What ended the Livonian war. The Livonian War, Its Political Meaning and Consequences

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

The reason for the war was the desire of the Muscovite state to take possession of convenient harbors on the Baltic Sea and establish direct trade relations with Western Europe. In July 1557, by order of Ivan IV (1533–1584), a harbor was built on the right bank of the border Narova; the tsar also forbade Russian merchants to trade in the Livonian ports of Revel (modern Tallinn) and Narva. The reason for the outbreak of hostilities was the non-payment by the Order of the “Yuryev tribute” (a tax that the Derpt (Yuryev) bishopric undertook to pay Moscow under the Russian-Livonian treaty of 1554).

The first period of the war (1558–1561).

In January 1558 the Moscow regiments crossed the border of Livonia. In the spring and summer of 1558, the northern grouping of Russian troops, which invaded Estonia (modern Northern Estonia), captured Narva, defeated the Livonian knights near Wesenberg (modern Rakvere), captured the fortress and reached Revel, and the southern group, which entered Livonia (modern Southern Estonia and Northern Latvia), took Neuhausen and Dorpat (modern Tartu). At the beginning of 1559, the Russians moved to the south of Livonia, captured Marienhausen and Tirzen, defeated the detachments of the Archbishop of Riga, and penetrated Courland and Semigallia. However, in May 1559, Moscow, on the initiative of A.F. Adashev, the leader of the anti-Crimean party at court, concluded a truce with the Order in order to send forces against the Crimean Khan Devlet Giray (1551–1577). Taking advantage of the respite, the Grand Master of the Order G.Ketler (1559–1561) signed an agreement with the Grand Duke of Lithuania and the Polish King Sigismund II Augustus (1529–1572) recognizing his protectorate over Livonia. In October 1559 hostilities resumed: the knights defeated the Russians near Derpt, but could not take the fortress.

The disgrace of A.F.Adasheva led to a change in the foreign policy course. Ivan IV made peace with Crimea and concentrated forces against Livonia. In February 1560, Russian troops launched an offensive in Livonia: they captured Marienburg (modern Aluksne), defeated the army of the Order near Ermes, and captured Fellin Castle (modern Viljandi), the residence of the Grand Master. But after the unsuccessful siege of Weissenstein (modern Paide), the Russian offensive slowed down. Nevertheless, the entire eastern part of Estonia and Livonia was in their hands.

In the conditions of the military defeats of the Order, Denmark and Sweden intervened in the struggle for Livonia. In 1559, Duke Magnus, brother of the Danish king Fredrik II (1559-1561), acquired the rights (as a bishop) to the island of Ezel (modern Saaremaa) and in April 1560 took possession of it. In June 1561, the Swedes captured Revel and occupied Northern Estonia. On October 25 (November 5), 1561, Grand Master G. Ketler signed the Vilna Treaty with Sigismund II Augustus, according to which the Order’s possessions north of the Western Dvina (Zadvinsky Duchy) became part of the Grand Duchy of Lithuania, and the territories to the south (Courland and Zemgalia) formed a vassal duchy from Sigismund, whose throne was occupied by G. Ketler. In February 1562 Riga was declared a free city. The Livonian Order ceased to exist.

Second period of the war (1562–1578).

To prevent the emergence of a broad anti-Russian coalition, Ivan IV concluded an alliance treaty with Denmark and a twenty-year truce with Sweden. This allowed him to gather forces to strike at Lithuania. In early February 1563, the tsar at the head of an army of thirty thousand besieged Polotsk, which opened the way to the Lithuanian capital Vilna, and on February 15 (24) forced its garrison to capitulate. Russian-Lithuanian negotiations began in Moscow, which, however, did not yield results due to the refusal of the Lithuanians to fulfill the demand of Ivan IV to clear the areas of Livonia occupied by them. In January 1564 hostilities resumed. Russian troops tried to launch an offensive deep into Lithuanian territory (to Minsk), but were defeated twice - on the Ulla River in the Polotsk region (January 1564) and near Orsha (July 1564). At the same time, the campaign of the Lithuanians against Polotsk ended unsuccessfully in the autumn of 1564.

