Main article: Russo-Lithuanian War of 1500-1503

Despite the settlement of border disputes that led to undeclared war 1487-1494, relations with Lithuania continued to be tense. The border between the states continued to be very indistinct, which in the future was fraught with a new aggravation of relations. A religious problem has been added to the traditional border disputes. In May 1499, Moscow received information from the governor of Vyazma about the oppression of Orthodoxy in Smolensk. In addition, the Grand Duke learned about an attempt to impose the Catholic faith on his daughter Elena, wife of the Grand Duke of Lithuania Alexander. All this did not contribute to the preservation of peace between countries.

strengthening international position The Grand Duchy of Moscow in the 1480s led to the fact that the princes of the disputed Verkhovsky principalities began to en masse move to the service of the Moscow prince. An attempt by the Grand Duchy of Lithuania to prevent this ended in failure, and as a result of Russian- Lithuanian war 1487-1494, most of the Verkhovsky principalities were part of the Muscovite state.

At the end of 1499 - beginning of 1500 in Moscow State Prince Semyon Belsky passed with his estates. The reason for his "departure" Semyon Ivanovich called the loss of grand ducal mercy and "affection", as well as the desire of the Grand Duke of Lithuania Alexander to translate him into "Roman law", which was not the case under the previous grand dukes. Alexander sent ambassadors to Moscow with a protest, categorically rejecting the accusations of inciting him to convert to Catholicism and calling Prince Belsky "health", that is, a traitor. According to some historians, the real reason for Semyon Ivanovich's transfer to the Muscovite service was religious persecution, while, according to others, the religious factor was used by Ivan III only as a pretext.

Soon, the cities of Serpeisk and Mtsensk went over to the side of Moscow. In April 1500 to serve Ivan III Princes Semyon Ivanovich Starodubsky and Vasily Ivanovich Shemyachich Novgorod-Seversky crossed, and an embassy was sent to Lithuania with a declaration of war. Deployed all over the border fighting. As a result of the first blow of the Russian troops, Bryansk was taken, the cities of Radogoshch, Gomel, Novgorod-Seversky surrendered, Dorogobuzh fell; Princes Trubetskoy and Mosalsky were transferred to the service of Ivan III. The main efforts of the Moscow troops were concentrated on the Smolensk direction, where the Lithuanian Grand Duke Alexander sent an army under the command of the great Lithuanian hetman Konstantin Ostrozhsky. Having received the news that Moscow troops were standing on the Vedrosha River, the hetman went there as well. On July 14, 1500, during the Battle of Vedrosha, Lithuanian troops suffered crushing defeat; more than 8,000 Lithuanian soldiers died; Hetman Ostrozhsky was taken prisoner. On August 6, 1500, Putivl fell under the blow of Russian troops, and on August 9, Pskov troops allied with Ivan III took Toropets. The defeat at Vedrosha dealt a severe blow to the Grand Duchy of Lithuania. The situation was aggravated by the raids of the Crimean Khan Mengli Giray, who was allied with Moscow.

The campaign of 1501 did not bring decisive success to either side. The fighting between Moscow and Lithuanian troops was limited to small skirmishes; In the fall of 1501, Moscow troops conducted an unsuccessful siege of Mstislavl. A major success of Lithuanian diplomacy was the neutralization of the Crimean threat with the help of the Great Horde. Another factor that acted against the Muscovite state was a serious deterioration in relations with Livonia, which led to a full-scale war in August 1501. In addition, after the death of Jan Olbracht (June 17, 1501), his younger brother, the Grand Duke of Lithuania Alexander, also became the king of Poland.

In the spring of 1502, the fighting was inactive. The situation changed in June, after the Crimean Khan finally managed to defeat the Khan of the Great Horde, Shikh-Ahmed, which made it possible to make a new devastating raid already in August. The Moscow troops also struck their blow: on July 14, 1502, the army under the command of Dmitry Zhilka, the son of Ivan III, marched near Smolensk. However, a number of miscalculations (lack of artillery and low discipline of the assembled troops), as well as the stubborn defense of the defenders, did not allow them to take the city. In addition, the Lithuanian Grand Duke Alexander managed to form a mercenary army, which also marched in the direction of Smolensk. As a result, on October 23, 1502, the Russian army lifted the siege of Smolensk and retreated.

