CHRONOLOGY - IVAN IV

The Early Years

1534

Sigismund Augustus, King of Poland, took advantage of the minority of Ivan IV and Elena Glinskaya's preoccupation with suppressing internal rebellions of the boyars to invade Muscovy. Lithuanian troops attacked Smolensk. The Muscovites successfully defended it along with Starodub and Chernigov.
During this war, the Crimean Khan, Saip Gerei, tried to capture Kazan and Astrakhan. The struggle between the rival Tatar leaders resulted in the plunder of large areas. Saip was murdered, and a new Khan was named.

1535

The Italian architect, Peter Priazin, laid the stone foundations for the new Moscow wall on 16 May 1535. Elena continued the program of Vasilii III of building frontier fortresses.⁽¹⁾

1536

When the new Crimean Khan, Saip Gerei, was preparing to invade Muscovy, Prince Andrei, Ivan IV's uncle, refused to send his army to help defend Moscow. Elena sent her lover, Obolensky, and two armies to capture Andrei. Andrei's army lost, but he escaped to Novgorod from which he later surrendered and died in prison.

1537

King Sigismund of Poland asked for peace. The Muscovite army, freed from war in the west, marched east to control the Tatars.⁽²⁾

1538

Elena died, possibly of poison. Obolensky and others were killed and Vasilii Shuisky and his brother, Ivan, became regents for the seven year old Ivan IV. The Kazan Tatars conducted raids in 1538.

1540

Khan Safa Gerei advanced from Kazan but met resistance from the Russian army led by Ivan Shuiski. Then, Saip Gerei and a combined Tatar and Turkish army moved up the Don River. The Russian scouts reported that the Tatar army stretched beyond the horizon. Moscow prepared for a siege. All the boyars united, even putting aside Mestnichestvo to serve under the best commanders.⁽³⁾

1541

On 31 July the Tatar Khan reached the Oka River. The Muscovite advance guard polk stood on the opposite bank where it was mistaken for the whole Russian army. The Tatars prepared to cross under cover of a heavy artillery bombardment opened by the Turkish artillerists. Then the rest of the Muscovite army arrived. The Khan, realizing he had a major battle to fight if he wanted to cross the river, followed the usual Tatar practice and retreated.⁽⁴⁾

1545

In April the 15 year old Ivan IV proclaimed a campaign against Kazan. The army went by barge and by land, winning several minor victories on the way. In Kazan an internal struggle resulted in Safa Gerei's exile in June. The Muscovite commander, Boyar Dmitri Bel'sky, installed a new Khan; but when Bel'sky left, Safa Gerei regained Kazan.⁽⁵⁾

1547

Ivan proclaimed another campaign against Kazan. The army set out in January 1548, but the Volga ice broke up unexpectedly and many men and cannon were lost. Ivan waited for a new freeze, but in vain, therefore he returned to Moscow.

1549-1550

Safa Gerei died, leaving a 2 year old son in Kazan. Ivan started again in the winter of 1549-50. The army reached Kazan despite great hardships in the cold on 14 February 1550. After elaborate preparations, 60,000 Muscovites attacked without any gains. On the second day of the attack, an unusual thaw flooded the river and made the ground turn into mud, forcing Ivan to retreat again. Ivan now gave urgent attention to military reform, especially to curtailing Mestnichestvo.⁽⁶⁾

In March 1550, reports that Saip Gerei was advancing from the Crimea reached Ivan. He sent troops south from Moscow and went himself to Kolomna and Riazan to inspect the defenses. On the way back from Kazan, Ivan climbed the hill at Kruglaya and, seeing the strategic importance of the location, ordered a town to be built there. In July Ivan decreed the confirmation of his order abolishing Mestnichestvo in the field and strengthening the command of the chief voevoda of the Main polk. The decree established a chain of command and prohibited precedence considerations on campaign. In the summer, Ivan created the Streltsi as a personal guard of infantry. This was not a completely new device, as there already were units of town arquebusiers. In October, Ivan proclaimed a new project as a part of the military reforms. It was the formation of a special guard of 1,000 picked men to be settled on land around Moscow. Actually, 1,078 were chosen but the plan was frustrated by lack of available land near the capital. By the 1550's the government generally lacked land to give to the new service gentry, especially around Moscow. Ivan's solution was to seize the patrimonial lands and the church lands. In 1551 he asked a church council to secularize the church lands, but it refused.⁽⁷⁾

1551

Ivan sent the ex-Khan of Kazan, Shig Alei, with 500 Tatars and Moscow troops to Kruglaya hill at the mouth of the Sviyaza River to build a new fort. Prince Peter Obolensky went with troops from Nizhni Novgorod to supervise this project. The main army arrived on 14 May and quickly completed the new town of Sviyazhsk, which greatly impressed the local Tatars, Mordvins, Cheremish, Chuvash, and others.
The Kazan Tatars wanted peace, but their Crimean rulers did not, so Kazan expelled the Crimeans and asked Ivan to send Shig Ali to Kazan. He released 60,000 prisoners there. Ivan annexed the northern part of the Khanate and appointed a governor. This made the Kazan Tatars change their minds again and revolt. Ivan then sought a complete and final conquest.⁽⁸⁾

Campaign against Kazan

1552

A momentous event in Muscovite history occurred in this year when Ivan IV conquered Kazan and added its territories to his growing empire. Ivan began the campaign by ordering the armies to proceed as usual by boat and over land. A plague in Sviyazhsk and a Mordvin rebellion reduced morale in the army and delayed the campaign. At Kazan, Ediger Mohammed arrived with 500 Nogai Tatars to lead the defense. He was a good leader who kept the spirits of the Kazan population high. On 16 June Ivan set out for Kolomna. Enroute, he received word that the Crimean Tatars were advancing again. They captured Riazan and Tula before Ivan, who had sent troops to meet them, decided to go south himself. When Ivan arrived, the Khan retreated; the Muscovite army followed and defeated the Tatars near the Shivoron River. On 3 July Ivan again started for Kazan via Vladimir. By then, the plague was over and Voevoda Mikulinsky had defeated the Mordvins and Chuvash. On 15 August lvan crossed the Volga and sent a demand for surrender to Kazan. He reached the city on 2 August and began the siege on the 23rd. Ivan gathered the officers and men and unfurled the banner of the Virgin and showed the cross of Dmitri Donskoi in an effort to instill a religious fervor in the army. The Tatars also had strong religious beliefs. There were 30,000 local Tatar troops and 2,700 Nogais plus the town population. The well fortified Kazan wall consisted of oak beams reinforced on the inside. The towers were of stone.

