Livonian War 1558 1583 battles. Livonian War consequences
Description of the Livonian War
The Livonian War (1558–1583) was a war of the Russian kingdom against the Livonian Order, the Polish-Lithuanian state, Sweden and Denmark for hegemony in the Baltic states.
Main events (Livonian War - briefly)
Reasons: Access to the Baltic Sea. Hostile policy of the Livonian Order.
Occasion: Refusal of the order to pay tribute for Yuryev (Dorpat).
First stage (1558-1561): The capture of Narva, Yuriev, Fellin, the capture of Master Furstenberg, the Livonian Order as a military force practically ceased to exist.
Second stage (1562-1577): Entry into the war of the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth (since 1569) and Sweden. Capture of Polotsk (1563). Defeat on the river Ule and near Orsha (1564). Capture of Weissenstein (1575) and Wenden (1577).
Third stage (1577-1583): Campaign of Stefan Batory, Fall of Polotsk, Velikiye Luki. Defense of Pskov (August 18, 1581 - February 4, 1582) Capture of Narva, Ivangorod, Koporye by the Swedes.
1582– Yam-Zapolsky truce with the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth (Ivan the Terrible’s refusal from Livonia for the return of lost Russian fortresses).
1583– Plyusskoe truce with Sweden (renunciation of Estland, concession to the Swedes of Narva, Koporye, Ivangorod, Korela).
Causes of defeat: incorrect assessment of the balance of power in the Baltics, weakening of the state as a result domestic policy Ivan IV.
Progress of the Livonian War (1558–1583) (full description)
Reasons
In order to start a war, formal reasons were found, but the real reasons were Russia’s geopolitical need to gain access to the Baltic Sea, as it is more convenient for direct connections with the centers European civilizations, and in the desire to participate in the division of the territory of the Livonian Order, the progressive collapse of which was becoming obvious, but which, not wanting to strengthen Muscovite Rus', prevented its external contacts.
Russia had a small section of the Baltic coast, from the Neva basin to Ivangorod. However, it was strategically vulnerable and had no ports or developed infrastructure. Ivan the Terrible hoped to take advantage of the Livonia transport system. He considered it an ancient Russian fiefdom, which was illegally seized by the crusaders.
The forceful solution to the problem predetermined the defiant behavior of the Livonians themselves, who, even according to their historians, acted unreasonably. Mass pogroms served as a reason for aggravation of relations Orthodox churches in Livonia. Even at 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 Russians demanded payment of the Yuriev tribute, which the Livonians were obliged to pay again Ivan III, but in 50 years they have never collected it. Having recognized the need to pay it, they again did not fulfill their obligations.
1558 - Russian army entered Livonia. Thus began the Livonian War. It lasted 25 years, becoming the longest and one of the most difficult in Russian history.
First stage (1558-1561)
In addition to Livonia, the Russian Tsar wanted to conquer the East Slavic lands, which were part of the Grand Duchy of Lithuania. 1557, November - he concentrated a 40,000-strong army in Novgorod for a campaign in the Livonian lands.
Capture of Narva and Syrensk (1558)
In December, this army under the command of the Tatar prince Shig-Aley, Prince Glinsky and other governors advanced to Pskov. Meanwhile, the auxiliary army of Prince Shestunov began fighting from the Ivangorod area to the mouth of the Narva River (Narova). 1558, January - the tsarist army approached Yuryev (Dorpt), but was unable to capture it. Then part of the Russian army turned to Riga, and the main forces headed to Narva (Rugodiv), where they united with Shestunov’s army. There was a lull in the fighting. Only the garrisons of Ivangorod and Narva fired at each other. On May 11, Russians from Ivangorod attacked the Narva fortress and were able to take it the next day.
Soon after the capture of Narva, Russian troops under the command of governors Adashev, Zabolotsky and Zamytsky and Duma clerk Voronin were ordered to capture the Syrensk fortress. On June 2, the shelves were under its walls. Adashev set up barriers on the Riga and Kolyvan roads to prevent the main forces of the Livonians under the command of the Master of the Order from reaching Syrensk. On June 5, large reinforcements from Novgorod approached Adashev, which the besieged saw. On the same day, artillery shelling of the fortress began. The next day the garrison surrendered.
Capture of Neuhausen and Dorpat (1558)
From Syrensk, Adashev returned to Pskov, where the entire Russian army was concentrated. In mid-June it took the fortresses of Neuhausen and Dorpat. The entire north of Livonia came under Russian control. The Order's army was numerically several times inferior to the Russians and, moreover, was scattered among separate garrisons. It could do nothing against the king's army. Until October 1558, the Russians in Livonia were able to capture 20 castles.
