460 years ago, on January 17, 1559, Russian troops led by the voivode Vasily Serebryany-Obolensky in the battle of Tyrzen destroyed a detachment of the Livonian Order under the command of von Völkersam.
Background
In the fall of 1558, taking advantage of the withdrawal of the main forces of the Russian army to the "winter quarters", the Livonian command organized a counterattack in order to recapture Dorpat-Yuriev. The moment was chosen well: the Russian command, after the previous victories and the pogrom of Livonia, did not expect an enemy attack, the main forces of the Russians retreated to their borders, leaving small garrisons in the occupied cities and castles; The Livonians were able to secretly prepare a fairly strong army, reinforced by mercenaries.
However, the Livonian campaign against Yuryev was thwarted by the heroic defense of the Ringen fortress (Heroic Defense of Ringen), which was defended by a small garrison under the command of the commander Rusin-Ignatiev. For five weeks the Russians fought heroically and repelled enemy attacks. Castle Livonians, bringing up reinforcements and the siege park, took. But the campaign to Dorpat was disrupted. The Germans planned to take Ringe on the move and take Yuriev with a sudden blow, but got bogged down at Ringen. As a result, the Livonian commander G. Kettler (Kettler) and the commander of the troops of the Archdiocese of Riga F. von Voelkerzam were forced to stop the offensive and withdraw the troops to Riga.
Preparation
The actions of the Livonian army aroused the fury of the Russian Tsar Ivan Vasilyevich. The answer came immediately. Moscow has prepared a new large-scale operation. The Tatar cavalry of Tsarevich Tokhtamysh, boyars and governors were instructed to prepare for a new campaign in Livonia. With the end of the autumn thaw in 1558, the troops began to pull together to the places of assembly and the end of November - the beginning of December, the campaign was prepared. The party under the command of Prince S. I. Mikulinsky was deployed near Pskov and other nearby cities.
True, Ivan the Terrible was in no hurry to start the campaign and, at the suggestion of the Danish ambassadors, once again offered Livonia to resolve the crisis peacefully. The Tsar's governor in Yuryev (Dorpat), Prince D. Kurlyatev, was instructed to begin negotiations with the Livonian master. However, the master did not give an answer, and then the Russian tsar to the governors with the army "go to war to Riga."
According to the Livonian chroniclers, a huge army of 130 thousand fierce and savage warriors came out against Riga, the Danes reported 40 thousand. rati. Obviously, the numbers are grossly exaggerated. Russian chronicles and category books do not report the number of children of boyars, archers and Cossacks subordinate to the governors. However, the ranks report the voivods, regiments and centennial heads under the command of each voivode. In total, there were 5 regiments in the Russian army. A large regiment under the command of Prince S. Mikulinsky and boyar P. Morozov, reinforced by the courtyard of Tsarevich Tokhtamysh (2-3 hundred soldiers), Rakor voivods M. Repnin, S. Narmattsky and a light outfit (artillery) under the command of G. Zabolotsky. During this campaign, the Russian command was not going to besiege heavily fortified castles and fortresses, so the artillery was only light - small cannons on sleds. In total, under the command of the governor of the Great Regiment, there were 16 hundredth heads. In the Advanced regiment under the command of the governor, Prince V. Serebryany and N. Yuriev, there were 9 hundredth heads. Also, the Forward Regiment included soldiers from the garrison of the Island with the governor F. Sheremetev, Prince A. Telyatevsky with the court of the former Kazan king Shah-Ali (Shigaley) and B. Bitch "with Kazan mountain and meadow people" (mountain and meadow people - mountain and meadow Mari, Mari).
Also in the Russian army was a regiment of the Right Hand under the command of the governor of Prince Yu. Kashin and I. Menshy Sheremetev, in which there were 8 hundredth heads and the governor of Yuryev, Prince P. Shchepin, R. Alferyev with the service Tatars and A. Mikhalkov with the newly baptized Tatars … The Regiment of the Left Hand was commanded by the governors P. Serebryany and I. Buturlin, they were subordinate to 7 hundred heads and another part of the Yuryev garrison. The fifth regiment was the Guard Regiment under the command of governors M. Morozov and F. Saltykov - 7 heads.
Thus, in five Russian regiments there were 47 heads of hundreds, 5 city governors with their people, Tatar auxiliary cavalry and light artillery (outfit). Each hundred usually had from 90 to 200 boyar children, each boyar son was accompanied by at least one soldier. As a result, the local cavalry had about 9-10 thousand soldiers, plus the convoy servants - 4-5 thousand people. In the Tatar cavalry (including other foreigners - Mordovians, Mari, etc.) there were about 2-4 thousand people. The army also included infantry - archers and Cossacks, mounted on a horse or sleigh for speed of movement. As a result, the Russian army could number 18 - 20 thousand people. For Western Europe at that time it was a huge army.
Therefore, Russian troops entered Livonia with a wide lava - 7 columns. With a cavalry army of 18 - 20 thousand fighters (the infantry was mobile) there were 40 - 50 thousand horses in it and it was difficult to provide them with fodder even in rather densely populated Livonia. Therefore, the army marched not on one or two roads, but on a wide front. This made it possible to solve the problem of self-supply of troops and devastation of a large territory - a punitive aspect of the operation. As a result, the Russian army was solving the strategic problem of a further decline in the military-economic potential of both the Livonian Order and the Archbishopric of Riga. In addition, such tactics allowed the children of the boyar and service Tatars to profit from the capture of the full and "bellies" (property), which was a common practice in the era of medieval wars. Successful campaigns, when the soldiers could capture a lot of prey, helped to raise the morale of the troops and their zeal in the sovereign service. On the contrary, defeats, failures, small production and high losses led to a drop in the motivation of the soldiers, the fighting efficiency of the local cavalry.
