Causes and results of the Livonian war. Livonian War (1558–1583)

After the annexation of the Kazan and Astrakhan khanates to the Russian state, the threat of invasion from the east and southeast was eliminated. Ivan the Terrible faces new tasks - to return the Russian lands, once captured by the Livonian Order, Lithuania and Sweden.

In general, formal pretexts were found for the start of the war. The real reasons were the geopolitical need for Russia to gain access to the Baltic Sea, as the most convenient for direct ties with the centers of European civilizations, as well as the desire to take an active part in the division of the territory of the Livonian Order, the progressive decay of which was becoming obvious, but which, not wanting to strengthening of Russia, prevented its external contacts. For example, the authorities of Livonia did not allow more than a hundred specialists from Europe, invited by Ivan IV, to pass through their lands. Some of them were imprisoned and executed.

The formal reason for the start of the Livonian War was the question of the "Yuryev tribute." According to the agreement of 1503, an annual tribute was to be paid for it and the adjacent territory, which, however, was not done. In addition, in 1557 the Order entered into a military alliance with the Lithuanian-Polish king.

Stages of the war.

First stage. In January 1558, Ivan the Terrible moved his troops to Livonia. The beginning of the war brought him victories: Narva and Yuryev were taken. In the summer and autumn of 1558 and at the beginning of 1559, Russian troops passed through all of Livonia (to Revel and Riga) and advanced in Courland to the borders of East Prussia and Lithuania. However, in 1559, under the influence of politicians grouped around A.F. Adashev, who prevented the expansion of the scope of the military conflict, Ivan the Terrible was forced to conclude a truce. In March 1559, it was concluded for a period of six months.

The feudal lords took advantage of the truce to conclude an agreement with the Polish king Sigismund II Augustus in 1559, according to which the order, lands and possessions of the Archbishop of Riga were transferred under the protectorate of the Polish crown. In an atmosphere of sharp political disagreements in the leadership of the Livonian Order, its master V. Furstenberg was dismissed and G. Ketler, who adhered to a pro-Polish orientation, became the new master. In the same year, Denmark took possession of the island of Esel (Saaremaa).

The hostilities that began in 1560 brought new defeats to the Order: the large fortresses of Marienburg and Fellin were taken, the order army blocking the path to Viljandi was defeated near Ermes, and the Master of the Order Furstenberg himself was taken prisoner. The success of the Russian army was facilitated by the peasant uprisings that broke out in the country against the German feudal lords. The result of the company in 1560 was the actual defeat of the Livonian Order as a state. The German feudal lords of Northern Estonia became subjects of Sweden. According to the Vilna Treaty of 1561, the possessions of the Livonian Order came under the rule of Poland, Denmark and Sweden, and his last master, Ketler, received only Courland, and even then it was dependent on Poland. Thus, instead of a weak Livonia, Russia now had three strong opponents.

Second phase. While Sweden and Denmark were at war with each other, Ivan IV led successful operations against Sigismund II Augustus. In 1563, the Russian army took Plock, a fortress that opened the way to the capital of Lithuania, Vilna, and to Riga. But already at the beginning of 1564, the Russians suffered a series of defeats on the Ulla River and near Orsha; in the same year, a boyar and a major military leader, Prince A.M., fled to Lithuania. Kurbsky.

Tsar Ivan the Terrible responded to military failures and escapes to Lithuania with repressions against the boyars. In 1565, the oprichnina was introduced. Ivan IV tried to restore the Livonian Order, but under the protectorate of Russia, and negotiated with Poland. In 1566, a Lithuanian embassy arrived in Moscow, proposing to divide Livonia on the basis of the situation that existed at that time. The Zemsky Sobor, convened at that time, supported the intention of the government of Ivan the Terrible to fight in the Baltic states up to the capture of Riga: "Our sovereign of those Livonian cities that the king took for protection, it is unsuitable to retreat, and it is fitting for the sovereign to stand for those cities." The council's decision also emphasized that giving up Livonia would hurt trade interests.

Third stage. The Union of Lublin had serious consequences, uniting in 1569 the Kingdom of Poland and the Grand Duchy of Lithuania into one state - the Republic of Both Nations. A difficult situation developed in the north of Russia, where relations with Sweden again aggravated, and in the south (the campaign of the Turkish army near Astrakhan in 1569 and the war with the Crimea, during which the army of Devlet I Giray burned Moscow in 1571 and devastated the southern Russian lands). However, the offensive in the Republic of Both Nations for a long “kinglessness”, the creation in Livonia of the vassal “kingdom” of Magnus, which at first had an attractive force in the eyes of the population of Livonia, again allowed the scales to tip in favor of Russia. In 1572, the army of Devlet Giray was destroyed and the threat of large raids by the Crimean Tatars was eliminated (Battle of Molodi). In 1573 the Russians stormed the Weissenstein (Paide) fortress. In the spring, Moscow troops under the command of Prince Mstislavsky (16,000) met near Lode Castle in western Estonia with a Swedish army of two thousand. Despite the overwhelming numerical advantage, the Russian troops suffered a crushing defeat. They had to leave all their guns, banners and baggage.

