Lithuanian War 1558 1583 Causes of the Livonian War

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

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

In the Russian historical science since the 19th century, the notion of the war as a struggle of Russia for access to the Baltic Sea has been established. A number of modern scientists name other causes of the conflict.

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

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

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

Also important is the fact that in 1557 the Livonian Confederation and the Polish-Lithuanian Union concluded the Treaty of Pozvol, which grossly violated the Russian-Livonian treaties of 1554 and included an article on a defensive-offensive alliance directed against Moscow. In historiography, both contemporaries of those events (, I. Renner), and later researchers, had the opinion that it was that treaty that provoked Ivan IV to decisive military action in January 1558, in order not to give time to the Kingdom of Poland and the Grand Duchy of Lithuania to mobilize their forces to secure their Livonia.

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

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

The Russian kingdom began the war on January 17, 1558. The invasion of Russian troops in January-February 1558 into the Livonian lands was a reconnaissance raid. It was attended by 40 thousand people under the command of Khan Shig-Aley (Shah-Ali), governor M. V. Glinsky and D. R. Zakharyin-Yuriev. They passed through the eastern part of Estonia and returned back by the beginning of March [ ] . The Russian side motivated this campaign solely by the desire to receive the due tribute from Livonia. The Livonian Landtag decided to collect 60 thousand thalers for settlement with Moscow in order to stop the outbreak of war. However, by May, only half of the amount claimed had been collected. In addition, the Narva garrison fired on the Ivangorod fortress, which violated the ceasefire agreement.

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

Governors Aleksey Basmanov and Danila Adashev arrived in Ivangorod. In April 1558 Russian troops laid siege to Narva. The fortress was defended by a garrison under the command of the knight Vocht Schnellenberg. On May 11, a fire broke out in the city, accompanied by a storm (according to the Nikon chronicle, the fire occurred due to the fact that drunken Livonians threw an Orthodox icon of the Virgin into the fire). Taking advantage of the fact that the guards left the city walls, the Russians rushed to the assault.

“Very vile, terrible, hitherto unheard of, true new news, what atrocities the Muscovites are committing with captive Christians from Livonia, men and women, virgins and children, and what harm they are doing to them daily in their country. Along the way, it is shown what is the great danger and need of the Livonians. To all Christians, as a warning and improvement of their sinful life, it was written from Livonia and printed, Georg Breslein, Nuremberg, Flying Leaf, 1561

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

The defense of the Neuhausen fortress distinguished itself with particular perseverance. She was defended by several hundred soldiers led by the knight von Padenorm, who for almost a month repelled the onslaught of the governor Peter Shuisky. On June 30, 1558, after the destruction of the fortress walls and towers by Russian artillery, the Germans retreated to the upper castle. Von Padenorm expressed a desire to keep the defense here, but the surviving defenders of the fortress refused to continue senseless resistance. As a sign of respect for their courage, Peter Shuisky allowed them to leave the fortress with honor.

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

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

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

In 1562, Lithuanian troops raided the Smolensk region and Velizh. In the summer of the same year, the situation on the southern borders of the Russian kingdom [room 4] escalated, which moved the timing of the Russian offensive in Livonia to autumn. In 1562, in the battle near Nevel, Prince Andrey Kurbsky failed to defeat the Lithuanian detachment that invaded the Pskov region. On August 7, a peace treaty was signed between Russia and Denmark, according to which the Tsar agreed to the annexation of the island of Ösel by the Danes.

At the proposal of the German Emperor Ferdinand to conclude an alliance and join forces in the fight against the Turks, the king said that he was fighting in Livonia practically for his own interests, against the Lutherans [ ] . The tsar knew what place the idea of ​​the Catholic counter-reformation occupied in the politics of the Habsburgs. By opposing the “Lutherian doctrine,” Ivan the Terrible touched a very sensitive chord in Habsburg politics.

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

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

A difficult situation developed in the north of Russia, where relations with Sweden again aggravated, and in the south (the campaign of the Turkish army near Astrakhan in 1569 and the war with the Crimea, during which the army of Devlet I Girey burned Moscow in 1571 and devastated the southern Russian lands). However, the offensive in the Republic of Both Peoples of a long “kinglessness”, the creation in Livonia of the vassal kingdom of Magnus, which at first had an attractive force in the eyes of the population of Livonia, again allowed the scales to tip in favor of Russia. [ ]

In order to interrupt the growing trade turnover of Narva, which was under Russian control, Poland, and behind it Sweden, launched an active privateer activity in the Baltic Sea. In 1570, measures were taken to protect Russian trade on the Baltic Sea. Ivan the Terrible issued a "royal charter" (letter of marque) to the Dane Carsten Rode. Despite the short period of activity, Rode's actions were quite effective, they reduced Swedish and Polish trade in the Baltic, forced Sweden and Poland to equip special squadrons to capture Rode. [ ]

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

However, the unfavorable international situation, the distribution of land in the Baltic states to Russian nobles, which alienated the local peasant population from Russia, serious internal difficulties (the economic ruin that was looming over the country) negatively affected the further course of the war for Russia. [ ]

Pro complicated relationship between the Moscow state and the Commonwealth in 1575, the Caesar's ambassador John Cobenzel testified: [ ]

Poles at dark night
Before the very cover,
With a mercenary squad
They sit in front of the fire.

Filled with courage
The Poles twist their mustaches
They came in a gang
Destroy Holy Rus'.

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

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

According to the establishments of their religion, they consider loyalty to the Sovereign to be as obligatory as loyalty to God, they exalt with praise the firmness of those who, to the last breath, retained the oath to their prince, and say that their souls, having parted with the body, immediately move to heaven. [ ]

Nevertheless, "many archers and other people of Moscow" went over to the side of Batory and were settled by him in the Grodno region. After Batory moved to Velikiye Luki and took them.

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

Polish and Lithuanian detachments ravaged the Smolensk region, Seversk land, Ryazan region, south-west of the Novgorod region, plundered Russian lands up to the headwaters of the Volga. The Lithuanian voivode Filon Kmita from Orsha burned 2000 villages in the western Russian lands and captured a huge full [ ] . The Lithuanian magnates Ostrozhsky and Vishnevetsky, with the help of light cavalry detachments, plundered

The Livonian War of 1558-1583 became one of the most important campaigns of the times of Yes and of the entire 16th century, perhaps.

Livonian War: briefly about the prerequisites

After the great Moscow Tsar managed to conquer Kazan and

Astrakhan Khanate, Ivan IV turned his attention to the Baltic lands and access to the Baltic Sea. The capture of these territories for the Muscovite kingdom would mean promising opportunities for trade in the Baltic. At the same time, it was extremely unprofitable for the German merchants and the Livonian Order, who had already settled there, to allow new competitors into the region. The resolution of these contradictions was to be the Livonian War. We should also briefly mention the formal reason for it. They were served by the non-payment of the tribute that the Derpt bishopric was obliged to pay in favor of Moscow in accordance with the 1554 agreement. Formally, such a tribute has existed since the beginning of the 16th century. However, in practice, no one remembered about it for a long time. Only with the aggravation of relations between the parties did he use this fact as a justification for the Russian invasion of the Baltic.

