Editing Ivan the Terrible (section)

== Foreign policy ==
=== Diplomacy and trade ===
[[File:Alexander Litovchenko - Ivan the Terrible Showing Treasures to the English Ambassador Jerome Horsey.jpg|thumb|300px|''Ivan the Terrible Showing His Treasures to [[Jerome Horsey]]'' by [[Alexander Litovchenko]] (1875)]]

In 1547, Hans Schlitte, the agent of Ivan, recruited craftsmen in Germany for work in Russia. However, all of the craftsmen were arrested in [[Lübeck]] at the request of Poland and [[Livonia]]. The German merchant companies ignored the new [[Ivangorod|port built by Ivan]] on the [[Narva River|River Narva]] in 1550 and continued to deliver goods in the [[Baltic Sea|Baltic]] ports owned by Livonia. Russia remained isolated from sea trade.{{cn|date=January 2025}}

Ivan established close ties with the [[Kingdom of England]]. Russian–English relations can be traced to 1551, when the [[Muscovy Company]] was formed by [[Richard Chancellor]], [[Sebastian Cabot (explorer)|Sebastian Cabot]], Sir [[Hugh Willoughby]] and several London merchants. In 1553, Chancellor sailed to the [[White Sea]] and continued overland to Moscow, where he visited Ivan's court. Ivan opened up the White Sea and the port of [[Arkhangelsk]] to the company and granted it privilege of trading throughout his reign without paying the standard customs fees.{{sfn|Martin|2007|pp=403, 407}}

With the use of English merchants, Ivan engaged in a long correspondence with [[Elizabeth I of England]]. While the queen focused on commerce, Ivan was more interested in a military alliance.<ref>{{cite book |last=Dmytryshyn |first=Basil |date=2000 |title=Medieval Russia: A Source Book, 850–1700 |url=https://www.worldcat.org/oclc/21443219 |location=Gulf Breeze, FL |publisher=Academic International Press |page=301 |isbn=0-875-69-218-4|oclc=21443219 }}</ref> Ivan even proposed to her once, and during his troubled relations with the boyars, he even asked her for a guarantee to be granted asylum in England if his rule was jeopardised.<ref name="muscovy">Crankshaw, Edward, ''Russia and Britain'', Collins, ''The Nations and Britain'' series.</ref> Elizabeth agreed on the condition that he provide for himself during his potential stay.<ref>{{cite news|title=Russians in London: Government in exile|url=https://www.economist.com/news/europe/21692934-new-generation-migr-s-has-plans-homeland-they-never-wanted-flee-government|access-date=12 February 2016|newspaper=[[The Economist]]|date=12 February 2016}}</ref>

Ivan corresponded with overseas Orthodox leaders. In response to a letter of [[Patriarch Joachim of Alexandria]] asking him for financial assistance for the [[Saint Catherine's Monastery]], in the [[Sinai Peninsula]], which had suffered by the Turks, Ivan sent in 1558 a delegation to [[Egypt Eyalet]] by Archdeacon Gennady, who, however, died in Constantinople before he could reach Egypt. From then on, the embassy was headed by [[Smolensk]] merchant Vasily Poznyakov, whose delegation visited Alexandria, Cairo and Sinai; brought the patriarch a fur coat and an icon sent by Ivan and left an interesting account of his two-and-a-half years of travels.<ref>[http://lib.pushkinskijdom.ru/Default.aspx?tabid=5142 ХОЖДЕНИЕ НА ВОСТОК ГОСТЯ ВАСИЛИЯ ПОЗНЯКОВА С ТОВАРИЩИ] (The travels to the Orient by the merchant Vasily Poznyakov and his companions) {{in lang|ru}}</ref>

Ivan was the first ruler to begin cooperating with the free cossacks on a large scale. Relations were handled through the Posolsky Prikaz diplomatic department; Moscow sent them money and weapons, while tolerating their freedoms, to draw them into an alliance against the Tatars. The first evidence of cooperation surfaces in 1549 when Ivan ordered the Don Cossacks to attack Crimea.<ref>{{cite book |last1=Alexander Filjushkin |title=Ivan the Terrible: A Military History |date=2008 |publisher=Frontline Books |isbn=978-1473815599 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=dQDSAwAAQBAJ&q=cossacks |chapter=Chapter 1 Russian Military Forces in the Sixteenth Century: Infrastructure of the Russian Army}}</ref>