In 1575, the fortress of Saga surrendered to the army of Magnus, and Pernov to the Russians. After the campaign of 1576, Russia captured the entire coast, except for Riga and Kolyvan.

However, the unfavorable international situation, the distribution of land in the Baltic states to Russian nobles, which alienated the local peasant population from Russia, and serious internal difficulties negatively affected the further course of the war for Russia.

Fourth stage. In 1575, the period of "royallessness" (1572-1575) ended in the Commonwealth. Stefan Batory was elected king. Stefan Batory, Prince of Semigradsky, was supported by the Turkish Sultan Murad III. After the flight of King Henry of Valois from Poland in 1574, the Sultan sent a letter to the Polish lords demanding that the Poles should not choose the Emperor of the Holy Roman Empire Maximilian II as king, but choose one of the Polish nobles, for example, Jan Kostka, or, if a king from others powers, then Bathory or the Swedish prince Sigismund Vasa. Ivan the Terrible, in a message to Stefan Batory, more than once hinted that he was a vassal of the Turkish Sultan, which caused a sharp answer from Batory: “How dare you remind us so often of surmyanism, you, who prevented your blood from us, whose prodkov mare's milk, that sunk into the manes of the Tatar scales licked ... ". The election of Stefan Batory as king of the Commonwealth meant the resumption of the war with Poland. However, back in 1577, Russian troops occupied almost all of Livonia, except for Riga and Reval, which was besieged in 1576-1577. But this year was last year Russia's successes in the Livonian War.

From 1579 Batory began a war against Russia. In 1579, Sweden also resumed hostilities, and Batory returned Polotsk and took Velikiye Luki, and in 1581 laid siege to Pskov, intending, if successful, to go to Novgorod the Great and Moscow. The Pskovites swore "for Pskov city to fight with Lithuania to death without any tricks." They kept their oath, repelling 31 attacks. After five months of unsuccessful attempts, the Poles were forced to lift the siege of Pskov. Heroic defense of Pskov in 1581-1582. the garrison and the population of the city determined a more favorable outcome of the Livonian War for Russia: the failure near Pskov forced Stefan Batory to enter into peace negotiations.

Taking advantage of the fact that Batory actually cut off Livonia from Russia, the Swedish commander Baron Pontus Delagardi undertook an operation to destroy isolated Russian garrisons in Livonia. By the end of 1581, the Swedes, having crossed the frozen Gulf of Finland on the ice, captured the entire coast of Northern Estonia, Narva, Vesenberg (Rakovor, Rakvere), and then moved to Riga, taking Haapsa-lu, Pärnu, and then the entire South (Russian ) Estonia - Fellin (Viljandi), Dorpat (Tartu). Total Swedish troops for relatively short period captured 9 cities in Livonia and 4 in Novgorod land, nullifying all the long-term gains of the Russian state in the Baltic states. In Ingermanland, Ivan-gorod, Yam, Koporye were taken, and in Ladoga - Korela.

Results and consequences of the war.

In January 1582, a ten-year truce with the Commonwealth was concluded in Yama-Zapolsky (not far from Pskov). Under this agreement, Russia renounced Livonia and Belarusian lands, but some border Russian lands, captured during the hostilities by the Polish king, were returned to it.

The defeat of the Russian troops in the simultaneously ongoing war with Poland, where the tsar was faced with the need to decide even on the concession of Pskov if the city was taken by storm, forced Ivan IV and his diplomats to negotiate with Sweden to conclude a humiliating peace for the Russian state of Plus . Negotiations in Plus took place from May to August 1583. Under this agreement:

• 1. The Russian state was deprived of all its acquisitions in Livonia. Behind it, only a narrow section of access to the Baltic Sea in the Gulf of Finland remained.
• 2. Ivan-gorod, Yam, Koporye passed to the Swedes.
• 3. Also, the Kexholm fortress in Karelia, along with the vast county and the coast of Lake Ladoga, went to the Swedes.
• 4. Russian state was cut off from the sea, ruined and devastated. Russia has lost a significant part of its territory.

Thus, the Livonian War had very serious consequences for the Russian state, and the defeat in it greatly affected its further development. However, one can agree with N.M. Karamzin, who noted that the Livonian War was “unfortunate, but not inglorious for Russia.”

