Ivan III was born on January 22, 1440. He came from a family of Moscow grand dukes. His father was Vasily II Vasilyevich Dark, his mother was Princess Maria Yaroslavna, granddaughter of the hero of the Battle of Kulikovo V.A. Serpukhovsky. A few days after the boy's birth, on January 27, the church recalled "the transfer of the relics of St. John Chrysostom." In honor of this great saint, the baby was named John.

Wanting to legitimize new order succession to the throne and take away from hostile princes any pretext for turmoil, Vasily II, during his lifetime, called Ivan the Grand Duke. All letters were written on behalf of the two great dukes.

In 1446, Ivan was betrothed to Maria, the daughter of Prince Boris Alexandrovich of Tverskoy, who was distinguished by his caution and foresight. The groom was about seven years old at the time of the betrothal. This future marriage was supposed to symbolize the reconciliation of the eternal rivals - Moscow and Tver.

In the last ten years of the life of Vasily II, the prince Ivan was constantly next to his father, participated in all his affairs

and hiking. By 1462, when Vasily died, 22-year-old Ivan was already a man who had seen a lot, with an established character, ready to solve difficult state issues.

However, for another five years after his accession to the throne, Ivan, as far as can be judged from scant sources, did not set himself those major historical tasks that would later glorify his time.

In the second half of the 60s of the 15th century, Ivan III determined the primary task of his foreign policy to ensure the security of the eastern border by establishing political control over the Kazan Khanate. The war with Kazan in 1467-1469 ended on the whole successfully for Muscovites. She forced the Kazan Khan Ibragim to stop for a long time the raids on the possessions of Ivan III. At the same time, the war showed the limited internal resources of the Moscow principality. Decisive successes in the struggle against the heirs of the Golden Horde could be achieved only at a qualitatively new level of unification of the Russian lands. Realizing this, Ivan turns his attention to Novgorod. The vast possessions of Veliky Novgorod stretched from the Baltic Sea to the Urals and from the White Sea to the Volga. The conquest of Novgorod is the main achievement of Ivan III in the matter of “collecting Rus”.

Prince Ivan “was a man of statesmanship, an outstanding politician and diplomat,” writes his biographer N.S. Borisov. - He knew how to subordinate his emotions to the requirements of circumstances. This ability to "rule oneself" is the source of many of his successes. Ivan III, unlike his father, always carefully calculated all the possible consequences of his actions. The Novgorod epic can serve as a clear example of this. The Grand Duke clearly understood that the difficulty lies not so much in conquering Novgorod as in doing it unnoticed. Otherwise, he could rebuild all of Eastern Europe against himself and lose not only Novgorod, but also many other things ... "

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Back in December 1462, a large embassy "about the humility of the world" went to Moscow from Novgorod to Moscow. It was headed by Archbishop Jonah. In Moscow, the Novgorod nobility was received with honor. However, during the negotiations, Ivan III showed firmness. The Novgorodians were not inferior either. As a result, many hours of debate ended in mutual concessions. Peace has been achieved.

To conclude a more favorable agreement, both sides played a difficult diplomatic game.

Ivan III tried to win over Pskov to his side. The envoy of Prince F.Yu. Shuisky contributed to the conclusion of a 9-year truce between Pskov and the German order on favorable conditions for the Russians.

The Moscow-Pskov rapprochement strongly disturbed the Novgorodians and tipped the balance in favor of peaceful relations with Moscow. The alliance with Pskov became a powerful means of pressure on Novgorod. In the winter of 1464, a truce was concluded between Moscow and Novgorod, which turned out to be quite long.

In the summer of 1470, it became clear that Ivan III, having dealt with Kazan, was turning his military and political power to the north-west, towards Novgorod.

Novgorodians sent an embassy to the Lithuanian king Casimir IV. Instead of troops, he sent Prince Mikhail Alexandrovich (Olelkovich). This prince professed Orthodoxy and was a cousin of Ivan III. All this made him the most suitable candidate for the Novgorod table. However, Mikhail's stay on the Volkhov was short-lived. Considering himself something offended, he soon left Novgorod.

On November 18, 1470, after the death of Jonah, Theophilus became the new ruler of Novgorod. The nominated Vladyka Theophilus was going, according to the old tradition, to go, accompanied by the boyars, to Moscow for a decree to Metropolitan Philip. Ivan III agreed to the usual procedure for the confirmation of the new archbishop. In the message, the Moscow prince called Novgorod his "fatherland", that is, an inalienable, inherited possession. This caused indignation among Novgorodians, and especially among the "Lithuanian party".

In the spring of 1471, the Novgorod ambassadors went to Lithuania, where an agreement was concluded with King Casimir IV, according to which Novgorod came under his supreme power, and Casimir undertook to protect him from the attacks of the Grand Duke.