=== Conquest of Kazan and Astrakhan ===
{{Main|Siege of Kazan (1552)}}
{{more citations needed|section|date=January 2021}}
[[File:ChurchMilitant.jpg|thumb|right|''[[Blessed Be the Host of the King of Heaven]]'', a [[Russian icon]] from {{circa|1550–1560}}, an allegory of the conquest of Kazan]]

While Ivan was a child, armies of the [[Kazan Khanate]] repeatedly raided northeastern Russia.<ref>Russian chronicles record about 40 attacks of Kazan Khans on Russian territories (the regions of [[Nizhniy Novgorod]], [[Murom]], [[Kirov, Kirov Oblast|Vyatka]], [[Vladimir, Russia|Vladimir]], [[Kostroma]] and [[Galich, Russia|Galich]]) in the first half of the 16th century. In 1521, the combined forces of Khan [[Mehmed I Giray|Mehmed Giray]] and his Crimean allies attacked Russia, captured more than 150,000 slaves. ''The Full Collection of the Russian Annals'', vol. 13, SPb, 1904</ref> In the 1530s, the Crimean khan formed an offensive alliance with [[Safa Giray of Kazan]], his relative. When Safa Giray invaded Russia in December 1540, the Russians used [[Qasim Tatars]] to contain him. After his advance was stalled near Murom, Safa Giray was forced to withdraw to his own borders.{{cn|date=January 2025}}

The reverses undermined Safa Giray's authority in Kazan. A pro-Russian party, represented by [[Shahgali]], gained enough popular support to make several attempts to take over the Kazan throne. In 1545, Ivan mounted an expedition to the [[River Volga]] to show his support for the pro-Russian party.{{cn|date=January 2025}}

[[File:Siege of Kazan (Pyotr Korovin, 1890).jpeg|thumb|left|''Ivan IV under the walls of Kazan'' by Pyotr Korovin (1890)]]
In 1551, the tsar sent his envoy to the [[Nogai Horde]], and they promised to maintain neutrality during the impending war. The [[Ar begs]] and [[Udmurts]] submitted to Russian authority as well. In 1551, the wooden fort of [[Sviyazhsk]] was transported down the Volga from [[Uglich]] all the way to Kazan. It was used as the Russian [[place-of-arms]] during the decisive campaign of 1552.{{cn|date=January 2025}}

On 16 June 1552, Ivan led a strong Russian army towards Kazan. The last siege of the Tatar capital commenced on 30 August. Under the supervision of Prince Alexander Gorbaty-Shuysky, the Russians used battering rams, a siege tower, undermining, and 150 cannons. The Russians also had the advantage of efficient military engineers. The city's water supply was blocked and the walls were breached. Kazan finally fell on 2 October, its fortifications were razed and much of the population massacred. Many Russian prisoners and slaves were released. Ivan celebrated his victory over Kazan by building several churches with oriental features, most famously Saint Basil's Cathedral on [[Red Square]] in Moscow. The fall of Kazan was only the beginning of a series of so-called "[[Cheremis]] wars". The attempts of the Moscow government to gain a foothold on the Middle Volga kept provoking uprisings of local peoples, which was suppressed only with great difficulty. In 1557, the [[Kazan rebellion of 1552–1556|First Cheremis War]] ended, and the [[Bashkirs]] accepted Ivan's authority.{{cn|date=January 2025}}

[[File:Crimean Khanate 1550.png|thumb|Khanates of Crimea, Astrakhan and Kazan in 1550, before Ivan's expansion into the Volga basin]]
In campaigns in 1554 and 1556, Russian troops conquered the [[Astrakhan Khanate]] at the mouths of the Volga River, and the new [[Astrakhan]] fortress was built in 1558 by [[Ivan Vyrodkov]] to replace the old Tatar capital. The annexation of the Tatar khanates meant the conquest of vast territories, access to large markets and control of the entire length of the Volga River. According to Martin (2007), "the subjugation of the Muslim khanates transformed Muscovy into an empire and fundamentally altered the balance of power on the steppe."{{sfn|Martin|2007|p=396}}

