The meaning of the Livonian War 1558 1583. “The Livonian War, its political meaning and consequences

The events of the Livonian War are classic example Europe's reluctance to let the Russian state into the world political and economic arena. The confrontation between Russia and European states, which, by the way, continues to this day, did not begin suddenly. This confrontation goes back centuries and there are many reasons for it. Although the main one is competition. At first it was a spiritual competition - a struggle between shepherds christian church for the flock, and, incidentally, for the territorial possessions of this flock. So, the events of the Livonian War of the 16th century are echoes of the struggle waged between the Roman Catholic and Orthodox churches.

The first Russian Tsar declared war on the Livonian Order in 1558. The official reason was the fact that the Livonians had already 50 years stopped paying tribute for the possession of the city of Dorpat, which they captured back in the 13th century. In addition, the Livonians did not want to allow specialists and craftsmen from German states to enter Muscovy. The military campaign began in 1558 and lasted until 1583 and received the name in World History Livonian War.

Three periods of the Livonian War

The events of the Livonian War have three periods, which occurred with varying success for the king Ivan the Terrible. The first period is 1558 - 1563. Russian troops carried out successful military operations, which in 1561 led to the defeat of the Livonian Order. Russian troops captured the cities of Narva and Dorpat. They came close to Riga and Tallinn. The last successful operation for the Russian troops was the capture of Polotsk - this happened in 1563. The Livonian War became protracted, which was facilitated by the internal problems of the Moscow state.

The second period in the Livonian War lasts from 1563 to 1578. Denmark, Sweden, Poland and Lithuania united against the troops of the Russian Tsar. Each pursuing its own goal in the war with Muscovy, these northern European states pursued a common goal - not to allow the Russian state to join the number of European states that lay claim to a dominant position. The Moscow state should not have returned those European territories that belonged to it during Kievan Rus and were lost during internecine and feudal strife and wars of conquest. The situation in the Livonian War was complicated for the Russian troops by the economic weakness of the Moscow state, which during this period was experiencing a period of ruin. The ruin and bleeding of an already not very rich country occurred as a result of the oprichnina, which turned out to be an enemy no less bloodthirsty and cruel than the Livonian Order. A prominent Russian military leader, a member of the Chosen Council of Ivan the Terrible, his friend and associate, thrust the knife of betrayal into the back of his sovereign, as well as into the back of his country. Kurbsky in 1563 went over to the side of King Sigismund and participated in military operations against Russian troops. He knew many of the military plans of the Russian Tsar, which he did not fail to report former enemies. In addition, Lithuania and Poland united in 1569 into a single state - the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth.

The third period of the Lithuanian War takes place from 1579 to 1583. This is a period of defensive battles waged by the Russians against the combined forces of the enemy. As a result, the Moscow state lost Polotsk in 1579, and Velikiye Luki in 1581. In August 1581, the Polish king Stefan Batory began a siege of the city of Pskov, in which Kurbsky also participated. The truly heroic siege lasted almost six months, but the invading troops never entered the city. The Polish king and the Russian Tsar signed the Yampol Peace Treaty in January 1582. Russian state lost not only the Baltic lands and many original Russian cities, but also did not gain access to the Baltic Sea. The main task of the Livonian War was not solved.

Formal reasons were found for the start of the war (see below), but the real reasons were Russia’s geopolitical need to gain access to the Baltic Sea, as the most convenient for direct connections 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 collapse of which was becoming obvious, but which, not wanting to strengthen Russia, prevented its external contacts. For example, the Livonian authorities 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 presence of such a hostile barrier did not suit Moscow, which was striving to break out of continental isolation. However, Russia owned a small section of the Baltic coast, from the Neva basin to Ivangorod. But it was strategically vulnerable, and there were no ports or developed infrastructure. So Ivan the Terrible hoped to take advantage of the Livonia transport system. He considered it an ancient Russian fiefdom, illegally seized by the crusaders.

The forceful solution to the problem predetermined the defiant behavior of the Livonians themselves, who, even in the opinion of their own historians, acted unreasonably. The reason for the aggravation of relations was the mass pogroms of Orthodox churches in Livonia. The outraged Grozny sent a message to the authorities of the Order, in which he stated that he would not tolerate such actions. A whip was attached to the letter as a symbol of imminent punishment. By that time, the truce between Moscow and Livonia (concluded in 1504 as a result of the Russian-Lithuanian war of 1500-1503) had expired. To extend it, the Russian side demanded the payment of the Yuryev tribute, which the Livonians undertook to give to Ivan III, but for 50 years they never collected it. Having recognized the need to pay it, they again failed to fulfill their obligations. Then in 1558 Russian troops entered Livonia. Thus began the Livonian War. It lasted a quarter of a century, becoming the longest and one of the most difficult in the history of Russia.

Livonian War (1558-1583)

The Livonian War can be divided into four stages. The first (1558-1561) is directly related to the Russian-Livonian war. The second (1562-1569) involved primarily the Russian-Lithuanian war. The third (1570-1576) was distinguished by the resumption of the Russian struggle for Livonia, where they, together with the Danish prince Magnus, fought against the Swedes. The fourth (1577-1583) is associated primarily with the Russian-Polish war. During this period, the Russian-Swedish war continued.

In the middle of the 16th century. Livonia was not a significant military force, capable of seriously resisting the Russian state. Its main military asset remained powerful stone fortresses. But formidable to arrows and stones, knightly castles were by that time no longer very capable of protecting their inhabitants from the power of heavy siege weapons. Therefore, military operations in Livonia were reduced mainly to the fight against fortresses, in which Russian artillery, which had already proven itself in the Kazan case, distinguished itself. The first fortress to fall from the onslaught of the Russians was Narva.

Capture of Narva (1558). In April 1558, Russian troops led by governors Adashev, Basmanov and Buturlin besieged Narva. The fortress was defended by a garrison under the command of the knight Vocht Schnellenberg. The decisive assault on Narva took place on May 11. On this day, a fire broke out in the city, which was accompanied by a storm. According to legend, it arose because drunken Livonians threw an Orthodox icon of the Virgin Mary into the fire. Taking advantage of the fact that the guards had left the fortifications, the Russians rushed to attack. They broke through the gates and took possession of the lower city. Having captured the guns located there, the attackers opened fire on the upper castle, preparing the stairs for the attack. But it did not follow, because by the evening the defenders of the castle surrendered, having agreed on the condition of free exit from the city.
It was the first large fortress taken by the Russians in the Livonian War. Narva was a convenient sea harbor through which direct relations between Russia and Western Europe began. At the same time, the creation of its own fleet was underway. A shipyard is being built in Narva. The first Russian ships on it were built by craftsmen from Kholmogory and Vologda, whom the tsar sent abroad “to supervise how guns are poured and ships are built in the west.” A flotilla of 17 ships was based in Narva under the command of the Dane Carsten Rode, who was accepted into Russian service.

Capture of Neuhaus (1558). The defense of the Neuhaus fortress, which was defended by several hundred soldiers led by the knight Von Padenorm, was particularly tenacious during the campaign of 1558. Despite their small numbers, they steadfastly resisted for almost a month, repelling the onslaught of the army of governor Pyotr Shuisky. After destruction Russian artillery On June 30, 1558, the Germans withdrew to the upper castle. Von Padenorm wanted to defend himself here to the last extremity, but his surviving associates refused to continue their pointless resistance. As a sign of respect for the bravery of the besieged, Shuisky allowed them to leave with honor.

Capture of Dorpat (1558). In July, Shuisky besieged Dorpat (until 1224 - Yuryev, now the Estonian city of Tartu). The city was defended by a garrison under the command of Bishop Weyland (2 thousand people). And here, first of all, Russian artillery distinguished itself. On July 11, she began shelling the city. The cannonballs destroyed some towers and loopholes. During the shelling, the Russians brought some of the guns almost to the very fortress wall, opposite the German and St. Andrew's Gates, and opened fire at point-blank range. The shelling of the city continued for 7 days. When the main fortifications were destroyed, the besieged, having lost hope of outside help, entered into negotiations with the Russians. Shuisky promised not to destroy the city and to keep its residents under the same control. On July 18, 1558 Dorpat capitulated. Order in the city was indeed maintained, and its violators were subjected to severe punishment.

Defense of Ringen (1558). After capturing a number of cities in Livonia, Russian troops, leaving garrisons there, left in the fall for winter quarters within their borders. The new Livonian master Ketler took advantage of this, who gathered an army of 10,000 and tried to regain what had been lost. At the end of 1558, he approached the fortress of Ringen, which was defended by a garrison of several hundred archers led by governor Rusin-Ignatiev. The Russians bravely held out for five weeks, repelling two attacks. A detachment of governor Repnin (2 thousand people) tried to help the besieged, but he was defeated by Ketler. This failure did not affect the spirit of the besieged, who continued to resist. The Germans were able to take the fortress by storm only after its defenders ran out of gunpowder. All defenders of Ringen were destroyed. Having lost a fifth of his army (2 thousand people) near Ringen and having spent more than a month on the siege, Ketler was unable to build on his success. At the end of October, his army retreated to Riga. This small victory turned into a major disaster for the Livonians. In response to their actions, the army of Tsar Ivan the Terrible entered Livonia two months later.

Battle of Thiersen (1559). In the area of ​​this city in Livonia, on January 17, 1559, a battle took place between the army of the Livonian Order under the command of the knight Felkensam and the Russian army led by Voivode Serebryany. The Germans suffered a complete defeat. Felkensam and 400 knights died in battle, the rest were captured or fled. After this victory, the Russian army freely carried out a winter raid across the lands of the Order all the way to Riga and returned to Russia in February.

Truce (1559). In the spring, hostilities did not resume. In May, Russia concluded a truce with the Livonian Order until November 1559. This was largely due to the presence of serious disagreements in the Moscow government regarding foreign strategy. Thus, the tsar’s closest advisors, led by the okolnichy Alexei Adashev, were against the war in the Baltic states and advocated continuing the struggle in the south, against the Crimean Khanate. This group reflected the sentiments of those circles of the nobility who wanted, on the one hand, to eliminate the threat of attacks from the steppes, and on the other, to obtain a large additional land fund in the steppe zone.

The truce of 1559 allowed the Order to gain time and carry out active diplomatic work with the aim of involving its closest neighbors - Poland and Sweden - in the conflict against Moscow. With his invasion of Livonia, Ivan IV affected the trade interests of the main states that had access to the Baltic region (Lithuania, Poland, Sweden and Denmark). At that time, trade on the Baltic Sea was growing from year to year, and the question of who would control it was very relevant. But it was not only the problems of their own trade benefits that interested Russia’s neighbors. They were concerned about the strengthening of Russia due to the acquisition of Livonia. Here is what, for example, the Polish king Sigismund Augustus wrote to the English Queen Elizabeth about the role of Livonia for the Russians: “The Moscow sovereign daily increases his power by acquiring objects that are brought to Narva; for not only goods are brought here, but also weapons, to this day unknown to him... the artists (specialists) themselves come, through whom he acquires the means to defeat everyone... Until now we could defeat him only because he was alien to education. But if the Narva navigation continues, then what will happen to him unknown?" Thus, the Russian struggle for Livonia received wide international resonance. The clash of interests of so many states in the small Baltic patch predetermined the severity of the Livonian War, in which military operations were closely intertwined with complex and confusing foreign policy situations.

Defense of Dorpat and Lais (1559). Master of the Livonian Order Ketler actively used the respite given to him. Having received help from Germany and concluding an alliance with the Polish king, the master violated the truce and went on the offensive in early autumn. He managed to defeat the detachment of governor Pleshcheev near Dorpat with an unexpected attack. 1 thousand Russians fell in this battle. Nevertheless, the head of the Dorpat garrison, governor Katyrev-Rostovsky, managed to take measures to defend the city. When Ketler besieged Dorpat, the Russians met his army with gunfire and a brave sortie. For 10 days the Livonians tried to destroy the walls with cannon fire, but to no avail. Not deciding on a long winter siege or an attack, Ketler was forced to retreat.
On the way back, Ketler decided to capture the Lais fortress, where there was a small Russian garrison under the command of the Streltsy head Koshkarov (400 people). In November 1559, the Livonians set up tours, broke the wall, but were unable to break into the fortress, stopped by the fierce resistance of the archers. The brave garrison of Lais steadfastly repulsed the attacks of the Livonian army for two days. Kettler was never able to defeat the defenders of Lais, and he was forced to retreat to Wenden. The unsuccessful siege of Dorpat and Lais meant the failure of the autumn offensive of the Livonians. On the other hand, their treacherous attack forced Ivan the Terrible to resume military operations against the Order.

Battles of Wittenstein and Ermes (1560). Decisive battles between Russian and Livonian troops took place in the summer of 1560 near Wittenstein and Ermes. In the first of them, the army of Prince Kurbsky (5 thousand people) defeated the German detachment of the former Master of the Order Firstenberg. Under Ermes, the cavalry of governor Barbashin (12 thousand people) completely destroyed a detachment of German knights led by Landmarshal Bel (about 1 thousand people), who tried to suddenly attack the Russian horsemen resting on the edge of the forest. 120 knights and 11 commanders, including their leader Bel, surrendered. The victory at Ermes opened the way for the Russians to Fellin.

Capture of Fellin (1560). In August 1560, a 60,000-strong army led by governors Mstislavsky and Shuisky besieged Fellin (known since 1211, now the city of Viljandi in Estonia). This most powerful fortress in the eastern part of Livonia was defended by a garrison under the command of the former master Firstenberg. The success of the Russians at Fellin was ensured by the effective actions of their artillery, which conducted continuous shelling of the fortifications for three weeks. During the siege, Livonian troops tried to help the besieged garrison from the outside, but were defeated. After artillery fire destroyed part of the outer wall and set the city on fire, Fellin's defenders entered into negotiations. But Firstenberg did not want to give up and tried to force them to defend themselves in an impregnable castle inside the fortress. The garrison, which had not received pay for several months, refused to carry out the order. On August 21, the Fellins capitulated.