Battles:
Narva (1558) - Derpt - Ringen - Tiersen - Ermes - Fellin - Nevel - Polotsk (1563) - Chashniki (1564) - Ezerishche - Chashniki (1567) - Revel (1570) - Lode - Pärnu - Revel (1577) - Weisenstein - Wenden - Polotsk (1579) - Sokol - Rzhev - Velikiye Luki - Toropets - Nastasino - Zavolochye - Padis - Shklov - Narva (1581) - Radziwill's raid - Pskov - Lyalitsy - Oreshek Treaties:

The war of Moscow Russia against the Livonian Order, the Polish-Lithuanian state, Sweden and Denmark for hegemony in the Baltic. In addition to Livonia, the Russian Tsar Ivan IV the Terrible hoped to conquer the East Slavic lands that were part of the Grand Duchy of Lithuania. In November 1557, he concentrated a 40,000-strong army in Novgorod to march into the Livonian lands. In December, this army, under the command of the Tatar prince Shig-Aley, Prince Glinsky and other governors, moved to Pskov. The auxiliary army of Prince Shestunov at that time began fighting from the region of Ivangorod at the mouth of the river Narva (Narova). In January 1558 royal army approached Yuriev (Derpt), but could not take him. Then part of the Russian troops turned towards Riga, and the main forces headed for Narva (Rugodiv), where they joined up with Shestunov's army. There was a lull in the fighting. Only the garrisons of Ivangorod and Narva fired at each other. On May 11, Russians from Ivangorod attacked the Narva fortress and captured it the next day.

Soon after the capture of Narva, Russian troops under the command of the governor Adashev, Zabolotsky and Zamytsky and the duma clerk Voronin were ordered to capture the fortress of Syrensk. On June 2, the regiments were under its walls. Adashev set up barriers on the Riga and Kolyvan roads in order to prevent the main forces of the Livonians under the command of the Master of the Order from reaching Syrensk. On June 5, large reinforcements from Novgorod approached Adashev, which the besieged saw. On the same day, artillery shelling of the fortress began. The next day the garrison surrendered.

From Syrensk, Adashev returned to Pskov, where the entire Russian army was concentrated. In mid-June, it took the fortresses of Neuhausen and Dorpat. The entire north of Livonia was under Russian control. The army of the Order was inferior in number to the Russians by several times and, moreover, was scattered over separate garrisons. It could not oppose anything to the army of the Tsar. Until October 1558, Russian rati in Livonia captured 20 castles.

In January 1559, Russian troops wenttrip to Riga . Near Tirzen they defeated the Livonian army, and near Riga they burned the Livonian fleet. Although it was not possible to capture the Riga fortress, 11 more Livonian castles were taken. The Master of the Order was forced to conclude a truce before the end of 1559. By November of this year, the Livonians managed to recruit landsknechts in Germany and resume the war. However, failures continued to haunt them. In January 1560, the army of governor Borboshin took the fortresses of Marienburg and Fellin. Livonian Order as military force practically ceased to exist. In 1561, the last master of the Livonian Order, Kettler, recognized himself as a vassal of the Polish king and divided Livonia between Poland and Sweden (Esel Island went to Denmark). The Poles got Livonia and Courland (Kettler became the Duke of the latter), the Swedes got Estland.

Poland and Sweden demanded the withdrawal of Russian troops from Livonia.Ivan the Terrible not only did not fulfill this requirement, but also invaded the territory of Lithuania, allied to Poland, at the end of 1562. His army numbered 33407 people. The purpose of the campaign was the well-fortified Polotsk. On February 15, 1563, the city, unable to withstand the fire of 200 Russian guns, capitulated. Ivan's army moved to Vilna. The Lithuanians were forced to conclude a truce until 1564. When the war resumed, Russian troops occupied almost the entire territory of Belarus. However, the repressions that began against the leaders of the "chosen council" - the actual government until the end of the 50s, had a negative impact on the combat capability of the Russian army. Many governors and nobles, fearing reprisals, preferred to flee to Lithuania. In the same 1564, one of the most prominent voivodes, PrinceAndrey Kurbsky , close to the Adashev brothers, who were members of the elected council, and feared for his life. The subsequent oprichnina terror further weakened the Russian army.

In 1569, as a result of the Union of Lublin, Poland and Lithuania formed a single state, the Commonwealth (Republic), under the leadership of the Polish king. Now Polish troops came to the aid of the Lithuanian army. In 1570, hostilities both in Lithuania and Livonia intensified. To secure the Baltic lands, Ivan the Terrible decided to createown fleet . At the beginning of 1570, he issued a "letter of commendation" for the organization of a privateer (private) fleet, acting on behalf of the Russian Tsar, to the Dane Carsten Rode. Roda managed to arm several ships, and he caused significant damage to the Polish maritime trade. In order to have a reliable naval base, in the same 1570, Russian troops tried to capture Reval, thereby starting a war with Sweden. However, the city freely received supplies from the sea, and Ivan had to lift the siege after seven months. The Russian privateer fleet never became a formidable force.

