The largest of the wars waged by the Russians in the 16th century, but at the same time it was an important political event for a number of European countries, and for European history as a whole. Since the 13th century, Livonia, as a confederation, was part of German Empire. By the beginning of the 16th century, this huge medieval state was at the stage of collapse. It represented an outdated, loosely cohesive political body, based on and still dominated by a remnant of inter-tribal alliances.
Germany did not have its own national identity at the time of the development of the money economy. The once powerful and bloodthirsty Livonian Order completely lost its belligerence and could not resist the new young state, which considered the unity of the nation a priority in its policy and energetically, regardless of means, pursued national policy.
Without exception, all the powers surrounding Livonia would not refuse, under favorable circumstances, to annex the south-eastern coast of the Baltic. The Principality of Lithuania and the Kingdom of Poland were interested in having access to the sea in order to carry out direct trade relations with Western countries, and not pay a huge duty for the use of foreign sea areas. Sweden and Denmark did not need to acquire maritime trade routes in the Baltic Sea; they were quite satisfied with receiving transit duties from merchants, which were very significant.
Trade routes passed not only through the sea, but also over land. Both states played the role of gatekeepers, and there was fierce competition between them in this regard. It is clear that further fate Livonia was not indifferent to the decrepit Germany, disintegrating into small principalities. And the attitude towards the claims of the young Moscow Tsar was far from clear. Far-sighted political men from the overthrown Hanseatic League dreamed of using the growing power of Moscow to restore its former trading power in the east.
Livonia also became a battlefield for states located very far from the Baltic coast. England and Spain continued their dispute in western waters.
Therefore, after the Russian troops defeated the Livonians, and the diplomatic negotiations of the northern states did not lead to the desired results, they all rallied as a united front against the troops. The war lasted for almost 30 years and its results for the Moscow state were not at all comforting. The main task of accessing the Baltic Sea was not solved. Instead of two neighbors eternally hostile to Russia - the Principality of Lithuania and Poland, a new strong state of the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth took shape.
As a result of a ten-year truce, which was formalized on January 5, 1582 in the village of Yame Zapolski, this new state secured most of the Baltic states. The trophies of war included 41 cities and fortresses occupied by Russian troops. The economy of the Russian state was drained of blood, and its political prestige was undermined.
The article briefly talks about the Livonian War (1558-1583), which was waged by Ivan the Terrible for the right to access the Baltic Sea. The war for Russia was initially successful, but after Sweden, Denmark and the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth entered it, it became protracted and ended in territorial losses.
Causes of the Livonian War
Progress of the Livonian War
Results of the Livonian War
I strongly welcome you! Klim Sanych, good afternoon. Good afternoon. Hi all. Happy birthday! Thank you. Hello! It is important. You can take the rest yourself. Yes. What is today about? With all these terrible cinematic creations that the domestic film industry has poured on us in a flurry, as well as with the regular reaction to current events, as well as with all sorts of decent films that we also constantly analyze, we have completely forgotten about the basis, namely military history. I’m still a military historian, I’m yearning, I want to talk about the war. And not an expert on shit like “The Shape of Water,” damn it. Yes. Which we are forced to do in order to get hype. Yes, yes, of course, of course, of course. Yes, so, we have the Livonian War, which in some way marks the anniversary of its beginning this year. It started in 1558, and now it is 2018, i.e. we get an even date, and there is no reason not to analyze this significant event, especially since it is so promoted in history textbooks. Judging by the name, we were at war with some Livonia? Yes Yes Yes. But this is actually a big misconception. Everyone thinks that the Livonian War means that we fought with Livonia, so. And today I propose to give some introductory information, because Livonian War This is a very long, very big (as they would say now, stupid term) geopolitical conflict. So-so. And I think it’s impossible to immediately begin military action; we need to take a well-funded approach. Those. first, figure out what was happening there in general around this very Livonia and not only, and only then, step by step, analyze the course of military operations, all sorts of wonderful battles that took place there, especially since we have already sorted out one of them - the Capture of Polotsk. Can we do it in 1 video? Nain! Only a few. So-so. And then I immediately say that for now, as a start, as things go, we will only analyze the Livonian War itself, because, but I’m getting a little ahead of myself. And we need to start with periodization, firstly, and secondly, with what the term is, what the Livonian War actually was. Because, as you rightly said, the Livonian War means it is with the Livonians. And we know from school that this was a very important conflict that tore apart the Moscow kingdom of Ivan the Terrible, which is why the Troubles immediately began. Because they spent all the money there, they killed all the military men there, and those who were not killed became poor, everyone became brutal because of this Livonian War, we lost it in the end, and then Ivan the Terrible died suddenly, and it happened... From anger. From anger, from rage, yes, from bedsores. And the Troubles began, and everything was bad as a result. Well, it logically turns out that the Livonian War was the main war waged by Russia during the time of Ivan the Terrible. Well, since they lost it and everything is bad, that means it is so. But it is not so. But I’m sorry, I’ll interrupt you, because as usual they will start asking questions, but due to my illiteracy, I know exactly one author, citizen Skrynnikov. Yes. Are his books under Ivan the Terrible good? Well, you definitely need to know them, because Skrynnikov dug deep. We send everyone - ZhZL, the life of wonderful people, author Skrynnikov, I don’t remember the name. Ruslan Grigorievich. Ruslan Grigorievich. The book is called “Ivan the Terrible”. And there are a number of others. In fact, of course, there are many more books about Ivan the Terrible, not only Skrynnikov, but we will definitely give a list of recommended literature, as we usually do when analyzing historical topics. But about the Livonian War, it would seem, the most important war of Ivan the Terrible, and until recently there were no special books about it at all. Why? Those. Of course, they wrote about her in various books, sometimes quite a lot. And if you collect them in heaps, all these books, then you will get some kind of incredible historiographical background. And now they have just begun to write, by and large, about the Livonian War personally. It’s hard to say why, I don’t know why. That is... They don’t want to highlight Ivan’s merits? I don't know, it's a mystery. I just think that it’s impossible to do everything in a row, and the Livonian War is such a gigantic tangle that you can’t tackle it on the fly, so we think - well, for us, well, okay, later. Here. And then someone else says “later.” In the meantime, about repression. In the meantime, of course, let’s talk about repression, yes. But the stable historiographical term “Livonian War” nevertheless emerged, although, of course, if contemporaries had learned that they were participating in the Livonian War, they would have been very surprised. Much like the French and the British, having learned that they were fighting in the Hundred Years' War. Because the Livonian War dates back to 1558, and it is traditionally believed that it dates back to 1583 until the Truce of Plus with Sweden. In reality, of course, this is not entirely true. And now I’ll try to explain why. Because the Livonian War did not exist as such, it was a series of interconnected conflicts, albeit thematically, but which each fought off each other both by the participating countries, and by specific peace treaties, specific declarations of war. It was a protracted conflict between the parties, in which not only Russia and Livonia participated, this is the most important thing, Livonia almost did not participate there at all. Lithuanians, Poles, Swedes, Danes, Russia, of course, a little Livonia took part there, and even the Tatars managed to participate directly and indirectly. And the whole reason is because Livonia, i.e. Livonian Confederation, so-called The Livonian Order was, by the end of the 15th and already in the 16th century, the sickest man of Europe, which it later became Ottoman Empire in the 19th century. This was a naturally sick man of Europe. This was due to something – well, in general, of course, with the crisis of the order’s state. This was the last order state of all that there were, probably, except for the knights of the Order of Ivan of Jerusalem, the Hospitallers in Malta. The fact is that the top-level organizations protecting them, namely the states that one way or another formed these same orders, were not up to it in