At the beginning of 1503, peace negotiations began between the states. However, both the Lithuanian and Moscow ambassadors put forward deliberately unacceptable peace conditions; as a result of the compromise, it was decided to sign not a peace treaty, but a truce for a period of 6 years. According to him, in possession Russian state remained (formally - for the period of the truce) 19 cities with volosts, which before the war accounted for about a third of the lands of the Grand Duchy of Lithuania; so, in particular, the Russian state included: Chernigov, Novgorod-Seversky, Starodub, Gomel, Bryansk, Toropets, Mtsensk, Dorogobuzh. The truce, known as the Annunciation (on the feast of the Annunciation), was signed on March 25, 1503.

Plan
Introduction
1 Prerequisites
2 Course of the war
2.1 1500 campaign
2.2 Campaign of 1501
2.2.1 Situation towards the end of the summer of 1501
2.2.2 Combat

2.3 Campaign of 1502

3 Truce

Russo-Lithuanian war (1500-1503)

Introduction

Russian-Livonian-Lithuanian war of 1500-1503 - a war between the Grand Duchy of Moscow (hereinafter referred to as VKM) in alliance with the Crimean Khanate on the one hand and the Livonian Confederation, which acted in alliance with the Grand Duchy of Lithuania (hereinafter referred to as ON), caused by the transition of the specific princes of Severshchina to Moscow service. The struggle between the Moscow and Lithuanian principalities for the Western Russian lands caused a series of Russian-Lithuanian wars in late XV-XVI centuries. The Russian-Lithuanian war of 1500-1503 was the second in a row.

1. Background

The Russo-Lithuanian war of 1487-1494 ended with the annexation of the territory of most of the Verkhovsky principalities to the Moscow principality; Smolensk, however, remained in Lithuanian possession.

In April 1500, Prince Semyon Ivanovich Belsky became allegiance to Ivan III, with whom his possessions, the city of Belaya southwest of Tver, also departed to the VKM. Grand Duke Alexander of Lithuania sent ambassadors to Moscow with a protest, which Ivan III rejected. Immediately after this, in the same April, news came from princes Semyon Ivanovich Starodubsky-Mozhaisky and Vasily Ivanovich Shemyachich Novgorod-Seversky about their desire to go to the service of Ivan III with all their possessions, which made up significant territories in the eastern part of the Grand Duchy of Lithuania with the cities of Novgorod-Seversky, Rylsk, Radogoshch, Starodub, Gomel, Chernihiv, Karachev, Khotiml. Ivan III decided, without waiting for the campaign of the Lithuanian troops against the defectors, in May 1500 to open hostilities.

2. The course of the war

2.1. Campaign of 1500

According to the plan of Ivan III, Russian troops were to operate in three directions: northwestern (to Toropets and Belaya), western (Dorogobuzh and Smolensk) and southwestern (Starodub, Novgorod-Seversky and other cities of the Seversky region). It was the last direction that seemed to be the priority, since there was a high probability that the GDL would have time to force the Seversk defector princes into submission before the Moscow army approached. By the spring of 1500, the troops of the first stage of the Grand Duchy of Moscow were concentrated in Moscow and Velikiye Luki. In addition, a reserve army stood near Tver, ready to enter the war in the direction of the greatest resistance of the Lithuanians.

In the southwestern direction, the Russian troops, which marched from Moscow in early May, under the command of the governor Yakov Zakharyich Koshkin, captured Bryansk, Mtsensk and Serpeisk, the princes of which went over to the side of Ivan III. The cities of Gomel, Chernigov, Pochep, Rylsk and others surrendered. The princes Trubetskoy and Mosalsky went over to the side of the VKM. Princes S. I. Starodubsky and V. I. Shemyachich were sworn in to Ivan III.