In fact, the Polish-Lithuanian king was not going to fight for Novgorod, which greatly facilitated the Moscow expansion. Attempts by Casimir IV at critical moments to set some steppe khan against Ivan III did not bring the expected results.

In May 1471, Ivan III sent to Novgorod "markings" - a formal notification of the beginning of the war.

On July 13, on the banks of the Sheloni River, the Novgorodians were completely defeated. Ivan III moved with the main army to Novgorod. Meanwhile, there was no help from Lithuania. The people in Novgorod became agitated and sent their Archbishop Theophilus to ask the Grand Duke for mercy.

It seems that one effort was enough to crush Novgorod and end the war with an unprecedented triumph. However, Ivan III resisted the temptation. On August 11, 1471, near Korostynya, he signed a treaty that summed up the entire Moscow-Novgorod war. As if condescending to the intensified intercession for the guilty metropolitan, his brothers and boyars, the Grand Duke announced his mercy to the Novgorodians, "I give my dislike, take away the sword and storm in the land of Novgorod and let it go full without payback."

The conditions put forward by the winners turned out to be unexpectedly soft Novgorodians swore allegiance to Ivan III and pledged to pay him an indemnity within a year. The internal structure of Novgorod remained the same. Volok Lamsky and Vologda finally passed to Moscow.

And, most importantly, according to the Korostyn Treaty, Novgorod recognized itself as the "fatherland" of the Grand Duke of Moscow, and Ivan III himself - the highest court for the townspeople.

Soon Ivan solved his personal problems. The sudden death of Ivan III's first wife, Princess Maria Borisovna, on April 22, 1467 made the 27-year-old Grand Duke of Moscow think about a new marriage.

Moscow's accession to the European Union to fight Turkey has become a dream of Western diplomacy. The introduction of Turkey on the Mediterranean coast primarily threatened Italy. Therefore, already from the 70s of the 15th century, both the Venetian Republic and the papal throne looked with hope to the distant North-East. This explains the sympathy with which the project of the marriage of the powerful Russian sovereign with the heiress of the Byzantine throne Sophia (Zoya) Fominichna Palaeologus, who was under the patronage of the pope, was met both in Rome and in Venice. Through Greek and Italian businessmen, this project was carried out on November 12, 1472. The sending to Moscow simultaneously with the bride and the plenipotentiary "legate" (ambassador) of Pope Sixtus IV - Bonumbre, equipped with the broadest powers, testified that papal diplomacy associated great plans with this marriage alliance. For its part, the Venice Council inspired Ivan III with the idea of \u200b\u200bhis rights to the legacy of the Byzantine emperors, seized by the "common enemy of all Christians", that is, the Sultan, because the "hereditary rights" to the Eastern Empire naturally passed to the Moscow prince by virtue of his marriage.

However, all these diplomatic steps have yielded no result. The Russian state had its own urgent international tasks. Ivan III steadily put them into practice, not letting himself be deceived by any tricks of Rome or Venice.

The marriage of the Moscow sovereign with the Greek princess was important event Russian history. He opened the way for links between Muscovy Rus and the West. On the other hand, together with Sophia at the Moscow court, some of the orders and customs of the Byzantine court were established. The ceremonial became grander and more solemn. The Grand Duke himself rose in the eyes of his contemporaries. They noticed that Ivan, after his marriage to the niece of the Byzantine emperor, was an autocratic sovereign on the Moscow grand-ducal table; he was the first to receive the nickname Grozny, because he was a monarch for the princes of the squad, who demanded unquestioning obedience and punished severely for disobedience.

It was at that time that Ivan III began to instill fear in his appearance alone. Women, contemporaries say, fainted from his angry gaze. The courtiers, fearing for their lives, had to amuse him in their leisure hours, and when he, sitting in an armchair, indulged in a nap, they stood motionless around, not daring to cough or make a careless movement so as not to wake him up. Contemporaries and immediate descendants attributed this change to the suggestions of Sophia. Herberstein, who was in Moscow during the reign of his son Sophia, said about her "This was an unusually cunning woman, and the Grand Duke did a lot on her inspiration."

The mere fact that the bride agreed to go from Rome to distant and unknown Moscow testifies that she was a brave, energetic and adventurous woman. In Moscow, she was expected not only by the honors shown to the Grand Duchess, but also by the hostility of the local clergy and the heir to the throne. At every step she had to defend her rights. She probably did a lot in order to find support and sympathy in Moscow society. But the best way to assert itself was, of course, procreation. Both as a monarch and as a father, the Grand Duke wanted to have sons. Sophia herself wanted this. However, to the delight of ill-wishers, frequent childbirth brought Ivan three daughters in a row - Elena (1474), Theodosius (1475) and again Elena (1476). The alarmed Sophia prayed to God and all the saints for the gift of a son.

