high walls of the Kazan Kremlin, several digs were made, into which sappers laid barrels filled with gunpowder. Explosions made gaps in the walls - and as a result of a long and difficult assault, Kazan was taken, and Khan Yediget-Magmet was captured.

In honor of the capture of Kazan in Moscow, the construction of the Pokrovsky Cathedral, now better known as St. Basil's Cathedral, began. The icon painted in honor of this event - “Blessed is the army of the heavenly king”, which is kept in the Tretyakov Gallery, has survived to this day.

However, the capture of Kazan did not mean the complete destruction and ruin of the Kazan Khanate. A far-sighted politician, Ivan the Terrible tried to maintain the governing structure of the occupied lands. Prince Gorbaty-Shuisky was appointed governor of Kazan, and Vasily Serebryany was his assistant. The tsar invited all the Tatar nobility to his service, promising to maintain their former statuses. This decision not only made it possible not to leave a large army in Kazan to strengthen power, but also helped the new lands to organically merge into the Russian state.

Such a policy had another important consequence - after the Kazan campaign, the Siberian Khan Ediger voluntarily asked to "under the arm" of the king, agreeing to become a tributary of Russia.

Astrakhan campaigns

After the successful capture of Kazan, Ivan the Terrible decided to eliminate the second threat - from the Astrakhan Khanate. The khanate controlled the lower part of the Volga, posing a threat both to foreign trade and to the border lands of Russia.

The first Astrakhan campaign took place in 1554. The detachment of the Astrakhan Khan, who came out to meet the Russian army, was utterly defeated, as a result, the capital of the Khanate was taken without a fight. But at that time, Tsar Ivan IV considered it inappropriate to annex the lands of the Khanate. With the active support of Russia, Dervish-Ali became the new khan, promising to remain faithful to Ivan the Terrible.

However, the new Khan did not keep his promises and a year later he openly went over to the side of the Crimean Khan, who supported the Ottoman Empire - the eternal enemy of Russia. Tsar Ivan the Terrible in 1556 decided on a second campaign.

The Russian army, reinforced by the Don Cossacks, again completely defeated the army of the Astrakhan Khan. Astrakhan was again surrendered without a fight - the city had no defenders left. This campaign subjugated the khanate of Russia, adding new lands to the territory of the kingdom.

Results of the first trips

As a result of the first victorious campaigns - Kazan and Astrakhan - the territory of the Russian kingdom expanded significantly, and the influence of Ivan the Terrible extended up to the Caucasus Mountains. In 1559, the Cherkasy and Pyatigorsk princes asked Ivan IV to protect their principalities from the encroachments of the Crimean Khan; thus the zone of influence of the king extended to part of the Caucasus.

In addition to foreign policy consequences, the success of the first campaigns had a great impact on domestic policy. The authority of Ivan IV grew tremendously, strengthening the power of the young tsar. In addition, Orthodoxy began to spread rapidly in the occupied and annexed lands - the tsar paid great attention to issues of faith.

The results of the foreign policy of Ivan IV the Terrible - the annexed regions are highlighted in yellow

Goals and objectives

Foreign policy of Ivan IV the Terrible was aimed at strengthening the position of the state, and its main tasks are listed below briefly:

• Strengthening the positions of the Russian kingdom in Europe, obtaining access to the Baltic Sea
• Elimination of the threat of raids from the South and South-East (Crimean, Astrakhan, Kazan Khanates)
• Expansion of influence to the East and Northeast

Main directions

East direction- the annexation of the Kazan Khanate in 1552, the Astrakhan Khanate in 1556 and Yermak's campaign in Siberia made it possible not only to secure the Russian kingdom from the devastating raids of nomadic tribes that lasted several centuries, but also significantly expanded its territory.

Western direction- The Livonian War of 1558-1583 was supposed to bring Ivan the Terrible wide opportunities for trade across the Baltic Sea, but the difficult domestic political and economic situation, as well as the solidarity of European monarchs, actually nullified all the successes of the Russian kingdom at the beginning of the conflict.

South direction- the conflict in the Crimean Khanate that lasted for several centuries was a significant problem, diverting troops and causing economic damage to the southern regions. As a result of the defeat of the Crimean army Devlet Giray in 1772, the Crimean Khanate stopped raids for the next 20 years.

Briefly about the content of the main events of Russia's foreign policy in the second half of the 16th century

Kazan campaigns (1547-1552)

Map of the Kazan campaigns of Ivan IV the Terrible

First Kazan campaign(winter 1547-1548) did not bring results - without siege artillery, the Russian army could not storm Kazan, behind the walls of which numerous defenders took refuge.

Second Kazan campaign(autumn 1549 - spring 1550) also did not bring victory, as a stronghold in the further confrontation between the Russian kingdom and the Kazan Khanate, the Sviyazhsk fortress was erected at the confluence of the Sviyaga River into the Volga.

Before the third Kazan campaign Ivan the Terrible significantly strengthened the army, increased the number of artillery. In 1551, an agreement was signed on neutrality in the conflict of the Nogai Horde.

In the summer of 1552, a 150,000-strong army equipped with 150 large and medium-sized artillery pieces advanced to Kazan. On August 23, 1552, Russian troops laid siege to Kazan in a tight ring. The taxation line reached 7 km.

Scheme of the siege of Kazan by the troops of Ivan the Terrible

After a long siege, during which the Russians practically captured the city several times, the decisive assault was scheduled for October 2. By the evening of October 2, 1552, the capital of the Volga Tatars fell. On October 11, the Russian army marched back to Moscow, leaving a garrison in Kazan headed by A. B. Gorbaty-Shuisky.

As a result of the Kazan campaigns:

• The Kazan Khanate was completely destroyed,
• the Middle Volga region was annexed to Russia,
• prerequisites arose for the development of the Volga region by Russian settlers, further advancement to the Urals and Siberia, expansion of trade relations with the Caucasus and the countries of the East.

Astrakhan campaigns (1554 - 1556)

The first Astrakhan campaign of 1554 was committed under the command of the voivode Prince Yuri Pronsky-Shemyakin. Ivan the Terrible decided to use the request for help from the Nogai Murza Ismail to replace the pro-Crimean Khan of Astrakhan Yamgurchey. After the defeat of the main detachment of the Astrakhans, Astrakhan was taken without a fight. As a result, Khan Dervish-Ali was brought to power, promising support to Moscow.

Second Astrakhan campaign(spring 1556 - August 26, 1556) was provoked by the betrayal of Khan Dervish-Ali, who went over to the side of the Crimean Khanate and the Ottoman Empire. In a direct confrontation, the Don Cossacks defeated the Khan's army near Astrakhan, after which Astrakhan was again taken without a fight in July.

Map of the Astrakhan campaigns of Ivan IV the Terrible

As a result of the quick and relatively "bloodless" (compared to the Kazan Khanate) subjugation of the Astrakhan Khanate, the positions of the Russian kingdom in the region strengthened and the remnants of the Golden Horde Empire agreed to a vassal position:

• In 1557, the Nogai Horde recognized its dependence on Russia, whose territory was located in the interfluve of the river. Bulak and Yaik, and also partially on the right (trans-Ural) bank of the Yaik.
• In the autumn of 1557, without a fight, the territory of modern Bashkiria, located in the basins of the Belaya and Ufa rivers, was also included in Russia.
• Since 1560, the border of Russia in the east began to pass along the river. Ural (Yaik), and in the south (southeast) - along the river. Terek.