the 16th century. In particular, the Livonian Confederation was a vassal of the Holy Roman Emperor of the German nation. But, as it turned out, the emperor was the first to leak it. Moreover, there were such seemingly impossible moments when the former Teutonic Order, which at that time had already become simply Prussia, fought on the side of the Poles and Lithuanians against Livonia. Those. this is generally one whole thing, but it was literally in the 15th century. Those. The Teutonic Order, it was like the commander of the Livonian Landmaster, it was one whole, between them there was Lithuania and they tried to unite. But, nevertheless, here we see how the Prussian Duke Albrecht, together with the Poles and Lithuanians, withdraws his troops to the border with Livonia. Because even the Prussians also looked in that direction. And why did they look - well, it’s easy to guess that this part of the Baltic coast was a very important trading point, because there are such wonderful cities as Tallinn... the Danish fortress. Danish fortress, also known as Revel. Riga is there. And all these cities cover almost all of Russian Baltic trade. And Russian Baltic trade, who hasn’t heard our last year’s videos about the milestones of Russian history, Baltic trade is very important, because Baltic trade is what covers all, almost all, Eurasian trade. That is, everything that goes along the Volga from the Caspian Sea; everything that comes through the Dnieper from the Black Sea; everything that goes along what was previously called the Great Silk Road is one way or another distributed among different, as they now say, hubs. That is, to the Mediterranean Sea in one direction, and in the other direction, the only sea route there is the Baltic, everything comes to the Baltic. And whoever is at the distribution point will inevitably receive a lot of money. Because the Baltic, as you might guess, is the northern Mediterranean Sea, because it is located among the lands - on one side there is Scandinavia, Denmark closes everything and, therefore, the German Baltic coast. And the Swedes just wanted to make it their inland sea. Yes. And even for a moment they succeeded. By the time of the Kalmar Union of the 14th century, when Denmark, Sweden and Norway were practically united, then it all, of course, fell apart, and by the time of the reign of Charles XII at the beginning of the 18th century, and, in fact, under his dad, under Charles XI, this is already the end of the reign of Alexei Mikhailovich - the beginning of the reign of Peter I, for some time this was also practically the Swedish inland sea, practically. Well, not only the Swedes wanted to make it an inland sea. That is, it is clear that neither Germany nor anyone else would have been able to make it internal, but they really wanted to crush the entire coastline. And whoever wanted it was Lithuania, of course, it has direct access to the Baltic Sea, and it needed the entire piece of the Baltic states to be itss. Naturally, Poland has been a friend of the Lithuanians since Krevo Union also from the 14th century, a union state. Naturally, I have already mentioned Germany through Prussia; Denmark, because at one time the Danes sold their Danish fortress of Daalina, along with the knights who settled there, to the Livonians. And now, well, the Livonians are dying, so we need to take it back, this is a Danish fortress, even the name is like that, look. Here, first of all. Secondly, of course, the Danes could not allow the Swedes to strengthen themselves at this expense, because the Swedes are their direct competitors from all sides for many, many centuries. And, of course, Russia because the Livonian Order was constantly in close, I would say even dialectical, relationship with the northwestern lands of Rus', that is, Novgorod and Pskov. And, of course, everything was brewed not under Ivan the Terrible, everything was brewed under Ivan III. Those. it, of course, brewed much earlier, but this is the story that is directly adjacent to ours, to the Livonian War, it all began under the grandfather of Ivan IV, under Ivan the Great, under Ivan III. At this time, the Livonian Order was already feeling unwell, the Livonian Confederation. Well, firstly, because it is a confederation. Not a single confederal state of small size, surrounded by generally quite strong neighbors, will last long, because, as we remember, what Livonia is - Livonia is actually the territory of the order, that is, military-monastic, these are several bishoprics, which, it would seem, are included into one confederation, but they, as a rule, pursued their own very independent policy, sometimes directly conflicted within themselves, leading to armed clashes. Wow, some bishop inside the state said, “I don’t like everything,” and went to fight with his president. They entered into direct agreements with the enemies of the order, where they periodically had to be arrested, these bishops, if they could, of course. Well, of the bishoprics, the main role was played by the two largest ones: Terpskoye (on the site of the old Russian city of Yuryev) and Rizhskoye. Riga is the most Old city Livonia, 1202, founded by Bishop Albrecht. And unfortunately for the Livonians, and to great happiness for everyone else, the last master, Walter von Plettenberg, I don’t mean the last master of the Livonian Order, but the last such successful master who acted as an independent figure, such a bright independent figure, he was , firstly, a very energetic person, an extremely successful military leader and a very skillful military leader, frankly speaking, even Ivan III cried with him. Although where is this Livonia of this size and, therefore, the nascent kingdom of Moscow of this size. He beat us regularly. Due to his charisma and powerful organizational abilities, he fixed this confederal state, i.e. Through Lithuania, the Teutonic Order, which was also not doing well, was able to transform itself in the 16th century, becoming a secular state. He brought himself under the roof of the Poles and, in general, survived well. But the Livonians are not, the Livonians are fixed in the old medieval form. Of course, Plettenberg had reason to do so - why, because Livonia was a point where all sorts of fools and parasites, alcoholics and other downshifters were brought together. Like Finland for the Swedes. Yes Yes Yes. But downshifters went there with a specific goal - to undownshift back, because there, again, there are great prospects. And, naturally, fraternities immediately formed there, because just to come to the Livonian Order and say that I’m here too, excuse me, a knight, I’ll fight here for a little while, of course, it was possible, and even you would have been allowed to fight, but They wouldn’t give you anything to earn money there - no land, no money, well, except for the fact that you will directly fight. People were exiled there, as I once told you when we were talking about the short Livonian-Novgorod war in the 40s of the 15th century, people from the Rhine and Westphalia were exiled there. So they trampled this path, naturally formed a community there, and did not let anyone else in, well, at least on an industrial scale. Well, then the Danes allowed in another constellation of independent Danish knights, who were simply surrendered along with Tallinn, who saw both the Westafalians and the Rhineans in the coffin, but loved themselves. This, of course, added strength to this state. Well, based on this, a crisis broke out, because Walter von Plettenberg died, and there was no longer such a boss - energetic, charismatic, etc., who simply with his personality could weld it all together. Because in fact, expecting that everyone will be such a wonderful boss is quite stupid, this does not happen. And the system itself was practically no longer viable. Well, of course, everyone immediately became interested in the fact that if it all dies, and it is dying before our eyes, someone lucky will take it first, so everyone immediately pricked up their hairy ears and began to look closely to see who would just rush there first. Walter von Plettenberg, it must be said, although he defeated Russian troops several times, he never, as a sober person, thought that this could be done on a permanent basis. He understood perfectly well that he could beat the Russians only because Ivan III was fighting with Casemir IV of Lithuania. He’s just very busy, he can’t really deal with all this, he doesn’t have time. Therefore, when the Lithuanians and Poles invited Walter von Plettenberg to form a single anti-Russian coalition, he nobly refused, saying that nothing good would come of this for me. You may not survive this. Let's do it ourselves. I won't survive this. Yes, and, of course, there was a very strong pro-Russian party in the order, and a strong, of course, anti-Russian party, i.e. hawks and doves of peace. Doves of peace, as a rule, were associated directly with trading circles, which just needed to trade, that's all, period. And the hawks needed to impose some kind of their will, well, this is a militarized state, it was necessary to expand somehow, at least in a commercial sense. Naturally, they were in conflict with Sweden, because Sweden is another point with which Russia borders, through which we can sell or buy something, vice versa. And after Walter von Plettenberg, Master von der Recke, he issued a certain decree, where it was once again written what goods could be traded with Russia. This is a potential military enemy, so strategic goods have not been allowed to come to us on an ongoing basis since the 13th century. Here von der Recke once again wrote what exactly should not be missed. But you cannot miss gold, silver, tin, lead, iron, horses, armor