Finally her request was granted. On the night of March 25-26, 1479, a boy was born, named in honor of his grandfather Vasily. (For his mother, he always remained Gabriel - in honor of the Archangel Gabriel, whose memory was celebrated on March 26.) Happy parents connected the birth of their son with last year's pilgrimage and fervent prayer at the tomb of St. Sergius of Radonezh in the Trinity Monastery.

Following Vasily, she had two more sons (Yuri and Dmitry), then two daughters (Elena and Theodosia), then three more sons (Semyon, Andrei and Boris) and the last, in 1492, daughter Evdokia.

But back to the political activities of Ivan III. In 1474, he bought from the Rostov princes the remaining half of the Rostov principality. But the more important event was the final conquest of Novgorod.

In 1477, the "Moscow party" in Novgorod, impressed by the mass exodus of the townspeople on trial before the Grand Duke, decided to take their own steps in the same direction. Two representatives of the Novgorod Veche arrived in Moscow - Nazar from the Voyage and Zakhar, the clerk. In their petition, they called Ivan and his son sovereigns, whereas before all Novgorodians called them masters. The title "sovereign", in essence, concealed the recognition of Ivan's right to dispose of Novgorod at his own discretion.

On April 24, the Grand Duke sent his ambassadors to ask what state Veliky Novgorod wants. Novgorodians at the veche answered that they did not call the Grand Duke Tsar and did not send ambassadors to him to talk about some new state, the whole of Novgorod, on the contrary, wants everything to remain without changes, in the old days.

The ambassadors returned with nothing. And in Novgorod itself a mutiny broke out. Supporters of the "Lithuanian party" rushed to smash the houses of the boyars who advocated subordination to Moscow. Especially got those who were considered to be responsible for the invitation of Ivan III to the "state".

On September 30, 1477, Ivan III sent a "folding letter" to Novgorod - a notice of the formal break and the beginning of the war. On October 9, the sovereign left Moscow and went to Novgorod - "for their crime, execute them by war."

On November 27, Ivan came close to Novgorod. However, the sovereign was in no hurry to storm the city.

On December 5, Vladyka Theophilus arrived to negotiate with him, accompanied by several boyars. Ivan received the guests in the presence of his brothers Andrey Bolshoy, Boris and Andrey Menshoy. This time Ivan III spoke directly: “We, the great princes, want our state, as we do in Moscow, so we want to be in our homeland, Veliky Novgorod”.

In the following days, negotiations continued. Ruthlessly dictating his conditions to the Novgorodians, Ivan III considered it necessary to yield to them in some important moments. The Grand Duke guaranteed the Novgorod boyars the preservation of those estates they owned, as well as exemption from service in the Moscow army outside the Novgorod land.

On January 4, 1478, when the townspeople began to suffer severely from hunger, Ivan demanded that he be given half of the sovereign and monastic volosts and all Novotorzhsky volosts, whatever they were. Ivan III's calculation was accurate and flawless. Without hurting the interests of private owners, in this situation he received half of the huge estates of the Novgorod cathedra and monasteries.

Two days later, Novgorod accepted these conditions. On January 15, all the townspeople were sworn in full obedience to the Grand Duke. The veche bell was removed and sent to Moscow. Ivan insisted that the residence of his "right-bank" governors was at the Yaroslavl courtyard, where the city-wide veche usually gathered. In ancient times, it was here that the courtyard of the Kiev prince Yaroslav the Wise was located.

In March 1478, Ivan III returned to Moscow, successfully completing the case. Novgorod concerns did not leave the sovereign in subsequent years. But all opposition speeches were suppressed in the most cruel way.

In 1480, the Khan of the Great Horde, Akhmat, set out for Moscow. In fact, Russia had been independent from the Horde for many years, but formally the supreme power belonged to the Horde khans. Russia grew stronger - the Horde was weakening, but continued to remain a formidable force. In response, Ivan sent the regiments to the Oka, and he himself went to Kolomna. But the khan, seeing that strong regiments were placed along the Oka, went to the west, to the Lithuanian land, in order to penetrate into the Moscow possessions through the Ugra; then Ivan ordered his son Ivan Molodoy and brother Andrei Menshiy to hurry to Ugra; the princes fulfilled the order, came to the river before the Tatars, occupied the fords and ferries.

Akhmat, who was not allowed across the Ugra by the Moscow regiments, boasted all summer, "God will give you winter, when all the rivers become, there will be many roads to Russia." Fearing the fulfillment of this threat, Ivan, as soon as Ugra became, on October 26 ordered his son and brother Andrey with all the regiments to retreat to his place in Kremenets in order to fight with united forces. But Akhmat did not intend to pursue the Russian troops. He stood on the Ugra until November 11, probably waiting for the promised Lithuanian aid. Fierce frosts began, but the Lithuanians did not come, distracted by the attack of the Crimeans. Without allies, Akhmat did not dare to pursue the Russians further north. He turned back and went back to the steppe.