Ivan had 150,000 men in his army.⁽⁹⁾ The first action was a sortie of 15,000 Tatars that expended its full force on the streltsi, forceng them to retreat. Ivan ordered deti boyarski reinforcements forward and the streltsi reformed and forced the Tatars back into the city. Then a rainstorm deluged the Russian camp and sank the supply barges while a high wind blew down the Tsar's tent and many other structures. These were bad omens for the soldiery who took great alarm. Ivan calmed them and sent for more supplies, including warm clothing for a possible winter siege. The soldiers worked hard making trenches and palisades. Ivan was busy inspecting and encouraging the troops who were on short rations and lacking for sleep. Tatar pressure increased when Prince Yapancha launched a series of attacks on the Russians from woods behind the Russians. The Tatars used signals from the walls to coordinate the attacks launched from the town with those of the forces in the woods. On 30 August the Russians defeated Prince Yapancha and captured 340 Tatars. They tied the prisoners to stakes in front of the town walls. Ivan urged the city to surrender and promised that the prisoners would be freed, but the Kazantsi shot them with bows rather than let the Russians kill them. Ivan was astounded at this display of hatred and fanaticism. The next day he ordered his Danish engineer to blow up the town water supply, which came from a spring and underground stream. On 4 September the Russians exploded eleven barrels of powder, killing many Tatars and breaching the wall. Still, the Muscovite assault failed. The Tatars found a new spring. Meanwhile, Muscovite morale was suffering from more bad weather and from superstition. For example, Prince Kurbsky reported that at dawn the Tatar sorcerers appeared on the walls to cause the bad weather. Being concerned, Ivan ordered a special miracle-making cross to be brought from Moscow. The weather then improved.

The Russians built high towers and mounted guns on them, moving the towers close to the city wall so they could fire down on the defenders. Ivan ordered the construction of new mines. On 30 September the Danish engineer blew up a large part of the city wall, at which the Tatars panicked, but then rallied and attacked. The hand to hand fighting lasted several hours with no gains on either side. On 1 October Ivan ordered a general assault to be launched on the next morning. The troops took communion and awaited the detonation of 48 barrels of powder in the mines. The Tatars discovered the mines and counter-mined while the Russians hurried everything into readiness. Near dawn the explosion shook the ground. The Russians immediately attacked, but the Tatars held firm, waiting until the Russians were very close before firing salvos from their cannon, arquebuses, and bows. Many Russians died but more came on using ladders and towers to reach the parapets from which the Tatars poured boiling pitch and dropped heavy beams and stones.

The Russians fought their way into the city, house by house, in a fierce battle with the heavily outnumbered Tatars. The Russian attack faltered and the men began looting. The Tatars counterattacked and nearly drove the Russians back through the breach. Ivan then sent officers to kill anyone found looting and he himself went to the main gate with the holy banner to stop the retreating soldiers. He sent in fresh units that forced Khan Ediger to retreat to the fortified palace and then to a tower. The last Tatars climbed down the tower wall and fought their way to the river, where Princes Andrei and Roman Kurbsky caught and held them until a large Russian force, under the command of Princes Mikulinsky, Glinsky, and Sheremetev could come up and kill them. The Russians killed or wounded five thousand Tatars. Ivan received Khan Ediger as his prisoner and gave a formal thanksgiving service.

On 11 October he started for Moscow, having appointed Alexander Gorbaty and Vasilii Serebryanny as governors. Some of Ivan's advisors urged him to keep many troops in the town to quell possible outbreaks. He did not agree and only left a small streltsi garrison. The rest of the army, being the feudal levy, had to return home, as usual.⁽¹⁰⁾

1553

Ivan IV became ill and asked all the princes and boyars to swear allegiance to his son. Many refused, preferring Ivan's brother to his baby son. This convinced him he could not trust his generals.
There were Tatar revolts at Kazan. In September Princes Mikulinski, Ivan Sheremetev, and Andrei Kurbski arrived with strong armies to crush the revolt. They captured 6,000 Tatar men and 15,600 Tatar women and children. Ivan used the Tatar feuds to split the opposition. In October 1553 the Nogai Tatars asked Ivan's help to depose the Khan of Astrakhan, which he agreed to do. Prince Andrei Kurbski fought 20 major engagements during the year to suppress the Cheremish and other rebels around Kazan.⁽¹¹⁾

Conquest of Astrakhan

1554

In the spring the Russian army sailed down the Volga to Astrakhan. Prince Yuri Pronsky-Shemyakin had 30,000 Muscovite troops plus the troops of Viatka under Vyazemsky and the Nogai Tatars. They routed Khan Yamgurchei's army and installed Derbysh as Tsar of Astrakhan.⁽¹²⁾

1555

Yamgurchei, with some Nogais, Crimeans, and Turkish Janissaries tried to retake Astrakhan. But Ivan sent additional troops and in the confused fighting between the two parts of the Nogai horde and the other Tatars, Derbysh fled from Astrakhan and the Russians took over direct control. Cossacks then settled at key points along the river.
During the summer Ivan showed the new Russian belief in Tatar weakness by mounting an attack on Crimea. He was the first Muscovite ruler to carry the war into the Crimean lands lying just north of Perekop. Khan Devlet Gerei retaliated with a 60,000 man army by invading Muscovy. In May he sent an envoy to Ivan to coneal his war preparations and in June he neared Tula with his army. Ivan sent Prince Ivan Mstislavsky with the Kolomna troops and those of Ivan IV's cousin, Prince Vladimir Andreevich to the front. The Khan retreated. Ivan Sheremetev took 13,000 Russians to pursue the Tatars and fell into an ambush. This victory caused the Khan to advance again on Tula to which Ivan also moved. The Khan then retreated.⁽¹³⁾

