The Livonian War (1558-1583) is the most important event for the northern lands of Russia, and the defense of Pskov is the most important for military history. The country was at war for international trade routes and access to the B altic against the Livonian Order. At first, Russia was lucky - a successful attack on the eastern part of the Livonian lands ended in victory. But after the collapse of the order in 1561, the neighbors entered the war, also wishing to occupy pieces of the disintegrated country. Russia had to fight with Lithuania, Poland and Sweden.
Heroic Pskov
In the very first days of the Livonian War, Pskov took an active part in it: the army of Ivan the Terrible passed here in the winter of 1558, and at the same time the Pskovites, led by Prince Shuisky, joined this campaign. The defense of Pskov was still ahead, but already in 1559 the Germans ravaged the vicinity of Krasnoe and Sebezh, constantly receiving a rebuff. Then the Lithuanians invaded almost to the very city, ruining and burning everything in their path, they were also repulsed quite quickly, but in 1569 they returned and took the city of Izborsk.
The Poles, led by King Stefan Batory, captured Polotsk in 1579, and a year later they invaded the Pskov and Novgorod lands. Russian troops are currently experiencing not the besthis times, and Batory knew this well, and therefore, through his ambassadors, demanded Livonia and the original Russian lands for Poland, together with Pskov, Novgorod and Smolensk. Naturally, Ivan the Terrible did not agree to such a deal, and in the summer of 1580 the Polish army approached Velikiye Luki. The inhabitants of this glorious city could not resist a strong army, and therefore they themselves burned the settlements and took refuge all in the fortress. They refused to give up. The forces were unequal, the city was taken, everyone was killed.
Batory's trip to Pskov
In 1581, the royal army of Poland went to Pskov. If Batory had succeeded in capturing this city, Ivan the Terrible might have been forced to agree to such an unjust peace and give up all the northwestern Russian lands. But the defense of Pskov took place. We know about these heroic events from numerous testimonies from both belligerents. The description of such an event as the defense of Pskov could not be ignored by the secretary of the king, Stanislav Piotrovsky, who kept a diary, describing in detail every day of the siege. For thirty weeks the defenders of the city resisted the entire Polish army, which either fiercely stormed this stronghold, or tried to dig holes under the walls, or started betrayals. Everything was in vain. The defense of Pskov under Ivan 4 was unshakable.
Even when Batory decided to take the Pechora fortress, the attempt failed. The defenders of the fortress fought to the death. Then he made concessions, as the war stalled and the army was tired. January 1582 was the time of the signing of a truce for five years, inin which Batory abandoned his original intentions and returned the captured Russian cities. The defense of Pskov under Ivan 4 was able to save their native land from the invaders, moreover, the former Russian borders were also preserved. At the beginning of the seventeenth century, the second defense of Pskov took place. This time the enemy was different, but the savior and defender of the Russian land is still the same city that raised heroes. The first siege taught the townspeople a lot. Now they knew how not only to defend, but also to attack. The long and difficult period of foreign intervention ended with the victory of the steadfast and courageous Russian people. In 1611, the cities of Staraya Russa, Ladoga, Novgorod, Gdov, Porkhov were captured by the Swedes, and the Swedish king Gustav-Adolf decided that the heroic defense of Pskov was a thing of the past. However, he miscalculated.
Swedes
The Swedes tried to take Pskov at the beginning of 1615, were repulsed, and in the summer they gathered a huge army under the leadership of General Gorn and again surrounded the city. The king himself came to see how Pskov would fall. But the late Ivan the Terrible himself would have been proud of the defenders of the city. The defense of Pskov, whose opponent this time was much stronger than the Poles and the Livonian knights, still held on tight, the actions were thought out, the sorties were usually effective. Swedish troops captured the Snetogorsk monastery and settled there. Literally on the same day, the inhabitants of Pskov made a sortie and inflicted significant damage on him, even General Gorn did not survive. The king was afraid of such a failure and decided that his army was not large enough. Withdrew his forces to the banks of the riverGreat and requested reinforcements.
A few months later, detachments of mercenaries arrived, and Gustav-Adolf returned to the Snetogorsk monastery. The city was completely surrounded, all roads were blocked - a complete blockade. They decided to beat the enemy from the north - from the Ilyinsky Gate to the Varlaamov Tower. They built fortifications, placed artillery and gradually destroyed the wall. Pskov resisted. Breaks in the walls were instantly repaired, and sorties were made almost daily, as a rule, with great damage to the enemy.
Gustavus Adolf was tired of such resistance and continued peace negotiations with Russia. He wanted favorable peace conditions, but then the Pskovites blew up all the gunpowder in his camp. I had to retreat from Pskov and return the Russian cities of Russia - Ladoga, Novgorod, Porkhov, Staraya Russa, Gdov and many other lands occupied by the interventionists. The first defense of Pskov - from the troops of Stefan Batory - was much harder, but taught the townspeople a lot.
