Waging hostilities in Livonia and the Grand Duchy of Lithuania, the Russian state was forced to hold the defense on the southern borders, where the Crimean Tatars and Nogais made their raids. This forced the Moscow government in the fall of 1564 to conclude an armistice with Sweden. Moscow recognized the transition to the rule of the Swedes of Revel (Kolyvan), Pernau (Pernov), Weissenstein and a number of other cities and fortresses in the north of the former Livonian Estland. The truce was signed in September 1564 in Yuryev.
This allowed the tsarist troops to launch a major offensive against the Grand Duchy of Lithuania. In October 1564, the Russian army set out from Velikiye Luki and captured the Ozerishche fortress on November 6. After that, the Russian authorities, consolidating their presence in the Polotsk land, began to build new fortresses on the western borders: in 1566-1567. Koz'yan, Sitno, Krasny, Sokol, Susha, Turovlya, Ula and Usvyat were built. The Lithuanian authorities, seeking to strengthen their positions in the difficult war with the Muscovy, decided to unite with Poland. On July 1, 1569, the deputies of the Polish and Lithuanian Seims at a general Sejm convened in Lublin, approved a union, a state union between the Kingdom of Poland and the Grand Duchy of Lithuania, which created a single federal state - the Rzeczpospolita. This event ultimately had a decisive impact on the outcome of the Livonian War.
However, the strategic turning point in the war did not occur immediately. The Grand Duchy of Lithuania suffered heavy losses and needed a peaceful respite. Ivan Vasilievich accepted the proposal of the Polish king for an armistice. In the summer of 1570, a three-year truce was concluded between the Russian state and the Commonwealth. Under its terms, the status quo was maintained during this period. Polotsk, Sitno, Ozerishche, Usvyaty and a few more castles departed to the Russian kingdom.
War in the Baltics
Ivan the Terrible decided to use this time to deliver a decisive blow to the Swedes. In the Kingdom of Sweden at this time, Eric XIV was overthrown, the brother of the monarch who had lost the throne, Johan III, who was married to the sister of the Polish king Sigismund II Augustus Catherine Jagiellonka, became the new king. Johan broke the treaty of alliance with Russia, which was concluded by his predecessor at the beginning of 1567. In Stockholm, the Russian embassy was robbed, which arrived to ratify the union agreement. This was a serious insult to Moscow; war was becoming inevitable.
Preparing to strike at Revel, Ivan the Terrible decided to win over to his side a part of the local German nobility. In addition, Moscow sought an alliance with Denmark, which was at enmity with Sweden. For this, a vassal kingdom was created on the part of Livonia occupied by Russian troops, its ruler was the brother of the younger brother of the Danish king Frederick II - Prince Magnus (in Russian sources he was called "Artsimagnus Krestyanovich"). Magnus became related to the Rurik dynasty, was married to the cousin of Tsar Ivan Vasilyevich Maria Vladimirovna, and Princess Staritskaya, the daughter of Prince Vladimir Andreevich. Magnus arrived in Moscow in June 1570 and was showered with favors, proclaimed "King of Livonian". The Russian tsar released all the captured Germans to freedom in order to strengthen the position of the "king". The prince brought few soldiers, Denmark did not send a fleet to help, but Ivan the Terrible appointed him commander-in-chief of the Russian troops sent against the Swedes.
Siege of Revel. August 21, 1570 25 thous. The Russian-Livonian army, led by Magnus and the governors Ivan Yakovlev and Vasily Umny-Kolychev, approached Revel. Citizens who accepted Swedish citizenship refused the offer to accept Magnus's citizenship. A difficult and long siege of the well-fortified city began. The Russian army by this time already had a lot of experience in taking the Livonian strongholds. Opposite the gates, large wooden towers were erected, on which guns were installed, leading to shelling of the city. This time, however, this tactic was unsuccessful. The townspeople waged an active defense, often making sorties, destroying siege structures. In addition, the size of the Russian-Livonian army was insufficient to take such a large and strong fortress-city by storm. However, the siege was continued, the Russian command hoped to take the fortress in winter, when the Swedish fleet would not be able to supply reinforcements and supplies to Revel. The siege passed into a passive stage, when Russian and Livonian detachments were engaged in devastating the surroundings, turning the population against themselves, without taking active actions against the fortress.
The Swedish fleet was able to deliver the necessary reinforcements, ammunition, provisions and firewood to the city before the onset of cold weather. This eased the position of the besieged. The shelling of Revel with incendiary shells, which began in mid-January 1571, did not bring success either. The continuation of the siege became meaningless, only diverting significant forces of the Russian army from the solution of other tasks. The siege was lifted on March 16, 1571.
In 1571, the Swedes tried to attack the Russian kingdom from the north - in the summer the enemy fleet entered the White Sea for the first time. A joint squadron from the ships of Sweden, Holland and Hamburg appeared at the Solovetsky Islands. However, for some unknown reason, the interventionists did not dare to attack the monastery, which did not yet have fortifications and left without a fight.