1556

In March Ivan sent two reconnaissance parties to check on the Crimean Khan's offensive plans and to raid Tatar territories. Ivan himself went with the army to Tula and when the Khan, advancing on Moscow, found Ivan ready, he retired again to Crimea. One reconnaissance party under the command of the Diak, Szhevsky, with Putivl Cossacks as guides, went down the Dnieper to Ochakov on the Black Sea. The Starosta of Cherkasy, Prince Dmitrii Vishnevetsky, provided help with Cherkasy cossack units. The force raided Ochakov successfully and did much damage to towns along the way, then returned to Moscow.
Ivan was delighted and Devlet Gerei was dismayed. The Tatars expected a full scale attack on Crimea and appealed to the Sultan for help. Then Prince Vishnevetsky decided to build a Cossack fort on the Dnieper (Zaporozhie) on Khortitsa Island. He completed fort in the summer of 1556 and successfully defended it from the immediate Tatar attacks. Prince Vishnevetsky asked for assistance from the Polish king who refused it. He then applied to Moscow for aid and received direct help plus the town of Belev on Oka as a base of operations.⁽¹⁴⁾

Livonian War

1557

In 1557 Ivan turned his attention westward and undertook the task started by his grandfather of conquering the western lands and securing an outlet on the Baltic Sea. By then the international situation, and especially the military situation, had changed greatly to Moscow's disadvantage. Instead of continued victory Ivan found himself faced with one of Russia's most disastrous wars, the effects of which remained, not only during Ivan's reign, but on into the "Time of Troubles." From the start, Ivan's policy was not popular with the boyars, who still supported war against the Tatars and alliance with the western powers. The service people, dvoriani and deti boyarski, supported war in the west as a means to obtain pomestie land.⁽¹⁵⁾
Ivan opened the war by ordering his Tatar general, Shig Alei, to move to the Livonian border at the head of the 40,000 man Muscovite army supported by the eastern tribal detachments.

1558

On 17 January the Russian army crossed the Livonian border from Pskov to a depth of 150 miles ravaging everything. Shig Alei then withdrew and sent a courier to the Grand Master of the Knights asking him to submit to Ivan. During the ceasefire, the Livonians from Narva attacked Ivangorod, so Ivan ordered the capture of Narva.
In January, Prince Vishnevetsky with Russian Cossacks and streltsi, sailed down the Dnieper to Perekop, which he raided. He then returned to Khortitsa Island.
On 21 January the Russians received word that Devlet Gerei, learning that the Russians had invaded Livonia, planned a maximum effort Tatar campaign against Moscow. He gathered 100,000 Tatars from the Crimea and the Great and Lesser Nogai under a galaxy of murzas and his son, Mahmet Gerei, and sent them north. The Tatars crossed the Donets and attacked Tula, Riazan, and Kashira, then continued north to the Mech River. There they received word that the Russians had massed their armies across the Oka. Blocked in their main objective of raiding Moscow, the Tatars turned south, followed a short distance by the three Russian polks on "shore duty".
In February Ivan offered King Sigismund an alliance against the Tatars, but the Polish king was concerned with the Russian invasion of Livonia and also with the possible Turkish reaction to a campaign against the Tatars and therefore declined the offer.
Meanwhile, the Russians captured Narva on 11 May 1558 and then invaded the country, destroying or capturing many other towns. The Grandmaster, Von Furstenburg, was too old and unfit for campaigning. He therefore resigned the office and the knights elected Gottgard Kettler as the new Grandmaster. In July Prince Peter Shuisky, with a strong force, captured Dorpat. By September the main army withdrew, leaving strong garrisons in the towns. Kettler then attacked the Russian garrisons. During this time, Prince Vishnevetski conducted a second, larger raid on Perekop.⁽¹⁶⁾

1559

In January 130,000 Muscovites and their allies again invaded Livonia, methodically laying waste the country and killing all the people they captured, including the children.⁽¹⁷⁾ Kettler asked Sweden and Denmark for aid but they refused. He also asked Sigismund II Augustus of Poland and began negotiations for an alliance.
In February Prince Vishnevetsky moved to the Donetz River for an advance on Kerch and Daniel Adashev sailed down the Dnieper. On 11 March Ivan discussed the situation with the boyars to decide how to act against Devlet Gerei. Five polki went to Tula and I. Veshnyakov joined to strengthen Prince Vishevetsky's army.
Devlet Gerei, strengthening his Crimean army with Great Nogais, had intended a major attack. The gathering of the Russian forces and their active operations forced him onto the defensive. In April Vishevetski reported that he had defeated the Crimeans on the Aidir River as they were trying to penetrate toward Kazan. In July, Adashev, with his 8,000 men, was diverted from the Crimea for a raid on Ochakov, which he attacked while Vishnevetski intercepted. The Nogais headed for Crimea and defeated them. Adashev then embarked his men in boats, captured 2 Turkish ships, landed in Crimea, damaged 2 towns and freed Russian prisoners.
In August the voevoda, I. Fedtsov, took an army from Dedilov to Tikhaya Sosna and posted it in the Serbolov forest to guard the Kalmusski Trail, a favorite Tatar attack route. An observation force went to Dedilov and the border towns. In August the government considered the danger of Tatar attack passed and released the main voevoda, Prince I. D. Bel'ski from service on the 23rd.

In April Ivan, via the mediation of the King of Denmark, had granted a 6 month truce to Livonia. Kettler used this time to negociate an agreement that Poland signed on 16 September. According to the Russian sources, Kettler then mobilized the Livonian army and broke the truce in September with an invasion of the Dorpat area held by the Russians. The Muscovites then raided Livonia twice.
The Tatars made two attacks later in the year. At Pronsk voevoda Buturlin defeated them. At Tula and Rostov voevoda Prince F. I. Tatev could not intercept the 3,000 man force of Murza Shirinski because the Russian troops did not assemble in time.⁽¹⁸⁾

1560

Lithuania-Poland asked Ivan to stop the war in Livonia, but he refused. The commander of the army in Livonia was Daniel Adashev. Ivan took a new group of advisors, including Alexei and Feodor Basmanov, Prince Afanasy Vyazemsky, Vasilii Gryaznoik, and Malyuta Skuratov-Bel'ski. Sylvester and Adashev were out of favor and many boyars were exiled or executed. Prince Kurbsky captured the fortress of Fellin.
To defend against the Tatars five polki assembled at Tula and later three polki moved to Bistra Sosna under command of Prince A. I. Vorotinski. After the departure of the main voevoda, they received the news of advance of 3,000 Tatars led by Divea Murza on Ril'sk. The voevoda at Tula went after the Tatars who then retreated. There were 20,000 Tatars united on the Udakh River under the crown princes, sent by Devlet Gerei to lead a campaign, but it did not take place. Still, the Tatars did attack Temnikovski later in the year.⁽¹⁹⁾