and weapons. Sanctions were imposed against us. Well, because silver is money, everyone knew perfectly well that Rus' doesn’t have its own silver, we don’t have our own lead, we don’t have our own tin, well, there’s not enough tin at all. It needs to be specially developed, extracted from ores, they didn’t know how to do this back then, it just needs to be native, and this is a big problem. Only when Varlam Shalamov appeared, he was sent to develop tin. Yes Yes. Those. there will be no silver - there will be no money, there will be no tin - there will be no bronze, there will be no bronze - there will be no guns. Well, if there is no lead, there will be nothing to make bullets from. Well, everything about armor and weapons is clear there, they have a specific military purpose, horses are the same. Everyone knew very well that the horse population in Rus' was weak. Those. It is simply impossible to arm mass cavalry with good horses. Therefore, we cannot supply horses. And the traders wanted to supply because it was a lot of money, that’s all, through this there was a constant conflict. The German traders who tried first were not from the Livonian Confederation; they were regularly caught here. For example, it was already after Ivan III, it was under Vasily III, they caught a certain Dutch merchant, who, as it turned out, was not the first time bringing ships full of tin and herring to the Novgorodians. He was caught and fined, and sent to hell, this in 1530. Back in the 15th century, a German merchant who regularly transported iron and weapons to Rus' was eventually caught, arrested, fined, everything taken away and thrown out. And he took it again, because apparently it was very profitable. And so they caught him a second time and cut off his head. No, well, since there were such decrees all the time, it means that someone was constantly trying to smuggle and successfully smuggled it. On the other hand, the Novgorodians and Pskovites could not pass by the order’s possessions on the sea route. Sea route Middle Ages - coasting. Along the shore. Along the coast, firstly. Secondly, even if it is not along the coast, a serious port in which a serious fleet is stationed has the ability to intercept other people’s ships at a fairly large distance from its own base. Those. They put up some patrols. Yes sir. Those. you are sailing somewhere to trade, you should rest with us. - Oh no. - Still, rest. With all due respect. With all due respect, yes. Immediately the customs office comes to you and asks what you have. Well, they say - listen, but we, by the way, signed an agreement 150 years ago, you can only trade with us. You seem to be from Novgorod, well, apparently, yes, you will be trading here. Well, that’s it, you have to trade in Riga or Tallinn. Those. You won’t be able to sail past Riga and Tallinn. Maybe you will be able to slip past one of the cities, but somewhere you will definitely fall completely. I don’t walk past Tallinn and Riga without jokes. Yes. So. Once again I’m surprised how my ancestors always seem to be somehow narrow-minded and unreasonable, and then come on – there’s a port, and patrols, and interception, and customs. And sanctions. And you can only trade here, where the money is, damn it. Yes. Therefore, the Novgorodians, starting from the 12th century, simply could not sail anywhere, they received guests at home. Ours, of course, responded with all their love. Complete reciprocity. Complete reciprocity. Those. Here comes a German from Livonia, you will trade only in a German courtyard with specially designated merchants. 3 people will come to you, and you will trade with them. The prices are like this, the volumes are like this. Yes of course. You cannot engage in retail trade yourself, and you cannot engage in purchasing yourself. Again, if you want procurement, here are the guys with licenses. Hans and Friedrich. Yes, no, these are Russians Vanya and Petya. So you, Hans and Friedrich, will buy from them what you wanted to buy there, by the way. Here. It is clear that all this was handled by special trading corporations. For example, our entire northern trade has been covered by fur since the 13th century. Ivanova hundred, Ivanova 100 in Novgorod, one of the most powerful, if not the most powerful, trading corporation. Because fur was a strategic commodity, which was actually a real currency. And so you could only buy fur from Ivanov 100. You couldn’t go to this Ugra yourself, to Biarmia, where the fur actually came from. The Germans, of course, tried to sail around the Kola Peninsula, around Arkhangelsk, but this is too far, the ice conditions there are not good. Well, in general, you can’t climb there on a regular basis. Since the early Middle Ages, since Viking times, there is a well-known saga about how people rode there, to Biarmia. Accordingly, if you want to travel to Novgorod, you will hire only Novgorod pilots. There were pilots on special duty there, then these same barge haulers who dragged the ships through the portages, but please don’t bring your own. If you brought it, let them rest here for now. They'll wait. They'll wait. Well, or as a guest they will go to Novgorod, where they will leave their money in a brothel, in a tavern somewhere. You can't work. And in such a situation, Ivan III annexed Novgorod. And then they wonder where the war comes from. How else can this issue be resolved, why do you have all the money and not us? Yes. In such a situation, Ivan III finally accepted this Novgorod back into the fold of the Russian state with open arms - enough for a walk. You have been free since 1136, something is not going well for you, come with us, here. Novgorod was besieged, they gave everyone a slap, and Novgorod became the site of a very broad social experiment, as we would put it now, namely, 2,600 Moscow nobles, the children of the boyars, were resettled to Novgorod, and land was opened up for them there. Actually, regular local layout begins from Novgorod, i.e. These very children of the boyars, nobles, turned in the full sense of the word into landowners, i.e. into knights, obligated to feudal service for the conditional holding of land and peasants. And from Novgorod, accordingly, certain nobles were evicted to other places so that they wouldn’t really organize... Groups there. Groupings, yes, so precisely that they would not be very comfortable. True, of course, it must be said that the Muscovites, when we found ourselves in Novgorod, themselves organized a grouping, they immediately made friends with the Novgorodians, they all formed their own kublo. Novgorod, as you know, had to be brought back to life several more times, and the last time this was done by Ivan the Terrible. Most successful. Well, Ivan III also did it very successfully, it’s just that Ivan IV did it for the last time and completely. By the way, he had to extinguish then, when they say that he extinguished the Novgorodians, he extinguished the descendants of Muscovites, whom his grandfather settled there. It was they who, in general, organized some initiatives there, which then had to be dealt with somehow. It is their rotten devils that are muddying the waters in the pond. Yes Yes Yes. Well, we’ve already talked about the uprising, and we’ll probably need to talk separately about the war for now. Ivan III took over Novgorod, and suddenly it turned out that this Livonian Confederation was a very dialectical neighbor. That is, on the one hand, it directly harms, but it simply directly harms. On the other hand, they have been negotiating with him for 150 years, and it is possible to coexist. But if you keep the Livonians in this loose form, they are a magnificent limitrophe as a counterweight to the Lithuanians. Those. No one even thought about conquering it. Of course, there were also very specific territorial claims, especially locally, where in general, apparently, this war was either a trade war, or a small war of partisan sabotage groups, small detachments, and it very rarely stopped. But in a global sense, no one needs to conquer them. For what? You can give money and they will fight against the Lithuanians. This is much cheaper than raising your own troops. Certainly. And if you conquer them, you will have to protect them, these territories. Well, this is really a huge territory, there are a lot of buildings there, they will need to be maintained, guarded, defended against the Lithuanians, the front will immediately lengthen. Therefore, for some time, for a very long time, no one thought about resolving the issue with the Livonians completely. On the contrary, they tried to keep them in this state, in a state of eternal semi-chaos, for as long as possible. And here, of course, you need to look in two directions at once, namely towards the Lithuanian and Polish and towards the Crimean. Because the Lithuanians, especially when they became close friends with the Poles, generally became at some point the dominant force in the region. Actually, only Ivan III and Vasily III were able to successfully resist them on an ongoing basis. Accordingly, the Poles have just dealt with the Teutonic Order, i.e., as it is correct to say, with the German Order. By the way, do you remember that you once asked me why the Teutonic Order, although all the Teutons have been around for a long time? Mari also cut them off, yes. So, it really just turned out that I never even thought about this question. You know that the word Germany is spelled Deutsch, i.e. Deutsch. And earlier, in the Middle Ages, it was written through T. Teutsch. Toych. Teutsch. So it turns out Teut, this is the German Order. Teutonic means Germanic, Teutonic simply means Germanic. Teut, or Teut, like that. Interesting. So, the