Battle of Thiersen
1559, January - Russian troops marched on Riga. Near Tiersen they defeated the Livonian army, and near Riga they burned the Livonian fleet. Although it was not possible to capture the Riga fortress, 11 more Livonian castles were taken.
Truce (1559)
The Master of the Order was forced to conclude a truce before the end of 1559. By November of this year, the Livonians were able to recruit Landsknechts in Germany and resume the war. But failures never ceased to haunt them.
1560, January - the army of governor Borboshin captured the fortresses of Marienburg and Fellin. The Livonian Order practically ceased to exist as a military force.
1561 - the last master of the Livonian Order, Kettler, recognized himself as a vassal of the King of Poland and divided Livonia between Poland and Sweden (the island of Ezel went to Denmark). The Poles got Livonia and Courland (Kettler became Duke of the latter), the Swedes got Estland.
Second stage (1562-1577)
Poland and Sweden began to demand the withdrawal of Russian troops from Livonia. Ivan the Terrible not only did not comply with this demand, but also invaded the territory of Lithuania, allied to Poland, at the end of 1562. His army numbered 33,407 men. The goal of the campaign was well-fortified Polotsk. 1563, February 15 - Polotsk, unable to withstand the fire of 200 Russian guns, capitulated. Ivan's army moved to Vilna. The Lithuanians were forced to conclude a truce until 1564. After the resumption of the war, Russian troops occupied almost the entire territory of Belarus.
But the repressions that began against the leaders of the “elected Rada” - the de facto government until the end of the 50s, had negative impact on the combat effectiveness of the Russian army. Many of the governors and nobles, fearing reprisals, preferred to flee to Lithuania. In the same 1564, one of the most prominent governors, Prince Andrei Kurbsky, moved there, close to the Adashev brothers who were part of the elected council and fearing for his life. The subsequent oprichnina terror further weakened the Russian army.
1) Ivan the Terrible; 2) Stefan Batory
Formation of the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth
1569 - as a result of the Union of Lublin, Poland and Lithuania formed a single state, the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth (Republic), under the leadership of the King of Poland. Now the Polish army came to the aid of the Lithuanian army.
1570 - fighting intensified in both Lithuania and Livonia. To secure the Baltic lands, Ivan IV decided to create his own fleet. At the beginning of 1570, he issued a “charter” to the Dane Karsten Rode to organize a privateer fleet, which acted on behalf of the Russian Tsar. Rohde was able to arm several ships, and he caused significant damage to Polish maritime trade. In order to have a reliable naval base, the Russian army tried to capture Revel in the same 1570, thereby starting a war with Sweden. But the city unhinderedly received supplies from the sea, and Grozny was forced to lift the siege after 7 months. The Russian privateer fleet was never able to become a formidable force.
Third stage (1577-1583)
After a 7-year lull, in 1577, the 32,000-strong army of Ivan the Terrible launched a new campaign to Revel. But this time the siege of the city brought nothing. Then Russian troops went to Riga, capturing Dinaburg, Volmar and several other castles. But these successes were not decisive.
Meanwhile, the situation on the Polish front began to deteriorate. 1575 - an experienced military leader, the Transylvanian prince, was elected king of the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth. He was able to form a strong army, which also included German and Hungarian mercenaries. Batory entered into an alliance with Sweden, and the united Polish-Swedish army in the fall of 1578 was able to defeat the 18,000-strong Russian army, which lost 6,000 people killed and captured and 17 guns.
By the start of the 1579 campaign, Stefan Batory and Ivan IV had approximately equal main armies of 40,000 men each. After the defeat at Wenden, Grozny was not confident in his abilities and proposed to begin peace negotiations. But Batory rejected this proposal and went on the offensive against Polotsk. In the autumn, Polish troops besieged the city and, after a month-long siege, captured it. The army of governors Shein and Sheremetev, sent to the rescue of Polotsk, only reached the Sokol fortress. They did not dare to engage in battle with superior enemy forces. Soon the Poles captured Sokol, defeating the troops of Sheremetev and Shein. The Russian Tsar clearly did not have enough strength to successfully fight on two fronts at once - in Livonia and Lithuania. After the capture of Polotsk, the Poles took several cities in the Smolensk and Seversk lands, and then returned to Lithuania.
1580 - Bathory undertook big hike to Rus', he captured and ravaged the cities of Ostrov, Velizh and Velikiye Luki. At the same time, the Swedish army under the command of Pontus Delagardie took the city of Korela and the eastern part Karelian Isthmus.
1581 - the Swedish army captured Narva, and the following year they occupied Ivangorod, Yam and Koporye. Russian troops were expelled from Livonia. The fighting moved to Russian territory.