Sweden and Poland transform Livonian War

1561

In this year Ivan found himself faced with some unexpected opposition as Sweden and Poland entered the arena in place of the moribund and rapidly expiring Livonia. In June Revel swore allegiance to the King of Sweden, Erik XVI, to obtain protection from the Russians. Kettler negotiated with Nikolai Radziwill, the Voevoda of Vilna; and on November, Livonia became part of Lithuania, while Kettler became Duke of Courland. Polish troops had entered Livonia already in June and Lithuania began mobilizing her army to attack the Russians. Radziwill launched the offensive in September with the capture of Tarvast. The Russians won a battle against the Lithuanians at Pernau and then razed Tarvast.

There was no Tatar attack in 1561. Ivan sent an ambassador with a letter to Devlet Gerei who informed Ivan that the Sultan, Suleiman, planned to dig a canal between the Don and the Volga, to unite the Moslem nomads for a campaign against Russia, to build fortresses at Tsaritsyn, Perevolok, and at the mouth of the Volga, and to recapture Kazan and Astrakhan. The Crimea Tatars preferred not to come under such direct Turkish control, so they alerted the Russians about these plans.⁽²⁰⁾
Ivan heard that Tomgruk, the Circassian leader, had a beautiful daughter, so he had her brought to Moscow, baptized, and named Maria. He then married her and she bore him his son, Vasilii. Besides her beauty, Ivan was attracted by the military alliance with her father.⁽²¹⁾

1562

King Sigismund II Augustus made an extra effort to obtain Tatar help. The documents show the discussions Sigismund and Devlet conducted to plan a major campaign and the seizure of several towns, including Mtsinsk, Odoev, Novosil, Bolkhov, Belev, and Chern. The King was not satisfied with this and instead conducted military operations in Seversk land where the Belgorod Tatars were also operating. Moscow heard of the Tatar- Polish plans and sent several polki to the "shore". Prince Vladimir Andreevich and Princes M. and A. Vorotinski marched to Serpukhov while the Tsar himself went to Muzhaisk on the 21st of May. On the 28th of May, Prince. A. M. Kurbsky captured Vitebsk. On 6 May Devlet Gerei and his sons arrived at Mtsensk where they stayed in front of the city for two days, burning part of the area. They had only 15,000 Tatars. Therefore, when they found out that the Tsar was in Mozhaisk and that the Russian forces were gathering at Serpukhov, the Khan ordered a withdrawal. The voevoda, V. Buturlin, prevented the Tatars from devastating a larger area and Princes M. and A. Vorotinski followed them to Kolomna and Merchik, but did not catch them.
In September the Tsar returned to Moscow. Princes M. and A. Vorotinski and D. Kurlyatev fell from favor due to their (alleged) treasonous activity. In November Ivan began sending peace feelers to Poland and sent a message to Devlet Gerei about renewing the peace treaty. In December the Tsar moved to Polotsk.⁽²²⁾

1563

After a two week siege, Polotsk surrendered to Ivan's strong army. Ivan appointed three voevodi for the army: Peter Shuisky, Vasilii Serebryanny, and Peter Serebryanny; and left Prince Obolensky to command the town, when he left Polotsk on 26 February. The army advanced on Vilno and went into winter quarters at Velikie Luki. Lithuanian envoys arranged a truce until 15 August.
During the period 4 April to 12 May, while the Tsar completed the capture of Peremishiya, Odoev, and Belev; 10,000 Tatars, under the Tsarevich, Mahmet Gerei, and several Mirzas attacked Mikhailov. The Polish king congratulated Devlet Gerei on his successful campaign.⁽²³⁾

1564

The Lithuanian army under Nikolai Rudy defeated the Muscovites under Prince Petr I. Shuiski, who died, at Chashniki, on the Ulla River near Polotsk in January 1564. Prince Kurbsky had 15,000 Russians but lost the battle to 40,000 Poles near Nevel, north of Vitebsk. Although wounded, he decided to flee in April to Lithuania. This increased the Tsar's suspicion of his generals. In April the polki assembled at Kaluga but they did not defend the border against the Tatars, but the Poles. Relying on a peace and friendship agreement with Devlet Gerei, Ivan did not post major troop units to the southern border but only sent small detachments. Prince Kurbsky persuaded King Sigismund to bribe the Khan to attack Riazan with 60,000 Tatars. Kurbsky commanded a unit in the 70,000 man Polish army of Nikolai Rudy that was attacking Polotsk. From September 16th to October 4th Prince Petr Shcheniatev successfully defended Polotsk. Devlet Gerei obtained information on the disposition of the Russian forces united at Kaluga, far from the point of attack. The Tatars stayed in front of Riazan and burned the area. Riazan and the whole area were defenseless. The deti boyarski were not there, but a small garrison of the local people who had managed to get into the town in time held out under the command of Alexander I. Basmanov. The rest of the population crossed the Oka as did the Tatars on 17 October. The voevoda, I. P. Yakovlev, went to the "shore" with his small force from Moscow and when he reached the Oka, he found that the Tatars had already turned for home.
On 3 December Ivan "abandoned the state," and moved to the Troitsa Monastery and then to Alexandrovsk where he arrived on Christmas. He was in great disfavor with the boyars, religious leaders, and military people. The boyars and voevodi accused him of "not defending us from Crimea and from Litov and from the Germans." Ivan called special military service men to himself and ordered the creation of the Oprichnina.⁽²⁴⁾

1565

On 3 January 1565 Ivan sent documents to Moscow proclaiming his abdication. After negotiations, on 3 February he returned and made a ceremonial entry into Moscow. At an assembly he announced the oprichnina. The first step was the requisition of land and the selection of men. He took land in the central area first and land in the north.
In the spring, during Lent, Prince Kurbsky led a Lithuanian raid on Veliki Luki and looted the area. The Lithuanians had their local Tatars in their army, also. Sigismund sent a peace mission but Ivan rejected the terms. The Sultan was still planning his campaign on Astrakhan. He pressured the Crimean Khan into joining this campaign to recover Kazan, but the Khan opposed the plan as he did not want greater Turkish control over Crimea. He negotiated with Ivan, but when Sigismund sent him presents, if he would attack Moscow, the Khan agreed.
The Russian forces concentrated in the south. In the spring, Princes I. D. Bel'ski and I. F. Mstislavski and the boyars moved south. The main polk and the left polk were in Kolomna, the right polk was in Kashir, the Storozhevoi (guard) polk in Serepukov, and the lead polk was in Kaluga. On 19 May they received word of the Tatar movement toward the Muravski Trail. This caused all "shore service" units to be called into active service and hastily posted by the voevodi to locations on the frontier. The alarm was groundless.