Livonian War (1558 - 1583)

Map of the Livonian War of Ivan IV the Terrible

The war began with the attack of the Russian kingdom on Livonia in January 1558. At the first stage of the war, Russian troops achieved significant success, having conquered Narva, Dorpat and a number of other cities and castles. In 1563, Polotsk was taken, but it was not possible to develop success, since in 1564 the Russian units were defeated in the battle of Chashniki. Shortly thereafter, the oprichnina was introduced (1565-1572). In 1569, the Grand Duchy of Lithuania merged with the Kingdom of Poland into a single Commonwealth.

Following the unsuccessful siege of Reval by Russian troops (1577), the troops of the Commonwealth returned Polotsk and unsuccessfully besieged Pskov. The Swedes took Narva and unsuccessfully besieged Oreshek.

The war ended with the signing of Yam-Zapolsky (1582) and Plyussky (1583) truces. Russia was deprived of all the conquests made as a result of the war, as well as lands on the border with the Commonwealth and coastal Baltic cities (Koporye, Yama, Ivangorod). The territory of the former Livonian Confederation was divided between the Commonwealth, Sweden and Denmark.

As a result of the Livonian War the Livonian Order ended its existence, the war contributed to the formation of the Commonwealth, and the Russian kingdom led to economic decline.

Crimean-Turkish campaigns

Crimean-Turkish campaign against Astrakhan

In 1569, the Turkish Sultan Selim II decided to join forces with the Crimean Khanate for a joint campaign against Astrakhan - the capture of this large trading center, which is a key point of defense of the Russian kingdom in the region, was to be a preparation for laying a canal on the Volgodonsk perevoloka (a land route for moving ships ) between the Black and Caspian Seas.

Approaching Astrakhan, 20 thousand Turks and 50 thousand Crimean Tatars on September 16, 1569 began a siege. As an aid to the besieged, Ivan IV the Terrible sent 30 thousand people under the command of Vasily Serebryany, as well as Zaporizhzhya Cossacks sent by the Polish king under the leadership of Prince Mikhail Vishnevetsky.

As a result of the coordinated actions of the Astrakhan garrison, under the leadership of Peter Serebryany, as well as the Cossacks and Russian troops who came to the rescue, a crushing defeat was inflicted on the Turks and Crimeans.

In the spring of 1570, the ambassadors of Ivan the Terrible concluded a non-aggression pact in Istanbul, which restored good neighborly relations between the sultan and the tsar.

Russian-Crimean war (1571-1572)

After the capture of Kazan and Astrakhan khanates by Ivan the Terrible, Devlet I Giray swore to return them. In 1563 and 1569, together with the Turkish troops, Devlet I Giray made two unsuccessful campaigns against Astrakhan. Starting from 1567, the activity of the Crimean Khanate began to increase, campaigns were made every year. In 1570, the Crimeans, almost without rebuff, subjected the Ryazan region to terrible devastation.

In 1571, Devlet Giray undertook a campaign against Moscow. Having deceived Russian intelligence, the khan crossed the Oka near Kromy, and not at Serpukhov, where the tsarist army was waiting for him, and rushed to Moscow. Ivan left for Rostov, and the Crimeans set fire to the outskirts of the capital that were not protected by the Kremlin and Kitay-Gorod. In the correspondence that followed, the tsar agreed to cede Astrakhan to the khan, but he was not satisfied with this, demanding Kazan and 2,000 rubles, and then announced his plans to capture the entire Russian state.

In 1572, the Khan began a new campaign against Moscow, which ended with the destruction of the Crimean-Turkish army in the Battle of Molodi. The death of the elite Turkish army near Astrakhan in 1569 and the defeat of the Crimean horde near Moscow in 1572 put a limit to the Turkish-Tatar expansion in Eastern Europe.

Results and results

• Conquest of the Astrakhan and Kazan Khanates.
• Recognition of the vassal position of the Nogai Horde
• Eastward expansion after Yermak's campaign in Siberia
• The total area of ​​the country has been doubled.
• Reflection of the Crimean Khan's campaign against Moscow in 1572 - for the next 20 years, the Crimean Khanate did not disturb the Russians
• The failure in the Livonian War - all the gains during the hostilities had to be returned, the protracted conflict caused serious damage to the economy.

Wars of Ivan IV - Lecture on history

Wars of Ivan IV

Ivan the Terrible, a contemporary of Elizabeth of England, Philip II of Spain and William of Orange, has to solve military, administrative and international tasks similar to the goals of the creators of the new European powers, but in a much more difficult environment. With talents as a diplomat and organizer, he surpasses them all.

Part of the aristocracy and the Pope insistently demanded to fight the Turkish Sultan Suleiman the First, who had 30 kingdoms and 8 thousand miles of coast under his control.

The tsar's artillery was varied and numerous. "TO Russian gunners always have at least two thousand guns ready for battle... ”- his ambassador John Cobenzl reported to Emperor Maximilian II. Most impressive was the heavy artillery. The Moscow chronicle writes without exaggeration: "... the cores of large cannons are twenty pounds each, while other cannons are a little lighter." The largest howitzer in Europe - the "Kashpir Cannon", weighing 1200 pounds and caliber of 20 pounds - terrified, took part in the siege of Polotsk in 1563. Also, “another feature of Russian artillery of the 16th century should be noted, namely, its durability,” writes modern researcher Alexei Lobin. " Cannons, cast by order of Ivan the Terrible, were in service for several decades and participated in almost all the battles of the 17th century.».

Kazan campaigns

In the first half of the 16th century, mainly during the reign of the khans from the Crimean family of Gireys, the Kazan Khanate waged constant wars with Muscovite Russia. In total, the Kazan khans made about forty trips to Russian lands, mainly to the outskirts of the regions of Nizhny Novgorod, Vyatka, Vladimir, Kostoroma, Galich, Murom, Vologda. “From the Crimea and from Kazan to the semi-earth it was empty,” the tsar wrote, describing the consequences of the invasions.

Trying to find a peaceful settlement, Ivan the Terrible supported the Kasimov ruler Shah Ali, loyal to Russia, who, having become the Kazan khan, approved the project of a union with Moscow. But in 1546, Shah-Ali was expelled by the Kazan nobility, who elevated Khan Safa-Girey to the throne from a dynasty hostile to Russia. After that, Ivan IV decided to take action and eliminate the threat posed by Kazan. " From now on- points out the historian, - Moscow put forward a plan for the final crushing of the Kazan Khanate».

In total, Ivan IV led three campaigns against Kazan.

First campaign(winter 1547/1548). The tsar left Moscow on December 20, because of the early thaw, 15 versts from Nizhny Novgorod, siege artillery and part of the army left under the ice on the Volga. It was decided to return the king from the crossing back to Nizhny Novgorod, while the main governors with the part of the army that managed to cross over reached Kazan, where they entered into battle with the Kazan army. As a result, the Kazan army retreated behind the walls of the wooden Kremlin, which the Russian army did not dare to storm without siege artillery and, after standing under the walls for seven days, retreated. On March 7, 1548, the tsar returned to Moscow.

Second hike(autumn 1549 - spring 1550). In March 1549, Safa Giray died suddenly. Having received a Kazan messenger with a request for peace, Ivan IV refused him, and began to gather an army. On November 24, he left Moscow to lead the army. Having united in Nizhny Novgorod, the army moved to Kazan and on February 14 was at its walls. Kazan was not taken; however, when the Russian troops retreated not far from Kazan, at the confluence of the Sviyaga River into the Volga, it was decided to build a fortress. On March 25, the tsar returned to Moscow. In 1551, in just 4 weeks, a fortress was assembled from carefully numbered components, which received the name Sviyazhsk; it served as a stronghold for the Russian troops during the next campaign.