Contemporaries and descendants perceived the standing on the Ugra as the visible end of the Horde yoke. The power of the Grand Duke has grown, and at the same time, the cruelty of his character has noticeably increased. He became intolerant and quick to reprisal. The further, the more consistently, more boldly than the former, Ivan III expanded his state and strengthened his autocracy.

In 1483 the prince of Vereya bequeathed his principality to Moscow. Then came the turn of Moscow's longtime rival, Tver. In 1484, Moscow learned that the Tver prince Mikhail Borisovich struck up a friendship with Casimir of Lithuania and married the latter's granddaughter. Ivan III declared war on Mikhail. Muscovites occupied the Tver volost, took and burned cities. Lithuanian help did not appear, and Mikhail was forced to ask for peace. Ivan gave peace. Michael promised not to have any relationship with Casimir and Horde. But in the same year 1485, Mikhail's messenger to Lithuania was intercepted. This time, the reprisal was swift and harsh. On September 8, the Moscow army surrounded Tver, on the 10th the posads were set on fire, and on the 11th the Tver boyars, leaving their prince, came to Ivan's camp and beat him with their foreheads, asking for service. And they were not denied that.

Mikhail Borisovich fled to Lithuania at night. On the morning of September 12, 1485, Vladyka Vassian and the entire Kholmsky clan, led by Prince Mikhail Dmitrievich, left Tver to meet Ivan. After him, the smaller nobility poured down, then "all the zemstvo people." Tver swore allegiance to Ivan, who left his son Ivan the Young there to reign.

Tver land gradually entered the Moscow state Ivan III. Over the years, the traces of the former independence were gradually erased. The Moscow administration was introduced everywhere and the Moscow order was established. According to the will of Ivan III (1504), the Tver land was divided among several rulers and lost its former integrity.

In 1487 Ivan III pacified Kazan and put Mohammed-Emin on the throne. Now the Grand Duke was free to attack in other directions from the final conquest of Vyatka (1489) to the attack on Lithuania and the Baltic states.

The new state, which united the vast expanses of Eastern Europe under its rule, took a prominent international position. Already at the end of the 80s of the 15th century, the Grand Duchy of Moscow was a very impressive political force on the European horizon. In 1486, the Silesian Nikolai Poppel accidentally came to Moscow. Upon his return, he began to spread rumors about the Russian state and about the wealth and power of the sovereign who reigned in it. For many, this was news. Until then, there were rumors about Rus in Western Europe as a country allegedly subject to the Polish kings.

In 1489, Poppel returned to Moscow as an official agent of the Emperor of the Holy Roman Empire. At a secret audience, he invited Ivan III to petition the emperor to confer the title of king on him. From the point of view of Western European political thought, it was the only way legalize the new state and introduce it into common system Western European states - at the same time and put it in some dependence on the empire. But Moscow held a different point of view. Ivan III responded with dignity to Poppel “We, by the grace of God, sovereigns on our land from the beginning, from our first ancestors, and we have an assignment from God, both our ancestors and we ... and the assignment, as we did not want this in advance from anyone, so and now we do not want to. " In a reciprocal letter to Emperor Ivan III, he titled himself "by the grace of God, the great sovereign of all Russia." Occasionally, in relations with minor states, he even called himself a king. His son Vasily III in 1518 for the first time called himself officially tsar in a letter sent to the emperor, and his grandson, Ivan IV, was solemnly crowned king in 1547, and thus the place that his state was supposed to occupy among other cultural states was determined. the world.

Successful opposition to the Great Horde and Lithuania became possible for Ivan III only on condition of an alliance with the Crimea. This is what the efforts of Moscow diplomacy were aimed at. Ivan attracted several influential Crimean "princes" to his side. They prompted Khan Mengli-Girey himself to get closer to Moscow.

Ivan III coveted this alliance at the cost of great concessions. He even agreed, if the khan demanded, to call him "sovereign" and did not spare the cost of "commemoration", that is, annual gifts for his Tatar ally. Russian diplomacy eventually managed to achieve the conclusion of the desired alliance. Crimean Tatars periodically began to raid Lithuanian possessions, penetrating far into the interior of the country, to Kiev and beyond. By doing so, they not only caused material damage to the Grand Duchy of Lithuania, but also weakened its defenses. The union with Mengli-Gi-rey was also connected with another problem of Russian foreign policy of the late 15th - early 16th centuries - the problem of the final elimination of dependence on the Golden Horde. With its permission, Ivan III more than ever acted not so much with weapons as diplomatically.