In the western direction, troops under the command of the voivode Yuri Zakharich Koshkin and the former king of Kazan, Magmed-Amin, took Dorogobuzh. The Grand Duke of Lithuania sent an army led by Hetman Konstantin Ostrozhsky through Smolensk to Dorogobuzh. The reserve Tver army of the VKM, headed by voivode Daniil Vasilyevich Shchenya-Patrikeev, was moving here through Vyazma, and detachments of defector princes Semyon Ivanovich Starodubsky and Vasily Ivanovich Shemyachich Novgorod-Seversky approached from the southeast. On July 14, 1500, in the battle on Vedrosh (a few kilometers from Dorogobuzh), Russian troops inflicted a crushing defeat on the Lithuanians, who lost about 8 thousand people killed and many, including Prince K. I. Ostrozhsky, captured.

After the defeat at Vedrosh, the Lithuanians did not show any noticeable strategic initiative, limiting itself to organizing the defense of the main cities and fortresses. The Russians continued to win victories: in the southwestern direction on August 6, Y. Z. Koshkin took Putivl, and the northwestern army of Andrei Fedorovich Chelyadnin, who advanced from Velikiye Luki, took Toropets on August 9, and then Belaya. At the same time, an ally of the Moscow Principality, Crimean Khan Mengli I Girey, raided the south of the Grand Duchy of Lithuania, his sons took and burned Khmilnik, Kremenets, Brest, Vladimir, Lutsk, Bryaslavl and brought out many captives from there.

At the end of the year, Ivan III planned to build on the successes already achieved and make winter hike to Smolensk, but the harsh winter of 1500-1501. didn't let me do what I wanted to do.

2.2. Campaign of 1501

The situation towards the end of the summer of 1501

The first months of 1501 passed quite calmly. However, in the summer in Livonian Derpt, 150 Pskov merchants were arrested, allegedly in connection with the theft. The true reason for such widespread repressions was the decision of Livonia, together with the GDL, to soon begin hostilities against the VKM. The joint campaign of Livonia and Lithuania was scheduled for July 25. The goal of their campaign, probably, was to be Pskov. However, due to internal political events in the Grand Duchy of Lithuania and Poland - the death of the Polish king Jan Olbracht and the claims of Grand Duke Alexander Jagiellon to the Polish throne - the Lithuanians' campaign was postponed until August 28. Nevertheless, the middle of summer is marked by a series of skirmishes on the border between Livonia and the VKM. Seeing the threat in the north-western direction, Ivan III sent a Moscow detachment to Pskov under the leadership of Princes Vasily Vasilyevich Shuisky and Daniil Alexandrovich Penko, who arrived in the city on August 1. Despite everything, Ivan III tried to avoid war, and the Moscow army in Pskov stood idle for a long time. Russian forces began to advance to the Livonian border only on August 22.

fighting

On August 26, the Livonian army, led by Master Plettenberg, crossed the border of the VKM near the city of Ostrov in order to join the allied Lithuanian army on Russian territory. But already on August 27, the Plettenberg detachment met with the Russian army in the battle on the Seritsa River, where the Livonians won a landslide victory and completely seized the initiative.

After the victory on Seritsa, Plettenberg's army tried unsuccessfully to take Izborsk, and then to take the fords across the Velikaya River. Repulsed by the Pskovians at the fords, the Livonians turned south and on September 7 took the city of Ostrov. The epidemic that broke out after this in the Livonian army forced Plettenberg to return to Livonia. Another reason for leaving was that the ON troops did not come to the rescue. September 14 Plettenberg was already in Livonia. small squad Lithuanians came to the Pskov land after the withdrawal of the Livonian army and, unsuccessfully trying to take the Opochka fortress, also retreated.

In the autumn, Russian troops went on the offensive both on the lands of the Livonian Confederation and on the Grand Duchy of Lithuania, scoring a number of victories (D.V. Shchenya devastated North-Eastern Livonia and a significant part of Estonia, the Russians defeated the Germans at the Helmed castle, the Lithuanians at Mstislavl, although he himself failed to take the city. The attack of the troops of the Great Horde on the Seversky lands forced Ivan III to transfer there Russian troops from North. With the combined efforts of the Russian troops and the allied forces of the Crimean Khanate, the attack was repulsed.