After the Crimean Khan violated the peace treaty with Ivan IV in the autumn of 1564, the Muscovite state had to fight on two fronts; hostilities in Lithuania and Livonia took on a protracted character. In the summer of 1566, the tsar convened a Zemsky Sobor to resolve the issue of continuing the Livonian War; its participants spoke in favor of its continuation and rejected the idea of ​​peace with Lithuania by ceding Smolensk and Polotsk to it. Moscow began rapprochement with Sweden; in 1567 Ivan IV signed an agreement with King Eric XIV (1560–1568) to lift the Swedish blockade of Narva. However, the overthrow of Eric XIV in 1568 and the accession of the pro-Polish minded Johan III (1568–1592) led to the dissolution of the Russian-Swedish alliance. The foreign policy position of the Muscovite state worsened even more as a result of the creation in June 1569 (Unia of Lublin) of a single Polish-Lithuanian state - the Commonwealth - and the start of a large-scale offensive of the Tatars and Turks in southern Russia (a campaign against Astrakhan in the summer of 1569).

Having secured himself from the Commonwealth by concluding a three-year truce with it in 1570, Ivan IV decided to strike at the Swedes, enlisting the help of Denmark; to this end, he formed a vassal Livonian kingdom from the Baltic lands he captured, headed by Magnus of Denmark, who married the royal niece. But the Russian-Danish troops could not take Reval, an outpost of the Swedish possessions in the Baltic, and Fredrik II signed a peace treaty with Johan III (1570). Then the king tried to get Revel through diplomacy. However, after the burning of Moscow by the Tatars in May 1571, the Swedish government refused to negotiate; At the end of 1572, Russian troops invaded Swedish Livonia and captured Weissenstein.

In 1572, Sigismund II died, and a period of long “royallessness” (1572–1576) began in the Commonwealth. Part of the gentry even nominated Ivan IV as a candidate for the vacant throne, but the tsar preferred to support the Austrian pretender Maximilian Habsburg; an agreement was concluded with the Habsburgs on the division of the Commonwealth, according to which Moscow was to receive Lithuania, and Austria - Poland. However, these plans did not materialize: in the struggle for the throne, Maximilian was defeated by the Transylvanian prince Stefan Batory.

The defeat of the Tatars near the village of Molodi (near Serpukhov) in the summer of 1572 and the temporary cessation of their raids on the southern Russian regions made it possible to send forces against the Swedes in the Baltic. As a result of the campaigns of 1575–1576, the Russians captured the ports of Pernov (modern Pärnu) and Gapsal (modern Haapsalu) and established control over the western coast between Revel and Riga. But the next siege of Reval (December 1576 - March 1577) again ended in failure.

After the election of the anti-Russian-minded Stefan Batory (1576–1586) as the Polish king, Ivan IV unsuccessfully proposed to the German emperor Rudolf II of Habsburg (1572–1612) to conclude a military-political pact against the Commonwealth (Moscow embassy to Regensburg 1576); negotiations with Elizabeth I (1558–1603) on an Anglo-Russian alliance (1574–1576) also turned out to be fruitless. In the summer of 1577, Moscow last tried to solve the Livonian issue by military means, launching an offensive in Latgale (modern southeast Latvia) and Southern Livonia: Rezhitsa (modern Rezekne), Dinaburg (modern Daugavpils), Kokenhausen (modern Koknese) were taken , Wenden (modern Cesis), Wolmar (modern Valmiera) and many small castles; by the autumn of 1577, all of Livonia up to the Western Dvina was in the hands of the Russians, except for Revel and Riga. However, these successes were temporary. The very next year, the Polish-Lithuanian detachments recaptured Dinaburg and Wenden; Russian troops tried twice to recapture Wenden, but were ultimately defeated by the combined forces of Bathory and the Swedes.

Third period of the war (1579–1583).

Stefan Batory managed to overcome the international isolation of the Commonwealth; in 1578 he concluded an anti-Russian alliance with the Crimea and the Ottoman Empire; Magnus of Denmark went over to his side; he was supported by Brandenburg and Saxony. Planning an invasion of Russian lands, the king carried out a military reform and raised a significant army. In early August 1579, Batory laid siege to Polotsk and on August 31 (September 9) took it by storm. In September, the Swedes blockaded Narva, but failed to capture it.