After a seven-year lull, in 1577, the 32,000-strong army of Tsar Ivan undertook a newtrip to Revel . However, this time the siege of the city was not successful. Then the Russian troops went to Riga, capturing Dinaburg, Wolmar and several other castles. However, these successes were not decisive.

Meanwhile, the situation on the Polish front worsened. In 1575, an experienced military leader, the Transylvanian prince Stefan Batory, was elected king of the Commonwealth. He managed to form a strong army, which also included German and Hungarian mercenaries. Batory entered into an alliance with Sweden, and the combined Polish-Swedish army in the autumn of 1578 defeated the 18,000-strong Russian army, which lost 6,000 people killed and captured and 17 guns.

By the beginning of the 1579 campaign, Stefan Batory and Ivan the Terrible had main armies of about 40,000 men, approximately equal in number. The Russian tsar, after the defeat at Wenden, was not confident in his abilities and offered to start peace negotiations. However, Batory rejected this proposal and launched an offensive against Polotsk. In autumn, the Polish army laid siege to the city and after a month-long siege captured it. Rati governor Sheina and Sheremeteva, sent to the rescue of Polotsk, only reached the Sokol fortress. They did not dare to engage in battle with superior enemy forces. Soon the Poles also captured Sokol, defeating the troops of Sheremetev and Shein. Ivan the Terrible clearly did not have enough strength to successfully fight on two fronts at once - in Livonia and Lithuania. After the capture of Polotsk, the Poles took several cities in Smolensk and Seversk lands, and then returned to Lithuania.

In 1580, Batory undertook a large campaign against Russia, capturing and ruining the cities of Ostrov, Velizh and Velikiye Luki. Then the Swedish army under the command of Pontus Delagardi captured the city of Korela and eastern part Karelian Isthmus. In 1581, Swedish troops captured Narva, and the following year they occupied Ivangorod, Yam and Koporye. Russian troops were expelled from Livonia. The fighting was transferred to the territory of Russia.

In September 1581, a 50,000-strong Polish army led by the king laid siege to Pskov. It was a very strong fortress. The city, which stood on the right, high bank of the Velikaya River at the confluence of the Pskov River, was surrounded by a stone wall. It stretched for 10 km and had 37 towers and 48 gates. True, from the side of the Velikaya River, from where it was difficult to expect an enemy attack, the wall was wooden. Under the towers there were underground passages that provided covert communication between various defense sectors. Upper tiers towers were also connected by passages. The height of the walls was 6.5 m, and the thickness was from 4 to 6 m, which made them invulnerable to the then artillery. Inside the Great Walls there was the Middle City, also surrounded by walls, in the Middle City - the fortified Dovmont city, and in the Dovmont city - the stone Kremlin. Above the level of the Velikaya River, the walls of the city of Dovmont rose 10 m, and the Kremlin - 17 m, which made these fortifications almost impregnable. The city had significant stocks of food, weapons and ammunition.

The Russian army was dispersed over many points, from where an enemy invasion was expected. The tsar himself, with a considerable gradual detachment, stopped in Staritsa, not daring to meet the Polish army marching towards Pskov.

When the tsar learned about the invasion of Stefan Batory, the army of Prince Ivan Shuisky, who was appointed "great commander", was sent to Pskov. Seven other governors were subordinate to him. All the inhabitants of Pskov and the garrison were sworn in that they would not surrender the city, but would fight to the last drop of blood. The total number of Russian troops defending Pskov reached 25 thousand people and was about half the size of Batory's army. By order of Shuisky, the surroundings of Pskov were devastated so that the enemy could not find food and food there.

On August 18, the Polish army approached the city at a distance of 2-3 cannon shots. During the week, Batory conducted reconnaissance of the Russian fortifications and only on August 26 ordered his army to approach the city. However, the soldiers soon came under fire from Russian guns and retreated to the Cherekha River. Here Batory set up a fortified camp.
The Poles began to dig trenches and set up tours to get closer to the walls of the fortress. On the night of September 4-5, they rolled rounds to the Pokrovskaya and Svinaya towers on the southern face of the walls and, placing 20 guns, on the morning of September 6, they began to fire at both towers and 150 m of the wall between them. By the evening of September 7, the towers were badly damaged, and a breach 50 meters wide was formed in the wall. But the besieged managed to build a new wooden wall against the breach.

On September 8, Polish troops launched an assault. The attackers managed to capture both damaged towers. However, shots from a large cannon "Bars", capable of sending cannonballs over a distance of more than one kilometer, the Pig Tower occupied by the Poles was destroyed. Then the Russians blew up its ruins, rolling up barrels of gunpowder. The explosion served as a signal for a counterattack, led by Shuisky himself. The enemy could not hold the Pokrovskaya Tower - and retreated.