Siege of Pskov (August 18, 1581 – February 4, 1582)
1581 - a 50,000-strong Polish army led by the king besieged Pskov. It was a very strong fortress. The city, which stood on the right, high bank of the Velikaya River at the confluence of the Pskov River, was surrounded by a stone wall. It stretched for 10 km and had 37 towers and 48 gates. However, from the side of the Velikaya River, from where it was difficult to expect an enemy attack, the wall was wooden. Under the towers there were underground passages that provided secret communication between different areas defense The city had significant supplies of food, weapons and ammunition.
Russian troops were dispersed over many points from where an enemy invasion was expected. The Tsar himself, with a significant detachment in number, stopped in Staritsa, not risking going towards the Polish army marching towards Pskov.
When the sovereign learned about the invasion of Stefan Batory, the army of Prince Ivan Shuisky, appointed “great governor,” was sent to Pskov. 7 other governors were subordinate to him. All residents of Pskov and the garrison were sworn that they would not surrender the city, but would fight to the end. The total number of Russian troops defending Pskov reached 25,000 people and was approximately half the size of Batory’s army. By order of Shuisky, the outskirts of Pskov were devastated so that the enemy could not find forage and food there.
Livonian War 1558-1583. Stefan Batory near Pskov
On August 18, Polish troops approached the city within 2–3 cannon shots. For a week, Batory conducted reconnaissance of Russian fortifications and only on August 26 gave the order to his troops to approach the city. But the soldiers soon came under fire from Russian cannons and retreated to the Cherekha River. There Batory set up a fortified camp.
The Poles began to dig trenches and set up tours to get closer to the walls of the fortress. On the night of September 4-5, they drove up to the Pokrovskaya and Svinaya towers on the southern face of the walls and, having placed 20 guns, on the morning of September 6 began to fire at both towers and the 150 m wall between them. By the evening of September 7, the towers were severely damaged, and a 50 m wide gap appeared in the wall. However, the besieged managed to build a new wooden wall against the gap.
On September 8, the Polish army launched an assault. The attackers were able to capture both damaged towers. But with shots from the large Bars cannon, capable of sending cannonballs over a distance of more than 1 km, the Pig Tower occupied by the Poles was destroyed. Then the Russians blew up its ruins by rolling up barrels of gunpowder. The explosion served as a signal for a counterattack, which was led by Shuisky himself. The Poles were unable to hold the Pokrovskaya Tower and retreated.
After the unsuccessful assault, Batory ordered digging to blow up the walls. The Russians were able to destroy two tunnels with the help of mine galleries, but the enemy was never able to complete the rest. On October 24, Polish batteries began shelling Pskov from across the Velikaya River with hot cannonballs to start fires, but the city’s defenders quickly dealt with the fire. After 4 days, a Polish detachment with crowbars and picks approached the wall from the Velikaya side between the corner tower and the Pokrovsky Gate and destroyed the base of the wall. It collapsed, but it turned out that behind this wall there was another wall and a ditch, which the Poles could not overcome. The besieged threw stones and pots of gunpowder on their heads, poured boiling water and tar.
On November 2, the Poles launched their final assault on Pskov. This time Batory's army attacked the western wall. Before this, it had been subjected to heavy shelling for 5 days and was destroyed in several places. However, the Russians met the enemy with heavy fire, and the Poles turned back without reaching the breaches.
By that time, the morale of the besiegers had dropped noticeably. However, the besieged also experienced considerable difficulties. The main forces of the Russian army in Staritsa, Novgorod and Rzhev were inactive. Only two detachments of archers of 600 people each tried to break through to Pskov, but more than half of them died or were captured.
On November 6, Batory removed the guns from the batteries, stopped siege work and began preparing for the winter. At the same time, he sent detachments of Germans and Hungarians to capture the Pskov-Pechersky Monastery 60 km from Pskov, but a garrison of 300 archers, with the support of monks, successfully repelled two attacks, and the enemy was forced to retreat.
Stefan Batory, convinced that he could not take Pskov, in November handed over command to Hetman Zamoyski, and he himself went to Vilna, taking with him almost all the mercenaries. As a result, the number of Polish troops decreased by almost half - to 26,000 people. The besiegers suffered from cold and disease, and the death toll and desertion increased.
Results and consequences
Under these conditions, Batory agreed to a ten-year truce. It was concluded in Yama-Zapolsky on January 15, 1582. Rus' renounced all its conquests in Livonia, and the Poles liberated the Russian cities they had occupied.
1583 - the Truce of Plus was signed with Sweden. Yam, Koporye and Ivangorod passed to the Swedes. Behind Russia there remained only small area Baltic coast at the mouth of the Neva. But in 1590, after the expiration of the truce, hostilities between the Russians and Swedes resumed and this time were successful for the Russians. As a result, under the Tyavzin Treaty of “Eternal Peace,” Rus' regained Yam, Koporye, Ivangorod and Korelsky district. But this was only small consolation. In general, Ivan IV's attempt to gain a foothold in the Baltic failed.