In the spring of 1580, the Tatars resumed raids on Russia, which forced the tsar to transfer part of his military forces to the southern border. In the summer - autumn of 1580, Batory undertook his second campaign against the Russians: he captured Velizh, Usvyat and Velikiye Luki and defeated the army of the governor V.D. Khilkov at Toropets; however, the Lithuanian attack on Smolensk was repulsed. The Swedes invaded Karelia and in November captured the Korela fortress on Lake Ladoga. Military failures prompted Ivan IV to turn to the Commonwealth with a peace proposal, promising to cede all of Livonia to it, with the exception of Narva; but Batory demanded the transfer of Narva and the payment of a huge indemnity. In the summer of 1581, Batory began his third campaign: having occupied Opochka and Ostrov, at the end of August he laid siege to Pskov; a five-month siege of the city, during which thirty-one assaults were repulsed by its defenders, ended in complete failure. However, the concentration of all Russian troops to repel the Polish-Lithuanian invasion allowed the Swedish commander-in-chief P. Delagardi to launch a successful offensive on the southeastern coast of the Gulf of Finland: on September 9 (18), 1581, he took Narva; then Ivangorod, Yam and Koporye fell.

Realizing the impossibility of fighting on two fronts, Ivan IV again tried to reach an agreement with Bathory in order to direct all forces against the Swedes; at the same time, the defeat near Pskov and the aggravation of contradictions with Sweden after the capture of Narva by it softened the anti-Russian sentiments at the Polish court. On January 15 (24), 1582, in the village of Kiverova Gora near Zampolsky Yam, through the mediation of the papal representative A. Possevino, a ten-year Russian-Polish truce was signed, according to which the tsar ceded to the Commonwealth all his possessions in Livonia and the Velizh district; for its part, the Commonwealth returned the captured Russian cities of Velikie Luki, Nevel, Sebezh, Opochka, Kholm, Izborsk (Yam-Zampolsky truce).

In February 1582, Russian troops moved against the Swedes and defeated them near the village of Lyalitsa near Yam, but because of the threat of a new invasion of the Crimean Tatars and the pressure of Polish-Lithuanian diplomacy, Moscow had to abandon plans to attack Narva. In the autumn of 1582, P. Delagardie launched an attack on Oreshek and Ladoga, intending to cut off the routes between Novgorod and Lake Ladoga. On September 8 (17), 1582, he laid siege to Oreshek, but in November he was forced to lift the siege. The invasion of the Great Nogai Horde in the Volga region and the anti-Russian uprising of the local peoples forced Ivan IV to enter into peace negotiations with Sweden. In August 1583, a three-year truce was concluded, according to which the Swedes kept Narva, Ivangorod, Yam, Koporye and Korela with counties; The Muscovite state retained only a small section of the coast of the Gulf of Finland at the mouth of the Neva.

As a result of the Livonian War, Russia failed to establish itself in the Baltic; moreover, she lost the Northern and Western Ladoga region. The Livonian Order was liquidated, but its possessions were divided between the Commonwealth (Lifland, Latgale, Zemgalia, Courland), Sweden (Estland) and Denmark (Fr. Ezel).

Ivan Krivushin

The best that 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 and capture the port cities of the Baltic Sea, which was supposed to significantly improve the economic situation of Russia, by improving trade. In this article, we will talk briefly about the Levon War, as well as all its aspects.

Beginning of the Livonian War

The sixteenth century was a period of uninterrupted wars. The Russian state sought to protect itself from its neighbors and return the lands that were previously part of Ancient Russia.

Wars were fought on several fronts:

• The eastern direction was marked by the conquest of the Kazan and Astrakhan khanates, as well as the beginning of the development of Siberia.
• The southern direction of foreign policy represented the eternal struggle with the Crimean Khanate.
• The western direction is the events of the long, difficult and very bloody Livonian War (1558–1583), which will be discussed.

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 crusading conquests. As a state entity, it was weak due to national contradictions (the Baltics were placed in feudal dependence), religious schism (the Reformation penetrated there), and the struggle for power among the top.

Reasons for the start of the Livonian War

Ivan 4 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 back the borders of the state 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:

1. Refusal to pay tribute. In 1503, the Livnsky Order and Russia signed a document according to which the former were obliged to pay an annual tribute to the city of Yuryev. In 1557, the Order single-handedly withdrew from this obligation.
2. The weakening of the external political influence of the Order against the backdrop of national differences.

Speaking about the reason, it should be emphasized that Livonia separated Russia from the sea, blocked trade. Large merchants and nobles, who wished to appropriate new lands, were interested in the capture of Livonia. But the main reason is the ambitions of Ivan IV the Terrible. The victory was supposed to strengthen his influence, so he waged war, regardless of the circumstances and the meager capabilities of the country for the sake of his own greatness.