On 15 September new dispositions for organizing at Tula under Prince Vladimir Andreevich began, but were not completed before a new order shifted the units back to the "shore." On 21 September news arrived of a Tatar concentration at Kamen ford and on the upper Tora River and of movement for two days across the Sabinski ferry on the Donets River on the Izumski Road. Beginning in October, Devlet Gerei himself arrived in Volkhov. The voevodi concentrated their forces from the border towns against him. He would not risk a battle and retired. After his retreat, the Khan sent word that he would agree to peace if Ivan would give up Kazan and Astrakhan. Instead, Ivan secured Kazan by building seven fortresses near there and by transferring Tatars from there to the Volga region. He also strengthened Astrakhan and planned a fort on the Terek to protect the lands of his father-in-law's Circassians.⁽²⁵⁾

1566

He reached an agreement with the Poles, making relations better. Ivan therefore sent back the Nogai Tatars, who were coming to the aid of Muscovy. He built several towns to defend Polotsk, and took defensive measures along the entire frontier. Orel was built on the Orel River. The Tsar conducted small military actions from 29 April to 28 May at Kozel'sk, Belev, Blokhov, Aleksin, and other border towns on the Crimean side. The polki were at Kaluga, but there was no Tatar attack. By order of the Sultan, Mahmet Gerei took many Tatars into Hungary. Toward the end of 1566
Devlet Gerei went to attack Sigismund. Sulemian the Magnificent died, thus setting back the projected campaign on Kazan, but his son, Selim, soon pushed for the campaign.⁽²⁶⁾

1567

The Crimea was in a state of indecision. In January 1567 a Tatar messenger arrived in Moscow with the suggestion that peace and friendship should be established and with the news of the campaign of Devlet and his allies against Poland. Simultaneously, Devlet began negotiations with the Polish king on peace and unity against Moscow. Turkey entered the war (with an agreement with Poland signed in 1568). In April there were 5 polki on the shore in Kolomna, Serpukhov, and Kashir. In May the Murzi, Osman and Selim Shirinski, with 6,000 Tatars raided toward Moscow but Devlet Gerei withdrew 3,000 of the troops. With the remainder, Murza Osman continued the raid and by the end of 1567, there were signs of a raid on the Severski lands by Izmail Murza.⁽²⁷⁾

1568

There are indications that there was a Tatar raid by Devlet Gerei's sons toward Moscow and that the polks were at Kaluga.⁽²⁸⁾

1569

In the spring Sultan Selim mounted the campaign against Astrakhan. He had 17,000 Turks when he reached Kafa in Crimea and he then proceeded to Azov and began to dig a canal at Perevalok on the Don. The Turks were joined by 50,000 Crimean Tatars. It was too hot to dig, so the force proceeded toward Astrakhan, but retreated when a large Russian force approached. Ivan sent gifts to the Khan and tried to get a peace treaty with the Sultan. There were five polki on "shore duty," three across the rivers and three in Riazan during the summer.⁽²⁹⁾

1570

In late 1569 Ivan decided there was treason in Novgorod, so beginning on 4 January 1570 he conducted a 5 week torture of the town in January in which 60,000 people were killed. From there the Oprichnina troops moved on to Pskov where a more restrained purge of the city was accomplished. Along the way the Oprichnina troops managed to sack and loot the various villages they passed by. All this dislocated the government and society making the country ripe for the Tatar invasion of 1571.

Armistice with Poland

Ivan agreed to an armistice with Poland to be ready for the Tatars. He made his vassal Magnus, Prince of Denmark, King of Livonia. Sweden was also at war with Poland and Denmark and sought alliance with Russia. Then the Swedes deposed Eric made John the king. He was anti-Muscovite so Ivan agreed to have Magnus capture Reval from Sweden. The Polish king, even while conducting truce negotiations with Ivan, tirelessly urged the Tatars to attack Moscow. The Russian polki were on "shore duty" as usual and the voevodi were ordered not to leave the defense of the river line, even if the Ukrainian towns were attacked. On 13 May a Tatar force of 50-60 men under Mahmet and Algi Gerei appeared between the Mzh and Kolomna Rivers on the Muravski Trail and approached Riazan and Kashir. On 22 May Ivan decided to go on campaign in person but on 21 May the Tatars retreated so there was no campaign. Beginning in September there was news of a new Tatar move on the upper Berek and Tora Rivers between Pslo and Vorskla. The voevoda sent the news to Moscow from which the Tsar moved to Serpukhov. The Tatars reached only to Novosil with 6-7,000 men.⁽³⁰⁾

1571

On 21 February 1571 an agreement on a new border service was accepted after long discussions with M. I. Vorotinski, its originator, as the head of the service. It did not come into immediate practice, as the events soon after show.
King Sigismund Augustus urged the Tatars to decisive action. He said that so far no one had taken anything from the Moscow Prince's lands. The Russians had 50,000 troops deployed on the Oka River line in three polki under the commanders D. Bel'sky, Ivan Mstislavsky, and Mikhail Vorotynsky at Kolomna, Kashir, and Serpukhov. Ivan was at Serpukhov with his Oprichniki army. Devlet Gerei finally penetrated the Oka line with 120,000 Tatars.⁽³¹⁾ Traitors showed the Tatars the fords, which they crossed and made straight for Moscow. Ivan retreated to Rostov while his generals rushed for Moscow where they arrived on 23 May, just one day before the Tatars. The Tatars set fire to the city, burning many inhabitants and preventing the defenders from fighting back effectively. The Tatars took 150,000 prisoners but couldn't loot the burning city. The Nogai also participated in this attack and simultaneously Nogai Tatars attacked Kazan. The Nogai told the Muscovite envoys that the raid was by people separate from the Great Nogai Horde, but clearly the Horde did participate.⁽³²⁾

