Editing Ivan III of Russia (section)

===Foreign policy===
[[File:Золотой Угорский дукат Ивана III.jpg|thumb|right|Gold [[ducat]]s of Ivan III from 1471–1485]]
Moscow played an increasingly visible role in international affairs as it established diplomatic relations with the [[Crimean Khanate]] and the [[Republic of Venice]] in 1474, the [[Kingdom of Hungary]] in 1482, the [[Holy Roman Empire]] in 1489, the [[Kingdom of Denmark]] in 1493, and the [[Ottoman Empire]] in 1496.{{sfn|Millar|2004|p=688}} The outline of Russian foreign policy for the next several generations was shaped during Ivan's reign, where his successors would continue to struggle with Poland and Lithuania over the territories of the East Slavs, while a more differentiated policy was pursued towards the Muslim khanates, with attempts at subjugating the [[Khanate of Kazan]] and neutralizing the [[Crimean Khanate]].{{sfn|Millar|2004|p=688}}

In 1476, Ivan refused to pay the customary tribute to [[Ahmed Khan bin Küchük|Ahmed Khan]], and in 1480, Ahmed Khan launched an invasion of Russia.{{sfn|Millar|2004|p=688}} Throughout the autumn, the Muscovite and Tatar hosts [[Great Stand on the Ugra River|confronted each other]] on opposite sides of the [[Ugra (Oka)|Ugra River]] until 11 November 1480, when Ahmed retreated into the [[steppe]].{{sfn|Bain|1911|p=88: "All through the autumn the Russian and Tatar hosts confronted each other on opposite sides of the Ugra, till the 11th of November, when Ahmed retired into the steppe"}}{{sfn|Filjushkin|2008|loc=[https://books.google.com/books?id=1PvRAwAAQBAJ&pg=PA31 p. 31-32]: "The first mass use of hand-held ''pischals'' in a field battle was in 1480, when the army of the Great Prince Ivan III stood against Akhmat Khan's Great Horde troops near the River Ugra. The Tatars tried to make a forced crossing of the river but were kept off the fords by archery and ''pischal'' fire"}} In traditional Russian historiography, it is marked as the end of the "Tatar yoke" over Russia.{{sfn|Millar|2004|loc=p. 688}}{{sfn|Kort|2008|loc=[https://books.google.com/books?id=i8_RH3hhsAMC&pg=PA26 p. 26]: "...Ivan formally restored Russian independence by renouncing all allegiance to the remnant of the once-mighty Golden Horde"}} In the following year, Ahmed Khan, while preparing a second expedition against Moscow, was suddenly attacked, routed and slain by Khan Ibak of the [[Nogai Horde]], whereupon the Golden Horde suddenly fell to pieces. In 1487, Ivan reduced the Khanate of Kazan, one of the offshoots of the Horde, to the condition of a [[vassal state]], though in his later years, it [[Russo-Kazan Wars|broke away from his suzerainty]]. With the other Muslim powers, the khan of the Crimean Khanate and the sultans of the [[Ottoman Empire]], Ivan's relations were peaceful and even amicable. The Crimean khan, [[Meñli I Giray]], helped him against the [[Grand Duchy of Lithuania]], and facilitated the opening of diplomatic relations between Moscow and [[Constantinople]], where the first embassy appeared in 1495.{{sfn|Bain|1911|p=88}}

[[File:Ivan vs khan.jpg|thumb|250px|left|''Ivan III tearing the khan's letter to pieces'', an [[apocrypha]]l 19th-century painting by [[Aleksey Kivshenko]]]]
[[File:Mátyás király követsége 1488-ban, III. Iván moszkvai udvarában.png|thumb|250px|left|The 1488 Hungarian legation in the court of Ivan III]]

The Christian rulers in the [[Caucasus]] began to see the Russian monarchs as their natural allies against the Muslim regional powers. The first attempt at forging an alliance was made by [[Alexander I of Kakheti|Alexander I]], king of a small [[Georgia (country)|Georgian]] [[kingdom of Kakheti]], who dispatched two embassies, in 1483 and 1491, to Moscow. However, as the Russians were still too far from the Caucasus, neither of these missions had any effect on the course of events in the region. In 1488, Ivan sought gun founders, master gunners for siege cannons, gold and silversmiths, and Italian master builders from King [[Matthias Corvinus]].{{sfn|Monter|2006|loc=[https://books.google.com/books?id=vdqeC14parkC&pg=PA81 p. 81]}}{{sfn|Nemeth|1996}}{{sfn|Szendrei|1905|loc=p. 137–146}}