Livonian war: briefly about the ups and downs of the conflict

Russian troops launched an invasion of Livonia in 1558. The first stage of the clash, which lasted until 1561, ended

crushing defeat of the Livonian Order. The armies of the Muscovite tsar marched through eastern and central Livonia with pogroms. Dorpat and Riga were taken. In 1559, the parties concluded a truce for six months, which was to develop into a peace treaty on the terms of the Livonian Order from Russia. But the kings of Poland and Sweden hurried to help the German knights. King Sigismund II, by a diplomatic maneuver, managed to take the order under his own protectorate. And in November 1561, under the terms of the Vilna Treaty, the Livonian Order ceases to exist. Its territories are divided between Lithuania and Poland. Now Ivan the Terrible had to confront three powerful rivals at once: the Principality of Lithuania, the Kingdoms of Poland and Sweden. With the latter, however, the Muscovite tsar managed to quickly make peace for a while. In 1562-63, the second large-scale campaign to the Baltic began. The events of the Livonian War at this stage continued to develop successfully. However, already in the mid-1560s, relations between Ivan the Terrible and the boyars of the Chosen Rada escalated to the limit. The situation worsens even more due to the flight of one of the closest princely associates of Andrei Kurbsky to Lithuania and his defection to the side of the enemy (the reason that prompted the boyar was the growing despotism in the Moscow principality and the infringement of the ancient liberties of the boyars). After this event, Ivan the Terrible finally hardens, seeing around him solid traitors. In parallel with this, defeats at the front also occur, which were explained by the prince's internal enemies. In 1569, Lithuania and Poland united into a single state, which

strengthens their power. In the late 1560s - early 70s, Russian troops suffered a series of defeats and even lost several fortresses. Since 1579, the war has been taking on a more defensive character. However, in 1579 Polotsk was captured by the enemy, in 1580 - Great Bow, in 1582 the long siege of Pskov continues. The necessity of signing peace and respite for the state after decades of military campaigns becomes obvious.

Livonian war: briefly about the consequences

The war ended with the signing of the Plyussky and Yam-Zapolsky truces, which were extremely disadvantageous for Moscow. The exit was never received. Instead, the prince received an exhausted and devastated country, which found itself in an extremely difficult situation. The consequences of the Livonian War accelerated internal crisis which led to the Great Troubles of the early 16th century.

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 should have significantly improved economic situation Rus', 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 Rus'.

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.
• South direction 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. How public education, 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 Rus' 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 Rus' from the sea, blocked trade. Large merchants and nobles, who wished to appropriate new lands, were interested in the capture of Livonia. But main reason one can single out 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 significant 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 has been lost Gulf of Finland. 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 in long years forward - get access to the Baltic Sea.

1) 1558–1561 - Russian troops completed the defeat of the Livonian Order, took Narva, Tartu (Derpt), approached Tallinn (Revel) and Riga;

2) 1561–1578 - the war with Livonia turned for Russia into a war against Poland, Lithuania, Sweden, Denmark. The hostilities became protracted. Russian troops fought with varying success, occupying a number of Baltic fortresses in the summer of 1577. However, the situation was complicated:

The weakening of the country's economy as a result of the ruin of the guardsmen;

A change in the attitude of the local population towards the Russian troops as a result of military raids;

By going over to the side of the enemy, Prince Kurbsky, one of the most prominent Russian military leaders, who, moreover, knew the military plans of Ivan the Terrible;

Devastating raids on the Russian lands of the Crimean Tatars;

3) 1578–1583 - defensive actions of Russia. In 1569, Poland and Lithuania united into a single state - the Commonwealth. Stefan Batory, elected to the throne, went on the offensive; since 1579, Russian troops fought defensive battles. In 1579, Polotsk was taken, in 1581 - Velikiye Luki, the Poles besieged Pskov. The heroic defense of Pskov began (it was headed by the voivode I.P. Shuisky), which lasted five months. The courage of the defenders of the city prompted Stefan Batory to abandon further siege.

The Livonian War ended with the signing of unfavorable for Russia Yam-Zapolsky (with Poland) and Plyussky (with Sweden) truces. The Russians had to abandon the conquered lands and cities. The Baltic lands were occupied by Poland and Sweden. The war exhausted Russia's forces. the main task- the conquest of access to the Baltic Sea - has not been resolved.

Assessing the foreign policy of Russia in the XVI century. - the conquest of the Kazan (1552) and Astrakhan (1556) khanates, the Livonian War (1558–1583), the beginning of the colonization of Siberia, the creation of a defensive line of the Muscovite state that protected against devastating raids, mainly from the Crimean Khanate, it is important to keep in mind that the greatest The country achieved foreign policy successes in the first period of the reign of Ivan the Terrible (50-60s).

In addition, it must be emphasized that Russia's military policy was determined not only by its fundamentally natural desire to defend the young statehood, secure borders, overcome the syndrome of more than two hundred years of yoke, finally reach the Baltic Sea, but also by expansionist and predatory aspirations. generated by the very logic of the formation of a centralized state and the interests of the military service class.

Features of the political development of the Muscovite state in the XVI century.

Unlike Europe, where national centralized states were formed, the unification of the Russian lands into the Muscovite State did not yet mean their merger into a single political and economic whole.

Throughout the 16th century there was a complex and contradictory process of centralization, elimination of the specific system.

In the study of the features of the political development of the Russian state in the XVI century. some of the most controversial issues can be identified.

In domestic and foreign literature, there is no consensus on the definition of the state form, established in Russia. Some authors characterize this form as a class-representative monarchy, others - as a class.

Some define political system Russia in the 16th century as autocracy, understanding by it the despotic form of absolutism and even Eastern despotism.

The discussion is influenced by the following factors:

Firstly, demonization in assessing the personality and politics of Ivan the Terrible, which was initiated by N.M. Karamzin;

Secondly, the vagueness of the concepts of "autocracy", "absolutism", "oriental despotism", their relationship.

The formal-legal, or purely rational, definition of these concepts does not take into account the traditional power characteristic of the medieval worldview, which influenced the essence and form of statehood. Autocracy in the 16th century - this is the Russian national form of Orthodox estate statehood, a churched state, which cannot be identified either with varieties of Eastern despotism or with European absolutism, at least before the reforms of Peter I (V.F. Patrakov).

MM. Shumilov drew attention to the fact that the opinions of the authors differ in characterizing the Russian autocracy. So, according to R. Pipes, the autocratic system in Russia was formed under the influence of the Golden Horde. The American historian believes that since for centuries the khan was the absolute master over the Russian princes, then "his power and greatness almost completely erased the image of the Byzantine basileus from memory." The latter was something very remote, a legend; none of the specific princes had ever been to Constantinople, but many of them knew the road to Saray very well.