Having surrendered the city to the Russians, its rank and file defenders received a free exit. Important prisoners (including Firstenberg) were sent to Moscow. The released soldiers of the Fellin garrison reached Riga, where they were hanged by Master Kettler for treason. The fall of Fellin actually decided the fate of the Livonian Order. Desperate to defend himself from the Russians on his own, Ketler in 1561 transferred his lands to Polish-Lithuanian ownership. The northern regions with the center in Reval (before 1219 - Kolyvan, now Tallinn) recognized themselves as subjects of Sweden. According to the Treaty of Vilna (November 1561) Livonian Order ceased to exist, its territory was transferred to the joint possession of Lithuania and Poland, the last master of the order received the Duchy of Courland. Denmark also declared its claims to part of the order's lands, having occupied the islands of Hiuma and Saaremaa. As a result, the Russians faced a coalition of states in Livonia that did not want to give up their new possessions. Having not yet managed to capture a significant part of Livoni, including its main ports (Riga and Revel), Ivan IV found himself in an unfavorable situation. But he continued the fight, hoping to separate his opponents.

Second stage (1562-1569)

The Grand Duchy of Lithuania became the most implacable opponent of Ivan IV. She was not satisfied with the Russian seizure of Livonia, since in this case they would gain control over grain exports (via Riga) from the Principality of Lithuania to European countries. Lithuania and Poland were even more afraid of Russia's military strengthening due to its receipt of strategic goods from Europe through Livonian ports. The intransigence of the parties on the issue of dividing Livonia was also facilitated by their long-standing territorial claims against each other. The Polish-Lithuanian side also tried to seize northern Estonia in order to control all the Baltic trade routes leading to Russia. With such a policy, a clash was inevitable. By laying claim to Revel, Lithuania spoiled relations with Sweden. Ivan IV took advantage of this and concluded peace agreements with Sweden and Denmark. Having thus ensured the safety of the Narva port, the Russian Tsar decided to defeat his main competitor - the Principality of Lithuania.

In 1561-1562 hostilities between Lithuanians and Russians took place in Livonia. In 1561, Hetman Radziwill recaptured the Travast fortress from the Russians. But after the defeat at Pernau (Pernava, Pernov, now the city of Pärnu), he was forced to leave it. The next year passed in minor skirmishes and fruitless negotiations. In 1563, Ivan the Terrible himself took up the matter, leading the army. The goal of his campaign was Polotsk. The theater of war has moved to the territory Principality of Lithuania. The conflict with Lithuania significantly expanded the scope and goals of the war for Russia. The long-standing struggle for the return of ancient Russian lands was added to the battle for Livonia.

Capture of Polotsk (1563). In January 1563, the army of Ivan the Terrible (up to 130 thousand people) marched towards Polotsk. The choice of the purpose of the campaign was not accidental for a number of reasons. Firstly, Polotsk was rich shopping center, the capture of which promised great booty. Secondly, it was the most important strategic point on the Western Dvina, which had a direct connection with Riga. He also opened the road to Vilna and protected Livonia from the south. The political aspect was no less important. Polotsk was one of the princely centers of Ancient Rus', the lands of which were claimed by the Moscow sovereigns. There were also religious considerations. In Polotsk, which was located near Russian borders, large Jewish and Protestant communities settled. The spread of their influence within Russia seemed very undesirable for the Russian clergy.

The siege of Polotsk began on January 31, 1563. The power of Russian artillery played a decisive role in its capture. The volleys of its two hundred guns were so strong that the cannonballs, flying over the fortress wall on one side, struck from the inside on the opposite side. Cannon shots destroyed a fifth of the fortress walls. According to eyewitnesses, there was such cannon thunder that it seemed as if “the sky and the whole earth had fallen on the city.” Having taken the settlement, Russian troops besieged the castle. After the destruction of part of its walls by artillery fire, the defenders of the fortress surrendered on February 15, 1563. The wealth of the Polotsk treasury and arsenal were sent to Moscow, and the centers of other faiths were destroyed.
The capture of Polotsk became the greatest political and strategic success of Tsar Ivan the Terrible. “If Ivan IV had died... at the moment of his greatest successes on the Western Front, his preparation for the final conquest of Livonia, historical memory would have given him the name of a great conqueror, the creator of the world’s largest power, like Alexander the Great,” wrote historian R. Whipper. However, after Polotsk a series of military failures followed.

Battle of the Ulla River (1564). After unsuccessful negotiations with the Lithuanians, the Russians launched a new offensive in January 1564. The army of governor Peter Shuisky (20 thousand people) moved from Polotsk to Orsha to join there with the army of Prince Serebryany, which was coming from Vyazma. Shuisky did not take any precautions during the hike. There was no reconnaissance; people walked in discordant crowds without weapons or armor, which were carried on sleighs. Nobody thought about the Lithuanian attack. Meanwhile, the Lithuanian governors Trotsky and Radziwill received accurate information about the Russian army through spies. The governors waylaid him in a wooded area near the Ulla River (not far from Chashnikov) and unexpectedly attacked him on January 26, 1564 with a relatively small force (4 thousand people). Not having time to take the battle formation and properly arm themselves, Shuisky’s soldiers succumbed to panic and began to flee, abandoning their entire convoy (5 thousand carts). Shuisky paid for carelessness with his own life. The famous conqueror of Dorpat died in the ensuing beating. Having learned about the defeat of Shuisky’s army, Serebryany retreated from Orsha to Smolensk. Soon after the defeat at Ulla (in April 1564), a major Russian military leader, a close friend of Ivan the Terrible from his youth, Prince Andrei Mikhailovich Kurbsky, fled from Yuryev to the side of Lithuania.

Battle of Ozerishchi (1564). The next failure of the Russians was the battle near the town of Ozerishche (now Ezerishche) 60 km north of Vitebsk. Here, on July 22, 1564, the Lithuanian army of governor Pats (12 thousand people) defeated the army of governor Tokmakov (13 thousand people).
In the summer of 1564, the Russians set out from Nevel and besieged the Lithuanian fortress of Ozerische. An army under the command of Patz moved from Vitebsk to help the besieged. Tokmakov, hoping to easily deal with the Lithuanians, met them with only one of his cavalry. The Russians crushed the advanced Lithuanian squad, but could not withstand the blow of the main army approaching the battlefield and retreated in disarray, losing (according to Lithuanian data) 5 thousand people. After the defeat at Ulla and near Ozerishchi, Moscow’s onslaught on Lithuania was suspended for almost a hundred years.

Military failures contributed to Ivan the Terrible’s transition to a policy of repression against part of the feudal nobility, some of whose representatives at that time took the path of conspiracies and outright treason. Peace negotiations with Lithuania also resumed. She agreed to cede part of the lands (including Dorpat and Polotsk). But Russia did not gain access to the sea, which was the goal of the war. To discuss such an important issue, Ivan IV did not limit himself to the opinion of the boyars, but convened a Zemsky Sobor (1566). He firmly spoke out in favor of continuing the campaign. In 1568, the Lithuanian army of Hetman Chodkiewicz launched an offensive, but its onslaught was stopped by the persistent resistance of the garrison of the Ulla fortress (on the Ulla River).

Unable to cope with Moscow alone, Lithuania concluded the Union of Lublin with Poland (1569). According to it, both countries united into a single state - the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth. This was one of the most important and very negative results of the Livonian War for Russia, which influenced the further fate of Eastern Europe. With formal equality of both sides, the leading role in this unification belonged to Poland. Having emerged from behind Lithuania, Warsaw now becomes Moscow's main rival in the west, and the final (4th) stage of the Livonian War can be considered the first Russian-Polish war.

Third stage (1570-1576)

The combination of the potentials of Lithuania and Poland sharply reduced the chances of Grozny's success in this war. At that time, the situation on the southern borders of the country also seriously deteriorated. In 1569, the Turkish army marched on Astrakhan, trying to cut off Russia from the Caspian Sea and open the gates for expansion in the Volga region. Although the campaign ended in failure due to poor preparation, Crimean-Turkish military activity in this region did not decrease (see Russian-Crimean wars). Relations with Sweden also deteriorated. In 1568, King Eric XIV, who had developed friendly relations with Ivan the Terrible, was overthrown there. The new Swedish government has begun to worsen relations with Russia. Sweden established a naval blockade of the port of Narva, which made it difficult for Russia to purchase strategic goods. Having completed the war with Denmark in 1570, the Swedes began strengthening their positions in Livonia.

The deterioration of the foreign policy situation coincided with rising tensions within Russia. At that time, Ivan IV received news of a conspiracy by the Novgorod elite, who were going to surrender Novgorod and Pskov to Lithuania. Concerned by the news of separatism in the region located near military operations, the tsar at the beginning of 1570 set out on a campaign against Novgorod and carried out brutal reprisals there. People loyal to the authorities were sent to Pskov and Novgorod. A wide range of people were involved in the investigation into the “Novgorod case”: representatives of the boyars, clergy and even prominent guardsmen. In the summer of 1570, executions took place in Moscow.

In conditions of aggravation of the external and internal situation, Ivan IV is taking a new diplomatic move. He agrees to a truce with the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth and begins to fight the Swedes, trying to oust them from Livonia. The ease with which Warsaw agreed to a temporary reconciliation with Moscow was explained by the internal political situation in Poland. Lived there last days the elderly and childless king Sigismund Augustus. Expecting his imminent death and the election of a new king, the Poles sought not to aggravate relations with Russia. Moreover, Ivan the Terrible himself was considered in Warsaw one of the likely candidates for the Polish throne.

Having concluded a truce with Lithuania and Poland, the tsar opposes Sweden. In an effort to secure the neutrality of Denmark and the support of part of the Livonian nobility, Ivan decides to create a vassal kingdom in the lands of Livonia occupied by Moscow. The brother of the Danish king, Prince Magnus, becomes its ruler. Having created the Livonian kingdom dependent on Moscow, Ivan the Terrible and Magnus begin a new stage in the struggle for Livonia. This time the theater of military operations moves to the Swedish part of Estonia.

First siege of Revel (1570-1571). The main goal of Ivan IV in this area was the largest Baltic port of Revel (Tallinn). On August 23, 1570, Russian-German troops led by Magnus (over 25 thousand people) approached the Revel fortress. The townspeople who had accepted Swedish citizenship responded to the call to surrender and refused. The siege began. The Russians built wooden towers opposite the fortress gates, from which they fired at the city. However, this time it did not bring success. The besieged not only defended themselves, but also made bold forays, destroying siege structures. The number of besiegers was clearly insufficient to capture such a large city with powerful fortifications.
However, the Russian governors (Yakovlev, Lykov, Kropotkin) decided not to lift the siege. They hoped to achieve success in the winter, when the sea would be frozen and the Swedish fleet would not be able to supply reinforcements to the city. Without taking active action against the fortress, the Allied troops were engaged in devastation of the surrounding villages, turning the local population against themselves. Meanwhile, the Swedish fleet managed to deliver a lot of food and weapons to the Revelians before the cold weather, and they endured the siege without much need. On the other hand, the murmur increased among the besiegers, who did not want to endure the difficult winter conditions. After standing at Revel for 30 weeks, the Allies were forced to retreat.

Capture of Wittenstein (1572). After this, Ivan the Terrible changes tactics. Leaving Revel alone for the time being, he decides to first completely oust the Swedes from Estonia in order to finally cut off this port from the mainland. At the end of 1572, the king himself led the campaign. At the head of an 80,000-strong army, he besieges the Swedish stronghold in central Estonia - the Wittenstein fortress ( modern city Paide). After a powerful artillery shelling, the city was taken by a fierce attack, during which the Tsar’s favorite, the famous guardsman Malyuta Skuratov, died. According to the Livonian chronicles, the king, in a rage, ordered the burning of captured Germans and Swedes. After the capture of Wittenstein, Ivan IV returned to Novgorod.

Battle of Lod (1573). But hostilities continued, and in the spring of 1573, Russian troops under the command of Voivode Mstislavsky (16 thousand people) met in an open field, near Lode Castle (Western Estonia), with the Swedish detachment of General Klaus Tott (2 thousand people). Despite their significant numerical superiority (according to the Livonian chronicles), the Russians were unable to successfully resist the military art of the Swedish warriors and suffered a crushing defeat. The news of the failure at Lod, which coincided with the uprising in the Kazan region, forced Tsar Ivan the Terrible to temporarily stop hostilities in Livonia and enter into peace negotiations with the Swedes.

Fighting in Estonia (1575-1577). In 1575, a partial truce was concluded with the Swedes. It assumed that until 1577 the theater of military operations between Russia and Sweden would be limited to the Baltic states and would not spread to other areas (primarily Karelia). Thus, Grozny was able to concentrate all his efforts on the fight for Estonia. During the campaign of 1575-1576. Russian troops, with the support of Magnus's supporters, managed to take possession of all of Western Estonia. The central event of this campaign was the capture by the Russians at the end of 1575 of the Pernov (Pärnu) fortress, where they lost 7 thousand people during the assault. (according to Livonian data). After the fall of Pernov, the remaining fortresses surrendered almost without resistance. Thus, by the end of 1576, the Russians had virtually captured all of Estonia, with the exception of Revel. The population, tired of the long war, rejoiced at peace. It is interesting that after the voluntary surrender of the powerful Gabsal fortress, local residents staged dances that so amazed the Moscow nobles. According to a number of historians, the Russians were amazed at this and said: “What a strange people the Germans are! If we, the Russians, had surrendered such a city without need, we would not have dared to raise our eyes to honest man, and our king did not know what execution to execute us with. And you Germans celebrate your shame."

Second siege of Revel (1577). Having captured all of Estonia, the Russians again approached Revel in January 1577. The troops of governors Mstislavsky and Sheremetev (50 thousand people) arrived here. The city was defended by a garrison led by the Swedish general Horn. This time the Swedes prepared even more thoroughly to defend their main stronghold. Suffice it to say that the besieged had five times more guns than the besiegers. For six weeks, the Russians bombarded Revel, hoping to set it on fire with hot cannonballs. However, the townspeople took successful measures against fires, creating a special team that monitored the flight and fall of shells. For its part, the Revel artillery responded with even more powerful fire, inflicting brutal damage on the besiegers. One of the leaders of the Russian army, Voivode Sheremetev, who promised the Tsar to take Revel or die, also died from a cannonball. The Russians attacked the fortifications three times, but each time without success. In response, the Revel garrison made bold and frequent forays, preventing serious siege work.

The active defense of the Revelians, as well as cold and disease, led to significant losses in the Russian army. On March 13, it was forced to lift the siege. When leaving, the Russians burned their camp, and then told the besieged that they were not saying goodbye forever, promising to return sooner or later. After the siege was lifted, the Revel garrison and local residents raided the Russian garrisons in Estonia, which, however, was soon stopped by the approach of troops under the command of Ivan the Terrible. However, the king no longer moved to Revel, but to the Polish possessions in Livonia. There were reasons for this.