The union with the Crimea was a decisive moment in the fight against the Golden Horde. The Nogai and Siberian Tatars were involved in the union. Khan Akhmat, while retreating from the Ugra, was killed in 1481 by the Tatars of the Siberian Khan Ibakh, and in 1502 the Golden Horde was finally defeated by Mengli-Girey.

The first Moscow-Lithuanian war began in 1487 and lasted until 1494. Border areas with undefined or ambiguous political status were at issue in this war. On the southern and western border, small Orthodox princes with their fiefdoms were passing under Moscow's rule. The first to be transferred were the Odoevsky princes, then the Vorotynsky and Belevsky princes. These small princes constantly quarreled with their Lithuanian neighbors - in fact, the war did not stop on the southern borders, but in Moscow and Vilna they retained the appearance of peace for a long time.

Those who transferred to the Moscow service immediately received their former possessions as a grant. To defend the "truth" and restore the "legal rights" of his new subjects, Ivan III sent small detachments.

The idea of \u200b\u200bthe 1487-1494 campaign was to achieve success quietly, quietly. Ivan III avoided a large-scale war with Lithuania. This could cause similar actions on the part of Lithuania, Poland, at the same time rally the "supreme princes" and push them into the arms of Kazemir.

In June 1492, the King of Poland and the Grand Duke of Lithuania Casimir IV died. His sons divided the inheritance. Jan Olbracht received the Polish crown, and Alexander Kazimirovich - the Lithuanian throne. This significantly weakened the potential of the enemy of Moscow.

Ivan III, together with Mengli-Giray, immediately began a war against Lithuania. Although, according to the statement of Moscow diplomats, there was no war; there was only the return under the old power of the Moscow Grand Duke of those of his service princes, who either temporarily fell away from him in the troubled years under Vasily Vasilyevich, or had served "on both sides" before.

Things went well for Moscow. The governors took Meshchovsk, Serpeysk, Vyazma. The princes Vyazemsky, Mezetsky, Novosilsky and other Lithuanian owners went over to the service of the Moscow sovereign. Alexander Kazimirovich realized that it would be difficult for him to fight Moscow and Mengli-Girey; he planned to marry Ivan's daughter, Elena, and thus arrange a lasting peace between the two states. Negotiations went sluggishly until January 1494. Finally, on February 5, peace was concluded, according to which Alexander recognized the new Moscow borders, the new title of the Moscow Grand Duke. Under such conditions, Ivan agreed to marry his daughter to him.

The peace treaty with Lithuania can be considered the most important military and diplomatic success of Ivan III. “The significance of the peace treaty for Russia was great,” notes the famous historian A.A. Zimin. - The border with the Lithuanian principality in the west was significantly pushed back. Two bridgeheads were created for the further struggle for the Russian lands, one was aimed at Smolensk, and the other wedged into the thickness of the Seversk lands. "

As expected, this "marriage of convenience" turned out to be difficult for both Alexander and Elena.

In 1500, relations between Moscow and Vilna turned into an open enmity over new transitions to the side of Moscow by the princes who were Lithuania's henchmen. Ivan sent his son-in-law a "markup" and then sent an army to Lithuania. The Crimeans, according to custom, helped the Russian army. Many Ukrainian princes, in order to avoid ruin, hastened to be handed over to Moscow. In 1503, an armistice was concluded for a period of six years. The question of the ownership of the lands seized by Ivan, whose area amounted to about a third of the entire territory of the Grand Duchy of Lithuania, remained open. Lithuania continued to regard them as its own. However, in fact, they remained part of the Moscow state.

Ivan III viewed the "Annunciation" truce as a short respite. However, further expansion had to be carried out by his successors.

Ivan III completely subordinated his international policy to the "gathering of Russian lands". The anti-Turkish league did not present anything tempting for him. In response to the promise of the "Constantinople fatherland" in Moscow they replied that "the great prince wants the fatherland of his Russian land."

Moreover, the Russian state was interested in peaceful relations with the Ottoman Port in order to develop its Black Sea trade. Relations between the Russian state and Turkey, which began in the 90s of the 15th century, were carried out in invariably benevolent forms.

As for relations with the Roman Empire, Ivan III strove not only to maintain friendly relations, but also to use the rivalry of Emperor Maximilian with the Polish Jagiellons over Hungary. He proposed an alliance and outlined a plan for the future division of production for Hungary - Maximilian, Lithuania with the Russian lands enslaved by it - for himself. However, Maximilian thought to achieve his goals peacefully. Depending on the fluctuations in German-Polish relations, changes took place in German-Russian relations, until Maximilian found it more profitable for himself to reconcile with Poland and even offered his mediation to reconcile with it and the Russian state.