Course of the war and major events

The Livonian War was fought with long breaks and is historically divided into four stages.

First stage of the war

At the first stage (1558–1561), the fighting was relatively successful for Russia. The Russian army in the first months captured Derpt, 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 1 weak, but 2 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 peasants of the Baltic were dissatisfied with the newly arrived Russian landowners, the cruelties of the war, exactions and other disasters.

Second phase of the war

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 refused 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 Tsardom. The conflict could only be continued under the 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 Chosen Rada.

It was at this stage of the war that Poland and Lithuania united into a single state - the Commonwealth. It was a strong power that everyone, without exception, had to reckon with.

Third stage of the war

The third stage (1570–1577) is the battles of local significance between Russia and Sweden for the territory of modern Estonia. They ended without any meaningful results for both sides. All battles were local in nature and did not have any significant impact on the course of the war.

Fourth stage of the war

At the fourth stage of the Livonian War (1577–1583), Ivan IV again captures the entire Baltic, but soon the luck turned away from the king and the Russian troops were defeated. The new king of united Poland and Lithuania (the Commonwealth), Stefan Batory, drove Ivan the Terrible out of 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, assistance to the Commonwealth was provided by Sweden, which acted very successfully, capturing Ivangorod, Yam, Koporye.

The defense of Pskov saved Russia from complete defeat (since August 1581). For 5 months of the siege, the garrison and the inhabitants of the city repelled 31 assault attempts, weakening the army of Batory.

The end of the war and its results

The Yam-Zapolsky truce between the Russian Empire and the Commonwealth of 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 Peace of Plus was signed in 1583.

Thus, we can single out the following reasons for the defeat of the Russian state, which sum up the results of the Liovna war:

• adventurism and ambitions of the tsar - Russia could not wage war simultaneously with three strong states;
• the pernicious influence of the oprichnina, economic ruin, Tatar attacks.
• A deep economic crisis within the country, which broke out at the 3rd and 4th stages of hostilities.

Despite the negative outcome, it was the Livonian War that determined the direction of Russia's foreign policy for many years to come - to gain access to the Baltic Sea.

Original taken from damadiluma in Livonian War: Victory or Defeat?

"Historical information" is divided in the absolute majority into two main categories: "outright lies" and "complete nonsense". The words "of the type of historians" are in fact empty garbage that has nothing to do with the truth. The truth has to be revealed over and over again, painstakingly comparing dozens of conflicting sources.

Let me give you a few examples based on only and exclusively on facts and sources, which are recognized as reliable by "official science".

Livonian war: victory or defeat?

We can get a general impression of the Livonian War for an average educated person from the Wikipedia article:

LIVONIAN WAR 1558-83

Results and consequences:

In January 1582, in Yama-Zapolny (near Pskov), a 10-year truce was concluded with the Republic of Both Nations (the so-called Yam-Zapolsky peace). Russia abandoned Livonia and Belarusian lands, but some border lands were returned to it. In May 1583, a 3-year Plyussky truce with Sweden was concluded, according to which Koporye, Yam, Ivangorod and the territory adjacent to them on the southern coast of the Gulf of Finland were ceded. The Russian state was again cut off from the sea. The country was devastated, and the northwestern regions were depopulated.

True, none of the serious people take Wikipedia as a source of knowledge, and therefore we will check with Big Encyclopedic Dictionary:

LIVON WAR 1558-83 Russia against the Livonian Order - Sweden, Poland and the Grand Duchy of Lithuania (from 1569 - the Commonwealth) for access to the Baltic m. The 1st stage (until 1561) ended with the defeat of the Livonian Order. At the 2nd stage (until 1578), Russian troops fought with varying success, occupying a number of Baltic fortresses in the summer of 1577. At the 3rd stage (since 1579), Russian troops fought defensive battles (the defense of Pskov 1581-82, etc.) against the army of Stefan Batory and the Swedish troops. It ended with the signing of the Yam-Zapolsky and Plyussky truces, which were unfavorable for Russia.
Source

It remains to clarify in the BES what exactly Russia lost during the war:

YAM-ZAPOLSKY WORLD - between Russia and the Commonwealth for 10 years. Concluded on January 15, 1582 near Zapolsky Pit, south of Pskov. One of the diplomatic documents that ended the Livonian War of 1558-83. The cities occupied by the Polish troops were returned to Russia, in return it abandoned Polotsk and Livonia.