New trip to Estland. Ivan the Terrible decided to continue the offensive against the Swedish Estland, taking advantage of the death of the Polish king Sigismund Augustus (July 7, 1572), which interrupted the Jagiellonian dynasty and came to the "rootless" in the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth. The Russian command changed tactics: Revel was temporarily left alone, switching to the capture of other cities and fortresses that did not have such a powerful defense, and the complete ousting of the enemy from the area. The Moscow government hoped that having lost all the cities and fortifications, the Swedes would not be able to hold onto Revel. This plan brought success to the Russian army.
At the end of 1572, Ivan the Terrible led a new campaign in the Baltic. December 80 thous. the Russian army laid siege to the Swedish stronghold in central Estonia - Weissenstein (Paide). At that moment, there were only 50 soldiers in the castle, led by Hans Boye. After a powerful artillery bombardment, on the sixth day of the siege on January 1, 1573, the castle was taken by assault. During this battle, the favorite of the tsar, Grigory (Malyuta) Skuratov-Belsky, was killed.
Continuation of hostilities. After the capture of Weissenstein, Ivan the Terrible returned to Novgorod. Military operations in the Baltics continued in the spring of 1573, but at this time the Russian army was already weakened by the transfer of the best regiments to the southern borders.
The 16 thousand Russian army under the command of Simeon Bekbulatovich, Ivan Mstislavsky and Ivan Shuisky continued the offensive and took Neigof and Karkus, after which they approached the castle of Lode in Western Estonia. By this time, there were 8 thousand soldiers in the Russian army (according to Swedish rumors, 10 thousand). The Russians met 4 thousand (according to Swedish data, there were about 2 thousand people in the detachment), the Swedish detachment of General Klaus Tott. Despite the significant numerical superiority, the Russian army was defeated and suffered heavy losses. The commander of the Right Hand regiment, boyar Ivan Shuisky, was also killed in action.
However, this defeat did not affect the strategic situation. Russian troops continued to win victories: in 1575-1576. they, with the support of the supporters of Magnus, occupied the whole of Western Estonia. On April 9, 1575, the Pernov fortress was captured. The capitulation of Pernov and the merciful treatment of the victors with those who submitted, predetermined the further campaign. Relatively small 6 thous. the fortresses of Lode (Kolover), Hapsal and Padis surrendered to the Russian detachment. "King" Magnus captured Lemsel Castle. As a result, in 1576, the campaign plan was implemented - Russian troops captured all the cities and fortresses of Estonia, except for Revel.
Attempts by the Swedes to organize a counteroffensive failed. So, in 1574, the Swedish command organized a sea voyage. The Swedish landing was supposed to make a surprise attack on Narva, but the storm washed most of the ships ashore, where they became easy prey for the Russian warriors.
Fight for Poland
Despite the successes on the Baltic front and the failures of the Swedes, the situation remained precarious. The Russian state could win victories as long as the opponents did not organize a simultaneous offensive. The decisive turning point in favor of the opponents of Russia was also associated with the name of the talented military leader Stefan Batory. He was of the influential Transylvanian Bathory family. In 1571-1576. - Transylvanian prince. In the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth, after the flight of Henry of Valois in 1574 (he preferred France to Poland), a period of kinglessness began again. The Orthodox West Russian gentry nominated Tsar Ivan Vasilyevich for the Polish throne, which made it possible to unite the forces of Lithuania, Poland and Russia in the struggle against the Crimean Khanate and the powerful Ottoman Empire. In addition, the Holy Roman Emperor Maximilian II and the Austrian Archduke Ernst, who also adhered to the anti-Turkish line, were nominated as candidates for the throne. Moscow supported their candidacies.
Stefan Batory was nominated by the Turkish Sultan Selim II and demanded from the gentry not to elect other candidates. This demand was reinforced by military pressure from the Crimean Khanate: the Tatar campaign in September-October 1575 to the eastern regions of the Commonwealth (Podolia, Volyn and Chervonnaya Rus) pushed the middle local gentry to the candidacy of Stefan Batory. Batory was elected king of Poland with the condition of marrying fifty-year-old Anna Jagiellonka, sister of the deceased king Sigismund. In 1576, members of the Diet of the Grand Duchy of Lithuania proclaimed the Transylvanian prince and the Polish king Batory as Grand Duke of Lithuania (in 1578, he acquired the rights to the throne of the Livonian kingdom for the Bathory clan).
Becoming the ruler of the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth, Batory began active preparations for a war with the Russian kingdom. However, he was able to start active hostilities only after he suppressed the uprising in Gdansk, which was provoked by the agents of the Habsburgs, who had lost the fight for the Polish throne. In addition, he carried out a series of military reforms, which qualitatively strengthened the armed forces of the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth: Batory took the path of abandoning the gentry militia, while recruiting the army, trying to create a standing army by recruiting recruits in the royal estates, he made extensive use of mercenaries, mainly Hungarians and Germans. … Prior to that, he in every possible way dragged out negotiations with Moscow.