Fourth stage (1577-1583)

In 1572, the childless Polish king Sigismund Augustus died in Warsaw. With his death, the Jagiellon dynasty ended in Poland. The election of a new king dragged on for four years. Anarchy and political anarchy in the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth temporarily made it easier for the Russians to fight for the Baltic states. During this period, Moscow diplomacy was actively working to bring the Russian Tsar to the Polish throne. The candidacy of Ivan the Terrible enjoyed some popularity among the small nobility, who were interested in him as a ruler capable of ending the dominance of the large aristocracy. In addition, the Lithuanian nobility hoped to weaken Polish influence with the help of Grozny. Many in Lithuania and Poland were impressed by the rapprochement with Russia for joint defense against the expansion of Crimea and Turkey.

At the same time, in the choice of Ivan the Terrible, Warsaw saw a convenient opportunity for the peaceful subjugation of the Russian state and the opening of its borders for Polish noble colonization. This, for example, has already happened with the lands of the Grand Duchy of Lithuania under the terms of the Union of Lublin. In turn, Ivan IV sought the Polish throne primarily for the peaceful annexation of Kyiv and Livonia to Russia, with which Warsaw categorically disagreed. The difficulties of uniting such polar interests ultimately led to the failure of the Russian candidacy. In 1576, the Transylvanian prince Stefan Batory was elected to the Polish throne. This choice destroyed the hopes of Moscow diplomacy for a peaceful solution to the Livonian dispute. In parallel, the government of Ivan IV negotiated with the Austrian Emperor Maximilian II, trying to obtain his support for the termination of the Union of Lublin and the separation of Lithuania from Poland. But Maximilian refused to recognize Russia's rights to the Baltic states, and the negotiations ended in vain.

However, Batory did not meet with unanimous support in the country. Some regions, primarily Danzig, refused to unconditionally recognize him. Taking advantage of the unrest that broke out on this basis, Ivan IV tried to annex southern Livonia before it was too late. In the summer of 1577, the troops of the Russian Tsar and his ally Magnus, violating the truce with the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth, invaded the southeastern regions of Livonia controlled by Poland. The few Polish units of Hetman Khodkevich did not dare to engage in battle and retreated beyond the Western Dvina. Without encountering strong resistance, the troops of Ivan the Terrible and Magnus captured the main fortresses in southeastern Livonia by the fall. Thus, all of Livonia north of the Western Dvina (with the exception of the areas of Riga and Revel) came under the control of the Russian Tsar. The campaign of 1577 was the last major military success of Ivan the Terrible in the Livonian War.

The tsar's hopes for long-term unrest in Poland were not justified. Batory turned out to be an energetic and decisive ruler. He besieged Danzig and obtained an oath from the local residents. Having suppressed internal opposition, he was able to direct all his forces to the fight against Moscow. Having created a well-armed, professional army of mercenaries (Germans, Hungarians, French), he also concluded an alliance with Turkey and Crimea. This time, Ivan IV was unable to separate his opponents and found himself alone in the face of strong hostile powers, whose borders stretched from the Don steppes to Karelia. In total, these countries surpassed Russia both in population and military power. True, in the south the situation after the terrible years of 1571-1572. somewhat discharged. In 1577, the irreconcilable enemy of Moscow, Khan Devlet-Girey, died. His son was more peaceful. However, the peacefulness of the new khan was partly explained by the fact that his main patron, Turkey, was at that time busy with a bloody war with Iran.
In 1578, the governors of Bathory invaded southeastern Livonia and managed to recapture from the Russians almost all of their conquests of the previous year. This time the Poles acted in concert with the Swedes, who almost simultaneously attacked Narva. With this turn of events, King Magnus betrayed Grozny and went over to the side of the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth. An attempt by Russian troops to organize a counteroffensive near Wenden ended in failure.

Battle of Wenden (1578). In October, Russian troops under the command of governors Ivan Golitsyn, Vasily Tyumensky, Khvorostinin and others (18 thousand people) tried to recapture Wenden (now the Latvian city of Cesis) taken by the Poles. But arguing about which of them was more important, they lost time. This allowed the Polish troops of Hetman Sapieha to connect with the Swedish detachment of General Boe and arrive in time to help the besieged. Golitsyn decided to retreat, but the Poles and Swedes on October 21, 1578 decisively attacked his army, which barely had time to line up. The Tatar cavalry was the first to falter. Unable to withstand the fire, she fled. After this, the Russian army retreated to its fortified camp and fired back from there until dark. At night, Golitsyn and his associates fled to Dorpat. The remnants of his army followed.
The honor of the Russian army was saved by the artillerymen under the command of the okolnichy Vasily Fedorovich Vorontsov. They did not abandon their guns and remained on the battlefield, deciding to fight to the end. The next day, the surviving heroes, who were joined by the troops of governors Vasily Sitsky, Danilo Saltykov and Mikhail Tyufikin who decided to support their comrades, entered into battle with the entire Polish-Swedish army. Having shot the ammunition and not wanting to surrender, the Russian artillerymen hanged themselves with their guns. According to the Livonian chronicles, the Russians lost 6,022 people killed near Wenden.

The defeat at Wenden forced Ivan the Terrible to seek peace with Batory. Having resumed peace negotiations with the Poles, the tsar decided in the summer of 1579 to strike at the Swedes and finally take Revel. Troops and heavy siege artillery were assembled for the march to Novgorod. But Batory did not want peace and was preparing to continue the war. Determining the direction of the main attack, the Polish king rejected proposals to go to Livonia, where there were many fortresses and Russian troops (up to 100 thousand people). Fighting under such conditions could cost his army great losses. In addition, he believed that in Livonia, devastated by many years of war, he would not find enough food and booty for his mercenaries. He decided to strike where he was not expected and take possession of Polotsk. By this, the king provided a safe rear for his positions in southeastern Livonia and received an important springboard for the campaign against Russia.

Defense of Polotsk (1579). At the beginning of August 1579, Batory’s army (30-50 thousand people) appeared under the walls of Polotsk. Simultaneously with his campaign, Swedish troops invaded Karelia. For three weeks, Batory's troops tried to set fire to the fortress with artillery fire. But the defenders of the city, led by governors Telyatevsky, Volynsky and Shcherbaty, successfully extinguished the fires that arose. This was also favored by the established rainy weather. Then the Polish king, with the promise of high rewards and booty, persuaded his Hungarian mercenaries to storm the fortress. On August 29, 1579, taking advantage of a clear and windy day, the Hungarian infantry rushed to the walls of Polotsk and, using torches, managed to light them. Then the Hungarians, supported by the Poles, rushed through the flaming walls of the fortress. But its defenders had already managed to dig a ditch in this place. When the attackers burst into the fortress, they were stopped at the ditch by a salvo of cannons. Having suffered heavy losses, Batory's warriors retreated. But this failure did not stop the mercenaries. Seduced by the legends about the enormous wealth stored in the fortress, the Hungarian soldiers, reinforced by German infantry, again rushed to attack. But this time too the fierce assault was repulsed.
Meanwhile, Ivan the Terrible, having interrupted the campaign against Revel, sent part of the search to repel the Swedish onslaught in Karelia. The tsar ordered the detachments under the command of governors Shein, Lykov and Palitsky to rush to the aid of Polotsk. However, the governors did not dare to engage in battle with the Polish vanguard sent against them and retreated to the area of ​​​​the Sokol fortress. Having lost faith in the help of their search, the besieged no longer hoped for the protection of their dilapidated fortifications. Part of the garrison, led by Voivode Volynsky, entered into negotiations with the king, which ended with the surrender of Polotsk on the condition of free exit for all military men. Other governors, together with Bishop Cyprian, locked themselves in the Church of St. Sophia and were captured after stubborn resistance. Some of those who voluntarily surrendered went into the service of Batory. But the majority, despite the fear of reprisals from Ivan the Terrible, chose to return home to Russia (the tsar did not touch them and placed them in border garrisons). The capture of Polotsk brought a turning point in the Livonian War. From now on, the strategic initiative passed to the Polish troops.

Defense of the Falcon (1579). Having taken Polotsk, Batory on September 19, 1579 besieged the Sokol fortress. The number of its defenders by that time had decreased significantly, since the detachments of Don Cossacks, sent along with Shein to Polotsk, left without permission for the Don. During a series of battles, Batory managed to defeat the manpower of the Moscow army and take the city. On September 25, after heavy shelling by Polish artillery, the fortress was engulfed in fire. Its defenders, unable to stand in the burning fortress, made a desperate sally, but were repulsed and, after a fierce battle, ran back to the fortress. A detachment of German mercenaries burst in behind them. But the Falcon’s defenders managed to slam the gate behind him. Lowering the iron bars, they cut off the German detachment from the main forces. Inside the fortress, in fire and smoke, a terrible battle began. At this time, the Poles and Lithuanians rushed to the aid of their comrades who were in the fortress. The attackers broke the gate and burst into the burning Falcon. In a ruthless battle, his garrison was almost completely destroyed. Only governor Sheremetev and a small detachment were captured. Voivodes Shein, Palitsky and Lykov died in a battle outside the city. According to the testimony of the old mercenary, Colonel Weyer, in none of the battles did he see so many corpses lying in such a limited space. They were counted up to 4 thousand. The chronicle testifies to terrible abuses of the dead. Thus, German women sippers were cut out of dead bodies fat for making some kind of healing ointment. After the capture of Sokol, Batory carried out a devastating raid on the Smolensk and Seversk regions, and then returned, ending the campaign of 1579.

So, this time Ivan the Terrible had to expect attacks on a wide front. This forced him to stretch his forces, thinned out during the war years, from Karelia to Smolensk. In addition, a large Russian group was located in Livonia, where Russian nobles received lands and started families. Many troops stood on the southern borders, expecting an attack by the Crimeans. In a word, the Russians could not concentrate all their forces to repel Batory’s onslaught. The Polish king also had another serious advantage. It's about about the quality of combat training of his soldiers. The main role in Batory’s army was played by professional infantry, which had a wealth of experience in European wars. She was trained modern methods fighting with firearms, possessed the art of maneuver and interaction of all types of troops. Of great (sometimes decisive) importance was the fact that the army was personally led by King Batory - not only a skillful politician, but also a professional commander.
In the Russian army, the main role continued to be played by the mounted and foot militia, which had a low degree of organization and discipline. In addition, the dense masses of cavalry that formed the basis of the Russian army were highly vulnerable to infantry and artillery fire. There were relatively few regular, well-trained units (streltsy, gunners) in the Russian army. Therefore, the overall significant number did not at all indicate its strength. On the contrary, large masses of insufficiently disciplined and united people could more easily succumb to panic and flee from the battlefield. This was evidenced by the generally unsuccessful field battles of this war for the Russians (at Ulla, Ozerishchi, Lod, Wenden, etc.). It is no coincidence that Moscow governors sought to avoid battles in the open field, especially with Batory.
The combination of these unfavorable factors, along with the increase in internal problems (impoverishment of the peasantry, the agrarian crisis, financial difficulties, the fight against the opposition, etc.), predetermined Russia’s failure in the Livonian War. The last weight thrown on the scales of the titanic confrontation was the military talent of King Batory, who turned the tide of the war and snatched the treasured fruit of his many years of efforts from the tenacious hands of the Russian Tsar.

Defense of Velikiye Luki (1580). The following year, Batory continued his attack on Russia in a northeast direction. By this he sought to cut off Russian communications with Livonia. Starting the campaign, the king harbored hopes that part of society would be dissatisfied with the repressive policies of Ivan the Terrible. But the Russians did not respond to the king's calls to rebel against their king. At the end of August 1580, Batory’s army (50 thousand people) besieged Velikiye Luki, which covered the path to Novgorod from the south. The city was defended by a garrison led by governor Voeikov (6-7 thousand people). 60 km east of Velikiye Luki, in Toropets, there was a large Russian army of governor Khilkov. But he did not dare to go to the aid of Velikiye Luki and limited himself to individual sabotage, waiting for reinforcements.
Meanwhile, Batory began an attack on the fortress. The besieged responded with bold forays, during one of which they captured the royal banner. Finally, the besiegers managed to set fire to the fortress with red-hot cannonballs. But even under these conditions, its defenders continued to fight valiantly, wrapping themselves in wet skins to protect themselves from fire. On September 5, the fire reached the fortress arsenal, where gunpowder reserves were located. Their explosion destroyed part of the walls, which made it possible for Batory's soldiers to break into the fortress. The fierce battle continued inside the fortress. Almost all the defenders of Velikie Luki fell in a merciless massacre, including the governor Voeikov.

Battle of Toropets (1580). Having captured Velikiye Luki, the king sent a detachment of Prince Zbarazhsky against the governor Khilkov, who stood inactive at Toropets. On October 1, 1580, the Poles attacked the Russian regiments and won. The defeat of Khilkov deprived the southern regions of the Novgorod lands of protection and allowed the Polish-Lithuanian troops to continue military operations in this area in the winter. In February 1581 they made a raid on Lake Ilmen. During the raid, the city of Kholm was captured and Staraya Russa was burned. In addition, the fortresses of Nevel, Ozerishche and Zavolochye were taken. Thus, the Russians were not only completely ousted from the possessions of Rech Postolitaya, but also lost significant territories on their western borders. These successes ended Batory's campaign in 1580.

Battle of Nastasino (1580). When Batory took Velikiye Luki, a 9,000-strong Polish-Lithuanian detachment of the local military leader Philo, who had already declared himself the governor of Smolensk, set out for Smolensk from Orsha. Having passed through the Smolensk regions, he planned to unite with Batory at Velikiye Luki. In October 1580, Philon’s detachment was met and attacked near the village of Nastasino (7 km from Smolensk) by the Russian regiments of the governor Buturlin. Under their onslaught, the Polish-Lithuanian army retreated to the convoy. At night, Philo left his fortifications and began to retreat. Acting energetically and persistently, Buturlin organized the persecution. Having overtaken Philo’s units 40 versts from Smolensk, on Spassky Meadows, the Russians again decisively attacked the Polish-Lithuanian army and inflicted a complete defeat on it. 10 guns and 370 prisoners were captured. According to the chronicle, Philo himself “barely fled into the forest on foot.” This single major Russian victory in the 1580 campaign protected Smolensk from Polish-Lithuanian attack.