Poles dealt with the Teutonic Order and had very specific intentions to deal with the Livonian Order too. But they also needed a limitrophe, i.e. someone who will create some kind of counterbalance to Russia in the North-West. State-laying. Yes Yes Yes. And therefore they constantly tried to bring the confederation under some kind of agreement, which would imply either an armed alliance against Russia, or at least armed neutrality against Russia. Those. if we are at war with Russia, you are either obliged to send troops, or you are obliged to look approvingly at our actions, and, accordingly, to comply with certain trade sanctions there. Yes. This was the same thing that Ivan III sought, only from the other side. Well, Ivan III began to successfully fight the Lithuanians, with Casimir IV. Subsequently, his policy was continued very successfully by Vasily III. Those. we remember this war of the early 16th century, which ended with the Battle of Vedrosh, we remember the first Smolensk War of 1512-1522, when in 1514 Vasily III captured Smolensk on the 3rd attempt. After which we lost the battle of Orsha, which, in general, did not lead to anything; we left the town for ourselves until the Time of Troubles. And Ivan III walked so widely for only one reason: he brought Kazan under his hand. Those. He did not actually capture Kazan, i.e. yes, there was a successful military enterprise there, Kazan actually submitted to it, it became a friendly state. And he was friends with the Krymchaks, namely with the founder of Giray Mengli-Girai I. In this case, you can be friends only for one reason, when there is someone to be friends against, because the Krymchaks hated the Great Horde, centered in modern Astrakhan. Because the Astrakhan people, as the heirs of the Jochi ulus, quite seriously believed that the Kazan people, the Crimeans, and the Nagais owed everything to them, i.e. they should be at their fingertips, this is our everything. But neither the Nagais, nor the Kazan, nor the Crimeans categorically disagreed with this, i.e. at all. Well, that is. All this meant that money had to be paid, but no one wanted to pay money, they needed it themselves. Firstly, pay money, and secondly, if those in Astrakhan come up with something, go somewhere to fight. But the Crimeans, for example, were not at all interested in fighting for the Astrakhan people; the Crimeans have an excellent position. On the one hand, they are located on the Black Sea and from this Crimea they can trade with anyone - slaves in the first place. And secondly, instead of running somewhere to Derbent, waving a saber there for some unknown purpose, it is much easier to run either to Moscow or to Vilna, catch men and women there and sell them in Kaffa. Here. And because The Great Horde at that time was a serious force, whatever one may say, although Ivan III seemed to have repulsed them there and on the Ugra, they still had to be reckoned with, and everyone, it was a very dangerous enemy if you quarreled with him. So, Mengli-Girai and Ivan III were friends against the Great Horde. And Ivan III constantly skillfully allowed his sidekick Mengli-Girai to enter Podolia, i.e. the southwestern lands of the Grand Duchy of Lithuania, so that he could work there, as the Germans say, this is the very thing, raub und moert, i.e. he robbed and killed, he was an excellent specialist in this regard, he robbed and killed. Lock the floors, there will be robberies now. Yes sir. True, of course, it must be said that Ivan III extremely cleverly allowed his Muslim sidekick into his own Orthodox lands. Well done. Because, of course, Mengli Giray would like to get to the Lithuanian lands, but it’s very far away. Actually, where ethnic Lithuanians live. But here you don’t need to think very badly about Ivan III, he was simply a man of the feudal era, for him his own were those who were his subjects, i.e. who pays him taxes and owes vassalage. And the people of Kiev, for example, owed vassal service to the Lithuanians, so excuse me. Nobody gave a damn what their nationality and specifically religion were. Nobody cares. Yes. No, of course, in this way, again, according to medieval customs, for example, the people of Kiev or Chernigov, the Novgorod-Severtsy people were made to understand that look, while you are with these Lithuanian idiots, you will be robbed. And if you are with us, you will not be robbed. This is what everyone did throughout the Middle Ages. For example, the civilized Edward III Plantagenet went to war with France. The first thing he did, having won the Battle of Sluys there, which allowed him to land an army (naval battle), which allowed him to land an army on French territory, he took up the well-known practice of grandes voyages, i.e. long walks, i.e. just bandit raids across French territory with burned villages and kidnapped people. The title of the idiotic film, in my opinion, with Louis de Funes, “The Great Walk”, is it just about this, or what? Yes, somehow it was different, it wasn’t grandes voyages, the allusion is clear that there are these same 3 Englishmen walking around France, that’s what it is, grandes voyages. Damn deep. Here. This is a hint that is generally understood by people who have read a school history textbook in France and England. And lo and behold, civilized people were doing exactly the same thing at about the same time. I’m already silent about what they did when there were religious wars between Catholics and Huguenots inside France, the same thing. And this is literally at the same time that we will talk about, the mid-second half of the 16th century. Nothing got in the way. Although these are not just Catholics and Huguenots, this is just one country, France, within itself, they did such things there that Ivan IV would seem like a funny guy with a beard, in some kind of ridiculous golden robe, here. And they are all so sophisticated, so they did absolutely terrible things to each other in tights and codpieces. We will talk about this, I hope, later. Necessarily. I want, when we talk, in fact, about the military actions of the Livonian War, to talk about the parallel process that took place in Europe, in fact, and dwell on the wonderful battle of Dreux. Who beat whom there? The French are the French. Here. To the side, to the Crimeans again. The Crimeans were friends with Ivan III and greatly interfered with the Lithuanians, so Ivan III simply had a free hand, he could engage in Western expansion on an ongoing basis, take back the lands of the Rurikovichs, because he himself was Rurikovich, and on full grounds believed that he had the right for the entire inheritance of the Rurikovichs. Vasily III did the same thing, but he quarreled with the Girays, and specifically with Muhammad-Girai. And he quarreled for one simple reason, because the entire alliance with Mengli-Girai was actually built on sand. As soon as we looked towards the Volga and we became the enemy of the Great Horde, the Krymchaks no longer needed to be friends with us, because if we deal with the Great Horde directly, then the Krymchaks have a free hand, on the one hand. On the other hand, Crimea is a vassal territory of the Ottoman Empire, which the Ottoman Empire influenced very, very strongly. They could have given some order, because the most important interests on the Volga were, of course, not the Great Horde, despite all the remnants of its power. It was with a new player, namely the Ottoman Empire, which sought to crush all Muslim lands under itself either directly or indirectly. And under Vasily III in 1522, Muhammad-Girai sent him a letter demanding tribute. And Vasily III, of course, refuses, because for what reason? Well, Muhammad-Giray reaches Moscow, crosses the Oka River, smashes the army of Vasily III to smithereens, Vasily III flees Moscow, leaving the baptized Tatar Peter in Moscow to steer instead of Luzhkov. He himself escapes to Novgorod, Peter is forced to give him on behalf of the Tsar, Muhammad-Girai, a letter stating that the Moscow Tsar is a tributary of the Crimean Tsar. Strongly. Here. The outskirts of Moscow have been burned, the Tatars are walking on Vorobyovy Gory in Tsarskoe Selo. There was one of the villages that belonged to the king personally, they plundered everything there. And after that we could not fight normally with the Lithuanians simply because we had a multi-pound Crimean cannonball hanging on our leg. And here you need to understand a very important thing, who fought with the Lithuanians. People of the future Novgorod category, i.e., were in constant contact with the Lithuanians. those who were just sitting here in Novgorod, Pskov, this is approximately 1/6 of our entire cavalry, it was the 2nd most powerful territorial such point, after Moscow, of course. Moreover, in contrast to Moscow, Novgorod, the future Novgorod rank, as we would say, the general government, probably could be designated this way. It was never divided territorially; it was one integral territorial border division. Moscow never acted as some kind of unified whole, because they could transfer part of the cities for warfare and organizational and accounting activities to their neighbors, take them for themselves, in short, it all transformed like this all the time. The Novgorodians remained in the monolith all the time. Because of this, they had a very powerful merged corporation, which had a very strong tradition of local feudal corporate self-government. And when fighting, for example, with the Lithuanians or the Livonians, they, firstly, defended their own interests, because they were on the border, they defended their lands, or they could take something for themselves. Those. receive a visible material profit for yourself or your