At the same time, acute contradictions between Poland and Sweden on the issue of control over Livonia eased the position of the Russian Tsar, excluding a joint Polish-Swedish invasion of Rus'. The resources of Poland alone, as the experience of Batory’s campaign against Pskov showed, were clearly not enough to capture and retain a significant territory of the Muscovite kingdom. At the same time, the Livonian War showed that Sweden and Poland had a formidable enemy in the east that they had to reckon with.
(before 1569)
Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth (since 1569)
Kingdom of Sweden
Danish-Norwegian Union
| Ivan the Terrible Magnus of Livonia |
Gotthard Ketler Sigismund II Augustus † Stefan Batory Eric XIV † Johan III Frederick II |
| Date | |
|---|---|
| Place |
territories modern Estonia, Latvia, Belarus and North-West Russia |
| Bottom line |
victory of the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth and Sweden |
| Changes |
annexation of parts of Livonia and Velizh to the Grand Duchy of Lithuania; to Sweden - parts of Estland, Ingria and Karelia |
Battles:
Narva (1558) - Dorpat - Ringen - Tiersen - Ermes - Fellin - Nevel - Polotsk (1563) - Chashniki (1564) - Ezerische - Chashniki (1567) - Revel (1570) - Lode - Parnu - Revel (1577) - Weisenstein - Venden - Polotsk (1579) - Sokol - Rzhev - Velikie Luki - Toropets - Nastasino - Zavolochye - Padis - Shklov - Narva (1581) - Radziwill's raid - Pskov - Lyalitsy - Oreshek Treaties:
Livonian War
The war of Muscovite Rus' against the Livonian Order, the Polish-Lithuanian state, Sweden and Denmark for hegemony in the Baltic states. In addition to Livonia, the Russian Tsar Ivan IV the Terrible hoped to conquer the East Slavic lands that were part of the Grand Duchy of Lithuania. In November 1557, he concentrated a 40,000-strong army in Novgorod for a campaign in the Livonian lands. In December, this army, under the command of the Tatar prince Shig-Aley, Prince Glinsky and other governors, moved towards Pskov. The auxiliary army of Prince Shestunov at this time began military operations from the Ivangorod region to the mouth of the Narva (Narova) River. In January 1558, the tsarist army approached Yuryev (Dorpt), but was unable to take it. Then part of the Russian troops turned to Riga, and the main forces headed to Narva (Rugodiv), where they united with Shestunov’s army. There was a lull in the fighting. Only the garrisons of Ivangorod and Narva fired at each other. On May 11, Russians from Ivangorod attacked the Narva fortress and captured it the next day.
Soon after the capture of Narva, Russian troops under the command of governors Adashev, Zabolotsky and Zamytsky and Duma clerk Voronin were ordered to capture the Syrensk fortress. On June 2, the shelves were under its walls. Adashev set up barriers on the Riga and Kolyvan roads to prevent the main forces of the Livonians under the command of the Master of the Order from reaching Syrensk. On June 5, large reinforcements from Novgorod approached Adashev, which the besieged saw. On the same day, artillery shelling of the fortress began. The next day the garrison surrendered.
From Syrensk, Adashev returned to Pskov, where the entire Russian army was concentrated. In mid-June it took the fortresses of Neuhausen and Dorpat. The entire north of Livonia came under Russian control. The Order's army was several times inferior in number to the Russians and, moreover, was scattered among separate garrisons. It could not oppose anything to the army of the Tsar. Until October 1558, Russian troops in Livonia captured 20 castles.
In January 1559, Russian troops wentmarch to Riga
. Near Tiersen they defeated the Livonian army, and near Riga they burned the Livonian fleet. Although it was not possible to capture the Riga fortress, 11 more Livonian castles were taken. The Master of the Order was forced to conclude a truce before the end of 1559. By November of this year, the Livonians managed to recruit Landsknechts in Germany and resume the war. However, they continued to be haunted by failures. In January 1560, the army of governor Borboshin took the fortresses of Marienburg and Fellin. The Livonian Order practically ceased to exist as a military force. In 1561, the last master of the Livonian Order, Kettler, recognized himself as a vassal of the Polish king and divided Livonia between Poland and Sweden (the island of Ezel went to Denmark). The Poles got Livonia and Courland (Kettler became Duke of the latter), the Swedes got Estland.