1572

On 7 July King Sigismund Augustus died. The Polish kingship had been hereditary in practice in the Jagellion family, but was now free for election. The Poles elected Henry of Valois, but he soon left to be king of France. Then Stefan Batory, Prince of Transylvania, was elected King.
During the summer Ivan was at Novgorod. Mikhail Vorotynsky was commander-in-chief of the defense line on the Oka with his main polk at Serpukhov. The right polk was at Tarus, the lead at Kaluga, the Storozhevoi at Kashir and the left at Lopasna. In August Devlet Gerei repeated his advance and approached Serpukhov. He sent 2,000 of his 120,000 men off in a feint, but Vorotynsky was not fooled. The Tatars crossed the Oka but met strong opposition in a series of battles south of Moscow near Molodi and were forced to retreat. The Russians captured Devei Mirsa in the battle. The successful battle was a result of the strengthening of the line and the building of fortifications along the Oka and of the new border service that gave timely warning of Tatar movements.
There was an uprising in Kazan beginning in 1572 that continued and required large forces to suppress. In the fall, the Tsar sent five polki to Kazan and the Cheremish lands. The campaign continued into the winter.
On 2 August Ivan heard of Vorotynsky's victory so he returned to Moscow and disbanded the Oprichnina and prepared to invade Esthonia. Ivan had lost confidence in the Oprichniki; some were implicated in the Novgorod conspiracy. Ivan's favorite, Malyuta Skuratov, had recently died in the assault of Wittenstein and the Oprichnina failure to defend Moscow showed their military weakness. It was the zemshchina boyars who repelled the second Tatar invasion. Again the problem of reallocation of the land and reorganization of the government and seniority of the two groups of serving men disrupted the military service and hurt the army.⁽³³⁾

1573

There were five polki on the Oka and five polki at Kazan suppressing the rebellion there. In September the Crimean tsarevich approached Riazan. At first the voevodi of the border cities encountered him. Then the voevoda of the main polk at Serpukhov, Prince C. D. Pronski, marched against him. The Kazan inhabitants, learning of the large force sent against them, asked for negotiations. The Russian answer to the participation of the Great Horde Nogai in the raids of 1571 and 1572 was a swift campaign of repression by military forces from Tsaritsin.⁽³⁴⁾

1574

The Nogai chief, Tinekmhat, asked Devlet Gerei for help, as the Nogai had helped the Crimeans in 1571 and 1572, but Devlet did not send any help. In the fall the Crimeans and Nogai raided on the Riazan border. The voevoda, Prince B. Serebryani, defended the area. The Kazan Tatars also raided near Nizhni Novgorod. The Cossacks were also busy, capturing the suburbs of Azov and freeing many Russians.⁽³⁵⁾

1575

Mikhail Vorotynsky, the victor at Molodoi and commander of the frontier service, was arrested for the second time and sent to a monastery, but he died on the way. Ivan placed Prince Simeon Bekbulatovich on the throne as Tsar while Ivan lived outside the city. There were no Tatar raids in 1575.⁽³⁶⁾

1576

Tsar Ivan and his son were at Kaluga. Devlet Gerei began a campaign into Russia but the voevodi on duty stopped him in August and captured Islam Kermin in the engagement. Ivan and the chief voevodi then returned to Moscow leaving the second rank voevodi in charge along the "shore" with deti boyarski, streltsi, Don Cossacks, and Cherkassi forces in the usual polk distribution. In September the Tatars approached Novgorod Seversk and the Orel region so the disposition of the polki was reviewed. A council of military people was called in Novgorod for Christmas. Tsar Ivan decided to attack Poland-Lithuania and Sweden early in the next year.⁽³⁷⁾

Renewed war with Poland-Lithuania

1577

On 23 January 1577 the Russian army began the siege of Revel. The Swedish garrison held the town successfully. In the spring, Ivan assembled one of his strongest armies in Novgorod and Pskov for the attack on Poland. The Poles and their German mercenaries retreated and the Russians captured six towns. On 8 July the Tsar went to Livonia in person and the campaign continued successfully with the seizure of many towns. It was the last success and the cities were soon lost.
Ivan ordered King Magnus to capture Wenden, but while the king was beginning the operation, Ivan decided that he was a traitor and had him arrested. Ivan then undertook the siege himself. The German troops of Magnus locked themselves in the fortress which Ivan then bombarded with artillery for two days. As the walls began to collapse, the Germans blew themselves and their families up and destroyed the fort. The explosion ruined the town and killed most of the inhabitants. Ivan continued his conquest; only Riga and Revel remained. He returned to Alexandrovsk, satisfied with his victory.
The southern guard polki were in Serpukhov, Tarus, Kaluga, Kolomna, and Kashir for this year. On 29 June Devlet Gerei died and a civil war began between his sons, Mahmet Gerei soon won and continued the attacks on Russia. The Tatars launched raids on both Poland and Russia and the Great Nogais also attacked Muscovy. The Swedes attacked Narva and set fire to the wooden fort while other Swedish forces ravaged the Kexholm area. The Lithuanians captured Duneburg. King Batory's German mercenaries captured Wenden. When Ivan sent his best generals to retake the town, King Batory came in person and drove them away.⁽³⁸⁾

1578

King Stephen Batory hoped to open his main campaign in 1578, but was unable to mass his army in time. Many Poles opposed the war. He did organize a Cossack regiment of 500 men under the Starosta of Cherkassy, Prince Mikhail Vishnevetsky. This was the beginning of the "registered" Cossacks.⁽³⁹⁾ During the war of 1579-81, Mikhail Vishnevetsky and other leaders conducted many Cossack raids on the towns of Severia and looted the area of Starodub, but they would not cooperate with the regular Polish army in the siege of Pskov. The Zaporozhie Cossacks did not participate at all, as they were more interested in fighting the Turks and Tatars.⁽⁴⁰⁾
The Tatar Mursa, Esineu Diveev, repeated the usual raids with 6,000 Tatars from Kaziev, 2,000 from Azov, 2,000 from the Great Horde, and 2,000 other Nogais.⁽⁴¹⁾