After the failure of the assault, Batory ordered digging to blow up the walls. The Russians managed to destroy two tunnels with the help of mine galleries, the rest of the Poles could not be completed. On October 24, Polish batteries began to fire at Pskov from behind the Velikaya River with red-hot cannonballs to start fires, but the city's defenders quickly put out the fire. Four days later, a Polish detachment with crowbars and picks approached the wall from the Velikaya side between the corner tower and the Pokrovsky Gate and destroyed the base of the wall. It collapsed, but it turned out that behind this wall there is another wall and a ditch that the Poles could not overcome. The besieged threw stones and pots of gunpowder on their heads, poured boiling water and pitch.

On November 2, Batory's army launched the last assault on Pskov. This time the Poles attacked the western wall. Prior to that, for five days it was subjected to heavy shelling and was destroyed in several places. However, the defenders of Pskov met the enemy with heavy fire, and the Poles turned back, never reaching the breaches.

By that time, the morale of the besiegers had fallen noticeably. But the besieged also experienced considerable difficulties. The main forces of the Russian army in Staritsa, Novgorod and Rzhev were inactive. Only two detachments of archers of 600 people each tried to break into Pskov, but more than half of them died or were captured.

On November 6, Batory removed the guns from the batteries, stopped siege work and began to prepare for the winter. At the same time, he sent detachments of Germans and Hungarians to capture the Pskov-Caves Monastery, 60 km from Pskov, but the garrison of 300 archers, supported by monks, successfully repelled two attacks, and the enemy was forced to retreat.

Stefan Batory, convinced that he could not take Pskov, in November handed over command to Hetman Zamoysky, and he himself left for Vilna, taking with him almost all the mercenaries. As a result, the number of Polish troops decreased by almost half - to 26 thousand people. The besiegers suffered from cold and disease, the death toll and desertion increased. Under these conditions, Bathory agreed to a ten-year truce. It was concluded in Yama-Zapolsky on January 15, 1582. Russia renounced all its conquests in Livonia, and the Poles liberated the Russian cities they had occupied.

In 1583 it was signedPlus Armistice with Sweden. Yam, Koporye and Ivangorod passed to the Swedes. For Russia there was only a small section of the Baltic coast at the mouth of the Neva. However, in 1590, after the expiration of the truce, hostilities between the Russians and the Swedes resumed and this time were successful for Moscow. As a result, under the Tyavzinsky Treaty on " eternal peace"Russia regained Yam, Koporye, Ivangorod and Korelsky district. But this was only small consolation. In general, Ivan the Terrible's attempt to gain a foothold in the Baltic failed.

At the same time, sharp contradictions between Poland and Sweden on the issue of control over Livonia facilitated the position of the Russian tsar, excluding a joint Polish-Swedish invasion of Russia. The resources of Poland alone, as the experience of Batory's campaign against Pskov showed, were clearly not enough to capture and hold a significant territory of the Muscovite kingdom. SimultaneouslyLivonian War showed that Sweden and Poland in the east had a formidable enemy that had to be seriously reckoned with.

Since then, he has owned most of the modern Baltic states - Estonia, Livonia and Courland. In the 16th century, Livonia lost some of its former power. From within, it was engulfed in strife, which was intensified by the Church Reformation that penetrated here. The Archbishop of Riga quarreled with the Master of the Order, and the cities were at enmity with both of them. Internal turmoil weakened Livonia, and all of its neighbors were not averse to taking advantage of this. Before the start of the seizures of the Livonian knights, the Baltic lands depended on the Russian princes. With this in mind, the sovereigns of Moscow believed that they had quite legitimate rights to Livonia. Due to its coastal position, Livonia was of great commercial importance. After Moscow inherited the commerce of Novgorod conquered by it with the Baltic lands. However, the Livonian rulers in every possible way limited the relations that Muscovite Russia had with Western Europe through their region. Fearing Moscow and trying to prevent its rapid strengthening, the Livonian government did not allow European craftsmen and many goods to enter Russia. The obvious hostility of Livonia gave rise to hostility among the Russians towards her. Seeing the weakening of the Livonian Order, the Russian rulers feared that some other, stronger enemy would take over its territory, which would treat Moscow even worse.

Already Ivan III, after the conquest of Novgorod, built the Livonian border, against the city of Narva, the Russian fortress Ivangorod. After the conquest of Kazan and Astrakhan, the Chosen Rada advised Ivan the Terrible to turn to the predatory Crimea, whose hordes constantly raided the southern Russian regions, driving thousands of captives into slavery every year. But Ivan IV chose to attack Livonia. Confidence in easy success in the west gave the king a successful outcome of the war with the Swedes 1554-1557.

Beginning of the Livonian War (briefly)

Grozny remembered the old treaties that obliged Livonia to pay tribute to the Russians. It had not been paid for a long time, but now the tsar demanded not only to resume payment, but also to compensate for what the Livonians had not given to Russia in previous years. The Livonian government began to drag out negotiations. Having lost patience, Ivan the Terrible broke off all relations and in the first months of 1558 began the Livonian War, which was destined to drag on for 25 years.