After his conquest of Kazan, Ivan is said to have ordered the crescent, a symbol of Islam, to be placed underneath the [[Christian cross]] on the domes of Orthodox Christian churches.<ref name="Chaudet">{{cite journal|last=Chaudet|first=Didier|year=2009|title=When the Bear Confronts the Crescent: Russia and the Jihadist Issue|journal=China and Eurasia Forum Quarterly|publisher=Central Asia-Caucasus Institute & Silk Road Studies Program|volume=7|issue=2|pages=37–58|issn=1653-4212|quote=It would be convenient to characterize the relationship between Russia and Islam by its history of conquest and tension. After all, the emblem of the Orthodox Church is a cross on top on a crescent. It is said that this symbol was devised by Ivan the Terrible, after the conquest of the city of Kazan, as a symbol of the victory of Christianity over Islam through his soldiers.}}</ref><ref name="JSAMES1993">{{cite journal|year=1993|journal=Journal of South Asian and Middle Eastern Studies|volume=17|title=Russian Orthodox Church|page=4|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=IWxtAAAAMAAJ|quote=Finally, the Russians, under Ivan the Terrible, defeated the Tatars in 1552 and firmly established Russian rule. In celebration of this conquest, the czar built two churches in the Moscow Kremlin and on the spires of the Church installed the Orthodox Cross over an upside down crescent, the symbol of Islam.|access-date=20 May 2015|language=en}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.orthodoxworld.ru/en/hram/1/index.htm|title=Church Building and Its Services|access-date=28 March 2014|quote=Sometimes the bottoms of the Crosses found on Russian churches will be adorned with a crescent. In 1486, Tsar Ivan IV (the Terrible) conquered the city of Kazan which had been under the rule of Moslem Tatars, and in remembrance of this, he decreed that from henceforth the Islamic crescent be placed at the bottom of the Crosses to signify the victory of the Cross (Christianity) over the Crescent (Islam).|publisher=Orthodox World}}</ref>

=== Russo-Turkish War ===
{{Main|Russo-Turkish War (1568–1570)}}

In 1568, Grand Vizier [[Sokollu Mehmed Pasha]], who was the real power in the administration of the [[Ottoman Empire]] under [[Selim II|Sultan Selim]], initiated the first encounter between the Ottoman Empire and its future northern rival. The results presaged the many disasters to come. A plan to unite the Volga and Don by a canal was detailed in Constantinople. In the summer of 1569, a large force under Kasim Pasha of 1,500 [[Janissaries]], 2,000 [[Sipahi]]s and a few thousand [[Azap]]s and [[Akıncıs]] were sent to lay siege to Astrakhan and to begin the canal works while an Ottoman fleet besieged [[Azov]].{{cn|date=January 2025}}

In early 1570, Ivan's ambassadors concluded a treaty at Constantinople that restored friendly relations between the sultan and the tsar.<ref>{{cite book |last1=Garvin |first1=James Louis |last2=Hooper |first2=Franklin Henry |last3=Cox |first3=Warren E. |title=The Encyclopedia Britannica |date=1929 |publisher=Encyclopedia britannica Company, Limited |page=307 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=38J1JzYsy1oC |language=en}}</ref> The envoys were directed to tell to the sultan: "My Tsar is not an enemy of the Moslem faith. His servant Sain Bulat rules the Khanate of Kassimov; Prince Kaibula in Yuriev, Ibak in Suroshsk, and the Nogai Princes in Romanov.”<ref>{{cite book |last1=Prawdin |first1=Michael |title=The Mongol Empire: Its Rise and Legacy |date=29 September 2017 |publisher=Routledge |isbn=978-1-351-47929-5 |page=517 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=_m5QDwAAQBAJ |language=en}}</ref>

=== Livonian War ===
{{unsourced|section|date=January 2025}}
{{Main|Livonian War}}
[[File:Ivan IV Ortelius 1574.JPG|thumb|''Ioannes Basilius Magnus Imperator Russiae, Dux Moscoviae'', by [[Abraham Ortelius]] (1574)]]