Third campaign(June-October 1552) - ended with the capture of Kazan. The 150,000th Russian army participated in the campaign, the armament included 150 guns. The Kazan Kremlin was taken by storm. Khan Yediger-Magmet was handed over to the Russian governors. The chronicler recorded: On himself, the sovereign did not order to imati not a single coppersmith (that is, not a single penny), nor captivity, only a single king Ediger-Magmet and royal banners and city cannons". I. I. Smirnov believes that “ The Kazan campaign of 1552 and the brilliant victory of Ivan IV over Kazan not only meant a major foreign policy success of the Russian state, but also contributed to the strengthening of the foreign policy positions of the tsar».

In the defeated Kazan, the tsar appointed Prince Alexander Gorbaty-Shuisky as Kazan governor, and Prince Vasily Serebryany as his comrade.

After the establishment of the episcopal chair in Kazan, the tsar and the church council by lot elected hegumen Guriy in the rank of archbishop for it. Guriy received an order from the tsar to convert Kazanians to Orthodoxy solely at the own request of each person, but "unfortunately, such prudent measures were not followed everywhere: the intolerance of the century took its toll ...".

From the first steps towards the conquest and development of the Volga region, the tsar began to invite to his service all the Kazan nobility, who agreed to swear allegiance to him, sending " in all uluses to black people, yasaks, letters of commendation are dangerous, so that they go to the sovereign without fear of anything; and who famously repaired, God took revenge on him; and their sovereign will grant, and they would pay yasaks, like the former Kazan tsar". This nature of the policy not only did not require the preservation of the main military forces of the Russian state in Kazan, but, on the contrary, made Ivan's solemn return to the capital natural and expedient.

Immediately after the capture of Kazan, in January 1555, the envoys of Khan Yediger asked the tsar to " he took all the land of Siberia under his name and from the sides from all interceded (protected) and put his tribute on them and sent his man to whom to collect tribute».

The conquest of Kazan was of great importance for the life of the people. The Kazan Tatar horde bound under its rule into one strong whole a complex foreign world: Mordovians, Cheremis, Chuvashs, Votyaks, Bashkirs. Cheremisy across the Volga, on the river. Unzhe and Vetluge, and the Mordovians beyond the Oka held back the colonization movement of Russia to the east; and the raids of the Tatars and other “languages” on Russian settlements terribly harmed them, ruining the economy and taking many Russian people into the “full”. Kazan was a chronic ulcer of Moscow life, and therefore its capture became a national celebration, sung by a folk song. After the capture of Kazan, within only 20 years, it was turned into a large Russian city; in different points of the foreign Volga region, fortified cities were set up as a support for Russian power and Russian settlement. The mass of the people reached out, without delay, to the rich lands of the Volga region and to the forest regions of the middle Urals. Huge expanses of valuable land were subdued by the Muscovite authorities and mastered by people's labor. This was the meaning of the "Kazan capture", sensitively guessed by the people's mind. The occupation of the lower Volga and Western Siberia was a natural consequence of the destruction of the barrier that the Kazan kingdom was for Russian colonization.

Platonov S.F. Full course of lectures on Russian history.

The conquest of Kazan was not the result of the personal love of glory of the young tsar and was not the result of great aspirations, but not clear to everyone, what, for example, was the desire to conquer the Baltic regions; the conquest of the Kazan kingdom was a necessary and sacred feat in the eyes of every Russian person ... (for) this feat was accomplished for ... the protection of the Russian regions, for the release of Christian captives.

Soloviev S.M. Russian history...

Astrakhan campaigns

In the early 1550s, the Astrakhan Khanate was an ally of the Crimean Khan, controlling the lower reaches of the Volga.

Before the final subjugation of the Astrakhan Khanate under Ivan IV, two campaigns were made:

Campaign of 1554 was committed under the command of the governor Yu. I. Pronsky-Shemyakin. In the battle near the Black Island, the Russian army defeated the leading Astrakhan detachment. Astrakhan was taken without a fight. As a result, Khan Dervish-Ali was brought to power, promising support to Moscow.

Campaign of 1556 was due to the fact that Khan Dervish-Ali went over to the side of the Crimean Khanate and the Ottoman Empire. The campaign was led by the governor N. Cheremisinov. First, the Don Cossacks of the ataman L. Filimonov's detachment defeated the khan's army near Astrakhan, after which in July Astrakhan was again taken without a fight. As a result of this campaign, the Astrakhan Khanate was subordinated to Moscow Rus.

Later, the Crimean Khan Devlet I Girey made attempts to recapture Astrakhan.

After the conquest of Astrakhan, Russian influence began to extend to the Caucasus. In 1559, the princes of Pyatigorsk and Cherkassky asked Ivan IV to send them a detachment to defend against the raids of the Crimean Tatars and priests to maintain the faith; the tsar sent them two governors and priests, who renewed the fallen ancient churches, and in Kabarda they showed extensive missionary activity, baptizing many into Orthodoxy.

In the 1550s, the Siberian khan Yediger and Bolshoi Nogai became dependent on the tsar.

War with Sweden 1554-1557

The war was sparked by a border dispute.

In April 1555, the Swedish flotilla of Admiral Jacob Bagge passed the Neva and landed an army in the area of ​​the Oreshek fortress. The siege of the fortress did not bring results, the Swedish army retreated.

In response, Russian troops invaded Swedish territory and on January 20, 1556 defeated a Swedish detachment near the Swedish city of Kivinebb. Then there was a clash at Vyborg, after which this fortress was besieged. The siege lasted 3 days, Vyborg withstood.

As a result, in March 1557, a truce was signed in Novgorod for a period of 40 years (it entered into force on January 1, 1558). The Russian-Swedish border was restored along the old border, determined by the Orekhov Peace Treaty of 1323. Under the agreement, Sweden returned all Russian prisoners along with the seized property, while Russia returned Swedish prisoners for ransom.

Livonian War

The tsar understood that without a navy it was impossible to return the Russian Baltic lands, waging war with Sweden, the Commonwealth and the Hanseatic cities, which had armed forces at sea and dominated the Baltic. In the very first months of the Livonian War, the Sovereign tried to create a privateer fleet, involving the Danes in Moscow service, turning sea and river vessels into warships. In the late 70s, Ivan Vasilievich in Vologda began to build his navy and tried to transfer it to the Baltic. The idea was not destined to come true. But even this attempt caused serious concerns among the maritime powers.

In 1547, the king instructed the Saxon Schlitte to bring artisans, artists, healers, pharmacists, printers, people skilled in ancient and new languages, even theologians. However, after the protests of Livonia, the senate of the Hanseatic city of Lübeck arrested Schlitte and his people (see the Schlitte case).

In the spring of 1557, on the banks of the Narva, Tsar Ivan set up a port: “The same year, July, a city was set up from the German Ust-Narova-River Rozsene by the sea for the shelter of a sea ship”, “The same year, April, the Tsar and the Grand Duke sent a roundabout prince Dmitry Semenovich Shastunov and Pyotr Petrovich Golovin and Ivan Vyrodkov to Ivangorod, and ordered to put on the Narova below Ivanyagorod at the mouth of the sea city for a ship shelter ... ". However, the Hanseatic League and Livonia do not allow European merchants to enter the new Russian port, and they continue to go, as before, to Revel, Narva and Riga.