Under Ivan III, a line of foreign policy of the Russian state was outlined in the Baltic region. The annexation of Novgorod and Pskov to Moscow required new trade unions in the Baltic and precipitated the war with the Livonian Order. The campaign of Russian troops to Livonia in 1480-1481 was successful for the Moscow prince. After victories in the lands of Livonia, the army left, and in September 1481 a truce was concluded for ten years.

In contrast to the Russian interest in Baltic trade, the order raised territorial issues. In 1491, Simon Borch came to Moscow with the embassy to prolong the truce. The negotiations, which lasted almost two years, boiled down to trade issues, the Moscow Grand Duke demanded guarantees for transit merchants, as well as the restoration of the Russian Church in Revel. In 1493, the contract was extended for ten years. An alliance with Livonia provided Russia with good trade relations with the Hansa, in which Ivan III was interested, since the Moscow Grand Duke could thus control the stable centuries-old relations between Novgorod, Pskov and the Hanseatic cities.

However, a new war with Livonia soon began, and in the 16th century, relations with the order acquired a slightly different shade; they were increasingly affected by the relations of both sides with the Polish-Lithuanian state. It was Livonia's failure to comply with the terms of the 1503 treaty that gave a formal pretext for the start of the Livonian War in 1558. In the 90s of the 15th century, negotiations with Denmark became more active. After the conclusion of an agreement with Hansa, an embassy came from Denmark to negotiate "brotherhood", and in 1493 Ivan III concluded a "end" with the king. This alliance was directed against Sweden, which systematically attacked the Korelian lands, the ancient possessions of Novgorod, which had ceded to Moscow. In addition to the anti-Swedish orientation, relations with Denmark acquired a tinge of struggle against the monopoly of the Hanseatic trade, where England was an ally of Denmark.

In early 1503, Livonian representatives, together with the ambassadors of the Grand Duke of Lithuania Alexander, arrived in Moscow to negotiate peace. Slightly poking fun at the Livonians, Prince Ivan signed a truce with them for a period of six years. The parties returned to the borders and relations that existed between them before the war of 1501-1502.

The defeat of the Hanseatic court in Novgorod and the establishment of friendly relations with Denmark had, undoubtedly, the purpose of freeing Novgorod trade from the obstacles that the almighty Hansa set for it. On the other hand, the demand for tribute from the Yuryev episcopate (Dorpat region), according to the agreement with the Livonian Order in 1503, was the first step towards the spread of Russian political influence in Livonia.

In the fall of 1503, Ivan III suffered a paralysis "... took away his arm and leg and eye." He named his son Vasily as his heir.

As a result of the subtle and cautious policy of Ivan III, the Russian state by the beginning of the 16th century, without claiming a decisive role in Europe, took an honorable international position in it.

“Towards the end of the reign of Ivan III, we see him sitting on an independent throne. Next to him is the daughter of the last Byzantine emperor. Kazan is at his feet, the fragments of the Golden Horde flock to his court. Novgorod and other Russian republics are enslaved. Lithuania has been curtailed, and the sovereign of Lithuania is an instrument in Ivan's hands. The Livonian Knights are defeated. "

Already at the age of 12 the future grand Duke married, at the age of 16 he began to replace his father when he was absent, and at 22 he became the Grand Duke of Moscow.

Ivan III possessed a secretive and at the same time firm character (later these character traits manifested themselves in his grandson).

Under Prince Ivan, the issue of coins began with the image of him and his son Ivan the Young and the signature “Lord All Russia". As a stern and demanding prince, Ivan III received the nickname Ivan the Terrible, but a little later this phrase began to be understood as another ruler Rus.

Ivan continued the policy of his ancestors - the collection of Russian lands and the centralization of power. In the 1460s, Moscow's relations with Veliky Novgorod , whose inhabitants and princes continued to look west, towards Poland and Lithuania. After twice failed to establish relations with the Novgorodians in the world, the conflict came to new level... Novgorod enlisted the support of the Polish king and prince of Lithuania Casimir, and Ivan stopped sending embassies. On July 14, 1471, Ivan III, at the head of the 15-20 thousandth army, defeated the almost 40,000th army of Novgorod, Kazimir did not come to the rescue.

Novgorod lost most his autonomy and submitted to Moscow. A little later, in 1477, the Novgorodians organized a new rebellion, which was also suppressed, and on January 13, 1478, Novgorod completely lost its autonomy and became part of the Moscow state.

Ivan settled all the unfavorable princes and boyars of the Novgorod principality throughout Russia, and settled the city itself with Muscovites. Thus, he secured himself against further possible revolts.

Carrot and stick Ivan Vasilievich collected under his rule the Yaroslavl, Tver, Ryazan, Rostov principalities, as well as the Vyatka lands.

End of the Mongol yoke.