Poland and Sweden demanded the withdrawal of Russian troops from Livonia.Ivan the Terrible
not only did he not fulfill this requirement, but also invaded the territory of Lithuania, allied with Poland, at the end of 1562. His army numbered 33,407 people. The goal of the campaign was the well-fortified Polotsk. On February 15, 1563, the city, unable to withstand the fire of 200 Russian guns, capitulated. Ivan's army moved to Vilna. The Lithuanians were forced to conclude a truce until 1564. When the war resumed, Russian troops occupied almost the entire territory of Belarus. However, the repressions that began against the leaders of the “elected Rada” - the de facto government until the end of the 50s - had a negative impact on the combat effectiveness of the Russian army. Many governors and nobles, fearing reprisals, preferred to flee to Lithuania. In the same 1564, one of the most prominent governors, PrinceAndrey Kurbsky
, close to the Adashev brothers who were part of the elected council and feared for his life. The subsequent oprichnina terror further weakened the Russian army.
In 1569, as a result of the Union of Lublin, Poland and Lithuania formed a single state, the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth (Republic), under the leadership of the Polish king. Now Polish troops came to the aid of the Lithuanian army. In 1570, fighting intensified in both Lithuania and Livonia. To secure the Baltic lands, Ivan the Terrible decided to createown fleet
. At the beginning of 1570, he issued a “charter” to the Dane Karsten Rode to organize a privateer fleet, operating on behalf of the Russian Tsar. Roda managed to arm several ships and caused significant damage to Polish maritime trade. In order to have a reliable naval base, Russian troops in the same 1570 tried to capture Revel, thereby starting a war with Sweden. However, the city unhinderedly received supplies from the sea, and Ivan had to lift the siege after seven months. The Russian privateer fleet never became a formidable force.
After a seven-year lull, in 1577, Tsar Ivan’s 32,000-strong army launched a newtrip to Revel
. However, this time the siege of the city was not successful. Then Russian troops went to Riga, capturing Dinaburg, Volmar and several other castles. However, these successes were not decisive.
Meanwhile, the situation on the Polish front became more complicated. In 1575, an experienced military leader, the Transylvanian prince Stefan Batory, was elected king of the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth. He managed to form a strong army, which also included German and Hungarian mercenaries. Batory entered into an alliance with Sweden, and the united Polish-Swedish army in the fall of 1578 defeated the 18,000-strong Russian army, which lost 6,000 people killed and captured and 17 guns.
By the beginning of the 1579 campaign, Stefan Batory and Ivan the Terrible had main armies of approximately equal size, 40 thousand people each. After the defeat at Wenden, the Russian Tsar was not confident in his abilities and proposed to begin peace negotiations. However, Batory rejected this proposal and went on the offensive against Polotsk. In the autumn, the Polish army besieged the city and, after a month-long siege, took possession of it. The army of governors Shein and Sheremetev, sent to the rescue of Polotsk, only reached the Sokol fortress. They did not dare to engage in battle with superior enemy forces. Soon the Poles captured Sokol, defeating the troops of Sheremetev and Shein. Ivan the Terrible clearly did not have enough strength to successfully fight on two fronts at once - in Livonia and Lithuania. After the capture of Polotsk, the Poles took several cities in the Smolensk and Seversk lands, and then returned to Lithuania.
In 1580, Batory undertook a large campaign against Rus', capturing and destroying the cities of Ostrov, Velizh and Velikiye Luki. At the same time, the Swedish army under the command of Pontus Delagardie captured the city of Korela and the eastern part of the Karelian Isthmus. In 1581, Swedish troops captured Narva, and the following year occupied Ivangorod, Yam and Koporye. Russian troops were expelled from Livonia. The fighting was transferred to the territory of Rus'.
In September 1581, a 50,000-strong Polish army led by the king besieged Pskov. It was a very strong fortress. The city, which stood on the right, high bank of the Velikaya River at the confluence of the Pskov River, was surrounded by a stone wall. It stretched for 10 km and had 37 towers and 48 gates. True, from the side of the Velikaya River, from where it was difficult to expect an enemy attack, the wall was wooden. Under the towers there were underground passages that provided secret communication between different sections of the defense. The upper tiers of the towers were also connected by passages. The height of the walls was 6.5 m, and the thickness was from 4 to 6 m, which made them invulnerable to the artillery of that time. Inside the Great Walls there was Medium city, also surrounded by walls, in the Middle City there is a fortified Dovmontov city, and in the Dovmontov city there is a stone Kremlin. Above river level Great Wall Dovmont's cities rose 10 m, and the Kremlin - 17 m, which made these fortifications practically impregnable. The city had significant reserves of food, weapons and ammunition.
The Russian army was dispersed over many points from where an enemy invasion was expected. The Tsar himself, with a significant detachment gradually, stopped in Staritsa, not risking going towards the Polish army marching towards Pskov.
