The Sovereign of All Russia Ivan 3 was born in an era filled with dramatic events associated with the incessant raids of the Tatars and the fierce struggle of the specific princes, full of deceit and betrayal. He entered the history of Russia as the Collector of the Russian land. This fully expresses his role in the formation of the state, which later occupied a sixth of the world.
Shaded Childhood
On a frosty winter day on January 22, 1440, a bell ringing floated over Moscow - the wife of Grand Duke Vasily II, Maria Yaroslavna, was safely relieved of her burden. The Lord sent the ruler a son-heir, named in holy baptism Ivan in honor of St. John Chrysostom, whose memory was to be celebrated in the coming days.
The joys of a happy and carefree childhood of the young prince came to an end when in 1445 near Suzdal his father's squad was utterly defeated by the Tatar hordes, and the prince himself was captured by Khan Ulu-Mohammed. Residents of Moscow and its interim ruler Dmitry Yuryevich Shemyaka were waiting for the imminent invasion of adversaries on their city, which inevitably gave rise to panic and a sense of despair.
Treacheryenemies of the prince
However, this time the Lord averted the trouble, and after a while Prince Vasily returned, but for this the Muscovites were forced to send a ransom to the Horde, which was an unbearable amount for them. The dissatisfaction of the city's inhabitants was taken advantage of by the supporters of Dmitry Shemyaka, who had become addicted to power, and conspired against their rightful master.
The Novgorod chronicle tells how, on the way to the pilgrimage to the Trinity-Sergius Lavra, Vasily III was treacherously captured and, by order of Shemyaka, blinded. This was the reason for the nickname "Dark" that took root behind him, with which he is known to this day. To justify their actions, the conspirators started a rumor that Vasily deliberately brought the Tatars to Russia and gave them the cities and volosts subject to him.
Union with Prince of Tver
The future Grand Duke Ivan III Vasilyevich, together with his younger brothers and boyars, who remained faithful to his father, escaped from the usurper in Murom, but soon he managed to lure the young prince to Moscow by cunning, and then send him to Uglich, where he languished in his father's imprisonment. It is difficult to establish the reason for his further actions - whether he was afraid of the wrath of the Lord or, more likely, he had his own benefits, but only after a few months Shemyaka released the captive blinded by him and even granted him Vologda in the specific possession.
The calculation that blindness and months spent behind bars would break the prisoner turned out to be a fatal mistake for Shemyaka, which later cost him his life. Once free, Vasily andhis son went to the prince of Tver Boris and, having concluded an alliance with him, soon appeared in Moscow at the head of a large squad. The power of the usurper fell, and he fled to Uglich. For greater security, the engagement of six-year-old Prince Ivan was made with Boris's daughter, Princess Marya, who by that time was only four years old.
First military campaign
In those ancient times, children grew up early, and it is not surprising that already at the age of nine the heir begins to be called the Grand Duke, and in 1452 the future sovereign of all Russia Ivan 3 leads the army sent by his father to capture the Ustyug fortress Kokshengu, where he shows a well-established governor.
Having captured the citadel and sacked the city, Ivan returns to Moscow. Here, in the presence of the higher clergy and in the presence of a large crowd, he, a twelve-year-old groom, was married to his ten-year-old bride. At the same time, loyal people of the prince poisoned Shemyaka hiding there in Uglich, which put an end to his claims to power and stopped the bloody civil strife.
On the verge of self-rule
In subsequent years, Ivan III Vasilievich becomes co-ruler of his father Vasily II and, like him, is called the Grand Duke. To this day, coins of that era with the inscription "defend all Russia" have been preserved. During this period, his reign is a chain of incessant military campaigns, in which, led by an experienced governor Fyodor Basenko, he comprehends the art of military leadership, skills in which will be so necessaryhim afterwards.
In 1460, Vasily the Dark dies, having made a will before his death, according to which the reign of Ivan Vasilyevich III extended to most of the cities of the country. He did not forget the rest of his sons, endowing each with specific estates. After his death, Ivan exactly fulfilled the will of his father, distributing to each of the brothers the lands due to him, and became the new sole ruler of the Moscow principality.
First independent steps
Early being drawn into internal political strife and external civil strife, twenty-year-old Ivan III Vasilyevich, having received full power after the death of his father, was a fully established ruler. Having inherited from Vasily II a huge, but administratively poorly organized principality, from the first days of his reign, he took a tough line to strengthen and expand it.
Assuming full power, Ivan first of all took care of strengthening the general positions of the state. To this end, he confirmed the previously concluded agreements with the Tver and Belozersky principalities, and also strengthened his influence in Ryazan, putting his man on the reign and also giving his own sister to him.
Expanding the borders of the state
In the early seventies, Ivan III began the main business of his life - the annexation of the remaining Russian principalities to Moscow, the first of which was the possession of Yaroslavl Prince Alexander Fedorovich, who died in 1471. His heir considered it a blessing, having received the boyar rank, to become a faithful servant of the Moscow ruler.
The Yaroslavl Principality was followed by Dmitrovskoe, which also came under the jurisdiction of the Grand Duke of Moscow. Soon the Rostov lands also joined him, the princes of which preferred to be included in the number of the service nobility of their powerful neighbor.