In the first two years of the war, the Moscow troops acted very successfully. They ruined almost all of Livonia, except for the most powerful cities and castles. Livonia could not resist powerful Moscow alone. The order state collapsed, surrendering in parts under the supreme power of stronger neighbors. Estonia came under the suzerainty of Sweden, Livonia submitted to Lithuania. Ezel Island became the possession of the Danish Duke Magnus, and Courland was subjected to secularization, that is, it turned from a church property into a secular one. The former master of the spiritual order, Ketler, became the secular duke of Courland and recognized himself as a vassal of the Polish king.

Entry into the war of Poland and Sweden (briefly)

The Livonian Order thus ceased to exist (1560-1561). His lands were divided by neighboring strong states, which demanded that Ivan the Terrible renounce all the seizures made at the beginning of the Livonian War. Grozny rejected this demand and opened a fight with Lithuania and Sweden. Thus, new participants were involved in the Livonian War. The struggle of the Russians with the Swedes was intermittent and sluggish. The main forces of Ivan IV moved to Lithuania, acting against it not only in Livonia, but also in the regions south of the latter. In 1563 Grozny took the ancient Russian city of Polotsk from the Lithuanians. The royal rati ravaged Lithuania to the very Vilna (Vilnius). The Lithuanians, exhausted by the war, offered Grozny peace with the concession of Polotsk. In 1566, Ivan IV gathered a Zemsky Sobor in Moscow on the question of whether to stop the Livonian War or continue it. The council spoke in favor of continuing the war, and it went on for another ten years with a preponderance of Russians, until the talented commander Stefan Batory (1576) was elected to the Polish-Lithuanian throne.

The turning point of the Livonian War (briefly)

The Livonian War by that time had noticeably weakened Russia. The oprichnina, which devastated the country, undermined her strength even more. Many prominent Russian military leaders fell victim to the oprichnina terror of Ivan the Terrible. From the south, Crimean Tatars began to attack Russia with even greater energy, whom Grozny frivolously missed to subdue or at least completely weaken after the conquest of Kazan and Astrakhan. The Crimeans and the Turkish sultan demanded that Russia, now bound by the Livonian War, renounce possession of the Volga region and restore the independence of the Astrakhan and Kazan khanates, which had previously brought her so much grief with cruel attacks and robberies. In 1571, the Crimean Khan Devlet Giray, taking advantage of the diversion of Russian forces to Livonia, staged an unexpected invasion, marched with a large army to Moscow itself and burned the entire city outside the Kremlin. In 1572 Devlet Giray tried to repeat this success. He again reached the Moscow environs with his horde, but the Russian army of Mikhail Vorotynsky at the last moment distracted the Tatars with an attack from the rear and inflicted a severe defeat on them in the battle of Molodi.

Ivan the Terrible. Painting by V. Vasnetsov, 1897

Energetic Stefan Batory began decisive action against Grozny just when the oprichnina had brought the central regions of the Muscovite state to desolation. Masses of the people fled from the arbitrariness of Grozny to the southern outskirts and to the newly conquered Volga region. The state center of Russia has run out of people and resources. Terrible now could not, with the same ease, put up large armies to the front of the Livonian War. The decisive onslaught of Batory did not meet with a proper rebuff. In 1577, the Russians achieved their last successes in the Baltic, but already in 1578 they were defeated there near Wenden. The Poles achieved a turning point in the Livonian War. In 1579 Batory recaptured Polotsk, and in 1580 he took the strong Moscow fortresses of Velizh and Velikie Luki. Grozny, who had previously shown arrogance towards the Poles, now sought the mediation of Catholic Europe in peace negotiations with Batory and sent an embassy (Shevrigin) to the pope and the Austrian emperor. In 1581

After the conquest of Kazan, Russia turned its eyes to the Baltic and put forward plans for the capture of Livonia. For Russia, the main goal of the Livonian War was the conquest of access to the Baltic Sea. The struggle for supremacy at sea was between Lithuania and Poland, Sweden, Denmark and Russia.

The reason for the start of the war was the non-payment of tribute by the Livonian Order, which they undertook to pay under the peace treaty of 1554. In 1558, Russian troops invaded Livonia.

At the first stage of the war (1558-1561), several cities and castles were taken, including such significant ones as Narva, Derpt, Yuryev.

Instead of continuing the successfully launched offensive, the Moscow government granted the Order a truce and at the same time equipped an expedition against the Crimea. Taking advantage of the respite, the Livonian knights gathered military forces and, a month before the end of the truce, defeated the Russian troops.

Russia did not achieve results in the war against the Crimean Khanate and missed favorable opportunities for victory in Livonia. Moscow made peace with the Crimea and concentrated all its forces in Livonia.