Causes of the Livonian War
The Livonian Order was founded at the end of the twelfth century and took possession of almost the entire territory of the modern B altic - Courland, Livonia and Estonia. By the sixteenth century, however, its power was almost gone. Firstly, the power of the order was undermined by internal strife generated by the ever-growing movement of the Reformation: the order masters could not find a consensus in relations with the Archbishop of Riga, the cities did not recognize any of them, the enmity became more and more aggravated. All of its neighbors, even Russia, took advantage of the weakening of Livonia. The thing isthat before the appearance of the order on these lands, the Russian princes completely controlled the B altic territories, so now the Moscow sovereign considered his rights to Livonia legal.
The commercial importance of the coastal lands can hardly be overestimated, and the Livonian Order limited relations between Russia and Western Europe, not letting merchants and entrepreneurs through their regions. The strengthening of Russia, as now, was not wanted by any country. Also, the Livonian Order did not allow European masters and goods from Europe to enter Russia. For this, the Russians treated the Livonians accordingly. Observing the weakening of the intractable neighbors, the Moscow sovereign began to fear that a more hostile neighbor might well appear in the place of the Livonians. Ivan the Third built his Ivangorod opposite the city of Narva. And Ivan 4 further developed his claims to access to the B altic. The defense of Pskov, whose opponent decided to prove the Russian Tsar wrong, showed how timely these claims were.
Beginning of the Livonian War
The tsar was sure of easy success, but the Livonian War dragged on, unlike the previous one, with the Swedes, when the outcome turned out to be quite quick and successful. This time, Ivan the Terrible reminded the Livonians of the old treaties that obligated them to pay tribute to the Russian state, which had not been paid for a very long time. The Livonians dragged out the negotiations as long as they could, but the tsar quickly lost his patience and, breaking off good-neighborly relations, in 1558 began the twenty-five-year Livonian War, at first successful. Russian troops went through almost the entireLivonia, not counting the strongest castles and strong cities. Alone, Livonia was unable to offer worthy resistance - Moscow was already powerful enough.
The State of the Order fell apart, surrendering in parts to the most powerful neighbors. Estland - Sweden, Livonia - Lithuania, the island of Ezel - the Danish duke Magnus, Courland ceased to be a church possession, having undergone secularization. Master Ketler became duke and recognized himself as a Polish vassal. It is quite natural that the new owners demanded that Ivan the Terrible give up the occupied territories. It is even more clear that the king was not going to refuse anything. It was then that new participants appeared on the field of the Livonian War. Nevertheless, Moscow has been winning so far. The tsarist troops ravaged Lithuania as far as Vilnius. The Lithuanians agreed to give up Polotsk for the sake of peace. But the Zemsky Sobor of Moscow did not agree to peace. The war continued for another ten years. Until one of the most talented commanders appeared on the Polish-Lithuanian throne.
Stefan Batory
Russia was similarly severely weakened by years of war. In addition, the oprichnina ruined the country. In the south, the Crimean Tatars annoyed, demanding the entire Volga region, the Astrakhan and Kazan khanates. In 1571, Khan Devlet-Girey unexpectedly organized a multi-arms invasion, which ended in the burning of all of Moscow, except for the Kremlin. The following year, it was no longer possible to repeat the success - the Russian rati under the leadership of Mikhail Vorotynsky defeated the Tatars near Molodi. It was at this timeStefan Batory also began to act decisively - the state center of the country was very poor both in resources and in people. It was impossible to assemble large rati for the Livonian fronts. The onslaught did not meet with a proper rebuff. In 1578, Russian troops were defeated near Verdun.
The turning point has come in the Livonian War. A year later, Stefan Batory recaptured Polotsk, and then Velikiye Luki and Velizh. Ivan the Terrible tried to put diplomatic pressure on Batory by sending embassies to the Austrian emperor and the Pope. But the Polish king was not interested in the proposals of the Russian tsar, and in 1581 he laid siege to Pskov. It was difficult, but the defense of Pskov withstood. Stefan Batory tried to get around even during the election of the king by the Sejm, but neither Germany nor Moscow could put either the prince or the prince on the throne. The Transylvanian governor who showed all his power was chosen. And after the end of the truce, the war resumed. True, the Russian sovereign began it, and the defense of Pskov during the Livonian War demonstrated to the West how persistent and resourceful Russians can be in the face of invaders.