The conquest of Novgorod and the birth of a new title
A special place among the “gathering of the Russian land”, as this process became known later, is the capture by Moscow of Novgorod, which was independent until then, which, unlike numerous appanage principalities, was a free trade and aristocratic state. The capture of Novgorod lasted for a rather long period, from 1471 to 1477, and included two military campaigns, the first of which ended only with the payment of a significant indemnity by the Novgorodians, and the second led to the complete loss of independence by this ancient city.
It was the end of the Novgorod campaigns that became the milestone in history when Ivan 3 became the Sovereign of All Russia. It happened partly by accident. Two Novgorodians, who arrived in Moscow on business, composing a petition addressed to the Grand Duke, contrary to the previously accepted address “master”, used the word “sovereign”. Whether it was an accidental slip of the tongue or deliberate flattery, but only everyone, and especially the prince himself, liked such an expression of loyal feelings. By this time, it is customary to attribute the adoption by Ivan 3 of the title of Sovereign of All Russia.
Invasion of the Tatar Khan Akhmat
For the period when the sovereign of all Russia Ivan 3 was at the head of the Moscow principality, the most important event of history falls,put an end to the power of the Horde. It is known as standing on the Ugra. It was preceded by a series of internal conflicts within the Tatar state itself, which resulted in its collapse and significant weakening. Taking advantage of this, Ivan 3, the first sovereign of all Russia, refused to pay the established tribute and even ordered the execution of the ambassadors sent to him.
Such previously unheard-of impudence gave a reason to the Tatar Khan Akhmat, having previously agreed with the Lithuanian ruler Casimir, to start a campaign against Russia. In the summer of 1480, with a large army, he crossed the Oka and encamped on the banks of the Ugra River. The Russian army hastened to meet him, which was personally led by Ivan 3, the Sovereign of All Russia. Briefly describing the subsequent events, it should be noted that they did not develop into large-scale military operations, but were reduced only to a number of enemy attacks repulsed by the Russians.
The end of the Tatar-Mongol yoke and the weakening of Lithuania
Having stood on the Ugra until the onset of winter, not waiting for the help promised by Casimir and fearing the princely squads that were waiting for them on the opposite bank, the Tatars were forced to retreat. Pursued by the Russians, they went deep into the Lithuanian lands, which they ruthlessly plundered in retaliation for the violation of their prince's obligations.
This was not only the last major invasion of the steppe nomads in Russia, which ended the period of the Tatar-Mongol yoke, but also a significant weakening of the Lithuanian principality, which constantly threatened the western borders of the state. From this period, conflict withit becomes especially acute, since Ivan III's accession to the Moscow Principality of significant territories was in conflict with the plans of the Lithuanian rulers.
Policy towards the Crimean and Kazan Khanates
Smart and far-sighted politician Ivan III Vasilievich, whose reign became a period of unceasing struggle for the independence of the Russian state, to suppress the aggression of the Lithuanians entered into an alliance with the Crimean Khanate, which separated as a result of internecine struggle from the once mighty Golden Horde. According to the treaties concluded with Moscow, its rulers more than once devastated territories hostile to Russians with their raids, thereby weakening their potential opponents.
The relations of the Sovereign of All Russia with the Kazan Khanate were much worse. The frequent raids of the Tatars forced the Russians to take a number of retaliatory actions that ended in failure. This problem remained insoluble until the end of the reign of Ivan III and was inherited by his successor.
Construction of Ivangorod
The accession of Novgorod to the Moscow Principality gave rise to a new problem - Livonia became the northwestern neighbor of the Russians. The history of relations with this state knew different stages, among which relatively peaceful periods were replaced by armed conflicts. Among the measures taken by the Sovereign of All Russia Ivan III to secure the borders, the construction of the Ivangorod fortress on the Narva River in 1492 occupies the most important place.
Further expansion of the Moscow Principality
After the conquest of Novgorod, when Ivan 3 began to be called the Sovereign of All Russia, his accession of new lands became much more active. Beginning in 1481, the Moscow Principality was expanded to include territories that previously belonged to the Vologda ruler Andrei the Lesser, and then to Prince Mikhail Andreevich of Verei.
A certain difficulty was the subordination of the Tver principality to Moscow, which ultimately resulted in an armed conflict that ended in Ivan's victory. The Ryazan and Pskov lands also failed to maintain their independence, the ruler of which, after a long but unsuccessful struggle, was Prince Ivan III Vasilievich of Moscow.
The biography of this outstanding ruler of the Russian land is inextricably linked with the transformation of the relatively small specific principality he inherited into a powerful state. It was this state that became the basis of all future Russia, in the annals of which he entered as Ivan the Great. In terms of the scale of his transformations, this ruler ranks among the most honored figures in Russian history.
He completed his life path on October 27, 1505, having only briefly outlived his wife Sophia Paleolog. Anticipating his imminent death, Ivan the Great retired. He devoted the last months to visiting holy places. The ashes of the “collector of the Russian land” have been resting for four centuries in the Archangel Cathedral, located on the territory of the Moscow Kremlin, the walls of which were erected during his reign and remained for centuriesa monument to the era, the creator of which was Ivan 3. The title of the Sovereign of All Russia after him entered into permanent use and belonged to everyone who happened to ascend the Russian throne.