family. Well, if they do slap you, it happens, then at least the children won’t lose out, because you’ll take someone’s land and slaughter it for yourself. Or you will take the men away and settle them with you. But from then on, every year they constantly had to leave for the Oka border on the river to fight with the Crimeans. And there was no profit in fighting the Crimeans. Because what are Crimeans? The Krymchaks appear incomprehensibly when, and without declaring a light war, having gathered... Murzas, lancers and Tatar Cossacks, they simply ran in by decision of some local regional commander, and they had to be caught. There were constant fights, maybe not very big, but extremely fierce. And here we have, from 1522 until the reign of Alexei Mikhailovich, we have this Oka, then the Belgorod border, it never died down, service was required there all the time, but you could not conquer anything there. You could only die there. Just fight back, yes. Yes. Because in order to conquer something from the Crimeans, it was necessary to reach the Crimea, and we could not do this, because we, as a sedentary empire of that time, were very strongly tied to means of communication , and these were rivers. Those. We could fight with Kazan, with Astrakhan, with the Lithuanians simply because we could bring in heavy artillery and artillery outfits in general along rivers, and along some more or less acceptable roads, and it would help in field battles, and heavy artillery will help take the city, that’s how Polotsk was taken, for example, or how Kazan was taken. But it couldn’t be brought to the Crimeans, because if you go to the steppe, then you simply may not return from there. Food, water, diarrhea. Because what a march across the steppe looks like without points where you can concentrate food, ammunition, rest, recover, well, it just turned into a terrible horror even for regular armies. How Peter I went to the Prut and how it ended is the only serious defeat in general, and it almost turned into a disaster for the Russian army in the 18th century. We couldn’t cope with the Turks, and with the same Crimeans who were allowed there, even though they were a regular army. This is not a medieval army, it is controlled differently, equipped differently, supplied differently. Somehow I will again lay out the layout according to what the march of the Russian cavalry looked like. We talked about the Mongols a long time ago, now we need to talk about the Russians. So, we couldn’t bring the guns to the Crimea, so we could only fight off the Krymchaks, and it was generally clear to the Novgorodians what they needed, but for them it was without any profit, they wanted to fight with the Livonians, it’s not so dangerous. And the Crimeans, understanding all these nuances, organized a Crimean auction. This is an accepted term in historiography. Well, they sold themselves to the Lithuanians and attacked Moscow, or to the Muscovites and attacked the Lithuanians. Well done. Here. It is clear to us that we had our own people fed in Crimea. Like the Lithuanians, probably. Like, naturally, the Lithuanians, there was a diplomatic mission there on a permanent basis, and our well-wishers, such as Yamat-Murza, he directly wrote to the Grand Duke that I cannot defend your interests, because the Lithuanians literally shower the khan with gold and jewelry , wake, i.e. present. Are funerals gifts? Yes. He demanded regular wakes. And if you didn’t give him regular wakes, he would go to war against you. And Muhammad-Giray’s brother Sahib-Giray, for example, he did not hesitate to write to Vasily III that he demands to be his vassal, as we would say now, and to regularly pay him money, formulating it this way: if you don’t pay, I will come myself and I'll take a lot more. Those. It's better for you to pay. Indicated prices. Yes, yes, yes, because as much as I take, as much as I steal, I’ll take that much. So if you just pay, it will be cheaper. Be kind. Yes. Which, of course, Vasily III did not like in any case, but he couldn’t not pay, he couldn’t not pay all the time, because paying was actually cheaper, on the one hand; on the other hand, taking into account the Lithuanian factor, it was too expensive to pay the Crimeans constantly. But Vasily III died, in fact, what I’m leading all this to is Ivan IV, because where is Crimea, where is Livonia, now we will connect them. Vasily III died, Ivan IV came, he was the third grandson, a kalach in the kingdom and the husband of many wives. Here. Ivan Vasilyevich the Terrible was his name, because he was a serious, respectable person. He’s not sweet in his ways and not lame in his mind, he’s the kind of person who has established order – even if he rolls a ball. He was still 15 years old, respectively, he was born in 1530, in 1545 the first campaign against Kazan, which under Vasily III was completely abandoned from us. It all ended with the bloody capture of 1552, after which it suddenly turned out that we were not only not friends of the Crimeans, but fierce enemies, because in 1556 we took Astrakhan, we closed the Volga, and the Crimeans had no enemies at all, except Russia. After this, it was no longer possible to put up with us. In addition, the Turks simply killed Devlet-Girey I’s predecessor when he began to pursue an overly independent policy. And Devlet-Giray was a cautious man, he, when he is presented as such a Hitler in a skullcap, who wanted to continuously fight with Russia, no, he would not have been against it theoretically, but he was a cautious man, a very, very smart and cautious man. But because he was careful, he understood that if he did not fight with Russia, the Turks would also do something to him, because they had all the opportunities and means of influence on Crimea, especially since it was their official vassal, Crimea, they were obliged obey. Well, of course, with reservations, like any vassal, he is a vassal only because he is obliged to the overlord to the same extent that the overlord is obliged to him. And this balance is maintained only in the sense that the overlord can be very strong, and yet you owe him a little more. Those. the partnership is unbalanced. And they began to push him towards war. On the one hand, the Lithuanians constantly paid him, they simply continuously showered him with gifts, just this Yamat-Murza wrote that I could not do anything. And Devlet-Girey wrote to Ivan the Terrible with approximately the same content as Sahib-Girey, that you will be my younger brother, i.e. vassal. Vanya... Yes, and it began... This, by the way, immediately coincides with the capture of Kazan, 1552. And a 25-year war with the Crimeans began, which ended only in 1577, only in 1577 did it end. And it was during this war that an organizational, military, and even psychological portrait of a Russian serviceman in general was formed, who was forced every year to stand up for the defense of his native borders, what is called disinterestedly, i.e. not having the desire to loot something, the desire and ability to loot something, on this very damn Oka. And all the military corporations throughout Russia were involved. Those. Novgorodians visited there, Kazan residents visited there, and, naturally, Muscovites visited there on a regular basis. In general, this shift service at the Oka border consumed monstrous resources, simply monstrous. It all ended with the fact that in 1571 Devlet-Giray actually burned Moscow to the ground, leaving only the Kremlin. The next year, in 1572, the bloody Battle of Molodi, which, in fact, decided the outcome of this war. Well, there it one way or another flared up, then died out on a small scale until the death of Devlet-Girai in 1577. He was a serious man. Yes. And now we need to compare this war and the situation in Livonia. We have never included such efforts in the Livonian direction as were involved in the Crimean direction, even approximately. And even when everything went wrong during the reign of Stefan Batory in 1580-83. Stefan Batory did not even dream of going to Moscow, he did not have such strength. And Devlet-Girey burned it. Therefore, the Livonian War was a secondary focus for Ivan the Terrible. It, in fact, did not end very well for us for one simple reason: we were busy with the Crimeans. We could not afford to throw decisive forces there. Yes, at some point large forces were involved there, but this is not the main direction. That is why it was a private failure, which could not lead to any damn Time of Troubles, it was just an episode. Which, yes, was expensive, but not too expensive. But what about Livonia, actually? Here we have Ivan IV sitting on the throne. Ivan IV needed constant supply of strategic resources for the war on the Volga, because, as we remember, 3 campaigns near Kazan, only the third was a success, and this was the most difficult situation. Plus, it was necessary to constantly bribe your people in the Podrayskaya land and feed the pro-Russian party in every possible way. Maintaining garrisons against Astrakhan and building cities required resources and specialists. And at this time Ivan IV, more precisely, he was still a young man then, i.e. Ivan IV and his company, they moved towards rapprochement with the Holy Roman Emperor Charles V, and Charles V very actively moved towards rapprochement with Russia. Simply because Charles V fought with the Turks, and he needed any counterbalance to the Turks on his part. Well, literally just now, 1535, Charles personally leads an expedition to Tunisia, takes it, kicks out the Turks and mainly, of course, their local hangers-on, the famous pirate Hayraddin Barbarossa. It turns out that when the locals took Filyuki there in Tunisia, it turns out that they were selling guns