It should be noted that winter campaigns were not something special for the Russian army. For Russian and Tatar soldiers, this was a common thing. They actively used skis and sledges. For example, even the father of Ivan the Terrible Vasily III in the winter of 1512-1513 undertook a large-scale military operation to return Smolensk. In the winter of 1534 - 1535. Russian troops undertook a large campaign within the boundaries of the Grand Duchy of Lithuania. Ivan IV himself twice went to Kazan in winter, before taking it in the fall of 1552.
The timing was good. The Livonians, like a year ago, and despite the inevitability of the Russian offensive in response to the autumn offensive of Kettler (the siege of Ringen) and the failure of the negotiations, were not ready to repulse. The few forces of the Livonian master were scattered across individual castles and cities at a considerable distance from each other, and the mercenary detachments were disbanded and could not be quickly assembled.
Winter hike
In early January 1559, the advanced Russian detachments crossed the lines that separated the previously occupied possessions of the Dorpat bishop from the lands of the order and the Riga archbishop. The main forces of the Russian army began to move behind them. The offensive went on a wide front - 7 columns. The main forces marched along the left bank of the Aa (Gauja) river to Venden and further to Riga. The advance regiment invaded the lands of the order to the east, from the direction of Neuhausen, and moved southward to Marienburg and further to Schwanenburg.
The tactics of the Russian-Tatar troops were traditional. The main forces of the commander were kept in a fist in case of a meeting with serious enemy forces. At the same time, when the voivods crossed the border, they "dissolved the war" - small horse detachments (20 - 100 horsemen) moved quickly in various directions, procured food and fodder, took full, various property, burned and plundered villages without any restrictions. They did not take heavy artillery, the Russian command was not going to linger, besiege and storm the numerous castles and fortresses of Livonia. Thus, there was a total devastation of the area, which weakened the military and economic potential of the enemy. As a result, the Russian army quite calmly made a raid on the lands of the order right up to Riga itself.
Kettler, Fölkerzam and the Riga archbishop, who were then in Riga, could not oppose anything to the Russians, since they disbanded the army. They even had to evacuate some castles and cities, unable to defend them. And all attempts to rebuff the enemy, mercilessly ravaging the possessions of the order and the Riga archbishopric, did not lead to success. The largest battle between the Russians and the Livonians took place on January 17, 1559, near Tierzen. The warriors of the Advance Regiment faced a detachment of order knights and bollards of the Riga archbishop under the command of Friedrich von Voelkersam (about 400 soldiers), who had set out from Zessvegen-Cestvin.
Obviously, the Livonians planned to attack and destroy the Russian and Tatar detachments scattered around the area. However, the Germans from the attackers themselves became a victim, having come under attack from the main forces of the Advanced Regiment of the commanders of Serebryany and Yuriev. The Livonian detachment was completely destroyed, many Germans were captured. Völkersam himself died, according to other sources, he was taken prisoner. The prisoners were taken to Pskov, and then to Moscow.
Thus, fulfilling the tsar's order, the Russian army marched through Livonia like a wave of fire, and at the end of January 1559 reached Riga, in the vicinity of which the pogrom continued for three more days. Along the way, they burned a part of the Livonian fleet, enclosed in ice. The inhabitants of Riga were in a panic, the city had weak and old fortifications. They themselves burned the suburb because they could not protect it. Having devastated the outskirts of Riga, the Russian troops turned east, moving on both sides of the Dvina, while separate detachments marched farther south, reaching the Prussian and Lithuanian border. On the way, Russian regiments burned and destroyed 11 German "towns" that were abandoned by the inhabitants. In February, the Russian army returned to the borders of the Russian kingdom with huge booty and full.
Ivan the Terrible decided that they had given the proper lesson to Livonia, the job was done, now you can start negotiations and withdrew the troops. The missions of the campaign were fully accomplished: it was undertaken not to seize territories and cities, but to intimidate the enemy, ruin Livonia, its economic centers, weaken military power, and disrupt the work of the local administration. That is, the planned general devastation and devastation of Livonia. The Livonian command could not oppose this strategy. As a result, Livonia pushed towards Lithuania, Denmark and Sweden. Moscow expected that military "suggestion" would lead to a beneficial peace with Livonia. In April 1559, Ivan IV gave Livonia an armistice for a period of 6 months - from May 1 to November 1, 1559.
Meanwhile, the conflict between the Russian state and Livonia began to expand. Already in March 1559, Danish ambassadors, on behalf of the new king Frederick II, announced their claims to Revel and Northern Livonia. Then the embassy of Sigismund II Augustus demanded that Moscow leave alone the relative of the king of the Riga archbishop, hinting about the possibility of intervention in the conflict. And at the end of August - September 1559, Sigismund signed an agreement under which he took under his protection both the Livonian Order and the Archbishopric of Riga, receiving as payment the southeastern part of Livonia, where Lithuanian troops immediately entered. Sweden also began to intercede for the "poor Livonians".