Significant importance in the choice by Ivan IV of the direction of military operations was played by the Posvolsky Treaty on September 15, 1557 of the Grand Duchy of Lithuania and the Order, which created a threat to the establishment of Lithuanian power in Livonia.

The coordinated position of the Hansa and Livonia to prevent Moscow from independent maritime trade leads Tsar Ivan to the decision to start a struggle for a wide outlet to the Baltic.

During the war, the Muslim regions of the Volga region began to supply the Russian army with "a multiplier of 30,000 fighting men", well prepared for the offensive.

The position of Russian spies in the territory of Lithuania and the Livonian Order in 1548-1551. described the Lithuanian publicist Michalon Litvin:

There are already a great number of Muscovite deserters who often appear among us, they secretly convey our plans to theirs from the Livonians, and they kill such people, although the Muscovites did not occupy any of their lands, but are always connected with them by eternal peace and an agreement on [good] neighborhood. Moreover, the murderer receives, in addition to the property of the murdered, a certain amount of money from the government.

Michalon Litvin. On the morals of the Tatars, Lithuanians and Muscovites

The growth of the Russian state under Ivan IV

In January 1558, Ivan IV began the Livonian War for the mastery of the coast of the Baltic Sea. Initially, hostilities developed successfully. Despite the raid on the southern Russian lands by the 100,000-strong Crimean horde in the winter of 1558, the Russian army carried out active offensive operations in the Baltic states, took Narva, Derpt, Neuschloss, Neuhaus, and defeated the order troops near Tirzen near Riga. In the spring and summer of 1558, the Russians captured the entire eastern part of Estonia, and by the spring of 1559 the army of the Livonian Order was finally defeated, and the Order itself actually ceased to exist. At the direction of Alexei Adashev, the Russian governors accepted a truce proposal from Denmark, which lasted from March to November 1559, and began separate negotiations with the Livonian urban circles to pacify Livonia in exchange for some trade concessions from the German cities. At this time, the lands of the Order come under the protection of Poland, Lithuania, Sweden and Denmark.

On August 31, 1559, the master of the Livonian Order, Gotthard Ketteler, and the king of Poland and Lithuania, Sigismund II Augustus, concluded an agreement in Vilna on the entry of Livonia under the protectorate of Poland, which was supplemented on September 15 by an agreement on military assistance to Livonia by Poland and Lithuania. This diplomatic action served as an important milestone in the course and development of the Livonian War: the war between Russia and Livonia turned into a struggle between the states of Eastern Europe for the Livonian inheritance.

In 1560, at the Congress of Imperial Deputies of Germany, Albert of Mecklenburg reported: “ The Moscow tyrant begins to build a fleet on the Baltic Sea: in Narva, he turns merchant ships belonging to the city of Lübeck into warships and transfers control of them to Spanish, English and German commanders". The congress decided to apply to Moscow with a solemn embassy, ​​to which Spain, Denmark and England would be attracted, to offer the eastern power eternal peace and stop its conquests.

About the reaction of European countries, professor of St. Petersburg University, historian S. F. Platonov writes:

Grozny's performance in the struggle for the Baltic coast ... struck Central Europe. In Germany, the "Muscovites" were presented as a terrible enemy; the danger of their invasion was indicated not only in the official relations of the authorities, but also in the vast flying literature of leaflets and brochures. Measures were taken to prevent either the Muscovites from reaching the sea or the Europeans from entering Moscow, and by separating Moscow from the centers of European culture, to prevent its political strengthening. In this agitation against Moscow and Grozny, many unreliable things were concocted about Moscow's morals and Grozny's despotism...

Platonov S. F. Lectures on Russian history ...

In January 1560 Grozny ordered the troops to go on the offensive again. The army under the command of the princes Shuisky, Serebryany and Mstislavsky took the fortress of Marienburg (Aluksne). On August 30, the Russian army under the command of Kurbsky took Fellin. An eyewitness wrote: The oppressed est is more likely to submit to the Russian than to the German". All over Estonia the peasants revolted against the German barons. There was a possibility of a quick end to the war. However, the governors of the king did not go to capture Revel and failed in the siege of Weissenstein. Aleksey Adashev (voivode of a large regiment) was appointed to Fellin, but, being thin-born, he was mired in local disputes with the voivodes who stood above him, fell into disgrace, was soon taken into custody in Dorpat and died there of a fever (there were rumors that he poisoned himself, Ivan the Terrible even sent one of his neighbors to Derpt to investigate the circumstances of Adashev's death). In connection with this, Sylvester left the courtyard and took the vows in the monastery, and with that, their smaller confidants also fell - the Izboannaya Rada came to an end.

During the siege of Tarvast in 1561, Radziwill convinced the governor Kropotkin, Putyatin and Trusov to surrender the city. When they returned from captivity, they spent about a year in prison, and Grozny forgave them.

In 1562, due to the lack of infantry, Prince Kurbsky was defeated by Lithuanian troops near Nevel. On August 7, a peace treaty was signed between Russia and Denmark, according to which the tsar agreed with the annexation of the island of Ezel by the Danes.

On February 15, 1563, the Polish-Lithuanian garrison of Polotsk surrendered. Here, on the orders of the Terrible, Thomas, a preacher of reform ideas and an associate of Theodosius Kosoy, was drowned in the hole. Skrynnikov believes that Leonid, hegumen of the Joseph-Volokolamsk monastery, who accompanied the tsar, supported the massacre of the Polotsk Jews. Also, on the royal order, the Tatars, who took part in hostilities, killed the Bernardine monks who were in Polotsk. The religious element in the conquest of Polotsk by Ivan the Terrible is also noted by Khoroshkevich.

« The prophecy of the Russian saint, the miracle worker Peter the Metropolitan, about the city of Moscow, that his hands will rise up on the splashes of his enemies, has been fulfilled: God has poured unspeakable mercy on us unworthy, our patrimony, the city of Polotsk, has given us into our hands", - the tsar wrote, pleased that "all the wheels, levers and drives of the mechanism of power debugged by him acted accurately and distinctly and justified the intentions of the organizers."

At the suggestion of the German Emperor Ferdinand to conclude an alliance and join forces in the fight against the Turks, the king said that he was fighting in Livonia practically for his own interests, against the Lutherans. The tsar knew what place the idea of ​​the Catholic counter-reformation occupied in the politics of the Habsburgs. By opposing the "Lutherian teachings," Ivan the Terrible struck a very sensitive chord in Habsburg politics.

As soon as the Lithuanian diplomats left Russia, hostilities resumed. On January 28, 1564, the Polotsk army of P. I. Shuisky, moving towards Minsk and Novogrudok, unexpectedly fell into an ambush and was utterly defeated by the troops of N. Radziwill. Grozny immediately accused the governor M. Repnin and Yu. Kashin (the heroes of the capture of Polotz) of betrayal and ordered them to be killed. Kurbsky, in this regard, reproached the tsar that he had shed victorious, holy blood" governor "in the churches of God." A few months later, in response to Kurbsky's accusations, Grozny directly wrote about the crime committed by the boyars.

In 1565, Augustus of Saxony stated: The Russians are rapidly building up a fleet, recruiting skippers from everywhere; when the Muscovites improve in maritime affairs, it will no longer be possible to cope with them ...».