The second stage of the war (1562-1578) for Russia passed with varying success.

The highest achievement of Russia in the Livonian War was the capture of Polotsk in February 1563, after which military failures followed.

In 1566, Lithuanian ambassadors arrived in Moscow with a proposal for a truce and so that Polotsk and part of Livonia remained behind Moscow. Ivan the Terrible demanded all of Livonia. Such demands were rejected, and the Lithuanian king Sigismund August resumed the war with Russia. In 1568, Sweden terminated the previously concluded alliance with Russia. In 1569, Poland and Lithuania united into a single state - the Commonwealth. After the death of Sigismund Augustus in 1572, Stefan Batory took the throne.

The third stage of the Livonian War (1679-1583) began with the invasion of Russia by the Polish king Stefan Batory. At the same time, Russia had to fight with Sweden. On September 9, 1581, Sweden captured Narva, and after that, the continuation of the struggle for Livonia lost its meaning for Grozny. Realizing the impossibility of waging war with two opponents at once, the tsar began negotiations with Bathory on a truce in order to concentrate all forces on the recapture of Narva. But the plans for an attack on Narva remained unfulfilled.

The result of the Livonian War was the conclusion of two treaties that were unfavorable for Russia.

On January 15, 1582, Yam Zapolsky signed an agreement on a 10-year truce. Russia ceded all its possessions in Livonia to Poland, and Batory returned to Russia the fortresses and cities he had conquered, but retained Polotsk.

In August 1583, Russia and Sweden signed the Plyussky truce for three years. The Swedes retained all the captured Russian cities. Russia retained a section of the coast of the Gulf of Finland with the mouth of the Neva.

The end of the Livonian War did not give Russia access to the Baltic Sea.

I decided to intensify my foreign policy in the western direction, namely in the Baltic states. The weakening Livonian Order could not offer proper resistance, and the prospects for acquiring these territories promised a significant expansion of trade with Europe.

THE BEGINNING OF THE LIVONS WAR

In those same years, there was a truce with the Livland land, and ambassadors came from them with a request to make peace. Our king began to remember that they did not pay tribute for fifty years, which they owed even to his grandfather. The people of Lifoyand did not want to pay that tribute. Because of this, the war began. Our king then sent us, the three great governors, and with us other stratilates and an army of forty thousand not to mine lands and cities, but to conquer all their land. We fought for a whole month and did not meet resistance anywhere, only one city held the defense, but we took it too. We went through their land with battles for four dozen miles and left the great city of Pskov to the land of Livonia almost unscathed, and then quite quickly reached Ivangorod, which stands on the border of their lands. We carried a lot of wealth with us, because the land there was rich and the inhabitants were very proud in it, they deviated from the Christian faith and from the good customs of their forefathers and rushed all along the wide and spacious path leading to drunkenness and other intemperance, became committed to to laziness and long sleep, to lawlessness and internecine bloodshed, following evil teachings and deeds. And I think that God, because of this, did not allow them to be at rest and for a long time own their homelands. Then they asked for a truce for six months in order to think about that tribute, but, having asked for a truce, they did not stay in it for two months. And they violated it like this: everyone knows the German city called Narva, and the Russian one - Ivangorod; they stand on the same river, and both cities are large, Russian is especially densely populated, and on that very day when our Lord Jesus Christ suffered for the human race with his flesh and every Christian must, according to his abilities, show passion-bearing, being in fasting and abstinence, the noble and proud Germans invented a new name for themselves and called themselves Evangelicals; at the beginning of that day, they got drunk and overeat, and began to shoot at the Russian city with all the big guns, and they beat a lot of Christian people with their wives and children, shedding Christian blood on such great and holy days, and they beat incessantly for three days, and did not even stop on the Resurrection of Christ, while they were in a truce, approved by oaths. And the governor of Ivangorod, not daring to break the truce without the knowledge of the tsar, quickly sent a message to Moscow. The king, having received it, gathered a council and at that council decided that since they were the first to start, we need to defend ourselves and shoot from guns at their city and its environs. By this time, a lot of guns had been brought there from Moscow, besides, stratilates were sent and the Novgorod army from two fifths was ordered to gather towards them.