2.3. Campaign of 1502

During 1502, the troops of the knights of the Livonian Confederation unsuccessfully tried to capture Pskov (twice), Krasny Gorodok, Izborsk. Russian troops in the western direction took and besieged Smolensk and Orsha, the defense of which was led by the Lithuanian magnate Stanislav Kishka, but the approach of a large Lithuanian army forced the son of Ivan III Dmitry Zhilka to withdraw the Russian troops. After that, the Russians carried out a series of devastating raids deep into the GDL (the Crimean army of Mengli I Girey, 90 thousand people raided the GDL and Poland and devastated everything in the areas of Lutsk, Turov, Lvov, Bryaslav, Lublin, Vyshnetsk, Belz, Krakow), gradually bleeding it . This forced the Lithuanian prince Alexander to direct his efforts towards signing a peace treaty.

3. Truce

On March 25, 1503, the Annunciation Truce was signed for a period of six years. According to him, the Moscow principality received a huge territory covering the upper reaches of the Oka and the Dnieper with 19 frontier cities, including Chernigov, Gomel, Novgorod-Seversky and Bryansk. ON lost 70 volosts, 22 settlements and 13 villages - about a third of its territory. On April 2, 1503, a truce was signed with the Livonian Confederation, according to which it secured its borders until the Livonian War.

Literature

1. Alekseev Yu. G. Campaigns of Russian troops under Ivan III. - St. Petersburg: SPbU, 2007. - ISBN 978-5-288-04840-1

2. Borisov N.S. Ivan III. - M.: Mol. guard, 2000. - ISBN 5-235-02372-2

3. Volkov V.A. Wars and troops of the Moscow state. - M.: Eksmo, 2004. - ISBN 5-699-05914-8 http://old.portal-slovo.ru/download/history/Volkov1.pdf

4. Kazakova N.A. Russian-Livonian and Russian-Hanseatic relations. Late XIV - early XVI century. - L .: Nauka, 1975.

5. Karpov G.F. The history of the struggle of the Muscovite state with the Polish-Lithuanian 1462-1508. Part 2. Lithuania. - 2nd. - M.: Book house "LIBROKOM", 2011. - 160 p. - ISBN 978-5-397-01956-9

6. Razin E.A. History of military art of the VI-XVI centuries. - St. Petersburg: Polygon Publishing House LLC, 1999. - ISBN 5-89173-040-5

Set an impressive historical task - to unite under the rule of Moscow all the lands that were part of Kievan Rus. He clearly expressed this program in his new title - the sovereign of all Rus'. The main territory of the former Kievan Rus was then under the rule of Lithuania and Poland, between which there was a strong union (unia). The Polish King Casimir IV was also the Grand Duke of Lithuania. The war with the strong Polish-Lithuanian state was a complex and dangerous matter. Only after long calculations and preparations did Prince Ivan decide to take this step.

Russo-Lithuanian war (1487-1494)

The first Muscovite-Lithuanian war (1487-1494) was waged mainly by the forces of the “Verkhovsky princes” who were drawn to Moscow - the descendants of the holy prince Mikhail of Chernigov, who was executed in the Horde in 1246. They owned vast appanages in the upper Oka basin and were, as it were, in double subordination - from Moscow and from Lithuania. In his messages to Casimir IV, Ivan III assured him of his peacefulness and sincere friendship. He avoided sending large forces to the theater of operations and generally pretended that he was not waging any war against Lithuania. However, in the end, this “strange war” ended with the transition under the authority of the “sovereign of all Rus'” of the vast Vorotyn principality in upstream Okie. No less valuable acquisition was the city of Vyazma, located halfway between Moscow and Smolensk. material from the site

Russo-Lithuanian war (1500-1503)

During the second Muscovite-Lithuanian War (1500-1503), Muscovites achieved even more significant successes. They seized Sever-sky Ukraine and took 25 cities, among which were such well-known ancient centers as Chernigov, Bryansk, Rylsk, Putivl.