to the French. The French named after The French are selling guns to the Turks because they were all branded with 3 fleurs-de-lis, i.e. hallmark of the French royal arsenal. Those. on the one hand, the French never supported the Turks, but everyone understood who was each other, because the Germans needed some kind of counterbalance to Turkey. It would seem that where is France, where is Russia, but the decision of the French and Francis I to help the Turks directly prompted Charles V to move closer to Russia. And he begins very active steps in this direction, remembering that his grandfather Maximilian I negotiated quite successfully with both Ivan III and Vasily III. The truth, of course, is not primarily against the Turks, but against the Poles. In general, this did not bring any significant results, but there were attempts and quite visible attempts, these moves by Germany towards Russia. And who reared up first? – Yes, the Livonian Order, because we had a requirement from Charles V to help with resources. And he was ready, because, Lord, there in this Germany they mine silver, and copper, and tin, and lead, and they have a lot of military specialists, and military specialists of the highest class, who have just literally gone through fire, water and copper pipes Italian wars. Those. there were a lot of military people there who were ready right now to go somewhere and tell everyone how to do it for money. Veterans of hot spots. So there was not a hot spot there, these Italian wars were just a bloody meat grinder, tens of thousands of people went through it, having gained very serious experience and a complete reluctance to do anything else except war, because it was profitable. And a military specialist at that time was a person who could make not just a future for himself, but become some kind of great figure in history. For example, who would even know such nobles as, for example, the Frundsbergs. Yes, no one would know, except for some very sad heralds who generally pick around these same noble families, coats of arms and so on. But Georg Frundsberg became simply because he deftly commanded the Landsknechts, he became a world-class figure without fools, all of Europe literally knew him. Simply because he successfully commanded regiments of Landsknechts. And we were ready to host such adventurers with all our arms. To intensify this process, in 1548, a handsome young Saxon adventurer, Hans Schlitte, came to Charles V and offered to take over relations with Moscow. Apparently, he sat well on the ears of Charles V, because he gave him complete carte blanche, and he went to Moscow. In Moscow, he also caught the ears of Ivan IV, who, for his part, gave him complete carte blanche, and so Schlitte began to supply us, and he himself was from Saxony, specifically, he was born in a city where there were some of the best silver mines, those. he knew with whom he needed to quickly negotiate in order to supply precious metals directly. He recruited specialists, gathered strategic resources, and began to supply them to Ivan IV. And he was caught by the Livonians along with another portion of specialists. A monstrous scandal broke out, the Livonians had a row with Emperor Charles V, saying that this cannot be done, you understand that you are supplying Ivan IV with weapons and strategic resources, and we are already afraid of him. And this, of course, played a very important role, the Schlitte case played a very important role in the fact that Ivan the Terrible drew attention to Livonia, because the Livonians, this small dilapidated state, had the opportunity to simply turn off the valve for us. Which is unacceptable. Which is categorically unacceptable. And Ivan the Terrible first makes diplomatic efforts, and then military efforts, and it is here that an important caveat needs to be made. Ivan the Terrible did not consider Livonia his equal, he did not send sovereign envoys there, he negotiated with the Livonians only with the help of Novgorod officials. Some clerk is leaving Novgorod, negotiate with him. Because he considered Livonia to be just a principality. People need to be sent to the level. Yes. And he is an emperor, it’s impossible for him to communicate with the prince. Let the Novgorodians communicate there for 200 years and continue to communicate, but, of course, with an eye on the party line. And then he sends ambassadors from the sovereign. Things are reaching another level. The matter is reaching a completely different level, and the Livonians understand this immediately. Why are they just there with the Novgorodians, with their buddies, with whom they either fought or were friends, and then look, Adashev and Voskovaty arrived straight from Moscow. Famous names. Certainly. Who needed a reason to find fault with the Livonians. Because they have the right to pass any laws and issue any decrees on their territory - a sovereign state. Even if it’s unpleasant, what’s your business what’s pleasant or unpleasant to you? We need a reason, and there is a well-known reason - St. George’s tribute. Those. what the Livonians promised to pay for the possession of Dorpat, which they had taken away at one time and pledged to pay money for it. No one knows exactly when and how much they promised to pay. But for unknown reasons they didn’t pay, right? Yes. But for unknown reasons, they haven’t paid anything for 100 years. They came up with a sum, calculated interest on it, and in the end they ended up with a carload of silver, which had to be immediately given to Ivan IV. Well, immediately after Yuriev’s tribute, they rolled out a bunch of claims that merchants were being offended, by the way, who pay taxes to Moscow, peel off wax, and use merciless back-door treatment. What is this? I told you this once, when a barrel of wax just fell, for example, in Riga, you could take a sample from it, whether it was high-quality wax or not. The sample size was not specified. Those. you could just chop off half and not pay - I didn’t try it. Yes. Not rozibrav. Not rozibrav. Well, pay for the rest. The same thing happened with furs. It was possible to see if the fur was good, and then pick up a piece, and since... the size was not discussed... Cut off each skin. Yes. Because the size was not specified, it was terrible. Accordingly, we did not have the right to check with them whether, for example, they supplied us with wine, wine or, say, good Flemish cloth. They supplied it in barrels and pieces. Those. we could pay per piece and per barrel, but we could not verify the dimensions of the barrel and the piece. Great. Do you know where the word “enough” comes from in Russian? This is a very interesting linguistic incident. So-so. This is when you open a barrel, for example, with wine or beer, if you reach your finger, then it’s enough, and if not, then it’s not enough, you didn’t get it. Here. And, accordingly, they constantly tried to... deceive us. Deceive. To deceive, yes. And all these small territorial claims, connected primarily, of course, with claims to Narva, this is St. George’s tribute, the grievances of the merchants, they simply presented it all, and said that it must be paid, stopped, and Ivan IV rolled out an agreement, one of the main items of which were gold, silver, cloth, iron, and armor, i.e. except for armor. And the willing German people had a free path by water and mountain. Those. cloth and specialists were more expensive than armor. About armor, he said that if you want to supply it, supply it, if not, okay. And this completely coincides, by the way, with the list of von der Recke, who forbade the transport of this very thing. Those. Ivan IV knew exactly what he needed. We will make the shells ourselves somewhere, buy somewhere else, resources and specialists. But the Livonians are a confederation, they were in complete shock, on the one hand, on the other hand, of course, in complete happiness, because Yuryev’s tribute, so let this Yuryev, damn it, pay. Those. Dorpat. And everything else does not concern us. They were also smart, by the way. Here’s the wording: St. George’s tribute, so let the people of Dorpat pay it. The residents of Derpt said that we simply physically do not and cannot have that much money. Well, then Grozny decided that he was being deceived... Not without reason. Yes. What kind of antics are these? What kind of antics is this, yes. There, it means, they called the Livonian Landsgers, i.e. landlords were invited to Novgorod, where, as they say, a 200,000-strong Muscovite army was waiting for them at the border, so that they would be properly frightened. This, of course, is bullshit, there were maybe 2 thousand of them waiting there, that’s it. But it was also scary. But it was also unpleasant. And they fired cannons for a day while they agreed, so that it would also be scary. Look how much gunpowder we have, we can do this here! We agreed for 3 years to raise money. And at this time, the Lithuanians, Poles and Prussians tried to enter Livonia from the other side, namely, they decided to appoint a vicar, as we would say, or a coadjutor, as is correct, i.e. closest assistant, deputy of the Riga Archbishop Krzysztof (Christopher) of Macklenburg, who was a relative of the King of Poland Sigismund, in my opinion, a nephew, if I’m not mistaken. They decided to imprison him and through him influence the bishop of Riga and the master, respectively. But the master did not need this, and Master Furstenberg arrested him, realizing that he was a nit, a spy and a provocateur. After which the Prussians, just the former Teutons, Lithuanians and Poles, simply took and unobtrusively gathered about 15,000 troops there and placed them on the border with Livonia, after which Fürstenberg realized