The situation at the beginning of the war
At the same time there were wars with Sweden, where the Russians could not manage to capture the city of Revel and the exit to the B altic. Livonia, on the other hand, submitted, although the triumph of the Russian sovereign did not last very long. He vainly treated Stefan Batory with condescension, called him not a brother in negotiations, but a neighbor - because of his origin, not royal. Ivan the Terrible always considered Livonia his own fiefdom. And this commoner chosen by the will of the people had a battle-hardened, testedcampaigns of the German and Hungarian infantry, for which he spared no expense, he had a lot of guns - big and good.
And of course, there was a calculation for the victory over the poorly armed discordant ranks of Russian troops. Stefan Batory was a skilled leader. But Ivan the Terrible is not born with a bast. The defense of Pskov showed how much. Polotsk also defended itself for more than three weeks, but did not survive, although all the inhabitants, young and old, took part in the defense - they put out fires, helped the soldiers. The massacre in Polotsk after its capture by Stefan Batory was monstrous, as it was later, when the Polish king took city after city - Usvyat, Velizh, Velikiye Luki.
Batory's demands
Ivan the Terrible was forced to negotiate, where he offered Poland Livonia - except for four cities. However, Stefan Batory demanded not only all of Livonia, but also Sebezh. And besides, a lot of money - four hundred thousand gold to cover their military expenses.
In his letters he dared to offend the Russian tsar, calling him the Moscow pharaoh and the wolf. Attempts to reconcile from this did not become more successful. In 1581, the Polish troops took Ostrov and laid siege to Pskov. And here all the successes and all the pride of the gentry ended, because the defense of Pskov began. The Livonian war has reached a new level.
Pskov Fortress
The city at that time had a fairly stable fortress: the recently renewed walls were strong, numerous cannons were placed on them, a powerful army was formed with experienced governors. The defense of Pskov was led by Ivan Shuisky, a prince famous for his valor. These memorable events are described in a detailed legend - "The Tale of the Pskov Siege". The city's defenders built inner fortifications and strengthened the outer wall, while the Poles dug trenches and placed their cannons around the perimeter.
Dawn on September 7 began with a hurricane of fire from twenty guns. Batory really needed breaches in the wall for an attack. Indeed, the wall was quickly knocked down in many places, and the path to the city was opened. The governors, who were sitting at dinner, had already seen how they were having dinner in Pskov. But the defense of Pskov Batory stopped. All the inhabitants of the city ran to the battle of the siege bell, not only the army. Everyone who could hold a weapon hurried to the breaches, to the most dangerous places. From the walls, the advancing Poles poured heavy fire, but the confidence in victory drove them forward literally over the corpses. They still broke into the city.
Russian miracle
Already two Pskov towers were crowned with Polish royal banners, and the Russians were exhausted under the pressure of enemy hordes. Prince Shuisky, drenched in his own and other people's blood, left the dead horse and, by his example, held the retreating Russian ranks. At this difficult moment, the Pskov clergy appeared in the thick of the battle with the image of the Mother of God and the relics of the saint, Vsevolod-Gabriel, who shone on the Russian land. The fighters visibly cheered up and rushed into battle with renewed vigor. The Svinuz tower, filled with enemies, suddenly flew into the air - the Russian governors blew it up. In the moat, the corpses of the enemies who were in the tower lay in many layers. The enemy troops were amazedwere filled with horror and dumbfounded. Of course, the Russians were not at a loss and struck in unison. Polish troops were crushed and defeated literally on the run.
Pskov residents took part in the battle on an equal footing - they removed the wounded, brought water, moved cannons thrown by the enemy to their walls, collected prisoners. The heroic defense of Pskov victoriously turned the first page of its chronicle. Further, Batory tried to defeat Pskov by all means: by digging, by firing round-the-clock red-hot cannonballs, he set fire to the city, by exhortation letters to Russian governors with promises of benefits in case of surrender and inevitable terrible death with the same persistence. By the way, letters had to be sent with arrows, because the Pskovites did not go to negotiations. They responded in the same way. There it was written in Russian: we will not give up Pskov, we will not change, we will fight. And against the mines, the Pskovites invented their own mines. Those who dared to break the walls, hiding behind shields, got boiling tar.
World
Ivan the Terrible concluded the world after all, and there were many reasons for this. Bathory hoped for an easy victory, but still did not take Pskov. Four and a half thousand Pskov warriors against fifty thousand selected Polish troops withstood the siege and won, literally exhausting the enemy regiments in thirty weeks. Defensive work on sealing up holes in the walls, digging ditches was permanent and was carried out by residents.
The settlements near the city were previously burned by the Pskovites, and the entire population of the settlements took refuge in the city. The enemy army was left without communications, because the inhabitantsthe cities made frequent attacks, the peasants robbed the Polish carts, attacked scouts, foragers, and the selected food was delivered to Pskov. Batory did not immediately realize that he had lost. But in 1581 he nevertheless went to negotiations with the Russian tsar and concluded a truce.