The major event of the second Russian-Lithuanian war was the battle on the Vedrosha River (between Smolensk and Dorogobuzh) on July 14, 1500. In this battle, the voivode Daniil Shchenya defeated a large Lithuanian army led by Hetman Konstantin Ostrozhsky.

In 1502, the Moscow governors tried to take Smolensk, but failed.

On this page, material on the topics:

100 Great Wars Sokolov Boris Vadimovich

RUSSIAN-LITHUANIAN WARS (late 15th - early 16th century)

RUSSIAN-LITHUANIAN WARS

(late 15th - early 16th century)

Wars of the Moscow and Lithuanian Grand Duchies for the East Slavic lands that were part of Lithuania.

From the middle of the 15th century, the influence of catholic church in Lithuania, connected with the strengthening of the union of this country with Poland. In this regard, many Orthodox feudal lords preferred to go to the service of a Moscow prince of the same faith. Accordingly, Moscow received grounds to lay claim to the lands of these feudal lords. The Polish king and Lithuanian Grand Duke Casimir IV insisted that the Moscow Grand Duke Ivan III not accept defectors, but he not only ignored these demands, but also started a war against Lithuania.

Ivan III made an alliance with the Crimean Khan Mengli Giray. In 1492, the Tatars invaded the Lithuanian lands and captured Kyiv. At that moment, King Casimir died. In Poland, his eldest son Jan was elected king, and in Lithuania, the youngest son Alexander was elected grand duke. Enmity broke out between the brothers, undermining the Lithuanian-Polish alliance. Basil took advantage of the favorable opportunity and invaded Lithuania. While the Tatar army stood in the region of Kyiv and Chernigov, the Moscow and Ryazan ratis allied to them occupied Meshchersk, Serpeisk, Opakov and Vyazma. Alexander did not have the strength to fight on two fronts and made peace with Moscow in 1494. As a result, Chernigov, Rylsk, Novgorod-Seversky and a number of other cities were annexed to the Moscow Grand Duchy.

In 1500 Ivan III began new war against Lithuania. The main Russian army under the command of the boyar Yuri Koshkin took Dorogobuzh. The Tver army of Prince Danila Schenya came to his aid. The total number of united troops of the annals is determined at 40 thousand people. The army of Schenya and Koshkin was located 5 km west of Dorogobuzh on the Mitkov field near the Vedrosha River. On July 14, a 40,000-strong Lithuanian army headed by Hetman Konstantin Ostrozhsky approached the same place. It shot down the Moscow avant-garde and crossed to the right bank of the Vedrosha. Here the Lithuanians were blocked by the main forces of the Moscow army under the command of Prince Danila Schenya. When the entire army of Ostrozhsky was drawn into the battle, Yuri Koshkin, at the head of his regiment, hidden in a nearby oak forest, struck from an ambush. The Lithuanians were cut off from the crossing, and the Moscow detachment managed to destroy the bridge. According to the chronicle, the Lithuanian army lost 8 thousand people alone, and several thousand, led by Hetman Ostrozhsky, were captured. Muscovites captured the camp and all the artillery of the Lithuanians. After the victory at Vedrosha, Ivan III was going to crush the Lithuanian principality. He asked Mengli Giray to strike from the southeast, while he himself was going to attack Smolensk from the northwest with the forces of the Novgorod, Pskov and Velikoluksky regiments. In August 1500, the 15,000-strong Tatar cavalry invaded Volhynia and Podolia. At this time, Novgorod and other allies of Moscow rati took Toropets, and Moscow troops moved to Mstislavl. However, Alexander managed to conclude an alliance with the Livonian Order, and the Livonians diverted the Novgorod and Pskov troops. In the summer of 1501, the Livonian army of 4 thousand knightly cavalry and 4 thousand infantry invaded the Pskov land. This army was opposed by Moscow, Tver, Novgorod troops, numbering, but most likely exaggerated data from the Livonian chronicles, 40 thousand people. The undoubted numerical superiority of the Moscow army was offset by the superiority of the Livonian artillery. Troops opposing sides met on the Siritsa River, 10 km from Izborsk. The Pskov regiment attacked first, but was repulsed by artillery and disorganized the formation of the main forces with its disorderly flight. Moscow artillery was suppressed, and the attack of the knightly cavalry completed the rout.