It was in Saray that the princes had the opportunity to closely contemplate the power, "with which one cannot enter into an agreement, which must be obeyed unconditionally." Here they learned to tax courts and trade deals, conduct diplomatic relations, manage a courier service, and crack down on recalcitrant subjects.

S.G. Pushkarev believed that the political structure of the Russian state was formed under the influence of the Byzantine church-political culture, and the power of the Moscow grand dukes (Ivan III, Vasily III) and tsars (with the exception of Ivan IV) was only formally unlimited. “In general, the Moscow sovereign was - not formally, but morally - limited by old customs and traditions, especially church ones. The Moscow sovereign could not and did not want to do what "did not happen."

Depending on the answer to the question about the essence of monarchical power in Russia, historians also speak differently regarding the political role of the Boyar Duma. So, according to R. Pipes, the Duma, having neither legislative nor executive power, performed only the functions of a registration institution that approved the decisions of the king. “The Duma,” he said, “did not have a number of important features that distinguish institutions that have real political power. Its composition was extremely unstable ... There was no regular schedule of meetings. There were no minutes of discussions, and the only evidence of the participation of the Duma in the development of decisions is the formula written in the text of many decrees: "The king indicated, and the boyars were sentenced." The Duma did not have a clearly defined sphere of activity.

In the XVI century. The Duma turned into a permanent government institution, where Duma people acted not only as advisers to the tsar on issues of legislation and administration, not only participated in the development of decisions, often discussing, and sometimes objecting to the tsar, but also managed central orders, carried out special assignments for central and local affairs. administration (V.O. Klyuchevsky).

Another facet of the question of the essence of Russian statehood in the 16th century. - activities of zemstvo sobors in 1549–1550, 1566 and 1598, the study of their formation, functions and relationships with the tsar.

Attempts to solve this problem in the spirit of Eurocentric concepts that dominate historiography give polar, sometimes mutually exclusive points of view of researchers. Zemsky Sobors in Russia did not have a permanent composition, clearly certain functions unlike estate-representative authorities European countries. If the Parliament in England, the States General in France and other class-representative bodies arose as a counterbalance to the royal power and were, as a rule, in opposition to it, then the Zemsky Sobors never came into conflict with the tsar.

In historical studies, an opinion is often expressed about the class-representative nature of the Zemsky Sobors (S.G. Goryainov, I.A. Isaev, etc.). However, M.M. Shumilov believes that, apparently, Zemsky Sobors of the 16th century. were neither popular, nor class-representative institutions, nor advisory bodies under the tsar. Unlike the corresponding institutions of Western Europe, they did not interfere in public administration, did not seek any political rights for themselves, and did not even perform advisory functions. The participants of the first Zemsky Sobors were not elected representatives. Their composition was dominated by representatives of the upper capital nobility and merchants appointed or called by the government itself. Although in the work of the Zemsky Sobor of 1598, unlike the previous ones, elected representatives who vouched for their worlds also participated, but it was still not they who prevailed, but representatives of the government itself: holders of power of various degrees, officials, managers, "agents of military and financial institutions "(V.O. Klyuchevsky). All of them were convened to councils not to tell the government about the needs and desires of their constituents, and not to discuss socially significant issues, and not to give the government any powers. Their competence was to answer questions, and they themselves had to return home as responsible executors of conciliar obligations (in fact, government decisions).

Nevertheless, it is difficult to agree with the opinion of some foreign and domestic historians about the underdevelopment of Zemsky Sobors. According to V.F. Patrakova, if the idea of ​​separation of powers is being formed in the West, then in Russia the idea of ​​conciliarity of power is developing on the basis of its spiritual, Orthodox community. Ideally, in the Councils a spiritual and mystical unity of kings and people was achieved (including through mutual repentance), which corresponded to Orthodox ideas about power.

Thus, in the XVI century. Russia has become a state with an autocratic political system. The sole bearer of state power, its head was the Moscow Grand Duke(tsar). In his hands concentrated all the power of the legislative, executive and judicial. All governmental actions were carried out on his behalf and according to his personal decrees.

In the XVI century. in Russia, the birth of an empire and imperial politics takes place (R.G. Skrynnikov). Almost all historians see in the oprichnina one of the factors that prepared the Time of Troubles at the beginning of the 17th century.