In dividing the reign of Ivan the Terrible into two different epochs, at the same time, an assessment of the personality and activities of Ivan the Terrible was concluded: it served as the main basis for belittling his historical role, for placing him among the greatest tyrants. Unfortunately, when analyzing this issue, most historians focused their attention on changes in the internal life of the Muscovite state and took little account of the international situation in which (it) was during ... the reign of Ivan IV. Severe critics seemed to have forgotten that the entire second half of the reign of Ivan the Terrible passed under the sign of continuous war, and, moreover, the most difficult war that the Great Russian state had ever waged.

Vipper R. Yu. Specified composition.

The war was lost.

cultural activities

Ivan IV went down in history not only as a conqueror. He was one of the most educated people of his time, had a phenomenal memory, theological erudition. He is the author of numerous letters (including to Kurbsky, Elizabeth I, Stefan Batory, Yukhan III, Vasily Gryazny, Yan Khodkevich, Yan Rokita, Prince Polubensky, to the Kirillo-Belozersky Monastery), stichera for the Presentation of the Vladimir Icon of the Mother of God, the canon to the Archangel Michael (under the pseudonym Parthenius the Ugly).

The tsar contributed to the organization of book printing in Moscow and the construction of St. Basil's Cathedral on Red Square. According to contemporaries, Ivan IV was " a man of wonderful reasoning, in the science of book teaching is pleased and eloquently very". He loved to travel to monasteries, was interested in describing the life of the great kings of the past. Ivan inherited from his grandmother the most valuable library of the Morean despots, which included ancient Greek manuscripts; what he did with her is unknown: according to some versions, she died in one of the Moscow fires, according to others, she was hidden by the tsar. Ivan IV was a good orator.

Oprichnina

The fall of the Chosen Rada is estimated by historians in different ways. According to V. B. Kobrin, this was a manifestation of the conflict between the two programs of centralization of Russia: through slow structural reforms or rapidly, by force. Historians believe that the choice of the second path is due to the personal nature of Ivan the Terrible, who did not want to listen to people who disagree with his policies. Thus, after 1560, Ivan takes the path of tightening power, which led him to repressive measures.

According to R. G. Skrynnikov, the nobility would easily forgive Grozny for the resignation of his advisers Adashev and Sylvester, but she did not want to put up with an attempt on the prerogatives of the boyar Duma. The ideologist of the boyars, Kurbsky, protested in the strongest possible terms against the infringement of the privileges of the nobility and the transfer of management functions to the hands of the clerks (clerks): “ the great prince strongly believes in Russian clerks, and elects them neither from the gentry family, nor from the noble, but more from the priests or from the simple nation, otherwise the haters create their nobles».

New dissatisfaction of the princes, according to Skrynnikov, was caused by the royal decree of January 15, 1562 on limiting their patrimonial rights, which even more than before equated them with the local nobility. As a result, in the early 1560s. among the nobility there is a desire to escape from Tsar Ivan abroad. So, I. D. Belsky twice tried to escape abroad and twice was forgiven, Prince V. M. Glinsky and Prince I. V. Sheremetev were caught while trying to escape and forgiven. Tension was growing among the encirclement of Grozny: in the winter of 1563, the boyar Kolychev, T. Pukhov-Teterin, and M. Sarokhozin defected to the Poles. He was accused of treason and conspiracy with the Poles, but after that the governor of the city of Starodub, Prince V. Funikov, was pardoned. For an attempt to leave for Lithuania, the Smolensk governor, Prince Dmitry Kurlyatev, was recalled from Smolensk and exiled to a remote monastery on Lake Ladoga. In April 1564, Andrei Kurbsky fled to Poland in fear of disgrace, as Grozny himself later points out in his writings, sending an accusatory letter to Ivan from there.

In 1563, the clerk of Vladimir Andreevich Staritsky Savluk Ivanov, imprisoned by the prince for something, filed a denunciation of the latter's "great treacherous deeds", which immediately found a lively response from Ivan. The clerk claimed, in particular, that Staritsky warned the Polotsk governors about the tsar's intention to besiege the fortress. The king forgave his brother, but deprived of part of the inheritance, and on August 5, 1563, Princess Efrosinya Staritskaya ordered to be tonsured as a nun at the Resurrection Convent on the river. Sheksna. At the same time, the latter was allowed to keep with her servants, who received several thousand quarters of land in the vicinity of the monastery, and close noblewoman-advisers, and trips to Bogomolye to neighboring cloisters and embroidery were also allowed. Veselovsky and Khoroshkevich put forward a version of the voluntary tonsure of the princess as a nun.

In 1564, the Russian army was defeated on the river. Ole. There is a version that this served as an impetus for the start of the executions of those whom Grozny considered the perpetrators of the defeat: cousins ​​were executed - princes Obolensky, Mikhailo Petrovich Repnin and Yuri Ivanovich Kashin. It is believed that Kashin was killed for refusing to dance at a feast in a buffoon mask, and Dmitry Fedorovich Obolensky-Ovchinina - for reproaching Fyodor Basmanov for his homosexual relationship with the tsar, for a quarrel with Basmanov, the well-known governor Nikita Vasilyevich Sheremetyev was also executed.

In early December 1564, according to Shokarev's research, an attempt was made to carry out an armed rebellion against the tsar, in which Western forces took part: Many noble nobles gathered a considerable party in Lithuania and Poland and wanted to go with weapons against their king.».

In 1565 Grozny announced the introduction of the Oprichnina in the country. The country was divided into two parts: "Sovereign Grace Oprichnin" and Zemstvo. In Oprichnina, mainly the northeastern Russian lands fell, where there were few boyars-patrimonials. The center of the Oprichnina was Aleksandrovskaya Sloboda, the new residence of Ivan the Terrible, from where, on January 3, 1565, the messenger Konstantin Polivanov delivered a letter to the clergy, the boyar Duma and the people about the abdication of the king from the throne. Although Veselovsky believes that Grozny did not declare his resignation from power, the prospect of the departure of the sovereign and the onset of "stateless time", when the nobles can again force city merchants and artisans to do everything for them for free, could not but excite Moscow citizens.

The decree on the introduction of the Oprichnina was approved by the highest bodies of spiritual and secular power - the Consecrated Cathedral and the Boyar Duma. There is also an opinion that this decree was confirmed by the decision of the Zemsky Sobor. However, according to other sources, the members of the Council of 1566 sharply protested against the oprichnina, submitting a petition for the abolition of the oprichnina for 300 signatures; all petitioners were immediately imprisoned, but quickly released (according to R. G. Skrynnikov, thanks to the intervention of Metropolitan Philip; 50 were subjected to commercial execution, several had their tongues cut, three were beheaded.

The beginning of the formation of the oprichnina army can be considered the same year 1565, when a detachment of 1000 people selected from the "oprichnina" counties was formed. Each oprichnik took an oath of allegiance to the tsar and pledged not to communicate with the zemstvo. In the future, the number of "guardsmen" reached 6,000 people. The Oprichnina Army also included detachments of archers from the Oprichnina territories. Since that time, service people began to be divided into two categories: boyar children, from the zemshchina, and boyar children, “yard and city”, that is, those who received the sovereign’s salary directly from the “royal court”. Consequently, the Oprichny Army should be considered not only the Sovereign Regiment, but also service people recruited from the oprichny territories and serving under the command of the oprichny (“yard”) governors and heads.