that either the water should be drained, or it was necessary to negotiate somehow, because He couldn’t resist them at all, he would have simply been crushed. And it is possible that he himself was hanged for the arrest of a relative of the king. And they conclude a very important agreement in the town of Pozvol, where the Livonians are led to an obligation of armed neutrality against Russia. What is characteristic is that our intelligence, apparently, completely missed this permission agreement; we simply did not know about it. Because Ivan the Terrible did not react at all for at least a year. And in Lithuanian letters, for example, internal correspondence, there are subtle mocking hints that Vanya doesn’t catch mice at all. We’ve already settled everything with Livonia, but he’s still waiting for some kind of tribute. But, naturally, it is impossible to hide such an awl in a sack of hay, because as soon as the Livonian ambassadors arrived again to negotiate with Ivan IV at the end of the three-year truce, it suddenly became clear that they were not going to pay him tribute, but asked him to think a little more, maybe there let's agree. After which, we don’t know for sure whether Ivan the Terrible found out about the Pozvolsky Treaty, but in fact he realized that they had agreed with someone else behind his back. And there it was last point, because he didn’t care at all about these petty squabbles of the Novgorodians, even about the fact that they don’t allow specialists and strategic goods to come to us there - in the end, it was always possible to get around these problems, they somehow got around them for 200 years, or come to an agreement with the Swedes, taking them through Sweden is not so convenient, but it is also possible. By the way, it was possible to buy iron from the Swedes, which is what we did. But then it became clear that Livonia was living out its last days on its own, and now all this would fall under the feet of Lithuania, and this could not be allowed under any circumstances. And then Ivan the Terrible takes such a step that the Livonians must understand that the jokes are over altogether; in 1557, a large army is formed on the border with Livonia, which consisted of Novgorod and Pskov horsemen and Kazan Tatars, who were promised that they could rob. And this autumn-winter of 1557 became the last peaceful day in general in Livonia, because since 1559 cannons thundered there and swords rang almost continuously. Because 1583, our very peace with Sweden, it didn’t mean absolutely nothing. Returning to the beginning of the conversation - the Livonian War is not the Livonian War, but the Livonian Wars. Because the Danes fought there with the Swedes and vice versa, Sweden with the Russians, Poland, Lithuania with Russia, Russia with Livonia, Poland and Lithuania. This is a series of very intense conflicts, this is the War of the Livonian Succession, that’s how we would say it correctly. Well, while everyone froze at the start, next time we’ll figure out what happened. Damn, it's picky. Somehow I don’t even know, every time I immerse myself... I repeat that I always imagine that now everyone is cunning, smart, intelligent, such an intricacy... They know everything. And here it’s no less cunning. And the most important thing is that for me, as a commoner, history is a set of some kind of anecdotes - someone sent someone to hell, took a woman away, and then there’s war. It turns out that it’s not about the woman or the message, but about completely different things. It's a mess, damn it. It’s a pity, there are no pictures of where who lives, who went where, who why. This is when we will talk about military operations. By the way, maybe I’ll even prepare some maps for this, for this conversation, at least so that people understand that Crimea is here, Moscow is here. And the state of Ukraine should be designated as ancient. Ancient, yes. There, really, in this state of Ukraine there will be stuck up to the tonsils the pole of the flag of the Grand Duchy of Lithuania. That's it. Thank you, Klim Sanych. We look forward to the continuation. We are trying. That's all for today. Until next time.
The best thing history gives us is the enthusiasm it arouses.
Goethe
The Livonian War lasted from 1558 to 1583. During the war, Ivan the Terrible sought to gain access to and capture the port cities of the Baltic Sea, which was supposed to significantly improve economic situation Rus', due to improved trade. In this article we will talk briefly about the Levon War, as well as all its aspects.
The sixteenth century was a period of continuous wars. Russian state sought to protect itself from its neighbors and return lands that were previously part of Ancient Rus'.
Wars were fought on several fronts:
Livonia is a region in the eastern Baltic. On the territory of modern Estonia and Latvia. In those days, there was a state created as a result of the crusader conquests. As a state entity, it was weak due to national contradictions (the Baltic people were placed in feudal dependence), religious schism (the Reformation penetrated there), struggle for power among the elite.
Ivan IV the Terrible began the Livonian War against the backdrop of the success of his foreign policy in other areas. The Russian prince-tsar sought to push the borders of the state back in order to gain access to shipping areas and ports of the Baltic Sea. And the Livonian Order gave the Russian Tsar ideal reasons for starting the Livonian War:
Speaking about the reason, we should focus on the fact that Livonia separated Rus' from the sea and blocked trade. Large merchants and nobles who wanted to appropriate new lands were interested in capturing Livonia. But main reason One can highlight the ambitions of Ivan IV the Terrible. Victory was supposed to strengthen his influence, so he waged the war, regardless of the circumstances and the meager capabilities of the country for the sake of his own greatness.
The Livonian War was fought with long interruptions and is historically divided into four stages.
At the first stage (1558–1561), the fighting was relatively successful for Russia. In the first months, the Russian army captured Dorpat, Narva and was close to capturing Riga and Revel. The Livonian Order was on the verge of death and asked for a truce. Ivan the Terrible agreed to stop the war for 6 months, but this was a huge mistake. During this time, the Order came under the protectorate of Lithuania and Poland, as a result of which Russia received not one weak, but two strong opponents.
The most dangerous enemy for Russia was Lithuania, which at that time could in some aspects surpass the Russian kingdom in its potential. Moreover, the Baltic peasants were dissatisfied with the newly arrived Russian landowners, the cruelties of war, extortions and other disasters.
The second stage of the war (1562–1570) began with the fact that the new owners of the Livonian lands demanded that Ivan the Terrible withdraw his troops and abandon Livonia. In fact, it was proposed that the Livonian War should end, and Russia would be left with nothing as a result. After the tsar’s refusal to do this, the war for Russia finally turned into an adventure. The war with Lithuania lasted 2 years and was unsuccessful for the Russian Kingdom. The conflict could only be continued in conditions of the oprichnina, especially since the boyars were against the continuation of hostilities. Earlier, for dissatisfaction with the Livonian War, in 1560 the tsar dispersed the “Elected Rada”.
It was at this stage of the war that Poland and Lithuania united in single state- Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth. It was a strong power that everyone, without exception, had to reckon with.
The third stage (1570–1577) involved local battles between Russia and Sweden for the territory of modern Estonia. They ended without any significant results for both sides. All battles were local in nature and did not have any significant impact on the course of the war.
At the fourth stage of the Livonian War (1577–1583), Ivan IV again captured the entire Baltic region, but soon the tsar’s luck ran out and the Russian troops were defeated. The new king of the united Poland and Lithuania (Rzeczpospolita), Stefan Batory, expelled Ivan the Terrible from the Baltic region, and even managed to capture a number of cities already on the territory of the Russian kingdom (Polotsk, Velikiye Luki, etc.). The fighting was accompanied by terrible bloodshed. Since 1579, the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth has been assisted by Sweden, which acted very successfully, capturing Ivangorod, Yam, and Koporye.
Russia was saved from complete defeat by the defense of Pskov (from August 1581). During the 5 months of the siege, the garrison and residents of the city repulsed 31 assault attempts, weakening Batory’s army.
The Yam-Zapolsky truce between the Russian kingdom and the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth in 1582 put an end to a long and unnecessary war. Russia abandoned Livonia. The coast of the Gulf of Finland was lost. It was captured by Sweden, with which the Treaty of Plus was signed in 1583.
Thus, we can highlight the following reasons for the defeat of the Russian state, which sums up the results of the Liovno War:
Despite the negative outcome, it was the Livonian War that determined the direction of Russian foreign policy for many years to come - to gain access to the Baltic Sea.
After the annexation of the Kazan and Astrakhan khanates to the Russian state, the threat of invasion from the east and southeast was eliminated. Ivan the Terrible is faced with new tasks - to return the Russian lands once captured by the Livonian Order, Lithuania and Sweden.