I wholeheartedly welcome you! Klim Sanych, good afternoon. Good afternoon. Hi all. Happy birthday! Thank you. Health! It is important. You will take the rest yourself. Yes. About what today? With all these terrible movie tricks that the domestic film industry poured on us in a flurry, as well as with a regular reaction to current moments, as well as with all sorts of decent films that we also constantly analyze, we completely forgot about the basis, namely about military history. I'm still a military historian, I yearned, I want to talk about the war. And not an expert on shit like "Form of Water", damn it. Yes. Which we have to do to get high. Yes, yes, of course, of course, of course. Yes, and so, we have the Livonian War, which in some way has its anniversary this year. It started in 1558, and now it's 2018, i.e. we get an even date, and there is no reason not to analyze this significant event, especially since it is already so publicized in history books. Judging by the name, we fought with some kind of Livonia? Yes Yes Yes. But this is actually a big misconception. Everyone thinks that the Livonian War means that we fought with Livonia, that's it. And today I propose to give some introductory, because the Livonian War is a very long, very big (as they would say now, stupid term) geopolitical conflict. So-so. And it is impossible, I think, to start immediately directly to military operations, we need to make a well-founded approach. Those. first to figure out what was happening there around this very Livonia and not only, and only then to gradually analyze the course of hostilities, all kinds of wonderful battles that took place inside there, especially since we have already sorted out one of them - the Polotsk capture. Will we fit in 1 video? Nine! Only a few. So-so. And then I immediately say that we are still for the start, then as it goes, we will analyze only the Livonian war itself, because, but I’m running a little ahead. And you need to start with periodization, firstly, and secondly, with the same thing as the term, what was, in fact, the Livonian War. Because, as you rightly said, the Livonian war, which means it is with the Livonians. And we know from school that it was a very important conflict that tore the Muscovite kingdom of Ivan the Terrible, because of which the Troubles immediately began. Because all the money was spent there, all the military were killed there, and those who were not killed, they became impoverished, everyone became brutalized because of this Livonian war, we lost it in the end, and then Ivan the Terrible suddenly died, and it happened ... From anger. From anger, from rage, yes, from bedsores. And the Troubles began, and everything was bad as a result. Well, in this way it turns out logically that it was the Livonian War that was the main war waged by Russia during the time of Ivan the Terrible. Well, since they lost it and everything is bad, then it is so. But it is not so. But I’ll interrupt you, excuse me, because as usual they will start asking questions, but due to illiteracy, exactly one author, citizen Skrynnikov, is known to me. Yes. Are his books under Ivan the Terrible good? Well, you need to know them, because Skrynnikov dug deep. We send everyone - ZhZL, the life of wonderful people, the author is 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, there are far from only Skrynnikov, but we will definitely give a list of recommended literature, as we usually do when examining 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. inside different books, of course, they wrote about her, and sometimes quite a lot. And if you collect them to the heap, all these books, then in general you 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. Ie ... Do not want to indicate the merits of Ivan? 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 giant tangle that you can’t take it on the fly, so we think - well, we have it, well, okay, then. Here. And then someone else says "later." In the meantime, about the repression. In the meantime, of course, let's talk about repression, yes. But the stable historiographical term "Livonian War" nevertheless developed, although, of course, if contemporaries knew that they were participating in the Livonian War, they would be very surprised. About how the French and the British, having learned that they are fighting in the Hundred Years War. Because the Livonian War is from 1558, and it is traditionally considered that from 1583 to the Plyussky truce with Sweden. In fact, of course, this is not entirely true. And why, now I will try to explain. Because there was no Livonian war as such, it is a series, albeit thematically in the sense of interrelated conflicts, but which each fought back from each other both by the participating countries and by specific peace treaties, specific declarations of war. It was a protracted conflict of the parties, in which far from only Russia and Livonia participated, this is the most important thing, Livonia almost did not participate there at all. There were Lithuanians, Poles, Swedes, Danes, Russia, of course, a little Livonia, and even the Tatars managed to participate directly and indirectly. And all why - because Livonia, i.e. Livonian Confederation, the so-called. By the end of the 15th century, the Livonian Order was, and even in the 16th century, the more sick man of Europe, which it later became Ottoman Empire in the 19th century. This was the naturally sick man of Europe. This was due to something - well, in general, of course, with the crisis of the order state. It was the last state of the Order of all that 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 that cover them, namely the states that somehow formed these very orders, were not up to it in the 16th century. In particular, the Livonian Confederation was also 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 just Prussia, fought on the side of the Poles and Lithuanians against Livonia. Those. it’s generally one whole that just happened literally in the 15th century. Those. The Teutonic Order, it was, as it were, the commander of the Livonian landmaster, it was one whole, there was Lithuania between them 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, later known as Revel. Riga is standing there. And all these cities close on themselves, well, almost the entire Russian trade in the Baltic. And the Russian Baltic trade, who did not hear our last year's videos about the milestones of Russian history, the Baltic trade is very important, because the Baltic trade is what closes all, almost all, Eurasian trade. That is, everything that goes along the Volga from the Caspian Sea; everything that goes through the Dnieper from the Black Sea; everything that goes along what used to be called the Great Silk Road, it is somehow distributed over different, as they say now, 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 who will be at the distribution point, he 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 the one hand, Scandinavia, closes all of Denmark 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 in the early 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, this, too, for some time was 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 could make it internal, but they really wanted to crush the entire coast under themselves. And whoever wanted it - Lithuania, of course, it has direct access to the Baltic Sea, and it needed the whole piece of the Baltic to be its own. Naturally, Poland, as friends of the Lithuanians, since the Union of Krevo, is also 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 Daalina along with the knights who settled there around the Livonians. And now, well, the Livonians are dying, so you need to take it back, this is a Danish fortress, even the name is like that, you look. Here, first. Secondly, of course, the Danes could not allow the Swedes to become stronger at this expense, because the Swedes are their direct competitors from all sides for many centuries. And, of course, Russia, because the Livonian Order is something that was constantly in close, I would even say 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, was brewed much earlier, but here 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, first of all, because it's a confederation. Not a single confederate state of small size, surrounded by generally quite strong neighbors, will last long, because, as we remember, what Livonia is - Livonia is actually order territories, that is, military monastic ones, these are several bishoprics, which, it would seem, are included into one confederation, but they, as a rule, pursued their very independent policy, sometimes they directly clashed inside, it came to armed clashes. Wow - inside the state, some bishop said - something I don’t like everything, and went to fight with his president. They entered into direct conspiracies with the enemies of the order, there they periodically had to be arrested, these bishops, if they could, of course. Well, of the bishoprics, the 2 largest ones played the main role, these are Terpsky (on the site of the old Russian city of Yuryev) and Riga. 