Schlichting, Taube and Kruse mention 500-800 people of the "special oprichnina". These people, if necessary, served as trusted tsar's envoys, who carried out security, intelligence, investigative and punitive functions. The remaining 1200 guardsmen are divided into four orders, namely: Bed, in charge of maintaining the premises of the palace and household items of the royal family; Armor, that is, weapons; Konyushenny, which was in charge of the huge horse farm of the palace and the royal guard, and Sytny - food.

As an oprichny hegumen, the tsar performed all monastic duties. At midnight, everyone got up for the midnight office, at four in the morning - for matins, at eight mass began. The tsar set an example of piety: he himself called for matins, sang in the kliros, prayed fervently, and read the Holy Scripture aloud during the common meal. In general, the service took about 9 hours a day.

At the same time, there is evidence that orders for executions and torture were often given in the church. Historian G.P. Fedotov believes that “ without denying the tsar's repentant mood, one cannot fail to see that he was able, in well-established everyday forms, to combine atrocity with church piety, defiling the very idea of ​​\u200b\u200bthe Orthodox kingdom».

With the help of the guardsmen, who were released from legal liability, John IV forcibly confiscated the boyar and princely estates, transferring them to the noble guardsmen. The boyars and princes themselves were granted estates in other regions of the country, for example, in the Volga region.

For the consecration to the rank of Metropolitan Philip, which took place on July 25, 1566, he prepared and signed a letter, according to which Philip promised "not to intervene in the oprichnina and royal life and, upon order, because of the oprichnina ... not to leave the metropolis."

The introduction of the oprichnina was marked by mass repressions: executions, confiscations, disgrace. In 1566, part of the disgraced was returned, but after the Council of 1566 and the demands for the abolition of the oprichnina, terror resumed. Opposite the Kremlin on Neglinnaya (on the site of the current RSL), a stone Oprichny courtyard was built, where the tsar moved from the Kremlin.

At the beginning of September 1567, Grozny summoned the English envoy Jenkinson and through him conveyed to Queen Elizabeth I a request for asylum in England. This was due to the news of a conspiracy in the zemstvo, which aimed to overthrow him from the throne in favor of Vladimir Andreevich. The basis was the denunciation of Vladimir Andreevich himself; R. G. Skrynnikov recognizes as fundamentally insoluble the question of whether the Zemshchina, outraged by the oprichnina, really constituted a conspiracy, or whether it all came down to careless conversations of the opposition. A number of executions followed in this case. The equestrian boyar Ivan Fedorov-Chelyadnin, extremely popular among the people for his incorruptibility and judicial conscientiousness, would also be attracted to him (shortly before that, he proved his loyalty to the tsar by issuing a Polish agent sent to him with letters from the king). Chelyadnin-Fedorov was exiled to Kolomna. Metropolitan Philip's public speech against the tsar is connected with these events: on March 22, 1568, in the Assumption Cathedral, he refused to bless the tsar and demanded that the oprichnina be cancelled. The first result was that the guardsmen beat the Metropolitan's servants to death with iron sticks; then a process was initiated against the metropolitan in the church court. Philip was defrocked and exiled to the Tver Otroch Monastery. In the summer of the same year, Chelyadnin-Fedorov was accused of allegedly planning to overthrow the tsar with the help of his servants. Fedorov and 30 people identified as his accomplices were executed. In the tsar's synodic for the disgraced (a commemorative book compiled at the end of Grozny's life), it is written on this occasion: Finished: Ivan Petrovich Fedorov; Mikhail Kolychev and his three sons were finished in Moscow; in the cities - Prince Andrey Katyrev, Prince Fyodor Troekurov, Mikhail Lykov with his nephew". Their estates were destroyed, all the servants were killed: “369 people were finished and in total finished July 6th (1568)”. According to R. G. Skrynnikov, “The repressions were generally disorderly. Chelyadnin's friends and acquaintances, Adashev's surviving supporters, relatives of the nobles who were in exile, etc. were seized indiscriminately. Everyone who dared to protest against the oprichnina was beaten. The vast majority of them were executed without even the appearance of a trial, on denunciations and slander under torture. The tsar personally stabbed Fedorov with a knife, after which the guardsmen cut him with their knives. In 1569, the tsar committed suicide with his cousin: he was accused of intending to poison the tsar and executed along with his servants, his mother Euphrosyne Staritskaya was drowned with 12 nuns in the Sheksna River. At the end of the same year, the tsar began a campaign against Novgorod, the reason for which was a denunciation filed by a certain vagabond, Volhynian Peter, who was punished for something in Novgorod, and accused the Novgorodians, led by Archbishop Pimen, of intending to place Prince Vladimir Staritsky on the throne and transfer Novgorod and Pskov to the Polish king. V. B. Kobrin believes that “the denunciation was frankly absurd and contradictory,” since two incompatible aspirations were attributed to the Novgorodians. Having moved to Novgorod in the autumn of 1569, the guardsmen staged massacres and robberies in Tver, Klin, Torzhok and other cities they met. In the Tver Otrochy Monastery in December 1569, Malyuta Skuratov personally strangled Metropolitan Philip, who refused to bless the campaign against Novgorod.

According to the historian G.P. Fedotov, “It is natural to assume that Malyuta had a different secret order or guessed the royal idea well. Otherwise, he probably would not have dared to do what he did, or could not go unpunished. The main version about the murder of the metropolitan is his life, XVI century

The army, according to Zimin, numbered 15 thousand people, including 1,500 archers. K. Valishevsky mentions that Ivan himself arrived after the advance detachment with five hundred of his guards.

On January 2, advance detachments led by V. G. Zyuzin approached Novgorod and cordoned off the city with outposts, sealed the treasury in monasteries, churches and private houses, arrested and placed “on the right” monks, priests and prominent Novgorodians. On January 6, Ivan himself appeared near the city.

On January 8, during a meeting of the oprichny troops with the New City clergy on the Great Bridge across the Volkhov, the tsar accused Archbishop Pimen of treason. The latter was arrested and imprisoned. (Subsequently, the oprichny squire Afanasy Vyazemsky was accused of trying to warn Pimen about his arrest, subjected to a commercial execution and exiled to Gorodetsky Posad on the Volga, where he died.)

This was followed by executions that continued until 13 February. Many citizens, including women and children, were executed using various tortures. According to the Russian story about the defeat of Novgorod, which coincides in most details with the German report, Ivan ordered the Novgorodians to be doused with an incendiary mixture and then, burned and still alive, thrown into the Volkhov; others were dragged behind the sled before drowning; “and their wives, male and female babies,” he commanded, “I will take by the hand and by the foot, opaco back, the babies to their mothers and the elm, and from a great height the sovereign commanded to throw them into the water.” Priests and monks, after various abuses, were beaten with clubs and thrown into the same place. Contemporaries report that the Volkhov was filled with corpses, and a living legend about this was preserved even in the 19th century.

Private houses and churches were robbed, the property and food of the Novgorodians were destroyed. Detachments of guardsmen, sent out to 200-300 km, committed robberies and murders throughout the district. The number of dead is unknown, modern scientists consider them from 4-5 (R. G. Skrynnikov) to 10-15 (V. B. Kobrin) thousand, with a total population of Novgorod of 30 thousand.

In Pskov, the tsar personally killed the abbot of the Pskov-Pechersk monastery Cornelius. The Third Pskov Chronicle tells about the murder of the monk, Andrei Kurbsky mentions it, as well as The Tale of the Beginning and Foundation of the Caves Monastery (late 16th century), which reads: From this perishable life by the earthly king sent to the Heavenly King in the eternal dwelling". In the tsar's synodic disgraced, Cornelius was marked first in the list of persons executed in Pskov.