When the tsar learned about the invasion of Stefan Batory, the army of Prince Ivan Shuisky, appointed “great governor,” was sent to Pskov. Seven other governors were subordinate to him. All residents of Pskov and the garrison were sworn that they would not surrender the city, but would fight to the last drop of blood. The total number of Russian troops defending Pskov reached 25 thousand people and was approximately half the size of Batory’s army. By order of Shuisky, the outskirts of Pskov were devastated so that the enemy could not find fodder and food there.
On August 18, the Polish army approached the city within 2-3 cannon shots. For a week, Batory conducted reconnaissance of Russian fortifications and only on August 26 ordered his army to approach the city. However, the soldiers soon came under fire from Russian cannons and retreated to the Cherekha River. Here Batory set up a fortified camp.
The Poles began to dig trenches and set up tours to get closer to the walls of the fortress. On the night of September 4–5, they drove up to the Pokrovskaya and Svinaya towers on the southern face of the walls and, having placed 20 guns, on the morning of September 6 began to fire at both towers and the 150 m wall between them. By the evening of September 7, the towers were severely damaged, and a 50 m wide gap appeared in the wall. But the besieged managed to build a new wooden wall against the gap.
On September 8, Polish troops launched an assault. The attackers managed to capture both damaged towers. However, with shots from the large Bars cannon, capable of sending cannonballs over a distance of more than one kilometer, the Pig Tower occupied by the Poles was destroyed. Then the Russians blew up its ruins by rolling up barrels of gunpowder. The explosion served as a signal for a counterattack, which was led by Shuisky himself. The enemy was unable to hold the Pokrovskaya Tower and retreated.
After the failure of the assault, Batory ordered digging to blow up the walls. The Russians managed to destroy two tunnels with the help of mine galleries, but the rest of the Poles were never able to complete it. On October 24, Polish batteries began to fire hot cannonballs at Pskov from across the Velikaya River to start fires, but the city’s defenders quickly put out the fire. Four days later, a Polish detachment with crowbars and picks approached the wall from the Velikaya side between the corner tower and the Pokrovsky Gate and destroyed the base of the wall. It collapsed, but it turned out that behind this wall there was another wall and a ditch, which the Poles could not overcome. The besieged threw stones and pots of gunpowder on their heads, poured boiling water and tar.
On November 2, Batory's army launched the final assault on Pskov. This time the Poles attacked the western wall. Before this, it was subjected to heavy shelling for five days and was destroyed in several places. However, the defenders of Pskov met the enemy with heavy fire, and the Poles turned back without reaching the breaches.
By that time, the morale of the besiegers had dropped noticeably. But the besieged also experienced considerable difficulties. The main forces of the Russian army in Staritsa, Novgorod and Rzhev were inactive. Only two detachments of archers of 600 people each tried to break through to Pskov, but more than half of them died or were captured.
On November 6, Batory removed the guns from the batteries, stopped siege work and began to prepare for the winter. At the same time, he sent detachments of Germans and Hungarians to capture the Pskov-Pechersky Monastery, 60 km from Pskov, but a garrison of 300 archers, with the support of monks, successfully repelled two attacks, and the enemy was forced to retreat.
Stefan Batory, convinced that he could not take Pskov, in November handed over command to Hetman Zamoyski, and he himself departed for Vilna, taking with him almost all the mercenaries. As a result, the number of Polish troops decreased by almost half - to 26 thousand people. The besiegers suffered from cold and disease, and the death toll and desertion increased. Under these conditions, Batory agreed to a ten-year truce. It was concluded in Yama-Zapolsky on January 15, 1582. Rus' abandoned all its conquests in Livonia, and the Poles liberated the Russian cities they had occupied.
In 1583 it was signedPlyus truce
with Sweden. Yam, Koporye and Ivangorod passed to the Swedes. Only a small section of the Baltic coast at the mouth of the Neva remained behind Russia. However, in 1590, after the expiration of the truce, hostilities between the Russians and Swedes resumed and this time were successful for Moscow. As a result, according to the Tyavzin Treaty of “Eternal Peace,” Rus' regained Yam, Koporye, Ivangorod and Korelsky district. But this was only small consolation. In general, Ivan the Terrible’s attempt to gain a foothold in the Baltic failed.
At the same time, acute contradictions between Poland and Sweden on the issue of control over Livonia eased the position of the Russian Tsar, excluding a joint Polish-Swedish invasion of Rus'. The resources of Poland alone, as the experience of Batory’s campaign against Pskov showed, were clearly not enough to capture and retain a significant territory of the Muscovite kingdom. SimultaneouslyLivonian War
showed that Sweden and Poland had a formidable enemy in the east, with whom they had to seriously reckon.
Trying to reach the Baltic coast, Ivan IV fought the grueling Livonian War for 25 years.
The state interests of Russia required the establishment of close ties with Western Europe, which was then most easily accomplished through the seas, as well as ensuring the defense of Russia’s western borders, where its enemy was the Livonian Order. If successful, the opportunity to acquire new economically developed lands opened up.