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 do not mean the last master of the Livonian Order, but the last such a 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 skilled military leader, frankly, even Ivan III cried with him. Although where is this Livonia of this size, and, therefore, the Moscow nascent kingdom of this size. He beat us regularly. By virtue of his charisma and powerful organizational abilities, he fixed this state of confederation, i.e. through Lithuania, the Teutonic Order, also not feeling well, it was able to transform in the 16th century, turning into a secular state. He let himself under the roof of the Poles and, in general, lived 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 fused. Like Finland for the Swedes. Yes Yes Yes. But downshifters went there with a specific goal - to re-downshift back, because there are again great prospects. And, of course, fraternities immediately formed there, because just to come to the Livonian Order and say that I’m here, too, sorry, knight, I’ll fight here for a little, of course, it was possible, and even you would have been given to fight, but you would have been given nothing to earn there - no land, no money, well, except for the fact that you will directly fight. People were exiled there, as I once said, when we talked about the short Livonian-Novgorod war in the 40s of the 15th century, people from the Rhine and Westphalia were exiled there. So they trod this path, naturally formed a community there, and they didn’t let anyone in, well, at least on an industrial scale. Well, then the Danes let in another constellation of independent Danish knights, who were simply handed over together with Tallinn, who saw both the Westafalians and the Rhines in the coffin, but loved themselves. This, of course, added strength to this state. Well, proceeding from this, a crisis erupted, because Walter von Plettenberg died, and there was no longer such a boss - energetic, charismatic, etc., who simply by his personality could solder it all together. Because in fact, to expect that everyone will be such a wonderful boss is rather stupid, this does not happen. And the system itself was practically unviable. Well, of course, everyone immediately became interested that if it all dies, and it dies before our eyes, someone lucky will be the first to take it, so everyone immediately pricked up their hairy ears and began to look closely who would just rush there first. Walther von Plettenberg, it must be said, although he defeated the Russian troops several times, he never, as a sober person, thought that this could be done on an ongoing basis. He understood perfectly well that he could beat the Russians only because Ivan III was at war with Casemir IV of Lithuania. He is just very busy, he can not come to grips with all this, there is no time. Therefore, when the Lithuanians and Poles offered Walter von Plettenberg to form a single anti-Russian coalition, he nobly refused, saying that nothing good would come of it for me. You may be, I won't 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. The doves of the world, as a rule, were connected directly with the trading circles, who just needed to trade, that's all, period. And the hawks had to impose some kind of their own will, well, this is a paramilitary state, it was necessary to expand somehow, at least in the commercial sense. Naturally, they clashed with Sweden, because Sweden is another point with which Russia borders, through which we can sell or buy something, vice versa. And now, after Walther von Plettenberg, Master von der Recke, he issued a certain decree, where once again it was written what goods could be traded with Russia. This is a potential military adversary, therefore, starting from the 13th century, strategic goods were not allowed to pass to us on an ongoing basis. Here von der Recke once again wrote what exactly should not be missed. And you can not skip gold, silver, tin, lead, iron, horses, armor and weapons. Sanctions have been imposed on us. Well, because silver is money, everyone knew perfectly well that Rus' does not have its own silver, we do not have our own lead, we do not have our own tin, well, there is not enough tin at all. It needs to be specially developed, extracted from ores, then they did not know how to do this, it needs to simply 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, there will be no lead, there will be nothing to make bullets from. Well, everything is clear about armor and weapons, they have a specific military purpose, horses are the same. Everyone knew very well that in Rus' the horse stock was weak. Those. It is simply impossible to equip mass cavalry with good horses. Therefore, we do not supply horses. And the merchants wanted to supply, because it is a lot of money, that's all, because of this there was a constant conflict. The merchants, and first of all, the Germans did not try from the Livonian Confederation, they were regularly caught here. For example, this 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 Novgorodians. He was caught and fined and sent to hell in 1530. Back in the 15th century, a German merchant who regularly brought iron and weapons to Rus' was eventually caught, arrested, fined, taken away everything and thrown away. And he drove again, because, apparently, it was very profitable. And so they caught him a second time and cut off his head. No, well, since such decrees were constantly, it means that someone constantly tried to smuggle and successfully drove. On the other hand, Novgorodians and Pskovians could not pass by the Order's possessions on the sea route. The sea route of the Middle Ages is coastal. Along the shore. Along the coast, first. Secondly, even if it is not along the coast, then 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. post some patrols. Yes sir. Those. you are sailing somewhere to trade, you - rest with us. - Oh no. - Get some rest. With all due respect. With all due respect, yes. Immediately, customs comes to you, 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 trade here. Well, that's all, you have to trade in Riga or Tallinn. Those. you will no longer 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 go past Tallinn and Riga without joking. Yes. So. For the umpteenth time I am surprised how the ancestors always seem to be somehow narrow-minded, unreasonable, but here you go - and the port, and patrols, and interception, and customs. And sanctions. And you can trade only here, where the money is, damn it. Yes. Therefore, Novgorodians, starting from the 12th century, simply could not swim anywhere, they received guests at home. Ours, of course, responded with all love. Complete reciprocity. Complete reciprocity. Those. here comes a German from Livonia, you will trade only in the German courtyard with specially indicated merchants. Here 3 people will come to you, here you will trade with them. Rates are like this, volumes are like this. Yes of course. You cannot engage in retail trade yourself, you cannot deal with purchases yourself. Again, if you want purchases, here are those guys with licenses. Hans and Friedrich. Yes, no, these are Russians Vanya and Petya. Here you, Hans and Friedrich, will buy from them what you wanted to buy there, by the way. Here. It is clear that special trading corporations were engaged in all this. For example, fur has covered the entire northern trade with fur since the 13th century, the so-called. 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 now you could only buy fur from Ivanov 100. You couldn’t go to this Yugra yourself, to Biarmia, where, in fact, the fur came from. The Germans, of course, tried to swim around the Kola Peninsula, around Arkhangelsk, but it was too far away, the ice conditions there were not good. Well, in general, you can’t climb there on a permanent basis. Since the early Middle Ages, since the Viking times, there is a well-known saga there, how they rode there, to Biarmia. Accordingly, if you want to go to Novgorod, you will hire only Novgorod pilots. Pilots were specially on duty there, then these barge haulers who dragged the ships through the portage, please don’t bring your own. If you brought it, let them rest here for now. They will wait. They will wait. Well, or as a guest they will go to Novgorod, where they will leave money in a brothel, in a tavern somewhere. You can't work. And in such an environment, 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. Ivan III in such a situation, this Novgorod finally accepted back into the bosom of the Russian state with open arms - we walked, that's enough. Since 1136, at large, something is not working out well for you, come with us, here. Novgorod was besieged, everyone was given a cap, and Novgorod became the site of a very broad social experiment, as we would now put it, namely, 2,600 Moscow nobles, the children of the boyars, were resettled in Novgorod, spreading land there for them. Actually, regular local typesetting begins from Novgorod, i.e. these same children of the boyars, the nobles, turned into landlords in the full sense of the word, i.e. into knights obligated to feudal service for the conditional holding of land and peasants. And from Novgorod, accordingly, some nobles were evicted to other places, so that they would not be very happy there ... Clusters. Kuchkovaniy, yes, so for sure, so that they are not very satisfied. True, of course, it must be said that the Muscovites, when we were in Novgorod, arranged a grouping themselves, they immediately made friends with the Novgorodians right there, they formed their own kublo. Novgorod, as you know, had to be brought to life several more times, and the last time it was Ivan the Terrible. Most successful. Well, Ivan III also did it very successfully, just Ivan IV did it for the last time and finally. By the way, he then had to extinguish when they say that he extinguished the Novgorodians, he extinguished the descendants of Muscovites, who were settled there by his grandfather. It was they who, in general, arranged some initiatives, which then had to be dealt with somehow. It is their rotten devils who muddy the water in the pond. Yes Yes Yes. Well, we have already talked about the uprising, and it will probably be necessary to talk separately, for now, about the war. Ivan III took over Novgorod, and suddenly it became clear 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 such a loose form, this is a magnificent limitrophe as a counterbalance to the Lithuanians. Those. no one even thought to win it. Of course, there were quite specific territorial claims, especially on the ground, there, in general, apparently, this was a trade war, then a small war of partisan sabotage groups, small detachments in general 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. It's much cheaper than having your own troops. Certainly. And if you conquer them, they will have to be protected, these territories. Well, this is a huge territory, in fact, there are a lot of buildings, 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 finally resolving the issue with the Livonians. On the contrary, they tried to keep them in such a state, in a state of eternal semi-chaos as long as possible. And here, of course, you need to look in 2 directions at once, namely, in the direction of Lithuanian and Polish, and in the direction of the Crimean. Because the Lithuanians, especially when they became close friends with the Poles, became, in general, 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 once asking me why the Teutonic Order, although the Teutons have all been there for a long time? Mariy also cut them, yes. So, it just actually turned out, I never even thought about this issue. 