In his dealings with the [[Habsburgs]], Ivan was offered the title of king (''rex'') if he would join the alliance against Turkey, but he rejected such offers and continued his own policy, laying claim to the Kievan legacy and adopting the title of autocrat (''samoderzhets''), sovereign (''gosudar'') of the Russian land, and grand prince of Moscow and all Russia.{{sfn|Riasanovsky|2005|p=65}}{{sfn|Kort|2008|loc=p. 26-30}} Beginning in 1484, Ivan began to use the title of tsar in his foreign correspondence with secondary powers in Europe including the [[Livonian Order]].{{sfn|Riasanovsky|2005|p=65}} At times the title was translated as ''imperator'', such as in a 1493 treaty with Denmark where Ivan was called "domino Johanne totius Rutzie imperator".{{sfn|Oresko|Gibbs|Scott|1997|p=356}} Ivan also began insisting on the title to the Habsburgs in 1489,{{sfn|Crummey|2013|p=96}} and he continued to portray himself to his subjects and foreign states as the Orthodox emperor.{{sfn|Crummey|2013|p=134}} Whenever was possible in diplomatic situations, Ivan and his representatives would refer to him as tsar.{{sfn|Crummey|2013|p=134}} According to [[Isabel de Madariaga]], had the title of Russian monarchs continued to be translated as ''rex'', Russia's assimilation into the ranking order of states in Europe would have been much easier.{{sfn|Madariaga|2014|p=21}}

In Nordic affairs, Ivan concluded an offensive alliance with [[John, King of Denmark|John of Denmark]] and maintained regular correspondence with Emperor [[Maximilian I, Holy Roman Emperor|Maximilian I]], who called him a "brother". He built a strong citadel in [[Ingria]], named [[Ivangorod Fortress|Ivangorod]] after himself, situated on the Russian-Estonian border, opposite the fortress of [[Narva]] held by the [[Terra Mariana#Livonian Confederation|Livonian Confederation]]. In the [[Russo-Swedish War (1495–1497)|Russo-Swedish War]], Ivan unsuccessfully attempted to conquer [[Vyborg]] from [[Kingdom of Sweden|Sweden]], but this attempt was checked by the Swedish garrison in [[Vyborg Castle]] led by Lord [[Knut Posse]].

Ivan deemed Moscow to be the legitimate heir to the territories that formerly belonged to [[Kievan Rus']], leading to wars with Lithuania,{{sfn|Kort|2008|loc=p. 26: "In the course of its expansion, Lithuania had conquered a huge swath of territory that formerly belonged to Kievan Rus, including Kiev itself. As far as Ivan was concerned, Moscow was the legitimate heir to all these territories, not non-Russian, Catholic Lithuania, and he was determined to enforce that right"}} including skirmishes in the late 1480s and early 1490s.{{sfn|Kort|2008|loc=p. 26: "He began with a drawn-out series of skirmishes in the late 1480s and early 1490s"}} The further extension of his dominion was facilitated by the death of [[Casimir IV Jagiellon|Casimir IV]] in 1492, when Poland and Lithuania once again parted company. The throne of Lithuania was now occupied by Casimir's son [[Alexander Jagiellon|Alexander]], a weak and lethargic prince so incapable of defending his possessions against the persistent attacks of the Muscovites that he attempted to save them by a matrimonial compact, wedding [[Helena of Moscow|Helena]], Ivan's daughter. But the clear determination of Ivan to appropriate as much of Lithuania as possible finally compelled Alexander to take up arms against his father-in-law in 1499. A [[Muscovite–Lithuanian Wars#Second war|full-scale war]] broke out in 1500.{{sfn|Kort|2008|loc=p. 26: "...concluded with a full-scale war from 1500 to 1503"}} The Lithuanians were routed at the [[Battle of Vedrosha]] on 14 July 1500, and in 1503, Alexander was glad to purchase peace by ceding [[Chernihiv|Chernigov]], [[Starodub]], [[Novhorod-Siverskyi|Novgorod-Seversky]], and sixteen other towns.{{sfn|Bain|1911|p=88}}{{refn|Much information on Ivan III and his court is contained in [[Sigismund von Herberstein]], ''[[Notes on Muscovite Affairs]]'' (1549)|group=note}} However, [[Smolensk]] remained in Lithuanian hands, though Ivan's son [[Vasily III of Moscow|Vasily III]] would take the city in 1514.{{sfn|Kort|2008|loc=p. 26-27: "However, the city of Smolensk, Ivan's main target, remained beyond his reach; it was left to his son Vasily III finally to take Smolensk in 1514"}}