The reason for the war was the delay by the Livonian Order of 123 Western specialists invited to Russian service, as well as the failure of Livonia to pay tribute for the city of Dorpat (Yuryev) and the adjacent territory over the past 50 years.
The beginning of the Livonian War was accompanied by victories of Russian troops, who took Narva and Yuriev (Dorpat). A total of 20 cities were taken. Russian troops advanced towards Riga and Revel (Tallinn). In 1560, the Livonian Order was defeated, and its master W. Furstenberg was captured. This entailed the collapse of the Livonian Order (1561), whose lands came under the rule of Poland, Denmark and Sweden. The new Master of the Order, G. Ketler, received Courland and Semigallia as possession and recognized dependence on the Polish king. The last major success at the first stage of the war was the capture of Polotsk in 1563.
In 1565-1566, Lithuania was ready to give Russia all the lands it had conquered and conclude an honorable peace for Russia. This did not suit Ivan the Terrible: he wanted more.
The second stage (1561 – 1578) coincided with the oprichnina. Russia, opposed by Lithuania, Poland and Sweden, had to go on the defensive. In 1569, Lithuania and Poland united to form the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth. The new ruler of Lithuania and Poland, Stefan Batory, went on the offensive and recaptured Polotsk (in 1579), captured Velikiye Luki (in 1580), and besieged Pskov (in 1581). A truce was concluded as the war with Sweden began.
In the third stage, from 1578, Russia had to fight with the king of the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth Stefan Batory, who besieged Pskov, and continue the war with Sweden. Pskov defended itself desperately, which allowed Ivan the Terrible to begin peace negotiations and in 1582 conclude a ten-year truce with Stefan Batory. Under the terms of the truce, Russia gave up everything it had won in Livonia and Lithuania. In 1583, peace was concluded with Sweden, which received the Russian cities of Narva, Yama, Koporye, Ivan-gorod and others.
Russia was unable to break through to the Baltic Sea. This problem was solved by Peter I in the Northern War (1700–1721).
The failure of the Livonian War was ultimately a consequence of Russia's economic backwardness, which was unable to successfully withstand a long struggle against strong opponents. The ruin of the country during the oprichnina years only made matters worse.
Domestic policy of Ivan IV
Authorities and management bodies in Russia in the middleXVIV.
The war became protracted, and several European powers were drawn into it. The contradictions within the Russian boyars, who were interested in strengthening the southern Russian borders, intensified, and dissatisfaction with the continuation of the Livonian War grew. Figures from the Tsar’s inner circle, A. Adashev and Sylvester, also showed hesitation, considering the war futile. Even earlier, in 1553, when Ivan IV became dangerously ill, many boyars refused to swear allegiance to him little son Dmitry. The death of his first and beloved wife Anastasia Romanova in 1560 was a shock for the tsar.
All this led to the cessation of the activities of the Elected Rada in 1560. Ivan IV took a course towards strengthening his personal power. In 1564, Prince Andrei Kurbsky, who had previously commanded the Russian troops, went over to the side of the Poles. Ivan IV, fighting the rebellions and betrayals of the boyar nobility, saw in them main reason failures of their policies. He firmly stood on the position of the need for strong autocratic power, the main obstacle to the establishment of which, in his opinion, was the boyar-princely opposition and boyar privileges. The question was what methods would be used to fight.
In these difficult circumstances for the country, Ivan IV introduced the oprichnina (1565–1572).
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 did not represent 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 the destruction of the fortress walls and towers by Russian artillery, the Germans retreated to the upper castle on June 30, 1558. 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 your limits. 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 advisers, 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 themselves (specialists) 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. Russian success at Fellin was assured effective actions 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 external wall and set fire to the city, the defenders of Fellin 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), the Livonian Order ceased to exist, its territory was transferred to the joint possession of Lithuania and Poland, and 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 military operations moved to the territory of the Lithuanian principality. 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 a rich trading 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. Large Jewish and Protestant communities settled in Polotsk, which was located near the Russian border. 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 time of his greatest successes on the Western Front, their preparations 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. Vipper. 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 warriors 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 further destinies 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 has not decreased (see Russian-Crimean wars). Relations with Sweden have 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. There the elderly and childless King Sigismund Augustus lived out his last days. 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 on 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 Ivan IV in this area there 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 take 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 military operations continued, and in the spring of 1573, Russian troops under the command of Voivode Mstislavsky (16 thousand people) converged on 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 regions 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 through 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 prevailing 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 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, its 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 Weier, 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 market women cut out fat from dead bodies to make 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. We are talking 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 conducting combat 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 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 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 Velikie 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 Velikie 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 one is the only one major victory Russians in the campaign of 1580 defended Smolensk from a 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. Through this largest city There was a main connection between Moscow and the Livonian lands. 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 governor 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 that you will not deserve from the Moscow tyrant, and the people will receive a benefit unknown in Russia... In case of insane stubbornness, death will befall you and the people!” The response 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 Stephen, 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 our holy Christian faith and submit to your mold? And what gain of honor is there in leaving our sovereign 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? We don’t want it for our kiss on the cross, with which we swore allegiance to our sovereign. And why are you, king, threatening 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.”