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 means only Germanic. Teut, well, 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 limitroph, i.e. someone who will create a kind of counterbalance to Russia in the Northwest. State-laying. Yes Yes Yes. And so they constantly tried to bring the confederation under some kind of treaty, 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 deploy troops, or you are obliged to look approvingly at our actions, and, accordingly, to carry out some trade sanctions there. Yes. It 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 beginning of the 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 that, he 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 wide for only one reason: he brought Kazan under his arm. Those. Kazan, he did not actually capture, i.e. yes, there was a successful military enterprise, 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. You can be friends in this case only for one reason, when there is someone to be friends with, because the Krymchaks hated the Great Horde with its center in modern Astrakhan. Because the Astrakhans, as the heirs of the Juchi ulus, quite seriously believed that the Kazanians, the Crimeans, and the Nagais owed them everything, i.e. they should be at their fingertips, it's our everything. And neither the Nagais, nor the Kazanians, nor the Crimeans categorically disagreed with this; at all. Well, i.e. all this meant that money had to be paid, and no one wanted to pay money, they needed it themselves. Firstly, to pay money, and secondly, if those in Astrakhan come up with something, go somewhere to fight. But the Krymchaks, for example, were not interested in fighting for the Astrakhans at all, the Krymchaks 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 going somewhere to Derbent, waving a saber there, it’s not at all clear for what purpose, it’s much easier to run into either Moscow or Vilna, catch men and women there and sell them in Kaffa. Here. And since The Great Horde at that time was a serious force, whatever one may say, although it seems that Ivan III repelled them there and on the Ugra, but still they had to be reckoned with, and everyone, it was a very dangerous opponent if you quarreled with him. So, Mengli Giray and Ivan III were friends against the Great Horde. And Ivan III constantly skillfully let his sidekick Mengli-Giray into Podolia, i.e. the southwestern lands of the Grand Duchy of Lithuania, so that he would work there, as the Germans say, this is the very thing, raub und moert, i.e. robbed and killed, he was an excellent specialist in this respect, he robbed and killed. Lock the floors, now there will be robberies. Yes sir. True, of course, it must be said that Ivan III was extremely clever in letting 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 is very far away. Actually, where ethnic Lithuanians live. But there is no need to think very badly about Ivan III, he was just a man of the feudal era, for him these were his own, those who were his subjects, i.e. who pay taxes to him and owe him vassalage. And the people of Kiev, for example, were obliged to vassal service to the Lithuanians, so excuse me. What nationality and specifically religion they were, everyone was on the drum. Nobody is interested. Yes. No, well, of course, in this way, again, according to medieval customs, for example, the people of Kiev or the people of Chernigov there, the Novgorod-severets made it clear that you were watching while you were with these Lithuanian fools, you would be robbed. And if you are with us, you will not be robbed. So did everyone in all the Middle Ages. There, for example, the civilized Edward III Plantagenet went to war with France. The first thing he did, after winning the battle of Sluys there, which allowed him to land an army (battle of the sea), which allowed him to land an army in French territory, he engaged in the well-known practice of grandes voyages, i.e. long walks, i.e. just bandit raids on the territory of France there with burned villages and stolen people. The name of the idiotic film, in my opinion, with Louis de Funes, "The Big Walk", is it just about that, or what? Yes, somehow it was different, there were no grandes voyages, the allusion is unequivocal that there are 3 Englishmen going through France, that's what it is, grandes voyages. Deep, damn it. Here. This is such a hint that is generally understandable to people who in France and England read a school history textbook. And here you are, civilized people were doing exactly the same thing at about the same time. I’m already silent, what they were doing when there were religious wars of Catholics and Huguenots inside France, the same thing. And this is literally at the same time that we will talk about, the middle-second half of the 16th century. Nothing interfered. Although these are not just Catholics and Huguenots, this is just one country, France, within themselves, they did such things there that Ivan IV would seem like a funny guy with a beard, here, in some kind of ridiculous golden mantle, here. And they are all so refined, so, in tights with codpieces, they did absolutely terrible things with each other. We'll talk about this, I hope. Necessarily. I want, when we talk, in fact, about the military operations of the Livonian War, to talk about a parallel process that took place in Europe, in fact, and dwell on the wonderful battle of Dro. Who beat whom there? French French. Here. Aside, to the Crimeans again. The Crimeans were friends with Ivan III and really interfered with the Lithuanians, so Ivan III simply had his hands untied, he could constantly engage in western expansion, reclaim the lands of the Rurikovichs, because he himself was a Rurikovich, and for good reason believed that he had the right on the entire legacy of the Rurikovichs. Vasily III did the same, but he quarreled with the Girays, and specifically with Muhammad-Giray. And he quarreled for one simple reason, because the entire alliance with Mengli Giray was actually built on sand. As soon as we looked towards the Volga and we became an enemy of the Great Horde, the Krymchaks did not need to be friends with us, because if we deal directly with the Great Horde, 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 give some kind of order, because the most important interests on the Volga were, of course, not with the Great Horde, despite all the remnants of its power. It was with a new player, namely the Ottoman Empire, which sought to subdue all Muslim lands under itself, either directly or indirectly. And under Vasily III, in 1522, Muhammad Giray sent him a letter demanding tribute. And Vasily III, of course, refuses, because for what, in fact, the reason? Well, Muhammad-Giray reaches Moscow, crosses the Oka, smashes the army of Vasily III to smithereens, Vasily III flees from Moscow, leaving instead of himself 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 king, Muhammad Giray, a letter stating that the Moscow Tsar is a tributary of the Crimean Tsar. Strongly. Here. The suburbs of Moscow have been burned, Tatar patrols are walking on Vorobyovy Gory in the royal village. There was one of the villages that belonged personally to the king, they plundered everything there. And after that, we could not fight normally with the Lithuanians simply because we had a multi-pood Crimean core hanging on our leg. And here you need to understand a very important thing, who fought with the Lithuanians. Lithuanians were in constant contact with people of the future Novgorod category, i.e. those who were just sitting here Novgorod, Pskov, this is about 1/6 of our entire cavalry, it was the 2nd territorial point in terms of power, after Moscow, of course. Moreover, unlike Moscow, Novgorod, the future Novgorod category, as we would say, the governor-general, probably, this could be called this. It has never been territorially divided, it was one whole territorial border division. Moscow has never acted as some kind of such a single entity, 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 has been transformed all the time. Novgorodians all the time stayed in the monolith. Because of this, they had a very powerful merged corporation, which again had a very strong tradition of local feudal corporate self-government. And fighting, for example, with Lithuanians or Livonians, they, firstly, defended their own interests, because they were on the border, they defended their lands, or they could take something away for themselves. Those. receive a visible material profit for yourself or your family. Well, if they slap you, it happens, then at least the children will not be left behind, because you will take away land from someone and cut