While Akhmat was waiting for Kazimir's help, Ivan Vasilyevich sent a sabotage detachment under the command of Prince Vasily Nozdrovaty of Zvenigorod, which went down the Oka River, then along the Volga and began to smash Akhmat's possessions in the rear. Ivan III himself moved away from the river, trying to lure the enemy into a trap, as in his time Dmitry Donskoy lured the Mongols into the battle on the Vozha River. Akhmat did not fall for the trick (either he remembered the success of the Donskoy, or he was distracted by sabotage behind his back, in the unprotected rear) and retreated from the Russian lands. On January 6, 1481, immediately upon his return to the headquarters of the Great Horde, Akhmat was killed by the Tyumen khan. Civil strife began among his sons ( akhmatov children), the result was the collapse of the Great Horde, as well as the Golden Horde (which formally still existed before that). The rest of the khanates became completely sovereign. Thus, standing on the Ugra became the official end tatar-Mongolian the yoke, and the Golden Horde, unlike Russia, could not survive the stage of fragmentation - later several unrelated states arose from it. Here comes the power Russian state began to grow.

Meanwhile, Poland and Lithuania also threatened Moscow's tranquility. Even before standing on the Ugra, Ivan III made an alliance with the Crimean Khan Mengli-Gerey, the enemy of Akhmat. The same alliance helped Ivan to contain pressure from Lithuania and Poland.

The Crimean Khan in the 80s of the 15th century defeated the Polish-Lithuanian troops and defeated their possessions on the territory of what is now central, southern and western Ukraine. Ivan III entered the battle for the western and northwestern lands controlled by Lithuania.

In 1492 Kazimir died, and Ivan Vasilyevich took the strategically important fortress Vyazma, as well as many settlements on the territory of the present Smolensk, Oryol and Kaluga regions.

In 1501, Ivan Vasilievich ordered the Livonian Order to pay tribute for Yuryev - from that moment russo-Livonian War temporarily stopped. The continuation was already at Ivane IV Grozny.

Until the end of his life, Ivan maintained friendly relations with the Kazan and Crimean khanates, but later relations began to deteriorate. Historically, this is associated with the disappearance of the main enemy - the Great Horde.

In 1497, the Grand Duke developed his own collection of civil laws called Code of Lawand also organized Boyar Duma.

The Code of Law almost officially enshrined such a concept as “ serfdom", Although the peasants still retained some rights, for example, the right to transfer from one owner to another in St. George's Day... Nevertheless, the Code of Law became a prerequisite for the transition to an absolute monarchy.

On October 27, 1505, Ivan III Vasilievich died, judging by the description of the chronicles, from several strokes.

Under the Grand Duke, the Assumption Cathedral was built in Moscow, literature (in the form of chronicles) and architecture flourished. But the most important achievement of that era was liberation of Russia from mongol yoke.

Grand Duke of Moscow and All Russia (1462-1505).

Ivan III Vasilievich was born on January 22, 1440. He was the son of the Grand Duke of Moscow Dark (1415-1462) and his wife, Grand Duchess Maria Yaroslavna, daughter of the Serpukhov prince.

Ivan III Vasilievich was brought up at the court of his father. In 1452, the young prince personally led the Moscow army during the internecine war. In 1456, he was already on a par with his father, taking a real part in the government. Shortly before his death in 1462, he drew up a will, according to which he divided the grand ducal lands between his sons. As the eldest son, Ivan III Vasilyevich received not only the great reign, but also the main part of the state's territory - 16 main cities (not counting which he was supposed to own together with his brothers). Having become the Grand Duke, Ivan III Vasilyevich, for the first time since the invasion of Batu, did not go to the Horde to receive a label.

Continuing the policy of his father, Ivan III Vasilyevich subdued the principalities by force or diplomatic agreements: Yaroslavl (1463), Rostov (1474), Tver (1485), Vyatka land (1489), etc. In 1467-1469 he successfully waged military operations against Kazan khanate, having achieved its vassal dependence. In 1471, Ivan III Vasilyevich made a campaign against and, thanks to a simultaneous strike on the city in several directions, committed by professional soldiers, won the last feudal war in Russia, including the Novgorod lands into the Russian state. In 1478 the Novgorod feudal republic also ceased to exist formally.