The continuation of the oprichnina activities was the “search” for the Novgorod treason, which was carried out throughout 1570, and many prominent oprichniks were also involved in the case. From this case, only the description in the Census Book of the Ambassadorial Order has been preserved: “ pillar, and in it is an article list from the detective from the treasonous case of 1570 against Bishop Pimen of Novgorod and Novgorod clerks and clerks, as they and the (Moscow) boyars ... wanted to give Novgorod and Pskov to the Lithuanian king. ... and Tsar Ivan Vasilyevich ... they wanted to lime with evil intentions and put Prince Volodimer Ondreevich on the state ... in that case, with torture, many spoke about that betrayal of the Novgorod Archbishop Pimin and his advisers and themselves, and in that case, many were executed by death, pink executions , and others were sent to prisons ... Yes, there is a list of what to execute by death, and what execution, and what to let go ... ».

A total of 300 people were charged. On July 25, 1570, a mass execution took place in Moscow at Pogganaya Puddle: 184 people were pardoned and released on bail, the rest were executed by various tortures: for example, the famous diplomat, printer Viskovaty, accused of maintaining ties with the Polish king (the Poles themselves laughed at this statement), was cut alive into small pieces, the treasurer Funikov was killed, alternately pouring either boiling water or cold water. At the same time, Archbishop Pimen, allegedly the center of the whole conspiracy, was only sent into exile. Some of the founders of the oprichnina also fell under the millstone of terror, in particular Alexei Basmanov, who was considered its initiator, and his son Fyodor, the lover of Grozny in "supernatural wandering" (in the words of the tsar himself) - Fyodor was forced to cut off his father's head with his own hands

The exact number of those killed in the Novgorod pogrom is controversial. The figures given by contemporaries are exaggerated and higher than the number of the population of Novgorod itself (30 thousand). There is a record of the king in the Synodic disgraced from the Kirillo-Belozeprsky monastery: “According to the Malyutinsk Nougorod parcels (tasks), one thousand four hundred and ninety people were finished with deceased Orthodox Christians, and fifteen people were fired from squeakers, you yourself, Lord, weigh them”. The recording is believed to be based on Skuratov's documented account. R. G. Skrynnikov added Novgorodians named by name to this number and concluded that 2170-2180 victims of the Novgorod pogrom were listed in the synodic, while noting that the reports could not be complete and many acted “regardless of Skuratov’s orders”, and allowing the total figure 4-5 thousand victims. V. B. Kobrin considers these figures to be greatly underestimated, emphasizes that the Malyuta detachment was only one of many detachments, and estimates the death toll at 10-15 thousand, with a total population of Novgorod of 30 thousand. In addition, it should be noted that the result of the destruction of food supplies by the guardsmen was famine (so cannibalism is mentioned), accompanied by a plague epidemic that was raging at that time .. As a result, according to the chronicle, in a common grave opened in September 1570, where the victims were buried Ivan the Terrible, as well as those who died of hunger and disease, counted 10 thousand corpses. V. B. Kobrin believes that this grave was not necessarily the only burial place for the dead.

In 1571, the Crimean Khan Devlet Giray invaded Russia. At the same time, the oprichnina demonstrated complete incompetence: the oprichnina simply did not show up for the war, so they were recruited for only one regiment (against five zemstvo regiments). Moscow was burned. As a result, during the new invasion in 1572, the oprichnina troops were already united with the zemstvo; in the same year, the tsar abolished the oprichnina altogether and banned its very name, although in fact, under the name of the "sovereign's court", the oprichnina existed until his death.

End of reign

In September 1568, the king's ally Eric XIV was overthrown. Grozny could only vent his anger at this diplomatic failure by arresting the ambassadors sent by the new Swedish king Johan III by announcing the termination of the treaty of 1567, but this did not help to change the anti-Russian character of Swedish foreign policy. The Great Eastern Program aimed to seize and include in the Kingdom of Sweden not only those lands in the Baltic that were occupied by Russia, but also Karelia and the Kola Peninsula.

In 1569, through her ambassador Thomas Randolph, Elizabeth I made it clear to the tsar that she was not going to interfere in the Baltic conflict. In response, the tsar wrote to her that her trade representatives “do not think about our sovereign heads and about honor and profit of the land, but are only looking for their own trade profits,” and canceled all the privileges previously granted to the Moscow trading company created by the British.

On September 6, 1569, Maria Temryukovna died. In the Council sentence of 1572, it is written that she was "poisoned by the enemy's malice".

In May 1570, the king signed a truce with King Sigismund for a period of three years, despite the huge number of mutual claims. The proclamation of the Livonian kingdom as king pleased both the Livonian nobility, who received freedom of religion and a number of other privileges, and the Livonian merchant class, who received the right to free duty-free trade in Russia, and in return allowed foreign merchants, artists and technicians to enter Moscow. On December 13, the Danish king Frederik concluded an alliance with the Swedes, as a result of which the Russian-Danish alliance did not take place.

As a result of the April Crimean Tatar raid of 1571, agreed with the Polish king, the southern Russian lands were devastated, tens of thousands of people died, more than 150 thousand Russians were taken into slavery; with the exception of the stone Kremlin, all of Moscow was burned. John, a week before the khan crossed the Oka, left the army and went inland to collect the reluctant guardsmen; upon news of the invasion, he fled from Serpukhov to Bronnitsy, from there to Aleksandrovskaya Sloboda, and from the settlement to Rostov, as his predecessors Dmitry Donskoy and Vasily I Dmitrievich did in similar cases. The winner sent him an arrogant letter:

I burn and waste everything because of Kazan and Astrakhan, and I apply the wealth of the whole world to dust, hoping for the majesty of God. I came to you, I burned your city, I wanted your crown and head; but you didn’t come and didn’t stand against us, and you still boast that I’m the sovereign of Moscow! If you had shame and dignity, then you would come against us and stand.

Ivan answered the humble petition:

If you are angry at your refusal to Kazan and Astrakhan, then we want to give you Astrakhan

He went out to the Tatar ambassadors in a sermyag, saying to them: “Do you see me, what am I wearing? So the king (khan) made me! All de my kingdom cast out and burned the treasury, give me nothing to the king. At the request of Devlet Giray, he issued Murza for reprisal, who crossed over to Russia and converted to Orthodoxy. However, Devlet-Girey was not satisfied with Astrakhan, demanding Kazan and 2000 rubles, and in the summer of the following year the invasion was repeated. For the decisive defeat of the Russian state, the 120,000-strong Crimean Turkish horde moved. However, in the Battle of Molodi, the enemy was destroyed by a 60,000-strong Russian army under the leadership of the governor M. Vorotynsky - 5-10 thousand returned to Crimea (see the Russian-Crimean War of 1571-1572). The death of the elite Turkish army near Astrakhan in 1569 and the defeat of the Crimean horde near Moscow in 1572 put a limit to the Turkish-Tatar expansion in Eastern Europe.

The winner at Molodi, Vorotynsky, the very next year, at the denunciation of a serf, was accused of intending to bewitch the tsar and died of torture, while during the torture the tsar himself raked coals with his staff.