them off for yourself. Or you will take away the peasants and settle them at your place. But since then, they have constantly had to leave every year for the Oksky border on the river to fight with the Krymchaks. And it was without any profit to fight the Krymchaks. Because what are Krymchaks? Krymchaks appear incomprehensibly when, and without declaring war easily, having gathered ... Murzas, uhlans and Tatar Cossacks, they simply ran on the decision of some local regional chief, and they had to be caught. The fights were constant, maybe not very big, but extremely fierce. And here we have, counting from 1522, the reign of actually Alexei Mikhailovich, we have this Oksky, then Belgorod frontier, it never stopped, service was required there all the time, but you could not win anything there. You could only die there. Just fight back, yes. Yes. Because in order to win something from the Krymchaks, it was necessary to reach the Crimea, but we could not do this, because we, as a settled empire of that time, were very much attached to the means of communication, and these were rivers. Those. we could fight with Kazan, with Astrakhan, with the Lithuanians simply because we could drag along the rivers, well, along some more or less acceptable roads heavy artillery and in general an artillery outfit, and it will help in a field battle, and heavy artillery will help to take the city, that's how they took Polotsk, for example, or how they took Kazan. And it was impossible to bring it to the Krymchaks, because if you leave for the steppe, then you may simply not return from there. Food, water, diarrhea. Because the march across the steppe looks like without points where you can concentrate food, ammunition, rest, recover, well, it turned into just creepy horror even for regular armies. How Peter I went to the Prut and how it ended, this is the only serious defeat in general, and it almost turned into a catastrophe for the Russian army in the 18th century. We could not cope with the Turks, and with the same Krymchaks who were let in there, although the regular army. This is not a medieval army, it is managed differently, manned differently, supplied differently. Somehow, again, I’ll lay out the layout according to how the march of the Russian cavalry looked like. We talked about the Mongols a long time ago, so 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 it was without any profit for them, they wanted to fight the Livonians, it’s not so dangerous. And the Krymchaks, understanding all these nuances, organized the Crimean auction. This is an accepted term in historiography. Well, they sold themselves to Lithuanians and attacked Moscow, or Muscovites and attacked Lithuanians. Well done. Here. We understand that there were people lured in the Crimea. Like the Lithuanians, I guess. As, of course, with the Lithuanians, there was a diplomatic mission there on a permanent basis, and our well-wishers, such as Yamat-Murza, for example, he directly wrote to the Grand Duke that I cannot defend your interests, because the Lithuanians literally bombard the khan with gold, jewelry , commemoration, i.e. present. Are commemorations gifts? Yes. He demanded regular commemorations. And if you didn’t do regular commemoration for him, he went to fight against you. And the brother of Muhammad Giray Sahib Giray, for example, he did not hesitate to write to Vasily III that he demanded to be his vassal, as we would say now, and to regularly pay him money, formulating it in such a way that if you do not pay, I will come myself and I'll take a lot more. Those. you better pay. Set out rates. Yes, yes, yes, because as much as I take, I take as much, I take as 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 not to pay, he could not not pay all the time, because it was really cheaper to pay, on the one hand; on the other hand, given the Lithuanian factor, it was too expensive to pay the Krymchaks all the time. But then Vasily III died, in fact, to what I am leading all this, to Ivan IV, because where is the Crimea, where is Livonia, now we will tie them up. Vasily III died, Ivan IV came, he was the third grandson, kalach in the kingdom grated and husband of many wives. Here. Ivan Vasilyevich the Terrible was his name, because he was a serious, respectable person. He is not sweet with tricks and his mind is not lame, he brought order - at least roll a ball. He was still, when he was 15 years old, respectively, he was born in 1530, in 1545 the first trip to 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 to the Krymchaks, but fierce enemies, because in 1556 we took Astrakhan, we closed the Volga on ourselves, and the Krymchaks had no enemies at all, except for Russia. After that, it became impossible to put up with us. In addition, the Turks simply killed the predecessor of Devlet Giray I when he began to pursue too independent a 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 be against theoretically, but he was a cautious person, a very, very smart and cautious person. But since he was cautious, he understood that if he did not fight with Russia, the Turks would also do something to him, because they had all the possibilities and means of influence on the 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 as 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. partnership is unbalanced. And they began to push him to war. On the one hand, the Lithuanians continuously paid him, they simply continuously bombarded 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, saying that you would 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 the 25-year war with the Krymchaks began, which ended only in 1577, only in 1577 did it end. And it was during this war that an organizational, military, and even a psychological portrait of a Russian serviceman in general was formed, who was forced every year to defend his native borders, which is called disinterestedly, i.e. not having the desire to rob something, the desire and ability to rob something, to this very damn Oka. And moreover, all military corporations throughout Russia were involved there. Those. Novgorodians have been there, and Kazanians have been there, and, of course, Muscovites have been there on a permanent basis. In general, this shift service at the Oka line devoured monstrous resources, simply monstrous. It all ended with the fact that in 1571 Devlet Giray burned Moscow to the ground, in fact, only the Kremlin remained. On next year , in 1572 the bloody battle of Molodi, which, in fact, decided the outcome of this war. Well, even there it somehow flared up, then faded on a small scale until the death of Devlet Giray in 1577. There was a serious man. Yes. And now you 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 things went badly under the rule of Stefan Batory in 1580-83. Stefan Batory did not even dream of going to Moscow, he did not have such strength. And Devlet Giray burned it down. Therefore, the Livonian War was a secondary direction for Ivan the Terrible. Actually, it didn't end very well for us for the simple reason that we were busy with the Krymchaks. 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 that 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, in fact? Here we have Ivan IV sat on the throne. Ivan IV needs to be constantly replenished with strategic resources for the war on the Volga, because, as we remember, 3 campaigns near Kazan, only the third was successful, and this was the most difficult situation. Plus, it was necessary to constantly bribe their people in the Podraysk land, to feed the pro-Russian party in every possible way. To keep garrisons against Astrakhan, to build cities, resources and specialists were needed. And at that time Ivan IV, more precisely, he was then still a young man at all, i.e. Ivan IV and his company, they went for rapprochement with the Holy Roman Emperor Charles V, and Charles V went very actively towards rapprochement with Russia. Simply because Charles V was at war with the Turks, and he needed any counterbalance to the Turks on his part. Well, literally just now, in 1535, Charles personally leads an expedition to Tunisia, takes him, kicks out the Turks and, of course, mainly their local hangers-on, the famous pirate Hayraddin Barbarossa. It turns out that when the locals took Filyuks in Tunisia, it turns out that guns are being sold to the French. French them. The French sell guns to the Turks, because they were all branded with 3 lilies, i.e. hallmark of the French royal arsenal. Those. on the one hand, the French never spoke out for the Turks, but everyone understood who was a friend to whom, because the Germans needed some kind of counterbalance to Turkey. It would seem, where is France, where is Russia, but the decision of the French, Francis I to help the Turks, it 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. True, of course, not against the Turks in the first place, but against the Poles. In general, this did not bring any significant results, but there were attempts and attempts are quite visible, these are German advances 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, moreover, military specialists of the highest class, who have just literally gone through fire, water and copper pipes Italian wars. Those. there was a lot military people who right now are ready to go somewhere and tell everyone how to do it for money. Hot spots veterans. So there is not hot spot it was, in the same place, these Italian wars, it was just a bloody meat grinder, tens of thousands of people went through it there, having received very serious experience and complete unwillingness to do anything else but war, because it is profitable. And a military specialist at that time is a person who could make himself not just a future, but become some kind of great figure in history. For example, who would have known such nobles as, for