The worthy response of 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, 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. On October 8, 1582, during a 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.
Russia's war against the Livonian Order, Sweden, Poland and the Grand Duchy of Lithuania (from 1569 - the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth) for access to the Baltic Sea.
The formal reason for the war was the failure of the Livonian Order to fulfill the agreements of 1554 in relation to Russia (payment of the Yuryev tribute for all overdue years, the obligation not to enter into alliance agreements with Sigismund II, etc.). The real reasons consisted of Russia's geopolitical need to gain access to the Baltic Sea, to actively participate in the division of the territory of the Livonian Order, the progressive collapse of which was becoming obvious.
The conquest of Kazan and Astrakhan temporarily relieved tensions in the east and south of Russia, a truce was concluded with Lithuania until 1562, therefore Ivan IV the Terrible in January 1558 he began a war that became Ivan’s fate: it lasted with short interruptions for 25 years and ended 7 months before his death.
1st stage (up to 1561) ended with the defeat of the Livonian Order. In January-February, Eastern Livonia and the central regions were subjected to pogroms. Narva was taken in May, Yuryev (Dorpt) was taken in July. In the winter of 1558-59. Russian troops reached the outskirts of Riga. In March 1559, a truce was signed for six months and an agreement was being prepared on the vassal dependence of the Order on Russia. However, neighboring states joined the war. The Polish king Sigismund II took the Order under his protectorate. In June 1561, the knighthood of Northern Estonia and the city of Revel swore allegiance to the King of Sweden, Lithuanian troops were stationed near Riga.
According to the Treaty of Vilna (November 1561), the Livonian Order ceased to exist, its territory was transferred to the joint possession of Lithuania and Poland, and the last master of the order received the Duchy of Courland. Instead of a weak opponent, the king now faced three strong states, however, with conflicting interests.
On 2nd stage (up to 1578) Russian troops fought with varying success. In 1562, Ivan the Terrible concluded a truce with Sweden and headed for an agreement with the Crimean Khanate, which made it possible to prepare a grandiose campaign of the army led by the tsar to Lithuania in the winter of 1562-1563. In February 1563, the city of Polotsk, an important fortress in the upper reaches of the Western Dvina, was captured.
Then the internal political situation worsened, most of the leaders of the “Chosen Rada” were executed or fell into disgrace; in April 1564, a close friend of Ivan the Terrible’s youth, Andrei Mikhailovich Kurbsky, fled from Yuryev to Lithuania. All this happened against the backdrop of military failures, which the tsar explained as treason. In September 1564, large Lithuanian forces besieged Polotsk, but were unable to take it. At the beginning of 1565, Ivan the Terrible introduced the oprichnina, and the planned royal campaign in Livonia was canceled. For several years, military activities proceeded sluggishly. In 1568-69, the Lithuanians managed to take several small fortresses. In March 1569, Poland and Lithuania concluded the Union of Lublin, and a new state was formed - the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth.
A major campaign against Revel and its long siege at the end of 1570 - beginning of 1571 did not bring success. In 1577, Ivan the Terrible tried to strike a decisive blow. The troops took many small and medium-sized fortresses, captured almost the entire territory north of the Western Dvina (with the exception of Revel and Riga with their districts), but the victories turned out to be fragile.
On 3rd stage (from 1579) Russian troops fought defensive battles [defense and surrender of Polotsk (1579), Velikiye Luki (1580), six-month defense of Pskov 1581-82, etc.] against the army of Stefan Batory and Swedish troops, who captured Narva and a number of Livonian fortresses. It ended with the signing of the Yam-Zapolsky and Plyussky armistices, which were unfavorable for Russia.
Yam-Zapolsky world between Russia and the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth for 10 years. Concluded on January 15, 1582 near Zapolsky Yam, south of Pskov. One of the diplomatic documents that ended the Livonian War of 1558-83. The cities occupied by Polish troops were returned to Russia, in return it abandoned Polotsk and Livonia.
Plyus truce between Russia and Sweden, which ended the Livonian War of 1558-83. Concluded on the Plyussa River in August 1583. The Russian cities of Ivangorod, Yam, Koporye, Korela and their districts went to Sweden. Russia retained the mouth of the Neva.
