Editing Ivan the Terrible (section)

=== 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>