Defense of Padis (1580). Meanwhile, the Swedes renewed their onslaught in Estonia. In October - December 1580, the Swedish army besieged Padis (now the Estonian city of Paldiski). The fortress was defended by a small Russian garrison led by governor Danila Chikharev. Deciding to defend himself to the last extreme, Chikharev ordered to kill the Swedish envoy who came with a proposal to surrender. Lacking food supplies, the defenders of Padis suffered terrible hunger. They ate all the dogs and cats, and at the end of the siege they ate straw and skins. Nevertheless, the Russian garrison steadfastly held back the onslaught of the Swedish army for 13 weeks. Only after the third month of the siege did the Swedes manage to take the fortress by storm, which was defended by half-dead ghosts. After the fall of Padis, its defenders were exterminated. The capture of Padis by the Swedes put an end to the Russian presence in the western part of Estonia.

Pskov defense (1581). In 1581, having with difficulty obtained the consent of the Sejm for a new campaign, Batory moved to Pskov. The main connection between Moscow and the Livonian lands was through this largest city. By capturing Pskov, the king planned to finally cut off the Russians from Livonia and victoriously end the war. On August 18, 1581, Batory’s army (from 50 to 100 thousand people, according to various sources) approached Pskov. The fortress was defended by up to 30 thousand archers and armed townspeople under the command of governors Vasily and Ivan Shuisky.
The general attack began on September 8. The attackers managed to break through the fortress wall with gunfire and take possession of the Svinaya and Pokrovskaya towers. But the defenders of the city, led by the brave commander Ivan Shuisky, blew up the Pig Tower occupied by the Poles, and then drove them out of all positions and sealed the breach. In the battle at the breach, courageous Pskov women came to the aid of the men, bringing water and ammunition to their warriors, and at a critical moment they themselves rushed into hand-to-hand combat. Having lost 5 thousand people, Batory’s army retreated. The losses of the besieged amounted to 2.5 thousand people.
Then the king sent a message to the besieged with the words: “Surrender peacefully: you will have honor and mercy, which you will not deserve from the Moscow tyrant, and the people will receive a benefit unknown in Russia... In case of insane stubbornness, death to you and the people!” The answer of the Pskovites has been preserved, conveying through the centuries the appearance of the Russians of that era.

“Let your Majesty, the proud Lithuanian ruler, King Stefan, know that in Pskov even a five-year-old Christian child will laugh at your madness... What is the benefit for a person to love darkness more than light, or dishonor more than honor, or bitter slavery more than freedom? The better to leave us your holy Christian faith and submit to your mold? And what gain of honor is there in leaving our sovereign to us and submitting to a foreigner of other faiths and becoming like the Jews?.. Or do you think to deceive us with crafty affection or empty flattery or vain wealth? But also the whole world's treasures We don't want a kiss on the cross, with which we swore allegiance to our sovereign. And why are you, king, frightening us with bitter and shameful deaths? If God is for us, then no one is against us! We are all ready to die for our faith and for our sovereign, but we will not surrender city ​​of Pskov... Prepare for battle with us, and God will show who will defeat whom.”

A worthy response from the Pskovites finally destroyed Batory’s hopes of taking advantage of Russia’s internal difficulties. Having information about the opposition sentiments of part of Russian society, the Polish king did not have real information about the opinion of the overwhelming majority of the people. It did not bode well for the invaders. In the campaigns of 1580-1581. Batory met stubborn resistance, which he did not count on. Having become acquainted with the Russians in practice, the king noted that they “in defense of cities do not think about life, they calmly take the place of the dead... and block the gap with their breasts, fighting day and night, eating only bread, dying of hunger, but not surrendering.” . The defense of Pskov revealed and weak side mercenary army. Russians died defending their land. Mercenaries fought for money. Having met persistent resistance, they decided to save themselves for other wars. In addition, the maintenance of a mercenary army required huge funds from the Polish treasury, which by that time was already empty.
On November 2, 1581, a new assault took place. He did not have the same drive and also failed. During the siege, the Pskovites destroyed tunnels and made 46 bold forays. At the same time as Pskov, the Pskov-Pechersky Monastery was heroically defended, where 200 archers led by Voivode Nechaev, together with the monks, managed to repel the onslaught of a detachment of Hungarian and German mercenaries.

Yam-Zapolsky Truce (concluded on January 15, 1582 near Zapolsky Yam, south of Pskov). With the onset of cold weather, the mercenary army began to lose discipline and demand an end to the war. The Battle of Pskov became the final chord of Batory’s campaigns. It represents a rare example of a successfully completed defense of a fortress without outside help. Having failed to achieve success near Pskov, the Polish king was forced to begin peace negotiations. Poland did not have the means to continue the war and borrowed money abroad. After Pskov, Batory could no longer get a loan secured by his successes. The Russian Tsar also no longer hoped for a favorable outcome of the war and was in a hurry to take advantage of the Poles’ difficulties in order to get out of the battle with the least losses. On January 6 (15), 1582, the Yam-Zapolsky Truce was concluded. The Polish king renounced claims to Russian territories, including Novgorod and Smolensk. Russia ceded the Livonian lands and Polotsk to Poland.

Defense of Oreshok (1582). While Batory was fighting with Russia, the Swedes, having strengthened their army with Scottish mercenaries, continued their offensive operations. In 1581 they finally ousted Russian troops from Estonia. Narva was the last to fall, where 7 thousand Russians died. Then the Swedish army under the command of General Pontus Delagari transferred military operations to Russian territory, capturing Ivangorod, Yam and Koporye. But the Swedes' attempt to take Oreshek (now Petrokrepost) in September - October 1582 ended in failure. The fortress was defended by a garrison under the command of the governors Rostovsky, Sudakov and Khvostov. Delagardie tried to take Oreshek on the move, but the defenders of the fortress repelled the attack. Despite the setback, the Swedes did not retreat. October 8, 1582 strong storm they launched a decisive assault on the fortress. They managed to break the fortress wall in one place and break in. But they were stopped by a bold counterattack by parts of the garrison. The autumn flood of the Neva and its strong excitement that day did not allow Delagardie to send reinforcements to the units that broke into the fortress in time. As a result, they were killed by the defenders of Oreshok and thrown into a stormy river.

Truce of Plyussa (concluded on the Plyussa River in August 1583). At that time, Russian cavalry regiments under the command of Voivode Shuisky were already rushing from Novgorod to help the besieged. Having learned about the movement of fresh forces to Oreshek, Delagardi lifted the siege of the fortress and left Russian possessions. In 1583, the Russians concluded the Truce of Plus with Sweden. The Swedes retained not only Estonian lands, but also captured Russian cities: Ivangorod, Yam, Koporye, Korela and their districts.

Thus ended the 25-year Livonian War. Its completion did not bring peace to the Baltic states, which henceforth for a long time became the object of bitter rivalry between Poland and Sweden. This struggle seriously distracted both powers from affairs in the east. As for Russia, its interest in accessing the Baltic has not disappeared. Moscow was accumulating strength and biding its time until Peter the Great completed the work begun by Ivan the Terrible.

By Russian troops (1577), the troops of the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth returned Polotsk and unsuccessfully besieged Pskov. The Swedes took Narva and unsuccessfully besieged Oreshek.

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

In Russian historical science, since the 19th century, the idea of ​​war as Russia’s struggle for access to the Baltic Sea has been established. A number of modern scientists name other reasons for the conflict.

The Livonian War had a huge impact on events in Eastern Europe and the internal affairs of the states involved. As a result, the Livonian Order ended its existence, the war contributed to the formation of the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth, and the Russian Empire led to economic decline.

The disunity and military weakness of Livonia (according to some estimates, the Order could field no more than 10 thousand soldiers in open battle), the weakening of the once powerful Hansa, the expansionist aspirations of the Polish-Lithuanian Union, Sweden, Denmark and Russia led to a situation in which the existence of the Livonian Confederation was threatened .

Proponents of another approach believe that Ivan IV did not plan to start a large-scale war in Livonia, and the military campaign of early 1558 was nothing more than a show of force in order to push the Livonians to pay the promised tribute, supported by the fact that the Russian army was originally planned to be used on Crimean direction. Thus, according to historian Alexander Filyushkin, on the Russian side, the war did not have the character of a “struggle for the sea,” and not a single Russian document contemporary with events contains information about the need to break through to the sea.

Also important is the fact that in 1557 the Livonian Confederation and the Polish-Lithuanian Union concluded the Pozvol Treaty, which grossly violated the Russian-Livonian treaties of 1554 and included an article on a defensive-offensive alliance directed against Moscow. In historiography, both contemporaries of those events (I. Renner) and later researchers have the opinion that it was that treaty that provoked Ivan IV into decisive military action in January 1558, in order to prevent time for the Kingdom of Poland and the Grand Duchy of Lithuania to mobilize their forces to secure their Livonia.

However, a number of other historians believe that the Pozvolsky Treaty had little influence on the development of the situation in 1558 around Livonia. According to V. E. Popov and A. I. Filyushkin, the question of whether the Pozvolsky Treaty was case belli for Moscow is controversial, since it has not yet been substantiated by legislative material, and the military alliance against Moscow at that time was postponed for 12 years. According to E. Tiberg, Moscow at that time did not know at all about the existence of this agreement. V.V. Penskoy believes that in this matter it is not so important whether the fact of concluding the Pozvolsky Treaty case belli for Moscow, which, as the cause of the Livonian War, went in conjunction with others, such as the open intervention of Poland and Lithuania in Livonian affairs, the non-payment of the “Yuriev tribute” by the Livonians, the strengthening of the blockade of the Russian state, and so on, which inevitably led to war.

By the beginning of the war, the Livonian Order was further weakened by defeat in the conflict with the Archbishop of Riga and Sigismund II Augustus, who supported him. On the other hand, Russia gained strength after the annexation of the Kazan and Astrakhan khanates, Bashkiria, the Great Nogai Horde, the Cossacks and Kabarda.

The Russian kingdom began the war on January 17, 1558. The invasion of Russian troops in January-February 1558 into the Livonian lands was a reconnaissance raid. 40 thousand people took part in it under the command of Khan Shig-Aley (Shah-Ali), governor M.V. Glinsky and D.R. Zakharyin-Yuryev. They walked through the eastern part of Estonia and returned back by the beginning of March [ ] . The Russian side motivated this campaign solely by the desire to receive due tribute from Livonia. The Livonian Landtag decided to collect 60 thousand thalers for settlements with Moscow in order to end the war that had begun. However, by May only half of the declared amount had been collected. In addition, the Narva garrison fired at the Ivangorod fortress, thereby violating the armistice agreement.

This time a more powerful army moved to Livonia. The Livonian Confederation at that time could put no more than 10 thousand people in the field, not counting the fortress garrisons. Thus, its main military asset was the powerful stone walls of the fortresses, which by this time could no longer effectively withstand the power of heavy siege weapons.

Voivodes Alexey Basmanov and Danila Adashev arrived in Ivangorod. In April 1558, Russian troops besieged Narva. The fortress was defended by a garrison under the command of the knight Focht Schnellenberg. On May 11, a fire broke out in the city, accompanied by a storm (according to the Nikon Chronicle, the fire occurred due to the fact that drunken Livonians threw an Orthodox icon of the Mother of God into the fire). Taking advantage of the fact that the guards had left the city walls, the Russians rushed to storm.

“Very vile, terrible, hitherto unheard of, true new news, what atrocities the Muscovites commit with captive Christians from Livonia, men and women, virgins and children, and what harm they cause them daily in their country. Along the way, it is shown what the great danger and need of the Livonians lies. “Written from Livonia and printed for all Christians to warn and improve their sinful lives,” Georg Breslein, Nuremberg, "Flying Leaf", 1561

They broke through the gates and took possession of the lower city. Having captured the guns located there, the warriors turned them around and opened fire on the upper castle, preparing the stairs for the attack. However, by the evening the defenders of the castle themselves surrendered on the condition of free exit from the city.

The defense of the Neuhausen fortress was particularly tenacious. It was defended by several hundred warriors led by the knight von Padenorm, who repelled the onslaught of the governor Peter Shuisky for almost a month. On June 30, 1558, after the destruction of the fortress walls and towers by Russian artillery, the Germans retreated to the upper castle. Von Padenorm expressed a desire to hold the defense here too, but the surviving defenders of the fortress refused to continue their pointless resistance. As a sign of respect for their courage, Pyotr Shuisky allowed them to leave the fortress with honor.

In 1560, the Russians resumed hostilities and won a number of victories: Marienburg (now Aluksne in Latvia) was taken; German forces were defeated at Ermes, after which Fellin (now Viljandi in Estonia) was taken. The Livonian Confederation collapsed. During the capture of Fellin, the former Livonian landmaster of the Teutonic Order, Wilhelm von Furstenberg, was captured. In 1575, he sent his brother a letter from Yaroslavl, where the former landmaster had been granted land. He told a relative that he “has no reason to complain about his fate.” Sweden and Lithuania, who acquired the Livonian lands, demanded that Moscow remove troops from their territory. Ivan the Terrible refused, and Russia found itself in conflict with the coalition of Lithuania and Sweden.

In the autumn of 1561, the Union of Vilna was concluded on the formation of the Duchy of Courland and Semigallia on the territory of Livonia and the transfer of other lands to the Grand Duchy of Lithuania.

On November 26, 1561, the German Emperor Ferdinand I banned supplies to the Russians through the port of Narva. Eric XIV, King of Sweden, blockaded the port of Narva and sent Swedish privateers to intercept merchant ships sailing to Narva.

In 1562, there was a raid by Lithuanian troops on the Smolensk and Velizh regions. In the summer of the same year, the situation on the southern borders of the Russian kingdom worsened [com 4], which moved the timing of the Russian offensive in Livonia to the fall. In 1562, in the battle of Nevel, Prince Andrei Kurbsky failed to defeat the Lithuanian detachment that invaded the Pskov region. On August 7, a peace treaty was signed between Russia and Denmark, according to which the Tsar agreed with the Danish annexation of the island of Oesel.

In response to the proposal of the German Emperor Ferdinand to conclude an alliance and join forces in the fight against the Turks, the Tsar declared 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 Habsburg policy. By speaking out against “Luther’s teaching,” Ivan the Terrible touched a very sensitive chord in Habsburg politics.