example, the Frundsbergs. Yes, no one would have known, except for some very dull heraldists, who generally pick these same noble families, coats of arms and so on there. But Georg Frundsberg became simply because he deftly commanded the landsknechts, he became a world-famous figure without fools, all of Europe literally knew him. Just because he successfully commanded the regiments of landsknechts. And we were ready to receive such adventurers with all our arms. To intensify this process in 1548, a handsome young Saxon adventurer Hans Schlitte comes to Charles V to intensify this process, and he offers to take over relations with Moscow. Apparently, he sat well on the ears of Charles V, because he gave him full carte blanche, and he went to Moscow. In Moscow, he also sat down on the ears of Ivan IV, who, for his part, gave him full carte blanche, and now 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, recruited strategic resources, and began to supply them to Ivan IV. And the Livonians caught him along with another portion of specialists. A monstrous scandal erupted, the Livonians quarreled with Emperor Charles V, saying that this should not 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, they had the opportunity to simply turn off the valve for us. Which is unacceptable. Which is absolutely unacceptable. And Ivan the Terrible goes first to diplomatic efforts, and then to military efforts, and it is here that an important reservation must be made. Grozny did not consider Livonia equal to himself, he did not send sovereign ambassadors there, he negotiated with the Livonians only with the help of Novgorod officials. Some clerk leaves from Novgorod, negotiate with him. Because he considered Livonia a principality only. People need to be sent to the level. Yes. And he is an emperor, it is impossible for him to communicate with the prince. Let the Novgorodians communicate there for 200 years and let them communicate further, but, of course, with an eye on the party line. And then he sends ambassadors already sovereign. The matter is taken to another level. The matter goes to 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 directly from Moscow. Famous surnames. Certainly. Who needed a reason to find fault with the Livonians. Because they, on their territory, have the right to adopt any laws and issue any decrees - a sovereign state. Let it be unpleasant, but what is your business, what is pleasant or unpleasant for you. You need a reason, and a well-known reason - St. George's tribute. Those. what the Livonians promised to pay for the possession of Derpt, which they once took away and pledged to pay money for this. No one knows exactly when and how much they promised to pay. But for unclear reasons, they didn't pay, right? Yes. But for unclear reasons, nothing has been paid for 100 years. They came up with an amount, calculated interest from it, as a result, they got a wagon of silver, which had to be immediately given to Ivan IV. Well, and right there, in pursuit of the St. George's tribute, they rolled out a bunch of claims that merchants are offended, among other things, that they pay taxes to Moscow, they chip the wax, they use a merciless bekloppen. What is this? I once told you this, 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. it was possible to just chop off half and not pay - I did not taste it. Yes. I didn't sort it out. I didn't sort it out. Well, pay for the rest. The same thing happened with furs. It was possible to see if the fur was fit, well, pick up a piece there, and because. the size was not discussed ... Cut off each skin. Yes. Because size was not specified, it was terrible. Accordingly, we did not have the right to check with them, for example, they supply us with wine, wine or, say, good Flemish cloth. Delivered in barrels and pieces. Those. we could pay per piece and per barrel, but we couldn't check 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 opening a barrel, for example, with wine or beer, if you got your finger, it means enough, and if not, then not enough, you didn’t get it. Here. And, accordingly, they constantly tried to ... deceive us. Deceive. cheat, yes. And all these small territorial claims, connected primarily, of course, with claims to Narva, this is St. George's tribute, insults of merchants, they simply presented it all, and they said that it was necessary to pay, stop, and Ivan IV rolled out the contract, one of the main points of which it was that gold, silver, cloth, iron, armor, i.e. except for armor. And willing people from the Germans had a free path by water and mountains. Those. cloth and specialists were more expensive than armour. About the armor, he said that if you want to supply - supply, no - okay. And this completely coincides, by the way, with the list of von der Recke, who forbade this very thing to be transported. Those. Ivan IV knew exactly what he needed. We will make shells somewhere ourselves, we will buy resources and specialists somewhere else. 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 the tribute is St. George's, so let this St. George, damn it, pay. Those. Dorpat. And everything else does not concern us. They were also smart, by the way. Here is the wording - St. George's tribute, so let the Derptians pay it. The residents of Derpt said that we simply do not have so much money physically and cannot have it. Well, it was then that Grozny decided that he was being deceived ... Not without reason. Yes. What are these squiggles? What kind of antics, yes. It means that the Livonian Landshers were called there, i.e. landlords were invited to Novgorod, where, as they say, a 200,000-strong army of Muscovites was waiting for them at the border so that they would be properly frightened. This, of course, is bullshit, maybe there were 2,000 of them waiting for them, here. But it was also scary. But it was also embarrassing. And they fired cannons for a day, while they agreed that it would also be scary. What a lot of gunpowder we have, we can do this here! Agreed for 3 years to raise money. Meanwhile, 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 it is correct, i.e. the closest assistant, deputy of the Archbishop of Riga 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 to influence the Bishop of Riga and the Master, speaking accordingly. But the master did not need this, and master Furstenberg arrested him, realizing that he was a nit, a spy and a provocateur. After that, 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 Furstenberg realized that either the water was drained here, or it was necessary to somehow agree, because could not resist them at all, they would simply crush him. And it is not excluded that he 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 the obligation of armed neutrality against Russia. Tellingly, our intelligence service, apparently, completely missed this Pozlo 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, for example, letters, internal correspondence, there are subtle mocking hints that Vanya does not catch mice at all. We have already settled everything with Livonia, but he is still waiting for some kind of tribute. But, of course, it is impossible to hide such an awl in a bag of hay, because as soon as the Livonian ambassadors came again to negotiate with Ivan IV at the end of the three-year truce, it suddenly turned out that they were not going to pay tribute to him, but asked to think a little more, maybe there let's agree. After that, we do not know for sure whether Ivan the Terrible found out about the Pozvolsky treaty, but in fact he realized that he had an agreement with someone else behind his back. And this was the last point, because he didn’t care at all about these petty squabbles of the Novgorodians, even the fact that they didn’t let specialists and strategic goods to us there - in the end, it was always possible to get around these problems, 200 years ago - they bypassed it, or negotiate with the Swedes, get lucky through Sweden, not so convenient, but also possible. By the way, you could buy iron from the Swedes, which is what we did. But then it became clear that Livonia was living its last days on its own, and now it would all fall under the feet of Lithuania, and this could not be allowed in any case. And here Ivan the Terrible takes such a step that the Livonians must understand that the jokes are over, 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 it would be possible to rob. And this autumn-winter of 1557 was the last peaceful day in general in Livonia, because since 1559 cannons rattled there and swords rang almost continuously. Because the year 1583, our very peace with Sweden, it meant 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 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 tense conflicts, this is the war for the Livonian inheritance, that's how we would say it correctly. Well, while everyone froze at the start, next time we will analyze what happened. Fierce, damn it. Somehow I don’t even know, every time it’s a dive ... I repeat that it seems all the time that now everyone is cunning, smart, intelligent, such intricacies ... They know everything. And here is nothing less tricky. And most importantly, for me, as a commoner, history is a set of some kind of anecdotes - someone sent someone to hell, took the woman away, and then the war. It turns out that the matter is not in the woman and not in the message, but in completely different things. Messed up, damn it. It's a pity there are no pictures of where someone 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 to be designated ancient. Ancient, yes. There, however, there will be a flagpole of the Grand Duchy of Lithuania stuck up to the very tonsils in this state of Ukraine. That's it. Thank you, Klim Sanych. We look forward to continuing. We try. And that's all for today. See you again.