Does everything match? Not really. For, if you look through the same dictionary, then on one of the pages of the BES you can find the name of a certain Magnus, the Danish prince:

MAGNUS (Magnus) (1540-83) - Danish prince, participant in the Livonian War of 1558-83. In 1570, in Moscow, he was proclaimed king of Livonia under the supreme authority of the Russian tsar. In 1578 he entered the service of Stefan Batory.

As they say in such cases: oops-s!!! It turns out that since 1570 Livonia has been a separate kingdom! Livonia, it turns out, was transferred to the Danish prince as a dowry for the royal niece Maria!

According to the norms of feudal law prevailing in those days, Ivan the Terrible from that moment had no more rights to Livonia than Russia had to Georgia or the Baltic states after the collapse of the USSR. As the saying goes, what falls is gone.

Prince Magnus, being a feudal lord and following the feudal law of those times, he went over to the enemy along with his kingdom. And it didn't do him any good. But what about Russia? Denmark should have taken care of its relatives. But she, like Russia, also decided not to hang the Livonian collar around her neck and limited herself to keeping two islands from the possessions of the Danish prince: Ezel and Mukha.

Thus, according to the peace treaty, Russia gave Poland lands that Russia had not belonged to for a long time anyway. Funny point, isn't it?

According to the Treaty of Yam-Zapolsky, Russia gave Poland the Polish city of Polotsk, captured twenty years earlier. And Poland returned to Russia: Velikiye Luki, Kholm, Zavolochye, Izborsk, Opochka, Gdov, Sebezh, Ostrov and others with all their counties and volosts. That is, Poland, which, with a two hundred thousandth army, began an aggressive war, wanting to get Russian lands and compensation in gold, eventually recognized its defeat and returned everything to Russia that she was able to capture at the beginning of the war. The aggressor attacked, but was thrown back into his lair. You can read more about this.

It asks: a What exactly is the defeat of Russia expressed then? Where did this strange theory come from?

Now let's see what the conditions for peace with Sweden are. For some reason, dictionaries and encyclopedias on this subject get off with the most general words, without specifics, so you will have to use the specialized reference book of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs: “The foreign policy of Russia, Russia and the USSR for 1000 years in names, dates, facts.”

The main directions of the foreign policy of the Russian centralized state emerged in the second half of the 15th century, under Grand Duke Ivan III. They boiled down, firstly, to the struggle on the eastern and southern borders with the Tatar khanates that arose on the ruins of the Golden Horde; secondly, to the fight against the Grand Duchy of Lithuania and the union of Poland connected with it by the bonds of the union for the Russian, Ukrainian and Belarusian lands captured by the Lithuanian and partly Polish feudal lords; thirdly, to the fight on the northwestern borders against the aggression of the Swedish feudal lords and the Livonian Order, who sought to isolate the Russian state from the natural and convenient outlet it needed to the Baltic Sea.

For centuries, the struggle on the southern and eastern outskirts was a habitual and constant matter. After the collapse of the Golden Horde, the Tatar khans continued to raid the southern borders of Russia. And only in the first half of the 16th century did the long war between the Great Horde and the Crimea absorb the forces of the Tatar world. A protege of Moscow established itself in Kazan. The union between Russia and Crimea lasted for several decades, until the Crimeans destroyed the remnants of the Great Horde. The Ottoman Turks, having subjugated the Crimean Khanate, became a new military force that the Russian state faced in this region. After the attack of the Crimean Khan on Moscow in 1521, the citizens of Kazan broke off vassal relations with Russia. The struggle for Kazan began. Only the third campaign of Ivan IV was successful: Kazan and Astrakhan were taken. Thus, by the mid-50s of the 16th century, a zone of its political influence had developed to the east and south of the Russian state. A force grew in her face that could resist the Crimea and the Ottoman Sultan. The Nogai Horde actually submitted to Moscow, and its influence in the North Caucasus also increased. Following the Nogai Murzas, the Siberian Khan Ediger recognized the power of the king. The Crimean Khan was the most active force holding back Russia's advance to the south and east.