The main condition for agreeing to his election as the Polish king, the tsar set Poland's concession to Livonia in favor of Russia, and as compensation, he offered to return Polotsk with its suburbs to the Poles. But on November 20, 1572, Maximilian II concluded an agreement with Grozny, according to which all ethnic Polish lands (Great Poland, Mazovia, Kuyavia, Silesia) were ceded to the empire, and Moscow received Livonia and the Principality of Lithuania with all its possessions - that is, Belarus, Podlasie, Ukraine , so the noble nobility hurried with the election of the king and elected Henry of Valois.

On January 1, 1573, Russian troops under the command of Grozny took Paida, Skuratov died in this battle.

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In the 2nd half of the XV century. the decisive stage of the struggle for the final liberation of Russia from Horde dependence began. In 1472 Ivan III refused to pay tribute to the Horde. Khan Akhmat decided to "teach a lesson" to Russia and restore the complete dominance of the Horde over the Russian lands. In the summer of the same year, he led an army to Moscow, choosing the path through Aleksin - from the "Lithuanian frontier". The inhabitants of Aleksin bravely met the enemy. On July 30, the Horde built a sign (stack) of logs near the walls of the city and lit it. The townspeople showed genuine heroism, they defended Aleksin, "not betraying themselves in the hands of a foreigner, but burning out all with their wives and children in the city." On July 31, the city fell, and on the eve of the Russian messenger, having galloped 150 km on interchangeable horses, was in Moscow. To the fords of the Oka, where the Horde was already approaching, Russian detachments from Vereya and Serpukhov urgently advanced. The main forces of the enemy watched with amazement on the left bank "many regiments of the Grand Duke ... the armor on them was pure grand, like silver is shining and the weapons are excellent." This stunned Akhmat's warriors and forced the latter to abandon further attempts to "ferment" the Oka and retreat.

In 1480, Khan Akhmat, with the support of the Grand Duke of Lithuania and the King of Poland, Casimir IV, moved an army of 100-150 thousand people to Russia. Ivan III knew about these negotiations of the khan and prudently divided the Russian army into parts. He concentrated the largest at the Lithuanian borders, preventing the Horde and Lithuanians from connecting and covering Moscow from the Lithuanian side. Casimir IV could not come to the aid of Akhmat, since Moscow's ally, the Khan of the Crimean Horde Mengli-Girey, invaded Podolia.

The Russian command promptly discovered the movement of Akhmat's troops. The Russian forces (about 100 thousand people) concentrated on the left bank of the Ugra, set up notches nearby, put heavy squeaks and mattresses behind the fortifications. Pishchalniks with light hands and archers were put forward to the forefront. Away from the coast, the Russian cavalry was located, which, maneuvering along the banks of the Ugra, could provide assistance in threatened areas.

On October 8, 1480, Akhmat's troops tried to break through the Russian defensive line, but they were met with friendly fire from the squeakers and handguns of the field outfit. A contemporary noted that the squeaking fire inflicted tangible losses on the enemy, and from - the damp bowstrings of the Tatar bows reduced their range and did not harm the Russians. Four days the Russian troops repelled, whether the onslaught of the Horde. The use of firearms in the field, in combat, determined the superiority of the Russian army. Ultimately, the Horde did not dare to take more decisive action and began to retreat. In the period from 8 to 11 November, the enemy left the banks of the Ugra. Russian patrols pursued his retreating army to the borders of the Moscow principality. "Standing on the Ugra" ended the 240-year yoke of the Horde.

The acquisition of independence by Russia was of great political significance. In 1485, the Tver principality finally became part of the Russian state. Ivan III with full right he began to call himself "the sovereign of all Russia" (on the grand ducal seals - Russia). This was the first official recognition of the Lithuanian rulers. In 1494, the Verkhovian principalities (Vorotynskoe, Odoevskoe, Belevskoe, etc.) moved away from Lithuania "to Russia", and Ryazan and Pskov were practically controlled by Moscow. At the turn of the XV-XVI centuries. the international position of the Russian state has changed. The borders of Russia were in direct contact with Lithuania, Poland and Sweden. The Muscovite state entered the arena of world politics.

Much attention Ivan III devoted to ensuring the security of the northwestern and western borders of the Moscow state. The fortresses of Yam and Koporye were built. The task of returning the Russian lands seized by the Livonian Order and the Grand Duchy of Lithuania was solved. The first blow was struck against Livonia, which was forced to sign a truce in 1482. In 1492, opposite the city of Narva, on the right bank of the river, a new Russian fortress was laid - Ivangorod (in honor of Ivan III), which acquired the status of a new trading port on the shores of the Baltic.

Success in the war with Livonia contributed to the beginning of an armed struggle with Lithuania for the return of Russian Chernigov and Smolensk lands. Military operations in 1500-1503 for Moscow have developed successfully. Russian regiments in the interfluve of the Oka and the Dnieper occupied the cities of Mtsensk, Mosalsk, Bryansk, Putivl and a number of others, and after capturing Dorogobuzh they began to threaten Smolensk. This forced the Grand Duke of Lithuania Alexander to move against the Moscow regiments a strong army (40 thousand people) under the command of the Grand Hetman Prince Konstantin Ostrozhsky. Ivan III sent an army under the command of Prince Daniil Shcheni to Do-rogobuzh. The battle took place on July 14, 1500 on the Vedrosha River. The united Russian army (about 40 thousand people) camped near the Moscow road on the Mitkov field, 5 km west of Dorogo-buzh, on the eastern bank of Vedrosha, where the Big Regiment took up positions. Its right flank was covered by the Dnieper, and its left flank rested against a dense forest. The guard regiment was assigned to an ambush and took refuge in the forest. Schenya's plan is to deliberately retreat the Vanguard Regiment, which crossed the river, to lure the lot army to Mitkovo Field, impose a battle on it, and then surround and destroy the enemy with a blow from the Osad Regiment.

On July 14, the Lithuanian army met on the Moscow road with the Advanced Regiment of Russian troops and attacked it on the move. The Russian Pyatniks, having started a fight, retreated across the river. The enemy was carried away by the pursuit and, having crossed the river, collided with the main forces of the Pusskys. A large regiment started a battle and withstood almost a six-hour battle. When the Lithuanians exhausted all the reserves, at the command of Schenya, the Ambush Regiment entered the battle. His blow to the flank and rear of the enemy was crushing. At the same time, Russian soldiers destroyed the bridge over the river. The Lithuanian army, which lost 8 thousand people killed, surrendered. For the first time in the history of Russian-Lithuanian military clashes, Lithuania completely lost a large army. Almost all Lithuanian governors were taken prisoner, led by Ostrozhsky himself. The victory at Vedroche was of great military and political significance. The peace concluded in 1503 secured the cities of Chernigov, Starodub, Novgorod-Seversky, Putivl, Rylsk and 14 others for Moscow.

Grand Duke Vasily III(ruled in 1505-1533) continued his father's policy and during the fighting 1507-1508, 1512-1522. his troops managed to inflict a number of defeats on the Lithuanians. Vasiliy III set a goal to return Smolensk, captured in 1404 by Lithuania. In July 1514, he approached Smolensk with an army of 80,000 warriors, pulled 300 guns of various calibers under the walls of the fortress. On July 29, a powerful artillery shelling began. He made a terrifying impression on the defenders of the fortress. On the third day, the cannonade stopped. Lithuanian governor Yuri Sologub decided to capitulate. So skillfully organized artillery fire "opened" the gates of Smolensk. Almost all Russian lands were reunited with the Muscovite state. The border of Russia with Lithuania was established. The Russian state returned to the banks of the Dnieper, and its border was 50-80 km away from Kyiv.