Poland declares war

1579

Stephen Batory sent his declaration of war to Moscow in June and attacked Polotsk with 60,000 well equipped Polish and German troops. Ivan was ready with his troops mobilized early. He had detachments on the Volga, Don, Oka, and Dnieper Rivers to guard the border. The main army was at Novgorod, Pskov, and Smolensk, expecting an attack in Livonia. Polotsk was well fortified with two forts and the River Dvina making a natural moat, so the Russians did not expect an attack there. The siege began on 11 August with a heavy bombardment that soon made the Russians surrender. In August Ivan sent 20,000 Asiatic troops into Courland to ravage the area and sent detachments to defend Karelia and Izborsk from the Swedes. He sent a small force to help Polotsk but the commander did not dare attack Batory. Ivan might have overwhelmed the Poles, if he had sent his main army to Polotsk. He was probably too cautious to risk all on one battle while not trusting his generals. The western armies now had trained mercenaries, who quickly showed the military inferiority of Moscow, especially in infantry. Batory returned to Vilna and prepared for the 1580 campaign, while Ivan prepared to defend all the southern and southeastern frontiers against the Tatars and the northwest against the Swedes, who attacked Narva and Kexholm. Fortunately, there was no Tatar attack in 1579.⁽⁴²⁾

1580

King Stephen Batory again surprised the Russians by appearing at an unexpected place. This time he sent 2,000 men toward Smolensk and with 50,000 men himself, besieged Veliki Luki. The Poles bombarded the city and burned the walls, then the Hungarian troops led the assault that culminated in the sack of the town. This ended the campaign except minor operations that lasted through the winter. The Swedes invaded and captured Kexhom in Karelia, Padis in Esthonia, and Wesenberg in Livonia. The Russians had to be content with ravaging the Lithuanian towns again. The Poles did not support Batory's idea of conquering Moscow, so he could not count on their strong support.⁽⁴³⁾
The Great Horde Nogai Tatars again went to war with Muscovy. They began in the winter of 1579 to call for Tatar warriors from the south. They sent to the Cheremis to tell them of the impending campaign against the Meshchersk and Riazan areas.⁽⁴⁴⁾

1581

The Nogai Horde made a large scale attack on the right bank of the Volga and began a raid into Russia in the spring. Only the Mursa, Tinbau, reached Rus lands, with 8,000 men, but the total party was over 25,000 Nogais plus the Cheremish, Azov Tatars, and Lesser Nogai. At the head of this army were the Crimean tsarevich and the Azov leader, Dosmahmet. The raid covered a large territory including Belev, Kolomna, and Alator. Simultaneously, an uprising in Kazan caused the Moscow government to send four polki to Kazan. The same year Prince Uris of the Nogais, in retaliation for a Cossack raid on Saraichik, sold the Muscovite ambassador, P. Devochkin and his party as slaves to Bukhara and other eastern countries. This brought Muscovite retribution in the form of sizeable raids on his villages.
Stephen Batory set Pskov as the objective of his third campaign. It was the most strongly fortified city in Muscovy even including the capital. Batory overestimated his strength and the quality of his troops. The Pskov garrison of 50,000 infantry and 7,000 cavalry was under the command of V. F. Skopin-Shuisky and Ivan P. Shuisky and had plenty of supplies. On 26 August Batory's army of 100,000 laid siege. The Polish cannon breached the walls but their assault failed with heavy losses. The Poles expended all their powder and had to await for new supplies. They tried to continue the siege through the winter, but the Polish troops nearly mutinied. The Polish general, Jan Zamolski, conducted the siege at Pskov while the Lithuanian Hetman, Christopher Radziwill, attacked from Veliki Luki. The Swedes made serious attacks on Narva and captured it as well as Ivangorod, Yam, and Kororie.
In September Ermak Timofeev with 800 men began the conquest of Siberia with battles at Babason and on the Irtysh River. It was a contest of his firearms versus the Tatar bows. The Tatars had many more men, but Ermak defeated them on the Irtysh and again at their capitol, Tobol. On 23 October he again defeated them.⁽⁴⁵⁾

1581

The ambassador of the Emperor Rudolf II, Erich Lassota, visited the Sech, located on Tomakovka Island lower down the Dnieper than Khortitsa Island. He found the Cossack army had 3,000 men in reserve in the Ukraine. The Sech was a military camp known as the Kosh, (from a Turkish word) and divided into Kuren (from a Mongol word for a circle of tents). The commander was the Kosh Ataman. The army was divided into 500 man polki of 5 sotni each. It had its own banners, band of music, treasury, artillery, and river flotilla.⁽⁴⁶⁾

Armistice between Poland and Moscow

1582

On 6 January Moscow and Poland agreed to ten year armistice. The siege of Pskov was not succeeding, so Stephen Batory decided to take his gains. Moscow lost the whole of Livonia plus Polotsk and Velizh. After the Livorian war's conclusion, Ivan could return to suppress the uprising in Kazan. In 1582 he made large scale campaign to the east. He sent two polki to the Kama River region against Nogai. In April the polki went down the Volga by boat to Kazin Island and in October, several other polki went against the Luga Cheremis. Besides their participation in the Kazan uprising, the Great Nogai attacked the Moscow border.⁽⁴⁷⁾
The peace in the Livonian war enabled the Moscow government to make major changes on the southern defense line. First, in 1582 a second line of polks deployed parallel with the traditional line along the "shore" that is, the Oka. The new line was across the river and was under the control of the Ukraine Razryad. Only after 1582 were there enough troops available to man both these lines. The new stations were Tula, Dedilov, and a third town that varied. This greatly strengthened the defense line. The two lines remained until 1598, then in 1599 the "shore" line was abandoned and the polki located only in the Ukraine towns. This moved the line considerably forward. The Main polk was then at Mtsensk, the lead at Novosil and the stroshovoi at Orel.⁽⁴⁸⁾

1583

During the 1580's the Moscow government undertook to strengthen the southeastern border by building many fortified towns and strengthening the defense of Kazan. The war in the Kazan area continued throughout 1583. A Muscovite campaign army stayed on the Volga, building forts such as Kazmodem Yanski Ostrog.⁽⁴⁹⁾

Tsar Ivan IV died in 1584 leaving the throne to his young son, Feodor.