After the capture of Polotsk, there was a decline in Russia's successes in the Livonian War. Already the Russians suffered a number of defeats (Battle of Chashniki). A boyar and a major military leader, who actually commanded the Russian troops in the West, Prince A. M. Kurbsky, went over to the side of Lithuania; he betrayed the king’s agents in the Baltic states to the king and participated in the Lithuanian raid on Velikiye Luki.

Tsar Ivan the Terrible responded to military failures and the reluctance of eminent boyars to fight against Lithuania with repressions against the boyars. In 1565, the oprichnina was introduced. In 1566, a Lithuanian embassy arrived in Moscow, proposing to divide Livonia on the basis of the situation existing at that time. The Zemsky Sobor, convened at this time, supported the intention of the government of Ivan the Terrible to fight in the Baltic states until the capture of Riga.

A difficult situation has developed in the north of Russia, where relations with Sweden have again become strained, 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 onset of a long-term “kinglessness” in the Republic of Both Nations and 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 made it possible to tip the scales in favor of Russia. [ ]

In order to interrupt the growing trade turnover of Narva, which was under Russian control, Poland, followed by Sweden, launched active privateering activities in the Baltic Sea. In 1570, measures were taken to protect Russian trade on the Baltic Sea. Ivan the Terrible issued a “royal letter of marque” (patent of marque) to the Dane Carsten Rohde. Despite the short period of activity, Rode's actions were quite effective, reducing Swedish and Polish trade in the Baltic, forcing Sweden and Poland to equip special squadrons to capture Rode. [ ]

In 1575, the Sage fortress surrendered to the army of Magnus, and Pernov (now Pärnu in Estonia) surrendered to the Russians. After the campaign of 1576, Russia captured the entire coast except Riga and Revel.

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 (economic ruin looming over the country) negatively influenced the further course of the war for Russia. [ ]

The Tsar's ambassador John Kobenzel testified about the complex relations between the Moscow state and the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth in 1575: [ ]

Poles on a dark night
Before the very Intercession,
With a hired squad
They sit in front of the fire.

Filled with courage
The Poles are twirling their mustaches,
They came in a band
To destroy Holy Rus'.

On January 23, 1577, a 50,000-strong Russian army again besieged Revel, but failed to take the fortress. In February 1578, Nuncio Vincent Laureo reported with alarm to Rome: “The Muscovite divided his army into two parts: one is expected near Riga, the other near Vitebsk.” By this time, all of Livonia along the Dvina, with the exception of only two cities - Revel and Riga, was in the hands of the Russians [ ] . At the end of the 70s, Ivan IV began building his military fleet in Vologda and tried to transfer it to the Baltic, but the plan was not implemented.

In 1578, a Russian army under the command of Prince Dmitry Khvorostinin took the city of Oberpalen, occupied by a strong Swedish garrison after the flight of King Magnus. In 1579, the royal messenger Wenceslaus Lopatinsky brought the king a letter from Batory declaring war. Already in August Polish army surrounded Polotsk. The garrison defended itself for three weeks, and its bravery was noted by Batory himself. In the end, the fortress surrendered (August 30), and the garrison was released. Stephen's secretary Bathory Heidenstein writes about the prisoners:

According to the institutions of their religion, they consider loyalty to the Sovereign to be as obligatory as loyalty to God; they extol with praise the firmness of those who kept their oath to their prince until their last breath, and say that their souls, having parted with their bodies, immediately move to heaven. [ ]

However, “many archers and other Moscow people” went over to Batory’s side and were settled by him in the Grodno region. Following this, Batory moved to Velikiye Luki and took them.

At the same time, direct peace negotiations were underway with Poland. Ivan the Terrible proposed giving Poland all of Livonia, with the exception of four cities. Batory did not agree to this and demanded all Livonian cities, in addition Sebezh, and payment of 400,000 Hungarian gold for military costs. This infuriated Grozny, and he responded with a sharp letter.

Polish and Lithuanian troops ravaged the Smolensk region, the Seversk land, the Ryazan region, the southwest of the Novgorod region, and plundered Russian lands right up to the upper reaches of the Volga. The Lithuanian voivode Philon Kmita from Orsha burned 2,000 villages in the western Russian lands and captured a huge [ ] . Lithuanian magnates Ostrozhsky and Vishnevetsky, with the help of light cavalry units, plundered

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

BEGINNING OF THE LIVONIAN WAR

In those same years, there was a truce with the Livonian land, and ambassadors came from them with a request to make peace. Our king began to remember that they had not paid tribute for fifty years, which they owed to his grandfather. The Lifoyandians did not want to pay that tribute. Because of this, the war started. Our king then sent us, three great commanders, and with us other stratilates and an army of forty thousand, not to acquire lands and cities, but to conquer all their land. We fought for a whole month and did not encounter resistance anywhere, only one city held its defense, but we took that too. We crossed their land with battles for four dozen miles and left the great city of Pskov into the land of Livonia almost unharmed, and then quite quickly reached Ivangorod, which stands on the border of their lands. We carried with us a lot of wealth, because the land there was rich and the inhabitants were very proud, they abandoned the Christian faith and the good customs of their forefathers and rushed all along the wide and spacious path leading to drunkenness and other intemperance, they became devoted to laziness and long sleep, to lawlessness and internecine bloodshed, following evil teachings and deeds. And I think that because of this God did not allow them to be at peace 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 even 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 ability, show passion-suffering, remaining in fasting and abstinence, the noble and proud Germans invented a new name for themselves and called themselves Evangelists; at the beginning of that day they got drunk and overeat, and began to shoot with all the big guns at the Russian city, and 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 violate the truce without the Tsar’s knowledge, quickly sent word 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 fire our guns at their city and its surroundings. By this time, a lot of guns had been brought there from Moscow, in addition, stratilates were sent and the Novgorod army from two spots was ordered to gather to 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 during 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 flocked to Russia. For example, from the 1570s. French merchants from Rouen, Paris, and La Rochelle traded with Russia through Narva. Narva merchants who swore allegiance to Russia received various benefits from the tsar. In Narva, the most original detachment of German servicemen appeared in the service of Russia.” Ivan the Terrible hired the pirate leader Karsten Rohde and other privateers to protect the Narva estuary. All mercenary corsairs in 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 late 1570s. In 1581 the Swedes occupied Narva. The project of the Russian vassal Livonian kingdom, led 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 the passage of foreign ships carrying goods to Russia through the Danish Sound, a strait connecting the North and Baltic seas. English ships that found themselves in the Sound were arrested there, and their goods were confiscated by Danish customs.

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

WAR THROUGH THE EYES OF A CONTEMPORARY

In 1572, on December 16, the soldiers of the King of Sweden, reiters and bollards, numbering about 5,000 people, set out on a campaign, intending to besiege Overpallen. They made a long detour to Mariam, and from there to Fellin for the sake of robbery, and sent two cartauns (cannons), along with gunpowder and lead, straight along the Wittenstein road; In addition to these two guns, several more heavy guns were to arrive from Wittenstein. But during Christmas time both guns did not reach further than Nienhof, 5 miles from Revel. In the same time Grand Duke the Muscovite for the first time personally with his two sons and with an 80,000-strong army and many guns entered Livonia, while the Swedes in Reval and Wittenstein did not have the slightest news about this, being quite confident that there was no danger for them . All of them, both high and low origin, imagined that when the Swedish royal army marched, the Muscovite would not even dare to make a word, so the Muscovite was now powerless and not afraid. So they threw aside all caution and all reconnaissance. But when they were least careful, the Muscovite himself personally approached Wesenberg with a huge army, and the Revelians, as well as Klaus Akezen (Klas Akbzon Tott), the military commander, and all the soldiers in Overpalen still knew nothing about this. However, the Wittensteiners learned something about the movement of the Russians, 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 cannons at Nienhof. In this assumption, Hans Boy (Boje), the governor (commandant), sent almost all the bollards from the castle 6 miles to meet the cannons sent from Revel and so weakened the garrison of the Wittenstein castle that there were only 50 warriors left in it capable of wielding weapons, except 500 ordinary men fled to the castle. Hans Boy did not believe that the Muscovite meant not the cannons in Nienhof, but the castle of Wittenschhain. Before he had time to come to his senses, the Muscovite and his army were already at Wittenstein. Hans Boy would be happy to dispose of his bollards differently now.

Russov Balthazar. Chronicles of the province of Livonia

INTERNATIONAL RELATIONS AND THE LIVONIAN WAR

After the Peace of Pozvol, 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 long peace, lived in excess, spent their time in celebrations and did not seem 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 firmness and steadfastness of the former knights of the order were forgotten, everything was swallowed up by quarrels and the struggle of individual classes. In the event 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 tighten the bonds that connected the oldest German colony in the east with its metropolis: they were carried away by their dynastic, Habsburg interests. They were hostile towards Poland and were more likely to allow 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 city nobles and boyar children.

According to the charter of 1556, the service of nobles and boyar children began at the age of 15; before that time they were considered “underage.” To enlist the grown-up nobles and children of the boyars, or, as they were called, “noviks,” into the service, boyars and other Duma officials with clerks were periodically sent from Moscow to the cities; sometimes this matter was entrusted to local governors. Arriving in the city, the boyar had to organize elections from local service nobles and children of boyar special salary workers, with the help of which recruitment was carried out. Based on inquiries from those enlisted into the service and instructions from salary workers, the financial status and service suitability of each new recruit were established. Salaries showed who could be in the same article with whom based on origin and property status. Then the newcomer was enlisted in the service and was assigned a local and monetary salary.

Salaries were set depending on the origin, property status and service of the newcomer. Local salaries of new workers ranged on average from 100 quarters (150 dessiatines in three fields) to 300 quarters (450 dessiatines) and cash salaries - from 4 to 7 rubles. During the service, the local and monetary salaries of new recruits increased.