The foreign policy question that has arisen seems natural: should we continue the onslaught on the Tatar world, should we finish the struggle, the roots of which go back to the distant past? Is the attempt to conquer the Crimea timely? Two different programs clashed in Russian foreign policy. The formation of these programs was determined

international circumstances and the alignment of political forces within the country. The elected council considered a decisive fight against Crimea timely and necessary. But she did not take into account the difficulties of implementing this plan. The vast expanses of the "wild field" separated the then Russia from the Crimea. Moscow did not yet have strongholds on this path. The situation spoke more in favor of defense than offensive. In addition to the difficulties of a military nature, there were also great political difficulties. Entering into conflict with the Crimea and Turkey, Russia could count on an alliance with Persia and the German Empire. The latter was under the constant threat of Turkish invasion and lost a significant part of Hungary. But at the moment, the position of Poland and Lithuania, which saw in the Ottoman Empire a serious counterbalance to Russia, was much more important. The joint struggle of Russia, Poland and Lithuania against Turkish aggression was accompanied by serious territorial concessions in favor of the latter. Russia could not abandon one of the main directions in foreign policy: reunification with Ukrainian and Belarusian lands. More realistic was the program of struggle for the Baltic states. Ivan the Terrible disagreed with his council, deciding to go to war against the Livonian Order, to try to advance to the Baltic Sea. In principle, both programs suffered from the same flaw - impracticability at the moment, but at the same time, both were equally urgent and timely. Nevertheless, before the start of hostilities in the western direction, Ivan IV stabilized the situation on the lands of the Kazan and Astrakhan khanates, suppressing the revolt of the Kazan murzas in 1558 and thus forcing the Astrakhan khanates to submit.

Even during the existence of the Novgorod Republic, Sweden began to penetrate the region from the west. The first serious skirmish dates back to the 12th century. At the same time, the German knights begin to implement their political doctrine - "March to the East", a crusade against the Slavic and Baltic peoples in order to convert them to Catholicism. In 1201, Riga was founded as a stronghold. In 1202, the Order of the Sword-bearers was founded specifically for operations in the Baltic states, which conquered Yuryev in 1224. Having suffered a series of defeats from the Russian forces and the Baltic tribes, the sword-bearers and the Teutons formed the Livonian Order. The intensified advance of the knights was stopped during 1240-1242. In general, the peace with the order in 1242 did not save from hostilities with the crusaders and the Swedes in the future. The knights, relying on the help of the Roman Catholic Church, at the end of the 13th century captured a significant part of the Baltic lands.

Sweden, having its own interests in the Baltics, was able to intervene in Livonian affairs. The Russian-Swedish war lasted from 1554 to 1557. The attempts of Gustav I Vasa to involve Denmark, Lithuania, Poland and the Livonian Order in the war against Russia did not produce results, although initially it was

the order pushed the Swedish king to fight the Russian state. Sweden lost the war. After the defeat, the Swedish king was forced to pursue an extremely cautious policy towards his eastern neighbor. True, the sons of Gustav Vasa did not share the waiting position of their father. Crown Prince Eric hoped to establish complete Swedish dominance in Northern Europe. It was obvious that after the death of Gustav, Sweden would again take an active part in Livonian affairs. To some extent, the hands of Sweden were tied by the aggravation of Swedish-Danish relations.

The territorial dispute with Lithuania had a long history. Before the death of Prince Gediminas (1316 - 1341), Russian regions accounted for more than two thirds of the entire territory of the Lithuanian state. Over the next hundred years, under Olgerd and Vitovt, the Chernigov-Seversk region (the cities of Chernigov, Novgorod - Seversk, Bryansk), the Kyiv region, Podolia (the northern part of the lands between the Bug and the Dniester), Volyn, Smolensk region were conquered.