In 1558, Ivan launched the Livonian War in an attempt to gain access to the Baltic Sea and its major trade routes. The war ultimately proved unsuccessful and stretched on for 24 years, engaging the [[History of Sweden (1523–1611)|Kingdom of Sweden]], the [[Grand Duchy of Lithuania]], the [[Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth]] and the [[Teutonic Knights]] of Livonia. The prolonged war had nearly destroyed the economy, and the ''{{transliteration|ru|oprichnina}}'' had thoroughly disrupted the government. Meanwhile, the [[Union of Lublin]] had united the [[Grand Duchy of Lithuania]] and [[Kingdom of Poland (1385–1569)|Kingdom of Poland]], and the [[Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth]] acquired an energetic leader, [[Stephen Báthory]], who was supported by Russia's southern enemy, the Ottoman Empire. Ivan's realm was being squeezed by two of the time's great powers.{{cn|date=January 2025}}

After rejecting peace proposals from his enemies, Ivan had found himself in a difficult position by 1579. The displaced refugees fleeing the war compounded the effects of the simultaneous drought, and the exacerbated war engendered epidemics causing much loss of life.{{cn|date=January 2025}}

Báthory then launched a series of offensives against Muscovy in the campaign seasons of 1579–81 to try to cut the [[Kingdom of Livonia]] from Muscovy. During his first offensive in 1579, he retook [[Polotsk]] with 22,000 men. During the second, in 1580, he took [[Velikie Luki]] with a 29,000-strong force. Finally, he began the [[Siege of Pskov]] in 1581 with a 100,000-strong army. [[Narva]], in [[Estonia]], was reconquered by Sweden in 1581.{{cn|date=January 2025}}

Unlike Sweden and Poland, [[Frederick II of Denmark]] had trouble continuing the fight against Muscovy. He came to an agreement with [[John III of Sweden]] in 1580 to transfer the Danish titles of Livonia to John III. Muscovy recognised Polish–Lithuanian control of Livonia only in 1582. After [[Magnus von Lyffland|Magnus of Livonia]], the brother of Frederick II and a former ally of Ivan, died in 1583, Poland invaded his territories in the [[Duchy of Courland]], and Frederick II decided to sell his rights of inheritance. Except for the island of [[Saaremaa]], Denmark had left Livonia by 1585.{{cn|date=January 2025}}

=== Crimean raids ===
{{Main|Russo-Crimean Wars|Crimean–Nogai slave raids in Eastern Europe}}
[[File:Ivans ivory throne.jpg|thumb|Ivan's throne (ivory, metal, wood)]]

In the later years of Ivan's reign, the southern borders of Muscovy were disturbed by Crimean Tatars, mainly to capture slaves.<ref>{{cite journal |author=Kizilov, Mikhail |author-link=Mikhail Kizilov |title=Slave Trade in the Early Modern Crimea From the Perspective of Christian, Muslim and Jewish Sources |journal=Journal of Early Modern History |volume=11 |page=1 |url=https://www.academia.edu/2971600 |doi=10.1163/157006507780385125|year=2007 |issue=1–2 }}
</ref> (See also [[Slavery in the Ottoman Empire]].) Khan [[Devlet I Giray]] of Crimea repeatedly raided the Moscow region. In 1571, the 40,000-strong Crimean and Turkish army launched a large-scale raid. The ongoing Livonian War left Moscow with a garrison of only 6,000 troops, which could not even delay the Tatar approach. Unresisted, Devlet devastated unprotected towns and villages around Moscow and caused the [[Fire of Moscow (1571)|Fire of Moscow]]. Historians have estimated the number of casualties of the fire to be 10,000 to 80,000.{{cn|date=January 2025}}

To buy peace from Devlet Giray, Ivan was forced to relinquish his claims on Astrakhan for the Crimean Khanate, but the proposed transfer was only a diplomatic maneuver and was never actually completed. The defeat angered Ivan. Between 1571 and 1572, preparations were made upon his orders. In addition to [[Zasechnaya cherta]], innovative fortifications were set beyond the [[Oka River]], which defined the border.{{cn|date=January 2025}}