I strongly welcome you! Klim Sanych, good afternoon. Good afternoon. Hi all. Happy birthday! Thank you. Hello! It is important. You can take the rest yourself. Yes. What is today about? With all these terrible cinematic creations that the domestic film industry has poured on us in a flurry, as well as with the regular reaction to current events, as well as with all sorts of decent films that we also constantly analyze, we have completely forgotten about the basis, namely military history. I’m still a military historian, I’m yearning, I want to talk about the war. And not an expert on shit like “The Shape of Water,” damn it. Yes. Which we are forced to do in order to get hype. Yes, yes, of course, of course, of course. Yes, so, we have the Livonian War, which in some way marks the anniversary of its beginning this year. It started in 1558, and now it is 2018, i.e. we get an even date, and there is no reason not to analyze this significant event, especially since it is so promoted in history textbooks. Judging by the name, we were at war with some Livonia? Yes Yes Yes. But this is actually a big misconception. Everyone thinks that the Livonian War means that we fought with Livonia, so. And today I propose to give some kind of introduction, because the Livonian War is a very long, very large (as they would say now, stupid term) geopolitical conflict. So-so. And I think it’s impossible to immediately begin military action; we need to take a well-funded approach. Those. first, figure out what was happening there in general around this very Livonia and not only, and only then, step by step, analyze the course of military operations, all sorts of wonderful battles that took place there, especially since we have already sorted out one of them - the Capture of Polotsk. Can we do it in 1 video? Nain! Only a few. So-so. And then I immediately say that for now, as a start, as things go, we will only analyze the Livonian War itself, because, but I’m getting a little ahead of myself. And we need to start with periodization, firstly, and secondly, with what the term is, what the Livonian War actually was. Because, as you rightly said, the Livonian War means it is with the Livonians. And we know from school that this was a very important conflict that tore apart the Moscow kingdom of Ivan the Terrible, which is why the Troubles immediately began. Because they spent all the money there, they killed all the military men there, and those who were not killed became poor, everyone became brutal because of this Livonian War, we lost it in the end, and then Ivan the Terrible died suddenly, and it happened... From anger. From anger, from rage, yes, from bedsores. And the Troubles began, and everything was bad as a result. Well, it logically turns out that the Livonian War was the main war waged by Russia during the time of Ivan the Terrible. Well, since they lost it and everything is bad, that means it is so. But it is not so. But I’m sorry, I’ll interrupt you, because as usual they will start asking questions, but due to my illiteracy, I know exactly one author, citizen Skrynnikov. Yes. Are his books under Ivan the Terrible good? Well, you definitely need to know them, because Skrynnikov dug deep. We send everyone - ZhZL, the life of wonderful people, author Skrynnikov, I don’t remember the name. Ruslan Grigorievich. Ruslan Grigorievich. The book is called “Ivan the Terrible”. And there are a number of others. In fact, of course, there are many more books about Ivan the Terrible, not only Skrynnikov, but we will definitely give a list of recommended literature, as we usually do when analyzing historical topics. But about the Livonian War, it would seem, the most important war of Ivan the Terrible, and until recently there were no special books about it at all. Why? Those. Of course, they wrote about her in various books, sometimes quite a lot. And if you collect them in heaps, all these books, then you will get some kind of incredible historiographical background. And now they have just begun to write, by and large, about the Livonian War personally. It’s hard to say why, I don’t know why. That is... They don’t want to highlight Ivan’s merits? I don't know, it's a mystery. I just think that it’s impossible to do everything in a row, and the Livonian War is such a gigantic tangle that you can’t tackle it on the fly, so we think - well, for us, well, okay, later. Here. And then someone else says “later.” In the meantime, about repression. In the meantime, of course, let’s talk about repression, yes. But the stable historiographical term “Livonian War” nevertheless emerged, although, of course, if contemporaries had learned that they were participating in the Livonian War, they would have been very surprised. Much like the French and the British, having learned that they were fighting in the Hundred Years' War. Because the Livonian War dates back to 1558, and it is traditionally believed that it dates back to 1583 until the Truce of Plus with Sweden. In reality, of course, this is not entirely true. And now I’ll try to explain why. Because the Livonian War did not exist as such, it was a series of interconnected conflicts, albeit thematically, but which each fought off each other both by the participating countries, and by specific peace treaties, specific declarations of war. It was a protracted conflict between the parties, in which not only Russia and Livonia participated, this is the most important thing, Livonia almost did not participate there at all. Lithuanians, Poles, Swedes, Danes, Russia, of course, a little Livonia took part there, and even the Tatars managed to participate directly and indirectly. And the whole reason is because Livonia, i.e. Livonian Confederation, so-called The Livonian Order was, by the end of the 15th and already in the 16th century, even more of a sick man in Europe, as the Ottoman Empire later became in the 19th century. This was a naturally sick man of Europe. This was due to something – well, in general, of course, with the crisis of the order’s state. This was the last order state of all that there were, probably, except for the knights of the Order of Ivan of Jerusalem, the Hospitallers in Malta. The fact is that the top-level organizations protecting them, namely the states that one way or another formed these same orders, were not up to it in the 16th century. In particular, the Livonian Confederation was a vassal of the Holy Roman Emperor of the German nation. But, as it turned out, the emperor was the first to leak it. Moreover, there were such seemingly impossible moments when the former Teutonic Order, which at that time had already become simply Prussia, fought on the side of the Poles and Lithuanians against Livonia. Those. this is generally one whole thing, but it was literally in the 15th century. Those. The Teutonic Order, it was like the commander of the Livonian Landmaster, it was one whole, between them there was Lithuania and they tried to unite. But, nevertheless, here we see how the Prussian Duke Albrecht, together with the Poles and Lithuanians, withdraws his troops to the border with Livonia. Because even the Prussians also looked in that direction. And why did they look - well, it’s easy to guess that this part of the Baltic coast was a very important trading point, because there are such wonderful cities as Tallinn... the Danish fortress. Danish fortress, also known as Revel. Riga is there. And all these cities cover almost all of Russian Baltic trade. And Russian Baltic trade, who hasn’t heard our last year’s videos about the milestones of Russian history, Baltic trade is very important, because Baltic trade is what covers all, almost all, Eurasian trade. That is, everything that goes along the Volga from the Caspian Sea; everything that comes through the Dnieper from the Black Sea; everything that goes along what was previously called the Great Silk Road is one way or another distributed among different, as they now say, hubs. That is, to the Mediterranean Sea in one direction, and in the other direction, the only sea route there is the Baltic, everything comes to the Baltic. And whoever is at the distribution point will inevitably receive a lot of money. Because the Baltic, as you might guess, is the northern Mediterranean Sea, because it is located among the lands - on one side there is Scandinavia, Denmark closes everything and, therefore, the German Baltic coast. And the Swedes just wanted to make it their inland sea. Yes. And even for a moment they succeeded. By the time of the Kalmar Union of the 14th century, when Denmark, Sweden and Norway were practically united, then it all, of course, fell apart, and by the time of the reign of Charles XII at the beginning of the 18th century, and, in fact, under his dad, under Charles XI, this is already the end of the reign of Alexei Mikhailovich - the beginning of the reign of Peter I, for some time this was also practically the Swedish inland sea, practically. Well, not only the Swedes wanted to make it an inland sea. That is, it is clear that neither Germany nor anyone else would have been able to make it internal, but they really wanted to crush the entire coastline. And whoever wanted it was Lithuania, of course, it has direct access to the Baltic Sea, and it needed the entire piece of the Baltic states to be itss. Naturally, Poland, as friends of the Lithuanians, since the Union of Krevo in the 14th century, is also a union state. Naturally, I have already mentioned Germany through Prussia; Denmark, because at one time the Danes sold their Danish fortress of Daalina, along with the knights who settled there, to the Livonians. And now, well, the Livonians are dying, so we need to take it back, this is a Danish fortress, even the name is like that, look. Here, first of all. Secondly, of course, the Danes could not allow the Swedes to strengthen themselves at this expense, because the Swedes are their direct competitors from all sides for many, many centuries. And, of course, Russia because the Livonian Order was constantly in close, I would say even dialectical, relationship with the northwestern lands of Rus', that is, Novgorod and Pskov. And, of course, everything was brewed not under Ivan the Terrible, everything was brewed under Ivan III. Those. it, of course, brewed much earlier, but this is the story that is directly adjacent to ours, to the Livonian War, it all began under the grandfather of Ivan IV, under Ivan the Great, under Ivan III. At this time, the Livonian Order was already feeling unwell, the Livonian Confederation. Well, firstly, because it is a confederation. Not a single confederal state of small size, surrounded by generally quite strong neighbors, will last long, because, as we remember, what Livonia is - Livonia is actually the territory of the order, that is, military-monastic, these are several bishoprics, which, it would seem, are included into one confederation, but they, as a rule, pursued their own very independent policy, sometimes directly conflicted within themselves, leading to armed clashes. Wow, some bishop inside the state said, “I don’t like everything,” and went to fight with his president. They entered into direct agreements with the enemies of the order, where they periodically had to be arrested, these bishops, if they could, of course. Well, of the bishoprics, the main role was played by the two largest ones: Terpskoye (on the site of the old Russian city of Yuryev) and Rizhskoye. Riga is the oldest city in Livonia, founded in 1202 by Bishop Albrecht. And unfortunately for the Livonians, and to great happiness for everyone else, the last master, Walter von Plettenberg, I don’t mean the last master of the Livonian Order, but the last such successful master who acted as an independent figure, such a bright independent figure, he was , firstly, a very energetic person, an extremely successful military leader and a very skillful military leader, frankly speaking, even Ivan III cried with him. Although where is this Livonia of this size and, therefore, the nascent kingdom of Moscow of this size. He beat us regularly. Due to his charisma and powerful organizational abilities, he fixed this confederal state, i.e. Through Lithuania, the Teutonic Order, which was also not doing well, was able to transform itself in the 16th century, becoming a secular state. He brought himself under the roof of the Poles and, in general, survived well. But the Livonians are not, the Livonians are fixed in the old medieval form. Of course, Plettenberg had reason to do so - why, because Livonia was a point where all sorts of fools and parasites, alcoholics and other downshifters were brought together. Like Finland for the Swedes. Yes Yes Yes. But downshifters went there with a specific goal - to undownshift back, because there, again, there are great prospects. And, naturally, fraternities immediately formed there, because just to come to the Livonian Order and say that I’m here too, excuse me, a knight, I’ll fight here for a little while, of course, it was possible, and even you would have been allowed to fight, but They wouldn’t give you anything to earn money there - no land, no money, well, except for the fact that you will directly fight. People were exiled there, as I once told you when we were talking about the short Livonian-Novgorod war in the 40s of the 15th century, people from the Rhine and Westphalia were exiled there. So they trampled this path, naturally formed a community there, and did not let anyone else in, well, at least on an industrial scale. Well, then the Danes allowed in another constellation of independent Danish knights, who were simply surrendered along with Tallinn, who saw both the Westafalians and the Rhineans in the coffin, but loved themselves. This, of course, added strength to this state. Well, based on this, a crisis broke out, because Walter von Plettenberg died, and there was no longer such a boss - energetic, charismatic, etc., who simply with his personality could weld it all together. Because in fact, expecting that everyone will be such a wonderful boss is quite stupid, this does not happen. And the system itself was practically no longer viable. Well, of course, everyone immediately became interested in the fact that if it all dies, and it is dying before our eyes, someone lucky will take it first, so everyone immediately pricked up their hairy ears and began to look closely to see who would just rush there first. Walter von Plettenberg, it must be said, although he defeated Russian troops several times, he never, as a sober person, thought that this could be done on a permanent basis. He understood perfectly well that he could beat the Russians only because Ivan III was fighting with Casemir IV of Lithuania. He’s just very busy, he can’t really deal with all this, he doesn’t have time. Therefore, when the Lithuanians and Poles invited Walter von Plettenberg to form a single anti-Russian coalition, he nobly refused, saying that nothing good would come of this for me. You may not survive this. Let's do it ourselves. I won't survive this. Yes, and, of course, there was a very strong pro-Russian party in the order, and a strong, of course, anti-Russian party, i.e. hawks and doves of peace. Doves of peace, as a rule, were associated directly with trading circles, which just needed to trade, that's all, period. And the hawks needed to impose some kind of their will, well, this is a militarized state, it was necessary to expand somehow, at least in a commercial sense. Naturally, they were in conflict with Sweden, because Sweden is another point with which Russia borders, through which we can sell or buy something, vice versa. And after Walter von Plettenberg, Master von der Recke, he issued a certain decree, where it was once again written what goods could be traded with Russia. This is a potential military enemy, so strategic goods have not been allowed to come to us on an ongoing basis since the 13th century. Here von der Recke once again wrote what exactly should not be missed. But you cannot miss gold, silver, tin, lead, iron, horses, armor and weapons. Sanctions were imposed against us. Well, because silver is money, everyone knew perfectly well that Rus' doesn’t have its own silver, we don’t have our own lead, we don’t have our own tin, well, there’s not enough tin at all. It needs to be specially developed, extracted from ores, they didn’t know how to do this back then, it just needs to be native, and this is a big problem. Only when Varlam Shalamov appeared, he was sent to develop tin. Yes Yes. Those. there will be no silver - there will be no money, there will be no tin - there will be no bronze, there will be no bronze - there will be no guns. Well, if there is no lead, there will be nothing to make bullets from. Well, everything about armor and weapons is clear there, they have a specific military purpose, horses are the same. Everyone knew very well that the horse population in Rus' was weak. Those. It is simply impossible to arm mass cavalry with good horses. Therefore, we cannot supply horses. And the traders wanted to supply because it was a lot of money, that’s all, through this there was a constant conflict. The German traders who tried first were not from the Livonian Confederation; they were regularly caught here. For example, it was already after Ivan III, it was under Vasily III, they caught a certain Dutch merchant, who, as it turned out, was not the first time bringing ships full of tin and herring to the Novgorodians. He was caught and fined, and sent to hell, this in 1530. Back in the 15th century, a German merchant who regularly transported iron and weapons to Rus' was eventually caught, arrested, fined, everything taken away and thrown out. And he took it again, because apparently it was very profitable. And so they caught him a second time and cut off his head. No, well, since there were such decrees all the time, it means that someone was constantly trying to smuggle and successfully smuggled it. On the other hand, the Novgorodians and Pskovites could not pass by the order’s possessions on the sea route. The sea route of the Middle Ages was a coastal route. Along the shore. Along the coast, firstly. Secondly, even if it is not along the coast, a serious port in which a serious fleet is stationed has the ability to intercept other people’s ships at a fairly large distance from its own base. Those. They put up some patrols. Yes sir. Those. you are sailing somewhere to trade, you should rest with us. - Oh no. - Still, rest. With all due respect. With all due respect, yes. Immediately the customs office comes to you and asks what you have. Well, they say - listen, but we, by the way, signed an agreement 150 years ago, you can only trade with us. You seem to be from Novgorod, well, apparently, yes, you will be trading here. Well, that’s it, you have to trade in Riga or Tallinn. Those. You won’t be able to sail past Riga and Tallinn. Maybe you will be able to slip past one of the cities, but somewhere you will definitely fall completely. I don’t walk past Tallinn and Riga without jokes. Yes. So. Once again I’m surprised how my ancestors always seem to be somehow narrow-minded and unreasonable, and then come on – there’s a port, and patrols, and interception, and customs. And sanctions. And you can only trade here, where the money is, damn it. Yes. Therefore, the Novgorodians, starting from the 12th century, simply could not sail anywhere, they received guests at home. Ours, of course, responded with all their love. Complete reciprocity. Complete reciprocity. Those. Here comes a German from Livonia, you will trade only in a German courtyard with specially designated merchants. 