In general, formal reasons were found for the start of the war. 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, unwilling strengthening Russia, hindered 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 formal reason for the start of the Livonian War was the question of the “Yuriev tribute.” According to the treaty of 1503, an annual tribute had to be paid for it and the surrounding territory, which, however, was not done. In addition, the Order concluded a military alliance with the Lithuanian-Polish king in 1557.
First stage. In January 1558, Ivan the Terrible moved his troops to Livonia. The beginning of the war brought him victories: Narva and Yuriev were taken. In the summer and autumn of 1558 and at the beginning of 1559, Russian troops marched throughout Livonia (as far as Revel and Riga) and advanced in Courland to the borders of East Prussia and Lithuania. However, in 1559, under the influence politicians, grouped around A.F. Adashev, who prevented the expansion of the scope of the military conflict, Ivan the Terrible was forced to conclude a truce. In March 1559 it was concluded for a period of six months.
The feudal lords took advantage of the truce to conclude an agreement with the Polish king Sigismund II Augustus in 1559, according to which the order, lands and possessions of the Archbishop of Riga came under the protectorate of the Polish crown. In an atmosphere of acute political disagreements in the leadership of the Livonian Order, its master W. Fürstenberg was removed and G. Ketler, who adhered to a pro-Polish orientation, became the new master. In the same year, Denmark took possession of the island of Ösel (Saaremaa).
The military operations that began in 1560 brought new defeats to the Order: the large fortresses of Marienburg and Fellin were taken, the order army blocking the path to Viljandi was defeated near Ermes, and the Master of the Order Fürstenberg himself was captured. The successes of the Russian army were facilitated by the outbreak of peasant uprisings against the German feudal lords. The result of the campaign of 1560 was the virtual defeat of the Livonian Order as a state. The German feudal lords of Northern Estonia became Swedish citizens. According to the Treaty of Vilna of 1561, the possessions of the Livonian Order came under the authority of Poland, Denmark and Sweden, and its last master, Ketler, received only Courland, and even then it was dependent on Poland. Thus, instead of weak Livonia, Russia now had three strong opponents.
Second phase. While Sweden and Denmark were at war with each other, Ivan IV led successful actions against Sigismund II Augustus. In 1563 Russian army took Plock, a fortress that opened the way to the capital of Lithuania, Vilna, and Riga. But already at the beginning of 1564, the Russians suffered a series of defeats on the Ulla River and near Orsha; in the same year, a boyar and a major military leader, Prince A.M., fled to Lithuania. Kurbsky.
Tsar Ivan the Terrible responded to military failures and escapes to Lithuania with repressions against the boyars. In 1565, the oprichnina was introduced. Ivan IV tried to restore the Livonian Order, but under the protectorate of Russia, and negotiated with Poland. In 1566, a Lithuanian embassy arrived in Moscow, proposing to divide Livonia on the basis of the situation existing at that time. Convened at this time Zemsky Sobor supported the intention of the government of Ivan the Terrible to fight in the Baltic states until the capture of Riga: “It is not good for our sovereign to give up those Livonian cities that the king took for protection, but it is good for our sovereign to stand for those cities.” The council's decision also emphasized that abandoning Livonia would harm trade interests.
Third stage. The Union of Lublin, which in 1569 united the Kingdom of Poland and the Grand Duchy of Lithuania into one state - the Republic of Both Nations, had serious consequences. Difficult situation developed in the north of Russia, where relations with Sweden worsened again, and in the south (the campaign Turkish troops near Astrakhan in 1569 and the war with Crimea, during which the army of Devlet I Giray burned Moscow in 1571 and devastated the southern Russian lands). However, the onset of a long-term “kinglessness” in the Republic of Both Nations, the creation in Livonia of the vassal “kingdom” of Magnus, which at first had an attractive force in the eyes of the population of Livonia, again made it possible to tip the scales in favor of Russia. In 1572, the army of Devlet-Girey was destroyed and the threat of large raids was eliminated Crimean Tatars(Battle of Molodi). In 1573, the Russians stormed the Weissenstein (Paide) fortress. In the spring, Moscow troops under the command of Prince Mstislavsky (16,000) met near Lode Castle in western Estland with a Swedish army of two thousand. Despite the overwhelming numerical advantage, the Russian troops suffered a crushing defeat. They had to leave all their guns, banners and convoys.
In 1575, the Saga fortress surrendered to the army of Magnus, and Pernov to the Russians. After the campaign of 1576, Russia captured the entire coast except Riga and Kolyvan.
However, the unfavorable international situation, the distribution of land in the Baltic states to Russian nobles, which alienated the local peasant population from Russia, and serious internal difficulties negatively affected the further course of the war for Russia.
Fourth stage. In 1575, the period of “kinglessness” (1572-1575) ended in the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth. Stefan Batory was elected king. Stefan Batory, Prince of Semigrad, was supported by the Turkish Sultan Murad III. After the flight of King Henry of Valois from Poland in 1574, the Sultan sent a letter to the Polish lords demanding that the Poles not choose Holy Roman Emperor Maximilian II as king, but choose one of the Polish nobles, for example Jan Kostka, or, if the king is from others powers, then Bathory or the Swedish prince Sigismund Vasa. Ivan the Terrible, in a letter to Stefan Batory, more than once hinted that he was a vassal of the Turkish Sultan, which caused a sharp response from Batory: “How dare you remind us so often of the lack of antimony, you, who prevented your blood from being with us, whose venerable mare’s milk, what had sunk into the manes of the Tatar scales was licked...” The election of Stefan Batory as king of the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth meant the resumption of the war with Poland. However, back in 1577, Russian troops occupied almost all of Livonia, except for Riga and Revel, which were besieged in 1576-1577. But this year was last year Russia's successes in the Livonian War.
In 1579, Batory began a war against Russia. In 1579, Sweden also resumed hostilities, and Batory returned Polotsk and took Velikiye Luki, and in 1581 he besieged Pskov, intending, if successful, to go to Novgorod the Great and Moscow. The Pskovites swore “to fight for the city of Pskov with Lithuania to the death without any cunning.” They kept their oath, fighting off 31 attacks. After five months of unsuccessful attempts, the Poles were forced to lift the siege of Pskov. Heroic defense of Pskov in 1581 -1582. garrison and population of the city determined a more favorable outcome of the Livonian War for Russia: the failure near Pskov forced Stefan Batory to enter into peace negotiations.
Taking advantage of the fact that Batory had actually cut off Livonia from Russia, the Swedish commander Baron Pontus Delagardie launched an operation to destroy isolated Russian garrisons in Livonia. By the end of 1581, the Swedes, having crossed the frozen Gulf of Finland on ice, captured the entire coast of Northern Estonia, Narva, Wesenberg (Rakovor, Rakvere), and then moved to Riga, along the way taking Haapsalu, Pärnu, and then the entire Southern (Russian) ) Estonia - Fellin (Viljandi), Dorpat (Tartu). In total, Swedish troops in a relatively short period captured 9 cities in Livonia and 4 in Novgorod land, nullifying all the many years of conquest of the Russian state in the Baltic states. In Ingermanland Ivan-Gorod, Yam, Koporye were taken, and in the Ladoga region - Korela.
In January 1582, a ten-year truce with the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth was concluded in Yama-Zapolsky (near Pskov). Under this agreement, Russia renounced Livonia and Belarusian lands, but some border Russian lands seized by the Polish king during hostilities were returned to her.
The defeat of the Russian troops in the simultaneous war with Poland, where the tsar was faced with the need to decide even to cede Pskov if the city was taken by storm, forced Ivan IV and his diplomats to negotiate with Sweden on the conclusion of the Treaty of Plus, humiliating for the Russian state. . Negotiations at Plus took place from May to August 1583. Under this agreement:
Thus, the Livonian War had very difficult consequences for the Russian state, and defeat in it greatly affected its further development. However, one can agree with N.M. Karamzin, who noted that the Livonian War was “unfortunate, but not inglorious for Russia.”