Under Basil III, Russia claimed the throne of the Principality of Lithuania after the death in 1506 of Alexander, whose widow was the sister of the Russian sovereign. In Lithuania, a struggle began between the Lithuanian-Russian and Lithuanian Catholic groups. After the victory of the latter, Alexander's brother Sigismund ascended the Lithuanian throne. The latter saw Vasily as a personal enemy who claimed the Lithuanian throne. This aggravated the already strained Russo-Lithuanian relations. In such an environment, the Lithuanian Seimas in February 1507 decided to start a war with the eastern neighbor. The Lithuanian ambassadors, in an ultimatum form, raised the question of the return of the lands that had passed to Russia during the last wars with Lithuania. It was not possible to achieve positive results in the process of negotiations, and in March 1507 hostilities began. In 1508, in the Principality of Lithuania itself, an uprising of Prince Mikhail Glinsky, another pretender to the throne of Lithuania, begins. The rebellion received active support in Moscow: Glinsky was accepted into Russian citizenship, in addition, he was given an army under the command of Vasily Shemyachich. Glinsky conducted military operations with varying success. One of the reasons for the failure was the fear of the popular movement of Ukrainians and Belarusians who wanted to reunite with Russia. Not having sufficient funds to successfully continue the war, Sigismund decided to start peace negotiations. On October 8, 1508, "Perpetual Peace" was signed. According to it, the Grand Duchy of Lithuania for the first time officially recognized the transition to Russia of the Seversk cities annexed to the Russian state during the wars of the late 15th - early 16th centuries. But, despite some success, the government of Vasily III did not consider the war of 1508 to be the solution to the issue of Western Russian lands and considered the "eternal peace" as a respite, preparing to continue the struggle. The ruling circles of the Grand Duchy of Lithuania were not inclined to come to terms with the loss of the Seversk lands either.

But under the specific conditions of the middle of the 16th century, a direct clash with Poland and Lithuania was not envisaged. The Russian state could not count on the help of reliable and strong allies. Moreover, the war with Poland and Lithuania would have to be waged in difficult conditions of hostile actions both from the Crimea and Turkey, and from Sweden and even the Livonian Order. Therefore, this variant of foreign policy was not considered by the Russian government at the moment.

One of the important factors that determined the choice of the king in favor of the struggle for the Baltic states was the low military potential of the Livonian Order. The main military force in the country was the knightly Order of the Sword. Over 50 castles scattered throughout the country were in the hands of the order authorities. Half of the city of Riga was subordinated to the supreme authority of the master. The archbishop of Riga (another part of Riga was subordinate to him), and the bishops of Derpt, Revel, Ezel and Courland were completely independent. The knights of the order owned estates on fiefdom. Large cities, such as Riga, Revel, Derpt, Narva, and others, were in fact an independent political force, although they were under the supreme authority of the master or bishops. There were constant clashes between the Order and the spiritual princes. The Reformation spread rapidly in the cities, while chivalry remained largely Catholic. The only organ of the central legislative power was the Landtags, convened by the masters in the city of Wolmar. The meetings were attended by representatives of four estates: the Order, the clergy, chivalry and cities. The resolutions of the Landtags usually had no real significance in the absence of a single executive power. Close ties have existed for a long time between the local Baltic population and the Russian lands. Ruthlessly suppressed economically, politically and culturally, the Estonian and Latvian population was ready to support the military operations of the Russian army in the hope of liberation from national oppression.

The Russian state itself by the end of the 50s. XVI century was a powerful military power in Europe. As a result of the reforms, Russia has become much stronger and has achieved a much higher degree of political centralization than ever before. Permanent infantry units were created - the archery army. The Russian artillery also achieved great success. Russia had not only large enterprises for the manufacture of cannons, cannonballs and gunpowder, but also well-trained numerous personnel. In addition, the introduction of an important technical improvement - the gun carriage - made it possible to use artillery in the field. Russian military engineers have developed a new effective system of engineering support for the attack of fortresses.

Russia in the 16th century became the largest trading power at the crossroads of Europe and Asia, the craft of which was still suffocated by the lack of

non-ferrous and precious metals. The only channel for the receipt of metals was trade with the West through the overhead mediation of Livonian cities. The Livonian cities - Derpt, Riga, Revel and Narva - were part of the Hansa, a trade association of German cities. The main source of their income was intermediary trade with Russia. For this reason, the attempts of the English and Dutch merchants to establish direct trade relations with the Russian state were stubbornly suppressed by Livonia. At the end of the 15th century, Russia tried to influence the trade policy of the Hanseatic League. In 1492, Russian Ivangorod was founded opposite Narva. A little later, the Hanseatic court in Novgorod was closed. The economic growth of Ivangorod could not but frighten the trading elite of the Livonian cities, which were losing huge profits. Livonia, in response, was ready to organize an economic blockade, which was also supported by Sweden, Lithuania and Poland. In order to eliminate the organized economic blockade of Russia, a clause on freedom of communication with European countries through Swedish possessions was included in the 1557 peace treaty with Sweden. Another channel of Russian-European trade passed through the cities of the Gulf of Finland, in particular, Vyborg. The further growth of this trade was hindered by the contradictions between Sweden and Russia in border issues.