3 people will come to you, and you will trade with them. The prices are like this, the volumes are like this. Yes of course. You cannot engage in retail trade yourself, and you cannot engage in purchasing yourself. Again, if you want procurement, here are the guys with licenses. Hans and Friedrich. Yes, no, these are Russians Vanya and Petya. So you, Hans and Friedrich, will buy from them what you wanted to buy there, by the way. Here. It is clear that all this was handled by special trading corporations. For example, our entire northern trade has been covered by fur since the 13th century. Ivanova hundred, Ivanova 100 in Novgorod, one of the most powerful, if not the most powerful, trading corporation. Because fur was a strategic commodity, which was actually a real currency. And so you could only buy fur from Ivanov 100. You couldn’t go to this Ugra yourself, to Biarmia, where the fur actually came from. The Germans, of course, tried to sail around the Kola Peninsula, around Arkhangelsk, but this is too far, the ice conditions there are not good. Well, in general, you can’t climb there on a regular basis. Since the early Middle Ages, since Viking times, there is a well-known saga about how people rode there, to Biarmia. Accordingly, if you want to travel to Novgorod, you will hire only Novgorod pilots. There were pilots on special duty there, then these same barge haulers who dragged the ships through the portages, but please don’t bring your own. If you brought it, let them rest here for now. They'll wait. They'll wait. Well, or as a guest they will go to Novgorod, where they will leave their money in a brothel, in a tavern somewhere. You can't work. And in such a situation, Ivan III annexed Novgorod. And then they wonder where the war comes from. How else can this issue be resolved, why do you have all the money and not us? Yes. In such a situation, Ivan III finally accepted this Novgorod back into the fold of the Russian state with open arms - enough for a walk. You have been free since 1136, something is not going well for you, come with us, here. Novgorod was besieged, they gave everyone a slap, and Novgorod became the site of a very broad social experiment, as we would put it now, namely, 2,600 Moscow nobles, the children of the boyars, were resettled to Novgorod, and land was opened up for them there. Actually, regular local layout begins from Novgorod, i.e. These very children of the boyars, nobles, turned in the full sense of the word into landowners, i.e. into knights, obligated to feudal service for the conditional holding of land and peasants. And from Novgorod, accordingly, certain nobles were evicted to other places so that they wouldn’t really organize... Groups there. Groupings, yes, so precisely that they would not be very comfortable. True, of course, it must be said that the Muscovites, when we found ourselves in Novgorod, themselves organized a grouping, they immediately made friends with the Novgorodians, they all formed their own kublo. Novgorod, as you know, had to be brought back to life several more times, and the last time this was done by Ivan the Terrible. Most successful. Well, Ivan III also did it very successfully, it’s just that Ivan IV did it for the last time and completely. By the way, he had to extinguish then, when they say that he extinguished the Novgorodians, he extinguished the descendants of Muscovites, whom his grandfather settled there. It was they who, in general, organized some initiatives there, which then had to be dealt with somehow. It is their rotten devils that are muddying the waters in the pond. Yes Yes Yes. Well, we’ve already talked about the uprising, and we’ll probably need to talk separately about the war for now. Ivan III took over Novgorod, and suddenly it turned out that this Livonian Confederation was a very dialectical neighbor. That is, on the one hand, it directly harms, but it simply directly harms. On the other hand, they have been negotiating with him for 150 years, and it is possible to coexist. But if you keep the Livonians in this loose form, they are a magnificent limitrophe as a counterweight to the Lithuanians. Those. No one even thought about conquering it. Of course, there were also very specific territorial claims, especially locally, where in general, apparently, this war was either a trade war, or a small war of partisan sabotage groups, small detachments, and it very rarely stopped. But in a global sense, no one needs to conquer them. For what? You can give money and they will fight against the Lithuanians. This is much cheaper than raising your own troops. Certainly. And if you conquer them, you will have to protect them, these territories. Well, this is really a huge territory, there are a lot of buildings there, they will need to be maintained, guarded, defended against the Lithuanians, the front will immediately lengthen. Therefore, for some time, for a very long time, no one thought about resolving the issue with the Livonians completely. On the contrary, they tried to keep them in this state, in a state of eternal semi-chaos, for as long as possible. And here, of course, you need to look in two directions at once, namely towards the Lithuanian and Polish and towards the Crimean. Because the Lithuanians, especially when they became close friends with the Poles, generally became at some point the dominant force in the region. Actually, only Ivan III and Vasily III were able to successfully resist them on an ongoing basis. Accordingly, the Poles have just dealt with the Teutonic Order, i.e., as it is correct to say, with the German Order. By the way, do you remember that you once asked me why the Teutonic Order, although all the Teutons have been around for a long time? Mari also cut them off, yes. So, it really just turned out that I never even thought about this question. You know that the word Germany is spelled Deutsch, i.e. Deutsch. And earlier, in the Middle Ages, it was written through T. Teutsch. Toych. Teutsch. So it turns out Teut, this is the German Order. Teutonic means Germanic, Teutonic simply means Germanic. Teut, or Teut, like that. Interesting. So, the Poles dealt with the Teutonic Order and had very specific intentions to deal with the Livonian Order too. But they also needed a limitrophe, i.e. someone who will create some kind of counterbalance to Russia in the North-West. State-laying. Yes Yes Yes. And therefore they constantly tried to bring the confederation under some kind of agreement, which would imply either an armed alliance against Russia, or at least armed neutrality against Russia. Those. if we are at war with Russia, you are either obliged to send troops, or you are obliged to look approvingly at our actions, and, accordingly, to comply with certain trade sanctions there. Yes. This was the same thing that Ivan III sought, only from the other side. Well, Ivan III began to successfully fight the Lithuanians, with Casimir IV. Subsequently, his policy was continued very successfully by Vasily III. Those. we remember this war of the early 16th century, which ended with the Battle of Vedrosh, we remember the first Smolensk War of 1512-1522, when in 1514 Vasily III captured Smolensk on the 3rd attempt. After which we lost the battle of Orsha, which, in general, did not lead to anything; we left the town for ourselves until the Time of Troubles. And Ivan III walked so widely for only one reason: he brought Kazan under his hand. Those. He did not actually capture Kazan, i.e. yes, there was a successful military enterprise there, Kazan actually submitted to it, it became a friendly state. And he was friends with the Krymchaks, namely with the founder of Giray Mengli-Girai I. In this case, you can be friends only for one reason, when there is someone to be friends against, because the Krymchaks hated the Great Horde, centered in modern Astrakhan. Because the Astrakhan people, as the heirs of the Jochi ulus, quite seriously believed that the Kazan people, the Crimeans, and the Nagais owed everything to them, i.e. they should be at their fingertips, this is our everything. But neither the Nagais, nor the Kazan, nor the Crimeans categorically disagreed with this, i.e. at all. Well, that is. All this meant that money had to be paid, but no one wanted to pay money, they needed it themselves. Firstly, pay money, and secondly, if those in Astrakhan come up with something, go somewhere to fight. But the Crimeans, for example, were not at all interested in fighting for the Astrakhan people; the Crimeans have an excellent position. On the one hand, they are located on the Black Sea and from this Crimea they can trade with anyone - slaves in the first place. And secondly, instead of running somewhere to Derbent, waving a saber there for some unknown purpose, it is much easier to run either to Moscow or to Vilna, catch men and women there and sell them in Kaffa. Here. And because The Great Horde at that time was a serious force, whatever one may say, although Ivan III seemed to have repulsed them there and on the Ugra, they still had to be reckoned with, and everyone, it was a very dangerous enemy if you quarreled with him. So, Mengli-Girai and Ivan III were friends against the Great Horde. And Ivan III constantly skillfully allowed his sidekick Mengli-Girai to enter Podolia, i.e. the southwestern lands of the Grand Duchy of Lithuania, so that he could work there, as the Germans say, this is the very thing, raub und moert, i.e. he robbed and killed, he was an excellent specialist in this regard, he robbed and killed. Lock the floors, there will be robberies now. Yes sir. True, of course, it must be said that Ivan III extremely cleverly allowed his Muslim sidekick into his own Orthodox lands. Well done. Because, of course, Mengli Giray would like to get to the Lithuanian lands, but it’s very far away. Actually, where ethnic Lithuanians live. But here you don’t need to think very badly about Ivan III, he was simply a man of the feudal era, for him his own were those who were his subjects, i.e. who pays him taxes and owes vassalage. And the people of Kiev, for example, owed vassal service to the Lithuanians, so excuse me. Nobody gave a damn what their nationality and specifically religion were. Nobody cares. Yes. No, of course, in this way, again, according to medieval customs, for example, the people of Kiev or Chernigov, the Novgorod-Severtsy people were made to understand that look, while you are with these Lithuanian idiots, you will be robbed. And if you are with us, you will not be robbed. This is what everyone did throughout the Middle Ages. For example, the civilized Edward III Plantagenet went to war with France. The first thing he did, having won the Battle of Sluys there, which allowed him to land an army (naval battle), which allowed him to land an army on French territory, he took up the well-known practice of grandes voyages, i.e. long walks, i.e. just bandit raids across French territory with burned villages and kidnapped people. The title of the idiotic film, in my opinion, with Louis de Funes, “The Great Walk”, is it just about this, or what? Yes, somehow it was different, it wasn’t grandes voyages, the allusion is clear that there are these same 3 Englishmen walking around France, that’s what it is, grandes voyages. Damn deep. Here. This is a hint that is generally understood by people who have read a school history textbook in France and England. And lo and behold, civilized people were doing exactly the same thing at about the same time. I’m already silent about what they did when there were religious wars between Catholics and Huguenots inside France, the same thing. And this is literally at the same time that we will talk about, the mid-second half of the 16th century. Nothing got in the way. Although these are not just Catholics and Huguenots, this is just one country, France, within itself, they did such things there that Ivan IV would seem like a funny guy with a beard, in some kind of ridiculous golden robe, here. And they are all so sophisticated, so they did absolutely terrible things to each other in tights and codpieces. We will talk about this, I hope, later. Necessarily. I want, when we talk, in fact, about the military actions of the Livonian War, to talk about the parallel process that took place in Europe, in fact, and dwell on the wonderful battle of Dreux. Who beat whom there? The French are the French. Here. To the side, to the Crimeans again. The Crimeans were friends with Ivan III and greatly interfered with the Lithuanians, so Ivan III simply had a free hand, he could engage in Western expansion on an ongoing basis, take back the lands of the Rurikovichs, because he himself was Rurikovich, and on full grounds believed that he had the right for the entire inheritance of the Rurikovichs. Vasily III did the same thing, but he quarreled with the Girays, and specifically with Muhammad-Girai. And he quarreled for one simple reason, because the entire alliance with Mengli-Girai was actually built on sand. As soon as we looked towards the Volga and we became the enemy of the Great Horde, the Krymchaks no longer needed to be friends with us, because if we deal with the Great Horde directly, then the Krymchaks have a free hand, on the one hand. On the other hand, Crimea is a vassal territory of the Ottoman Empire, which the Ottoman Empire influenced very, very strongly. They could have given some order, because the most important interests on the Volga were, of course, not the Great Horde, despite all the remnants of its power. It was with a new player, namely the Ottoman Empire, which sought to crush all Muslim lands under itself either directly or indirectly. And under Vasily III in 1522, Muhammad-Girai sent him a letter demanding tribute. And Vasily III, of course, refuses, because for what reason? Well, Muhammad-Giray reaches Moscow, crosses the Oka River, smashes the army of Vasily III to smithereens, Vasily III flees Moscow, leaving the baptized Tatar Peter in Moscow to steer instead of Luzhkov. He himself escapes to Novgorod, Peter is forced to give him on behalf of the Tsar, Muhammad-Girai, a letter stating that the Moscow Tsar is a tributary of the Crimean Tsar. Strongly. Here. The outskirts of Moscow have been burned, the Tatars are walking on Vorobyovy Gory in Tsarskoe Selo. There was one of the villages that belonged to the king personally, they plundered everything there. And after that we could not fight normally with the Lithuanians simply because we had a multi-pound Crimean cannonball hanging on our leg. And here you need to understand a very important thing, who fought with the Lithuanians. People of the future Novgorod category, i.e., were in constant contact with the Lithuanians. those who were just sitting here in Novgorod, Pskov, this is approximately 1/6 of our entire cavalry, it was the 2nd most powerful territorial such point, after Moscow, of course. Moreover, in contrast to Moscow, Novgorod, the future Novgorod rank, as we would say, the general government, probably could be designated this way. It was never divided territorially; it was one integral territorial border division. Moscow never acted as some kind of unified whole, because they could transfer part of the cities for warfare and organizational and accounting activities to their neighbors, take them for themselves, in short, it all transformed like this all the time. The Novgorodians remained in the monolith all the time. Because of this, they had a very powerful merged corporation, which had a very strong tradition of local feudal corporate self-government. And when fighting, for example, with the Lithuanians or the Livonians, they, firstly, defended their own interests, because they were on the border, they defended their lands, or they could take something for themselves. Those. receive a visible material profit for yourself or your family. Well, if they do slap you, it happens, then at least the children won’t lose out, because you’ll take someone’s land and slaughter it for yourself. Or you will take the men away and settle them with you. But from then on, every year they constantly had to leave for the Oka border on the river to fight with the Crimeans. And there was no profit in fighting the Crimeans. Because what are Crimeans? The Krymchaks appear incomprehensibly when, and without declaring a light war, having gathered... Murzas, lancers and Tatar Cossacks, they simply ran in by decision of some local regional commander, and they had to be caught. There were constant fights, maybe not very big, but extremely fierce. And here we have, from 1522 until the reign of Alexei Mikhailovich, we have this Oka, then the Belgorod border, it never died down, service was required there all the time, but you could not conquer anything there. You could only die there. Just fight back, yes. Yes. Because in order to conquer something from the Crimeans, it was necessary to reach the Crimea, and we could not do this, because we, as a sedentary empire of that time, were very strongly tied to means of communication, and these were rivers. Those. We could fight with Kazan, with Astrakhan, with the Lithuanians simply because we could bring in heavy artillery and artillery outfits in general along rivers, and along some more or less acceptable roads, and it would help in field battles, and heavy artillery will help take the city, that’s how Polotsk was taken, for example, or how Kazan was taken. But it couldn’t be brought to the Crimeans, because if you go to the steppe, then you simply may not return from there. Food, water, diarrhea. Because what a march across the steppe looks like without points where you can concentrate food, ammunition, rest, recover, well, it just turned into a terrible horror even for regular armies. How Peter I went to the Prut and how it ended is the only serious defeat in general, and it almost turned into a disaster for the Russian army in the 18th century. We couldn’t cope with the Turks, and with the same Crimeans who were allowed there, even though they were a regular army. This is not a medieval army, it is controlled differently, equipped differently, supplied differently. Somehow I will again lay out the layout according to what the march of the Russian cavalry looked like. We talked about the Mongols a long time ago, now we need to talk about the Russians. So, we couldn’t bring the guns to the Crimea, so we could only fight off the Krymchaks, and it was generally clear to the Novgorodians what they needed, but for them it was without any profit, they wanted to fight with the Livonians, it’s not so dangerous. And the Crimeans, understanding all these nuances, organized a Crimean auction. This is an accepted term in historiography. Well, they sold themselves to the Lithuanians and attacked Moscow, or to the Muscovites and attacked the Lithuanians. Well done. Here. It is clear to us that we had our own people fed in Crimea. Like the Lithuanians, probably. Like, naturally, the Lithuanians, there was a diplomatic mission there on a permanent basis, and our well-wishers, such as Yamat-Murza, he directly wrote to the Grand Duke that I cannot defend your interests, because the Lithuanians literally shower the khan with gold and jewelry , wake, i.e. present. Are funerals gifts? Yes. He demanded regular wakes. And if you didn’t give him regular wakes, he would go to war against you. And Muhammad-Giray’s brother Sahib-Giray, for example, he did not hesitate to write to Vasily III that he demands to be his vassal, as we would say now, and to regularly pay him money, formulating it this way: if you don’t pay, I will come myself and I'll take a lot more. Those. It's better for you to pay. Indicated prices. Yes, yes, yes, because as much as I take, as much as I steal, I’ll