IMPACT OF THE LIVONIAN WAR ON TRADE

However, more distant Western countries were ready to ignore the fears of neighbors - enemies of Russia and showed interest in Russian-European trade. The main "trade gate" to Russia for them was Narva, conquered by the Russians in the Livonian War. (The northern route, found by the British, was their monopoly for almost two decades.) In the last third of the 16th century. Following the British, the Flemings, Dutch, Germans, French, and Spaniards reached Russia. For example, since the 1570s. French merchants from Rouen, Paris, La Rochelle traded with Russia through Narva. Narva merchants who swore allegiance to Russia received various benefits from the tsar. In Narva, in the service of Russia, the most original detachment of service Germans appeared. Ivan the Terrible hired the leader of the pirates Karsten Rode and other privateers to protect the Narva mouth. All corsair mercenaries in the Russian service also received licenses from Russia's ally in the Livonian War - the owner of the island of Ezel, Prince Magnus. Unfortunately for Moscow, the Livonian War went badly from the end of the 1570s. In 1581 the Swedes occupied Narva. The project of the Russian vassal Kingdom of Livonia, headed by Prince Magnus, successively betrothed to two daughters of the unfortunate appanage prince Vladimir Staritsky (nieces of Ivan the Terrible), also collapsed. In this situation, the Danish King Frederick II decided to stop foreign ships carrying goods to Russia through the Danish Sound, the strait connecting the North and Baltic Sea. English ships that ended up in the Sound were arrested there, and the goods were confiscated by Danish customs.

Chernikova T. V. Europeanization of Russia in the XV-XVII centuries

WAR IN THE EYES OF A CONTEMPORARY

In 1572, on December 16th, the soldiers of the King of Sweden, reiters and bollards, numbering about 5,000 people, set off on a campaign, intending to besiege Overpalen. They made a big detour to Mariam, and from there to Fellin for the sake of robbery, and two kartaunas (cannons), along with gunpowder and lead, were sent straight along the Wittenstein road; these two guns were to be joined by several more heavy guns from Wittenstein. But both guns during Christmas time did not reach further than Niengof, 5 miles from Revel. At the same time, the Grand Duke of Moscow for the first time personally with his two sons and with 80,000 troops and with many guns entered Livonia, while the Swedes in Reval and Wittenstein did not have the slightest news of this, being quite sure that that there is no danger for them. All of them, both high and low, imagined that when the Swedish royal army set off on a campaign, the Muscovite would not even dare to utter a word, so the Muscovite is now powerless and not terrible. Therefore, they threw aside all caution and all reconnaissance. But when they were the least guarded, the Muscovite personally approached Wesenberg with a huge army, and the Revelians, as well as Klaus Akesen (Klas Akbzon Tott), the military commander, and all the soldiers in Overpalen still did not know anything about it. However, the Wittensteiners found out something about the Russian movement, but did not want to believe that they were in danger, and everyone thought that this was only a raid by some Russian detachment sent to capture the guns in Niengof. Under this assumption, Hans Boye (Boie), the governor (commandant), sent almost all the knights from the castle 6 miles away to meet the cannons sent from Reval and so weakened the garrison of the Wittenstein castle that only 50 soldiers remained in it, capable of owning weapons, except for 500 ordinary peasants who fled to the castle. Hans Boy did not believe that the Muscovite meant not the guns in Niengof, but Wittenschgein Castle. He did not have time to come to his senses, therefore, as the Muscovite with his army was already at Wittenstein. It would be nice if Hans Boy would now dispose of his knechts differently.

Russov Balthazar. Chronicle of the province of Livonia

INTERNATIONAL RELATIONS AND THE LIVONS WAR

After the Pozvolsky peace, all the real benefits of which were on the side of Poland, the Livonian Order began to disarm. The Livonians failed to take advantage of the prolonged peace, lived in excess, spent their time in festivities and seemed not to notice what was being prepared against them in the east, as if they wanted to see how threatening symptoms began to appear everywhere. The traditions of the firmness and steadfastness of the former knights of the order were forgotten, everything was swallowed up by quarrels and the struggle of individual estates. To us the case of new clashes with any of its neighbors, the order frivolously relied on the German Empire. Meanwhile, neither Maximilian I nor Charles V were able to take advantage of their position and more closely consolidate the bonds that connected the ancient German colony in the east with its metropolis: they were fascinated by their dynastic, Habsburg interests. They were hostile to Poland and were rather inclined to allow a political rapprochement with Moscow, in which they saw an ally against Turkey.

MILITARY SERVICE DURING THE LIVONIAN WAR

The bulk of service people in the "fatherland" were urban nobles and boyar children.

According to the charter of 1556, the service of nobles and boyar children began at the age of 15, until that time they were considered "undersized". To enlist the grown-up nobles and children of the boyars, or, as they were called, “noviks,” boyars and other duma officials with clerks were periodically sent from Moscow to the cities; sometimes this business was entrusted to local governors. Arriving in the city, the boyar had to organize elections from local service nobles and children of boyar special salaries, with the help of which the recruitment was carried out. According to the questions of those enrolled in the service and the instructions of the payers, the property status and serviceability of each novice were established. The auditors showed who could be in the same article with whom by origin and property status. Then the novice was enrolled in the service and he was assigned a local and monetary salary.

Salaries were established depending on the origin, property status and service of the novice. Local salaries of novices ranged on average from 100 quarters (150 acres in three fields) to 300 quarters (450 acres) and money - from 4 to 7 rubles. In the process of service, the local and monetary salaries of novices increased.