New campaign of Russian troops to Revel
Ivan the Terrible, who wanted to resolve the issue with Revel before the start of the war with the Commonwealth, was in no hurry to start a war with the Poles. On October 23, 1576, a 50,000 army under the command of F. Mstislavsky and I. Sheremetev set out on a new campaign. On January 23, 1577, Russian regiments approached the city and laid siege to it.
The fortress was defended by a garrison under the command of General G. Horn. The Swedes managed to thoroughly prepare for a new siege of the city. Thus, the defenders had several times more guns than the besiegers. For six weeks, Russian batteries shelled the city in an attempt to set it on fire. However, the Swedes took countermeasures: they created a special team of 400 people, which watched the flight and the fall of incendiary shells. The discovered shells were immediately extinguished. The Revel artillery fired back heavily, inflicting heavy losses on the besiegers. So, one of the main commanders of the Russian army, Ivan Sheremetev, died from a cannonball.
Russian troops went on attacks three times, but they were repulsed. The Revel garrison actively carried out sorties, destroyed siege weapons, structures, and interfered with engineering work. An attempt to land a mine under the walls of the fortress also failed. The besieged learned about the underground work and carried out counter-galleries, destroying the Russian underground passages.
The active and skillful defense of the Revel garrison, as well as winter conditions, diseases led to significant losses in the Russian army. The bombardment of the powerful fortress, despite the large number of shells fired - about 4 thousand cores, was ineffective. On March 13, 1577, Mstislavsky was forced to lift the siege and withdraw his troops.
Hike to the Polish cities of Livonia
After the withdrawal of the Russian army, the Swedes, with the help of local volunteers, tried to organize a counterattack to recapture the fortresses in Estland. But soon their detachments hastily retreated to Revel. A large Russian army entered the Baltics again, led by Ivan the Terrible. On July 9, 1577, the army set out from Pskov, but moved not to Revel, which the Swedes feared, but to the cities of Livonia captured by the Poles.
The Russian command decided to take advantage of the difficulties of Stephen Batory, who continued to besiege Gdansk and could not transfer large forces to the war with the Russian kingdom. Having seized land along the Western Dvina River, the Russian army could cut Livonia into two parts. The success of the operation was facilitated by the small number of Polish forces stationed here. The commander of the Polish-Lithuanian Baltic group, Hetman Chodkiewicz, had only about 4 thousand soldiers.
Before the start of the campaign, Ivan Vasilyevich concluded with King Magnus, according to which the lands to the north of the Aa River (Govya) and the Wenden castle to the south of the river (the Pskov agreement) passed under the rule of the Livonian king. The rest of the territory went to the Russian kingdom.
Russian troops defeated the detachment of Colonel M. Dembinsky and began to seize cities and fortresses. 30-thous. The Russian army and separate Livonian detachments of Magnus occupied Marienhausen, Luzin (Puddle), Rezhitsa, Laudon, Dinaburg, Kreuzburg, Sesswegen, Schwaneburg, Berzon, Wenden, Kokenhausen, Volmar, Trikatu and several other castles and fortifications.
However, during this campaign, disagreements arose between Moscow and Magnus. The Livonian "king", taking advantage of Russian victories, captured a number of cities that were outside the territory allocated to him under the Pskov treaty. He issued a proclamation, where he called on the population to recognize his power and occupied Wolmar and Kokenhausen. I tried to capture the Pebalg fortress. Tsar Ivan the Terrible harshly suppressed the willfulness of Magnus. Detachments were immediately sent to Kokenhausen and Volmar, Ivan Vasilievich himself moved to Wenden. The Livonian king was summoned to the king. Magnus did not dare to contradict and appeared. He was arrested for a short time. A few days later, when he agreed to fulfill all the demands of Ivan the Terrible, he was released. In the cities that dared to recognize the power of Magnus and resist the will of the governor of Grozny, demonstrative executions of the Germans were carried out. The inner castle at Wenden put up resistance and was subjected to heavy artillery fire. Before the assault, the Venden garrison blew itself up.
A new campaign in Livonia ended with the complete victory of the Russian army. In fact, the entire coastline was captured, except for Reval and Riga. Triumphantly, Ivan the Terrible sent to Stefan Bathory one of the captured Lithuanian commanders - Alexander Polubensky. Peace proposals from Moscow were passed on to the Polish king.
However, Batory did not want to come to terms with the Russian conquests in the Baltic. He sent detachments of the Lithuanian militia to the war, but the detachments were few in number. In the fall of 1577, Polish and Lithuanian troops were able to recapture Dinaburg, Wenden and several other small castles and fortifications. In addition, the Livonian king Magnus entered into secret negotiations with the Poles. He betrayed Moscow. Magnus ceded the throne to Batory and appealed to the population to surrender to the Poles if they did not want to be subordinated to Moscow.