The following year, Devlet launched another raid on Moscow, now with a numerous horde,<ref>120,000-strong, according to Russian cronicles // Новгородская вторая летопись. Год 7080(1572). ПСРЛ т. III, СПб, 1841</ref> reinforced by Turkish [[janissaries]] equipped with firearms and cannons. The Russian army, led by Prince [[Mikhail Vorotynsky]], was half the size but was experienced and supported by ''streltsy'', equipped with modern firearms and [[gulyay-gorod]]s. In addition, it was no longer divided into two parts (the {{transliteration|ru|oprichnina}} and {{transliteration|ru|zemsky}}), unlike during the 1571 defeat.{{sfn|Skrynnikov|2015|p=427}} On 27 July, the horde broke through the defensive line along the Oka River and moved towards Moscow. The Russian troops did not have time to intercept it, but the regiment of Prince Khvorostinin vigorously attacked the Tatars from the rear. The Khan stopped only 30&nbsp;km from Moscow and brought down his entire army back on the Russians, who managed to take up defense near the [[Battle of Molodi|village of Molodi]]. After several days of heavy fighting, Mikhail Vorotynsky with the main part of the army flanked the Tatars and dealt a sudden blow on 2 August, and Khvorostinin made a [[sortie (siege warfare)|sortie]] from the fortifications. The Tatars were completely defeated and fled.{{sfn|Skrynnikov|2015|pp=417–21}} The next year, Ivan, who had sat out in distant Novgorod during the battle, killed Mikhail Vorotynsky.{{sfn|Skrynnikov|2015|pp=439–41}}

=== Conquest of Siberia ===
{{unsourced|section|date=January 2025}}
{{Main|Russian conquest of Siberia}}
[[File:Growth of Russia 1547-1725.png|thumb|270px|[[Expansion of Russia (1500–1800)|Russian expansion]] into Siberia dates back to the 16th century, when Ivan granted the Stroganov family permission to conquer the [[Khanate of Sibir]]. Area conquered by Ivan IV in dark green.]]
During Ivan's reign, Russia started a large-scale exploration and colonization of [[Siberia]]. In 1555, shortly after the conquest of Kazan, the Siberian khan Yadegar and the [[Nogai Horde]], under Khan Ismail, pledged their allegiance to Ivan in the hope that he would help them against their opponents. However, Yadegar failed to gather the full sum of tribute that he proposed to the tsar and so Ivan did nothing to save his inefficient vassal. In 1563, Yadegar was overthrown and killed by [[Khan Kuchum]], who denied any tribute to Moscow.{{cn|date=January 2025}}

In 1558, Ivan gave the [[Stroganov family|Stroganov merchant family]] the patent for colonising "the abundant region along the Kama River", and, in 1574, lands over the [[Ural Mountains]] along the rivers [[Tura River|Tura]] and [[Tobol]]. The family also received permission to build forts along the [[Ob River]] and the [[Irtysh River]]. Around 1577, the Stroganovs engaged the Cossack leader [[Yermak Timofeyevich]] to protect their lands from attacks of the Siberian [[Khan Kuchum]].{{cn|date=January 2025}}

In 1580, Yermak started his conquest of Siberia. With some 540 [[Cossacks]], he started to penetrate territories that were tributary to Kuchum. Yermak pressured and persuaded the various family-based tribes to change their loyalties and to become tributaries of Russia. Some agreed voluntarily because they were offered better terms than with Kuchum, but others were forced. He also established distant forts in the newly conquered lands. The campaign was successful, and the Cossacks managed to defeat the Siberian army in the [[Battle of Chuvash Cape]], but Yermak still needed reinforcements. He sent an envoy to Ivan the Terrible with a message that proclaimed Yermak-conquered Siberia to be part of Russia to the dismay of the Stroganovs, who had planned to keep Siberia for themselves. Ivan agreed to reinforce the Cossacks with his streltsy, but the detachment sent to Siberia died of starvation without any benefit. The Cossacks were defeated by the local peoples, Yermak died and the survivors immediately left Siberia. Only in 1586, two years after the death of Ivan, would the Russians manage to gain a foothold in Siberia by founding the city of [[Tyumen]].{{cn|date=January 2025}}