Trade on the White Sea, although of great importance, could not solve the problems of Russian-Northern European contacts for many reasons: navigation on the White Sea is impossible for most of the year; the way there was difficult and distant; contacts were unilateral in nature with the complete monopoly of the British, etc. The development of the Russian economy, which needed constant and unhindered trade relations with the countries of Europe, set the task of gaining access to the Baltic.

The roots of the war for Livonia should be sought not only in the described economic situation of the Muscovite state, they also lay in the distant past. Even under the first princes, Russia was in close contact with many foreign states. Russian merchants traded in the markets of Constantinople, marriage unions connected the princely family with European dynasties. In addition to overseas merchants, ambassadors of other states and missionaries often came to Kyiv. One of the consequences of the Tatar-Mongol yoke for Russia was the forcible reorientation of foreign policy towards the East. The war for Livonia was the first serious attempt to bring Russian life back on track, to restore the interrupted connection with the West.

International life posed the same dilemma for every European state: to secure for itself an independent, independent position in the sphere of international relations, or to serve as a mere object of interests of other powers. In many respects from the outcome of the struggle for the Baltic states

the future of the Muscovite state depended: whether it would enter the family of European peoples, having the opportunity to communicate independently with the states of Western Europe.

In addition to trade and international prestige, the territorial claims of the Russian Tsar played an important role among the causes of the war. In the first message of Ivan the Terrible, Ivan IV reasonably states: "... The city of Vladimir, located in our patrimony, the Livonian land ...". Many Baltic lands have long belonged to the Novgorod land, as well as the banks of the Neva River and the Gulf of Finland, subsequently captured by the Livonian Order.

The social factor should not be discounted either. The program of the struggle for the Baltic states met the interests of the nobility and the townspeople. The nobility counted on the local distribution of land in the Baltic, as opposed to the boyar nobility, which was more satisfied with the option of annexing the southern lands. Due to the remoteness of the "wild field", the impossibility of establishing a strong central authority there, at least at first, the landowners - the boyars had the opportunity to occupy the position of almost independent sovereigns in the southern regions. Ivan the Terrible sought to weaken the influence of the titled Russian boyars, and, naturally, he took into account, first of all, the interests of the nobility and merchant classes.

With the complex alignment of forces in Europe, it was extremely important to choose a favorable moment for the start of hostilities against Livonia. It came to Russia at the end of 1557 - the beginning of 1558. The defeat of Sweden in the Russian-Swedish war temporarily neutralized this rather strong enemy, which had the status of a maritime power. Denmark at this point was distracted by the aggravation of its relations with Sweden. Lithuania and the Grand Duchy of Lithuania were not bound by serious complications of the international order, but were not ready for a military clash with Russia due to unresolved issues of the internal order: social conflicts within each state and disagreements over the union. Proof of this is the fact that in 1556 the expired truce between Lithuania and the Russian state was extended for six years. And finally, as a result of military operations against the Crimean Tatars, it was possible for some time not to be afraid of the southern borders. The raids resumed only in 1564 during a period of complications on the Lithuanian front.

During this period, relations with Livonia were rather strained. In 1554, Alexey Adashev and the clerk Viskovaty announced to the Livonian embassy that they did not want to extend the truce due to:

Non-payment by the Bishop of Dorpat of tribute from the possessions ceded to him by the Russian princes;

The oppression of Russian merchants in Livonia and the ruin of Russian settlements in the Baltic.

The establishment of peaceful relations between Russia and Sweden contributed to the temporary settlement of Russian-Livonian relations. After Russia lifted the ban on the export of wax and lard, Livonia was presented with the terms of a new truce:

Unimpeded transportation of weapons to Russia;

Guaranteed payment of tribute by the Bishop of Derpt;

Restoration of all Russian churches in Livonian cities;

Refusal to enter into an alliance with Sweden, the Kingdom of Poland and the Grand Duchy of Lithuania;

Providing conditions for free trade.

Livonia was not going to fulfill its obligations under a truce concluded for fifteen years.

Thus, the choice was made in favor of resolving the Baltic issue. This was facilitated by a number of reasons: economic, territorial, social and ideological. Russia, being in a favorable international situation, had a high military potential and was ready for a military conflict with Livonia for the possession of the Baltic states.