Notes:

1. Grey, Ivan the Terrible, p. 40.

2. ibid. p. 38, 47.

3. ibid. p. 49.

4. ibid.

5. ibid. p. 54.

6. ibid. p. 92; Keenan, Edward; Muscovy and Kazan; Some "Introductory Remarks on the Patterns of Steppe Diplomacy," Slavic Review Vol. XXVI No. 4 December 1967, p. 553-557.

7. Grey, Ivan the Terrible, p. 95; A. V. Chernov, Vooruzhenie Sili Russkogo Gosudarstva v XV-XVII Veke, Moscow, 1954 gives a detailed study of Ivan's military reforms. These reforms are studied separately in this paper. Ivan's need to sieze church lands to reward his followers is similar to the same need experienced by Henry VIII in England about the same time.

8. Grey, Ivan the Terrible p. 94-96; A. M. Sakharov, Obrazovanie i Razvitie Rossiiskogo Gosdudarstva v XIV-XVII Veke, Moscow, 1969, p. 99. The author explains that the fort at Svayazhsk was prefabricated and test assembled in Moscow then disassembled and shipped to the site and erected there to the amazement of the Tatars. The engineer in charge was Ivan Verodkov. See also Pankov, op.cit. p. 29-31.

9. According to contemporary chronicles and Soviet writers who accept them. However, we may be excused for cutting this number in half or less.

10. This account of the siege of Kazan is given by Ian Grey in Ivan the Terrible, p. 98, 99.

11. Grey, op.cit. p. 120, 151.

12. ibid. p. 121.

13. ibid. p. 122-3; Vernadsky op. cit. Vol. IV p. 227.

14. ibid.

15. Sakharov, op.cit. p. 103. For an account of the whole war see Razin, op.cit. p. 370-384.

16. Grey, Ivan the Terrible, p. 124, 131; Vernadsky op. cit. Vol. IV p. 228. A. A. Novoselski, Borba Moskovskogo Gosudarstvo s Tatarami v XVII veke, Moscow, 1948, p. 427. This book by Novoselski is by far the best book on the subject, unfortunately it only has information on the Russian - Tatar wars of the period 1558-1650.

17. If the Russian armies totalled anywhere near this many troops, they certainly were not in one army, but were spread over a very wide area.

18. Grey, Ivan the Terrible, p. 124. Vernadsky, op. cit. Vol. IV p. 229-30. Novoselski, op.cit. p. 427.

19. Novoselski, op.cit. p. 428. Grey, op.cit. p. 134; Sakharov, op.cit. p. 103. Ivan IV's wife died in this year. She was credited with being a restraining influence on him. Her death, which he considered to be by poison, and an attack on himself, led to extreme repressive measures by the Tsar.

20. Novoselski, op. cit. p. 428. Vernadsky, op. cit. Vol. IV p. 233. Grey, op.cit. p. 144.

21. Grey, op.cit. p. 146.

22. Novoselski, op.cit. p. 428.

23. ibid. p. 427; Vernadsky, op. cit. Vol. IV p. 236; Grey, op.cit. p. 145-6.

24. Vernadsky, op. cit. Vol. IV p. 237-240; Grey, op.cit. p. 152-161; Novoselski, op.cit. p. 428. There are many studies of the oprichnina listed in the bibliography. For an account of the military aspects of the oprichnina see R. Wipper, Ivan Grozny,op. cit. translated by J. Fineberg, Foreign Languages Publishing House, 1947, p. 104.

25. Grey, op.cit. p. 163-4, 185-196; Vernadsky, op. cit. Vol. IV p. 240; Novoselski, op.cit. p. 429.

26. Novoselski, op.cit. p. 429.

27. ibid.

28. ibid.

29. ibid. p. 430; Grey, op.cit. p. 197.

30. Grey, op.cit. p. 178-197; Novoselski, op.cit. p. 430.

31. The large number as reported in the Russian chronicles seems exagerated.

32. Grey, op.cit. p. 199-207; Chernov, op.cit. p. 72; Novoselski, op.cit. p. 430.

33. Grey, op.cit. p. 199-207; Novoselski, op.cit. p. 430.

34. Novoselski, op.cit. p. 430.

35. ibid. p. 431.

36. ibid. Grey, op.cit. p. 208. The incident of Ivan's use of Prince Simeon Bekbulatovich as a kind of front man has puzzled many historians. Even Michael Florinsky treats it as a kind of joke. Russia, A History and an Interpretation, New York, Macmillan, 1953, p. 186, 187. R. Wipper, op. cit. p. 250, notes that Bekbulatovich was Khan of Kazan, but does not point out the significance of this. Recently Omeljan Pritsak has noted that Bekbulatovich, who, he points out, was Khan of Kasimov, not Kazan, was a descendent of Chingis Khan, hence invested with great charisma in the eyes of the Tatars. His elevation to the titular rule in Moscow was no joke, but an effort to strengthen Ivan's hold over one of his chief military assets, his Tatar forces, while hopefully reducing the zeal of some of his Tatar opponents. Omeljan Pritsak, "Moscow, the Golden Horde, and the Kazan Khanate from a Polycultural Point of View" Slavic Review Vol. XXVI, No. 4, December 1967.

37. Grey, op.cit. p. 216-218; Novoselski, op.cit. p. 431.

38. ibid.

39. Vernadsky, op. cit. Vol. IV p. 262. He notes that in 1572 the Polish Hetman, Jerzy Jazlowiecki, had created a 300 man Cossack detachment, but it was disbanded three years later.

40. ibid.

41. Vovoselski, op.cit. p. 431.

42. Grey, op.cit. p. 221; Sakharov, op.cit. p. 111; Novoselski, op.cit. p. 431.

43. Grey, op.cit. p. 223.

44. Novoselski, op.cit. p. 432.

45. Grey, op.cit. p. 224-225; Novoselski, op.cit. p. 432. For the siege of Pskov, see Razin op.cit. p. 378-383.

46. Vernadsky, op. cit. Vol. IV p. 257.

47. Novoselski, op.cit. p. 432, 32.

48. ibid. p. 44.

49. ibid. p. 35, 432.

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