The failure near Izborsk was compensated on November 14, 1501 by the victory over the Lithuanian army near Mstislavl, where 7 thousand Lithuanians were killed (if the chronicles do not exaggerate). At the same time, Russian troops took Orsha and laid siege to Smolensk.

Against Livonia in the fall of 1501, Prince Ivan sent a new army, reinforced by a detachment of Tatars. It ruined the environs of Dorpat, Neuhausen and Marienburg, but could not take any of the strong Livonian fortresses. On November 24, the Livonian army suddenly attacked the camp of the Moscow rati near Helmet, but she repulsed the attack and put the attackers to flight. According to Livonian data, the losses of the "Muscovites" near Helmet amounted to about 1.5 thousand killed. The losses of the Livonians were no less.

In 1502, the Livonian army, in turn, made a campaign against Izborsk and Pskov, but they also failed to take these fortresses. It was detached against the Livonians large army governor of princes Vasily Shuisky and Danila Shcheni. As he approached, the Livonian army withdrew from Pskov, but was overtaken by Lake Smolina, 30 km from the city. The numerical superiority of the Moscow rati was shattered by the stamina of the enemy infantry and the superiority of artillery. WITH heavy losses Shuisky and Shchenya retreated. However, the Livonians did not have enough forces to pursue, and they withdrew to the border.

After the defeat on the northern front, Ivan III concluded a 6-year truce with Lithuania and the Livonian Order in 1503 on the basis of maintaining the former borders, keeping the Lithuanian cities conquered before 1494. In 1508, already under the son of Ivan III Basil II, an "eternal peace" was achieved between Moscow and Lithuania, which lasted only four years.

In 1512 Vasily II renewed the war with Lithuania. Two years later, the Moscow army under the command of the governor Chelyadnin and Golitsa, after a month-long siege, captured Smolensk and headed for Orsha. Here, on September 8, 1514, the biggest battle Russian-Lithuanian wars.

The 35,000-strong Lithuanian army (which also included Polish heavy infantry), led by Prince Ostrozhsky, crossed the Dnieper and on the morning of September 8 was already on the left bank. According to chronicles, the Moscow army numbered 80 thousand people, but this figure looks exaggerated. Chelyadnin expected to attack the enemy immediately after the crossing, until the Lithuanians had time to line up in battle order, cut them off from the bridges and destroy them. However, Ostrozhsky managed to take a defensive position.

The Moscow cavalry under the command of the voivode Gorlitsa launched an offensive on the left flank of the Lithuanians, but was counterattacked by the Lithuanian cavalry. From the flank, the Gorlice detachment came under fire from the Polish infantry. Moscow soldiers trembled. The Lithuanian cavalry, led by Ostrozhsky, cut into the enemy infantry on their shoulders. At this time, the left-flank detachment of the Moscow cavalry overturned the Lithuanian cavalry, but came under artillery fire. Polish men-at-arms attacked him on the flank. The Moscow cavalry was pressed against the swampy valley of the Krapivna River and almost completely destroyed.

Chelyadnin, who stood with the infantry in the center, tried to attack the left flank of the Lithuanians, pursuing the Moscow cavalry, but was hit by the Lithuanian cavalry and the Polish infantry on the right flank. The remnants of the army of Chelyadnin and Gorlitsa retreated to Smolensk. Ostrozhsky did not have the strength to take Smolensk. When the Lithuanian governor was convinced that it would not be possible to break into the fortress on the shoulders of the enemy troops defeated near Orsha, he also retreated.

The war continued with varying success. In 1519, three Moscow ratis from Pskov, Smolensk and Starodub-Seversky invaded Lithuania. They reached Vilna, which, however, they could not take. In 1522, a truce was signed, leaving Smolensk and other conquered cities behind Moscow.

The Beginning and the End Whoever fastens the first button incorrectly will no longer fasten properly. Johann Wolfgang Goethe Only when we finish a planned work do we realize where we should have started it. Blaise Pascal Always start small. On the first day God created only