take that much. So if you just pay, it will be cheaper. Be kind. Yes. Which, of course, Vasily III did not like in any case, but he couldn’t not pay, he couldn’t not pay all the time, because paying was actually cheaper, on the one hand; on the other hand, taking into account the Lithuanian factor, it was too expensive to pay the Crimeans constantly. But Vasily III died, in fact, what I’m leading all this to is Ivan IV, because where is Crimea, where is Livonia, now we will connect them. Vasily III died, Ivan IV came, he was the third grandson, a kalach in the kingdom and the husband of many wives. Here. Ivan Vasilyevich the Terrible was his name, because he was a serious, respectable person. He’s not sweet in his ways and not lame in his mind, he’s the kind of person who has established order – even if he rolls a ball. He was still 15 years old, respectively, he was born in 1530, in 1545 the first campaign against Kazan, which under Vasily III was completely abandoned from us. It all ended with the bloody capture of 1552, after which it suddenly turned out that we were not only not friends of the Crimeans, but fierce enemies, because in 1556 we took Astrakhan, we closed the Volga, and the Crimeans had no enemies at all, except Russia. After this, it was no longer possible to put up with us. In addition, the Turks simply killed Devlet-Girey I’s predecessor when he began to pursue an overly independent policy. And Devlet-Giray was a cautious man, he, when he is presented as such a Hitler in a skullcap, who wanted to continuously fight with Russia, no, he would not have been against it theoretically, but he was a cautious man, a very, very smart and cautious man. But because he was careful, he understood that if he did not fight with Russia, the Turks would also do something to him, because they had all the opportunities and means of influence on Crimea, especially since it was their official vassal, Crimea, they were obliged obey. Well, of course, with reservations, like any vassal, he is a vassal only because he is obliged to the overlord to the same extent that the overlord is obliged to him. And this balance is maintained only in the sense that the overlord can be very strong, and yet you owe him a little more. Those. the partnership is unbalanced. And they began to push him towards war. On the one hand, the Lithuanians constantly paid him, they simply continuously showered him with gifts, just this Yamat-Murza wrote that I could not do anything. And Devlet-Girey wrote to Ivan the Terrible with approximately the same content as Sahib-Girey, that you will be my younger brother, i.e. vassal. Vanya... Yes, and it began... This, by the way, immediately coincides with the capture of Kazan, 1552. And a 25-year war with the Crimeans began, which ended only in 1577, only in 1577 did it end. And it was during this war that an organizational, military, and even psychological portrait of a Russian serviceman in general was formed, who was forced every year to stand up for the defense of his native borders, what is called disinterestedly, i.e. not having the desire to loot something, the desire and ability to loot something, on this very damn Oka. And all the military corporations throughout Russia were involved. Those. Novgorodians visited there, Kazan residents visited there, and, naturally, Muscovites visited there on a regular basis. In general, this shift service at the Oka border consumed monstrous resources, simply monstrous. It all ended with the fact that in 1571 Devlet-Giray actually burned Moscow to the ground, leaving only the Kremlin. The next year, in 1572, the bloody Battle of Molodi, which, in fact, decided the outcome of this war. Well, there it one way or another flared up, then died out on a small scale until the death of Devlet-Girai in 1577. He was a serious man. Yes. And now we need to compare this war and the situation in Livonia. We have never included such efforts in the Livonian direction as were involved in the Crimean direction, even approximately. And even when everything went wrong during the reign of Stefan Batory in 1580-83. Stefan Batory did not even dream of going to Moscow, he did not have such strength. And Devlet-Girey burned it. Therefore, the Livonian War was a secondary focus for Ivan the Terrible. It, in fact, did not end very well for us for one simple reason: we were busy with the Crimeans. We could not afford to throw decisive forces there. Yes, at some point large forces were involved there, but this is not the main direction. That is why it was a private failure, which could not lead to any damn Time of Troubles, it was just an episode. Which, yes, was expensive, but not too expensive. But what about Livonia, actually? Here we have Ivan IV sitting on the throne. Ivan IV needed constant supply of strategic resources for the war on the Volga, because, as we remember, 3 campaigns near Kazan, only the third was a success, and this was the most difficult situation. Plus, it was necessary to constantly bribe your people in the Podrayskaya land and feed the pro-Russian party in every possible way. Maintaining garrisons against Astrakhan and building cities required resources and specialists. And at this time Ivan IV, more precisely, he was still a young man then, i.e. Ivan IV and his company, they moved towards rapprochement with the Holy Roman Emperor Charles V, and Charles V very actively moved towards rapprochement with Russia. Simply because Charles V fought with the Turks, and he needed any counterbalance to the Turks on his part. Well, literally just now, 1535, Charles personally leads an expedition to Tunisia, takes it, kicks out the Turks and mainly, of course, their local hangers-on, the famous pirate Hayraddin Barbarossa. It turns out that when the locals took Filyuki there in Tunisia, it turns out that they were selling guns to the French. The French named after The French are selling guns to the Turks because they were all branded with 3 fleurs-de-lis, i.e. hallmark of the French royal arsenal. Those. on the one hand, the French never supported the Turks, but everyone understood who was each other, because the Germans needed some kind of counterbalance to Turkey. It would seem that where is France, where is Russia, but the decision of the French and Francis I to help the Turks directly prompted Charles V to move closer to Russia. And he begins very active steps in this direction, remembering that his grandfather Maximilian I negotiated quite successfully with both Ivan III and Vasily III. The truth, of course, is not primarily against the Turks, but against the Poles. In general, this did not bring any significant results, but there were attempts and quite visible attempts, these moves by Germany towards Russia. And who reared up first? – Yes, the Livonian Order, because we had a requirement from Charles V to help with resources. And he was ready, because, Lord, there in this Germany they mine silver, and copper, and tin, and lead, and they have a lot of military specialists, and military specialists of the highest class, who have just literally gone through fire, water and copper trumpets of the Italian wars. Those. there were a lot of military people there who were ready right now to go somewhere and tell everyone how to do it for money. Veterans of hot spots. So it's not there hot spot there were these Italian wars, it was simply a bloody meat grinder, tens of thousands of people went through it, gaining very serious experience and a complete reluctance to do anything else except war, because it was profitable. And a military specialist at that time was a person who could make not just a future for himself, but become some kind of great figure in history. For example, who would even know such nobles as, for example, the Frundsbergs. Yes, no one would know, except for some very sad heralds who generally pick around these same noble families, coats of arms and so on. But Georg Frundsberg became simply because he deftly commanded the Landsknechts, he became a world-class figure without fools, all of Europe literally knew him. Simply because he successfully commanded regiments of Landsknechts. And we were ready to host such adventurers with all our arms. To intensify this process, in 1548, a handsome young Saxon adventurer, Hans Schlitte, came to Charles V and offered to take over relations with Moscow. Apparently, he sat well on the ears of Charles V, because he gave him complete carte blanche, and he went to Moscow. In Moscow, he also caught the ears of Ivan IV, who, for his part, gave him complete carte blanche, and so Schlitte began to supply us, and he himself was from Saxony, specifically, he was born in a city where there were some of the best silver mines, those. he knew with whom he needed to quickly negotiate in order to supply precious metals directly. He recruited specialists, gathered strategic resources, and began to supply them to Ivan IV. And he was caught by the Livonians along with another portion of specialists. A monstrous scandal broke out, the Livonians had a row with Emperor Charles V, saying that this cannot be done, you understand that you are supplying Ivan IV with weapons and strategic resources, and we are already afraid of him. And this, of course, played a very important role, the Schlitte case played a very important role in the fact that Ivan the Terrible drew attention to Livonia, because the Livonians, this small dilapidated state, had the opportunity to simply turn off the valve for us. Which is unacceptable. Which is categorically unacceptable. And Ivan the Terrible first makes diplomatic efforts, and then military efforts, and it is here that an important caveat needs to be made. Ivan the Terrible did not consider Livonia his equal, he did not send sovereign envoys there, he negotiated with the Livonians only with the help of Novgorod officials. Some clerk is leaving Novgorod, negotiate with him. Because he considered Livonia to be just a principality. People need to be sent to the level. Yes. And he is an emperor, it’s impossible for him to communicate with the prince. Let the Novgorodians communicate there for 200 years and continue to communicate, but, of course, with an eye on the party line. And then he sends ambassadors from the sovereign. Things are reaching another level. The matter is reaching a completely different level, and the Livonians understand this immediately. Why are they just there with the Novgorodians, with their buddies, with whom they either fought or were friends, and then look, Adashev and Voskovaty arrived straight from Moscow. Famous names. Certainly. Who needed a reason to find fault with the Livonians. Because they have the right to pass any laws and issue any decrees on their territory - a sovereign state. Even if it’s unpleasant, what’s your business what’s pleasant or unpleasant to you? We need a reason, and there is a well-known reason - St. George’s tribute. Those. what the Livonians promised to pay for the possession of Dorpat, which they had taken away at one time and pledged to pay money for it. No one knows exactly when and how much they promised to pay. But for unknown reasons they didn’t pay, right? Yes. But for unknown reasons, they haven’t paid anything for 100 years. They came up with a sum, calculated interest on it, and in the end they ended up with a carload of silver, which had to be immediately given to Ivan IV. Well, immediately after Yuriev’s tribute, they rolled out a bunch of claims that merchants were being offended, by the way, who pay taxes to Moscow, peel away wax, and use merciless back-door treatment. What is this? I told you this once, when a barrel of wax just fell, for example, in Riga, you could take a sample from it, whether it was high-quality wax or not. The sample size was not specified. Those. you could just chop off half and not pay - I didn’t try it. Yes. Not rozibrav. Not rozibrav. Well, pay for the rest. The same thing happened with furs. It was possible to see if the fur was good, and then pick up a piece, and since... the size was not discussed... Cut off each skin. Yes. Because the size was not specified, it was terrible. Accordingly, we did not have the right to check with them whether, for example, they supplied us with wine, wine or, say, good Flemish cloth. They supplied it in barrels and pieces. Those. we could pay per piece and per barrel, but we could not verify the dimensions of the barrel and the piece. Great. Do you know where the word “enough” comes from in Russian? This is a very interesting linguistic incident. So-so. This is when you open a barrel, for example, with wine or beer, if you reach your finger, then it’s enough, and if not, then it’s not enough, you didn’t get it. Here. And, accordingly, they constantly tried to... deceive us. Deceive. To deceive, yes. And all these small territorial claims, connected primarily, of course, with claims to Narva, this is St. George’s tribute, the grievances of the merchants, they simply presented it all, and said that it must be paid, stopped, and Ivan IV rolled out an agreement, one of the main items of which were gold, silver, cloth, iron, and armor, i.e. except for armor. And the willing German people had a free path by water and mountain. Those. cloth and specialists were more expensive than armor. About armor, he said that if you want to supply it, supply it, if not, okay. And this completely coincides, by the way, with the list of von der Recke, who forbade the transport of this very thing. Those. Ivan IV knew exactly what he needed. We will make the shells ourselves somewhere, buy somewhere else, resources and specialists. But the Livonians are a confederation, they were in complete shock, on the one hand, on the other hand, of course, in complete happiness, because Yuryev’s tribute, so let this Yuryev, damn it, pay. Those. Dorpat. And everything else does not concern us. They were also smart, by the way. Here’s the wording: St. George’s tribute, so let the people of Dorpat pay it. The residents of Derpt said that we simply physically do not and cannot have that much money. Well, then Grozny decided that he was being deceived... Not without reason. Yes. What kind of antics are these? What kind of antics is this, yes. There, it means, they called the Livonian Landsgers, i.e. landlords were invited to Novgorod, where, as they say, a 200,000-strong Muscovite army was waiting for them at the border, so that they would be properly frightened. This, of course, is bullshit, there were maybe 2 thousand of them waiting there, that’s it. But it was also scary. But it was also unpleasant. And they fired cannons for a day while they agreed, so that it would also be scary. Look how much gunpowder we have, we can do this here! We agreed for 3 years to raise money. And at this time, the Lithuanians, Poles and Prussians tried to enter Livonia from the other side, namely, they decided to appoint a vicar, as we would say, or a coadjutor, as is correct, i.e. closest assistant, deputy of the Riga Archbishop Krzysztof (Christopher) of Macklenburg, who was a relative of the King of Poland Sigismund, in my opinion, a nephew, if I’m not mistaken. They decided to imprison him and through him influence the bishop of Riga and the master, respectively. But the master did not need this, and Master Furstenberg arrested him, realizing that he was a nit, a spy and a provocateur. After which the Prussians, just the former Teutons, Lithuanians and Poles, simply took and unobtrusively gathered about 15,000 troops there and placed them on the border with Livonia, after which Fürstenberg realized that either the water should be drained, or it was necessary to negotiate somehow, because He couldn’t resist them at all, he would have simply been crushed. And it is possible that he himself was hanged for the arrest of a relative of the king. And they conclude very important contract in the town of Pozvol, where it is the Livonians who are led to an obligation of armed neutrality against Russia. What is characteristic is that our intelligence, apparently, completely missed this permission agreement; we simply did not know about it. Because Ivan the Terrible did not react at all for at least a year. And in Lithuanian letters, for example, internal correspondence, there are subtle mocking hints that Vanya doesn’t catch mice at all. We’ve already settled everything with Livonia, but he’s still waiting for some kind of tribute. But, naturally, it is impossible to hide such an awl in a sack of hay, because as soon as the Livonian ambassadors arrived again to negotiate with Ivan IV at the end of the three-year truce, it suddenly became clear that they were not going to pay him tribute, but asked him to think a little more, maybe there let's agree. After which, we don’t know for sure whether Ivan the Terrible found out about the Pozvolsky Treaty, but in fact he realized that they had agreed with someone else behind his back. And this was the last point, because he didn’t care at all about these petty squabbles of the Novgorodians, even about the fact that they don’t allow specialists and strategic goods to come to us there - after all, it was always possible to get around these problems, 200 years ago -they went around, or negotiate with the Swedes to take them through Sweden, it’s not so convenient, but it’s also possible. By the way, it was possible to buy iron from the Swedes, which is what we did. But then it became clear that Livonia was living out its last days on its own, and now all this would fall under the feet of Lithuania, and this could not be allowed under any circumstances. And then Ivan the Terrible takes such a step that the Livonians must understand that the jokes are over altogether; in 1557, a large army is formed on the border with Livonia, which consisted of Novgorod and Pskov horsemen and Kazan Tatars, who were promised that they could rob. And this autumn-winter of 1557 became the last peaceful day in general in Livonia, because since 1559 cannons thundered there and swords rang almost continuously. Because 1583, our very peace with Sweden, it didn’t mean absolutely nothing. Returning to the beginning of the conversation - the Livonian War is not the Livonian War, but the Livonian Wars. Because the Danes fought there with the Swedes and vice versa, Sweden with the Russians, Poland, Lithuania with Russia, Russia with Livonia, Poland and Lithuania. This is a series of very intense conflicts, this is the War of the Livonian Succession, that’s how we would say it correctly. Well, while everyone froze at the start, next time we’ll figure out what happened. Damn, it's picky. Somehow I don’t even know, every time I immerse myself... I repeat that I always imagine that now everyone is cunning, smart, intelligent, such an intricacy... They know everything. And here it’s no less cunning. And the most important thing is that for me, as a commoner, history is a set of some kind of anecdotes - someone sent someone to hell, took a woman away, and then there’s war. It turns out that it’s not about the woman or the message, but about completely different things. It's a mess, damn it. It’s a pity, there are no pictures of where who lives, who went where, who why. This is when we will talk about military operations. By the way, maybe I’ll even prepare some maps for this, for this conversation, at least so that people understand that Crimea is here, Moscow is here. And the state of Ukraine should be designated as ancient. Ancient, yes. There, really, in this state of Ukraine there will be stuck up to the tonsils the pole of the flag of the Grand Duchy of Lithuania. That's it. Thank you, Klim Sanych. We look forward to the continuation. We are trying. That's all for today. Until next time.