In 1480, the Horde Khan Akhmat moved a huge army to Russia, wishing to re-subjugate the country, which had not paid tribute since 1476. At this time, the main forces of the Russians were diverted to the war with the Livonian Order on the northwestern borders of the state. The feudal rebellion of the grand duke's younger brothers also weakened the strength of Ivan III Vasilyevich. In addition, Khan Akhmat concluded an agreement with the Polish king Casimir IV. Ivan III Vasilyevich managed to neutralize the forces of the latter thanks to the peace treaty with the Crimean Khan Mengli-Girey. In an effort to bypass the regiments of the Grand Duke, standing in, Akhmat made a roundabout maneuver, but his attempt to force the Ugra River failed. For the first time on the battlefield, Russian light field guns were used - "squeaks", thanks to which the Horde were repulsed from the fords. After a long "standing on the Ugra", accompanied by minor skirmishes, in November 1480, Akhmat's retreat and flight began. The military success of Ivan III Vasilyevich put an end to the Mongol-Tatar yoke in Russia.

Victory over external enemies allowed Ivan III Vasilyevich to liquidate most of the lands. After the wars with the Grand Duchy of Lithuania (1487-1494 and 1500-1503), many Western Russian cities became part of the Russian state: Chernigov, Novgorod-Seversky, Gomel, etc.

Strengthening the central power under Ivan III Vasilievich required the improvement of the government apparatus, New governing bodies were created - orders. The first legislative code of the Russian state also appeared - the Code of Laws of 1497. The life of the court at the Grand Ducal Palace in the Moscow Kremlin became more complicated and ceremonial.

Ivan III Vasilievich developed an active diplomatic activity, the tasks of which were also subordinate to dynastic politics. In 1472, two years after the death of the Grand Duke's first wife, he entered into a second marriage. His wife, niece of the Byzantine emperor Constantine XI. Thanks to this marriage, the family of the Grand Dukes of Moscow became related to the last dynasty of Byzantium, and the two-headed eagle of the Paleologues first appeared in Russian state symbols.

Grand Duke Ivan III Vasilyevich died on October 27, 1505 and was buried in the Archangel Cathedral of the Moscow Kremlin.

In general, we can say that the reign of Ivan III Vasilyevich was extremely successful, and the nickname of the Grand Duke, widespread in science and publicism, “The Great”, perfectly characterizes the scale of the actions of this outstanding politician of the era of the creation of a unified Russian state.

Ivan 3

Biography of Ivan 3 (briefly)

Ivan Vasilyevich was born in the family of the Great Moscow Prince Vasily Vasilyevich. On the eve of his death, Ivan's father made a will, according to which the land is distributed among his sons. Thus, the eldest son Ivan receives 16 central cities, including Moscow, in his possession.
Having entered into possession, after the death of his father, he issues a decree according to which gold coins are minted with the names of the king and his son. The first wife of Ivan III dies early. In order to intermarry with Byzantium, the king remarries with Sophia Palaeologus. In marriage, their son Vasily is born. However, the tsar appoints not him to the throne, but his grandson Dmitry, whose father was Ivan Molodoy, a son from his first marriage, who died early. In the death of Ivan the Young, the tsar blamed his second wife, who was hostile to her stepson, but was subsequently forgiven. The grandson Dmitry, previously declared the heir to the throne, along with his mother Elena were in disgrace, they were imprisoned, where Elena was later killed. Sophia also dies a little earlier. Despite the mutual hatred during their lifetime, both of them are buried side by side in the Church of the Ascension.
After the death of his second wife, the king is seriously ill, he becomes blind in one eye and his hand stops moving, which indicates a brain damage. On October 27, 1505, Tsar Ivan III dies. According to his will, power passes to his son from his second marriage, Vasily 3.

Ivan's foreign policy 3

During the reign of Ivan III, the long-term dependence on the Horde ceases, moreover, he fervently supports the opponents of the Horde. The final formation of the Russian independent state takes place.
Foreign policy was also successful in the eastern direction, thanks to the correct combination of military force and diplomatic negotiations, the tsar managed to annex the Kazan Khanate to Moscow policy.

During the reign of Ivan III, architectural construction reached an unprecedented rise. Italian masters were invited to the country, who brought a new trend in architecture - the Renaissance. A new round of ideology develops, a coat of arms appears with a two-headed eagle depicted on it.

Ivan's Code of Law 3

One of the important moments of the reign was the Code of Law of Ivan 3, adopted in 1497. The Code of Law was a set of laws that were applied at that time in Russia. In this kind of municipal act, the following were recorded: a list of the duties of officials, the right of peasants to move to another feudal lord, only on the eve or after St. George's Day, with the obligatory payment of tax for living. These were the first prerequisites for the further establishment of serfdom. According to the Code of Law, lynching was not allowed under any circumstances, there was control and adjustment of commercial transactions. A new form of land tenure was introduced - local tenure, according to which landowners work and obey the king.

Domestic policy of Ivan 3

During the reign of Ivan Vasilyevich, most of the lands around Moscow itself were united, and Moscow itself became the center of the state. The structure included: Novgorod land, Tver, Yaroslavl, Rostov principality. After the victory over the Grand Duchy of Lithuania, Chernigov, Bryansk and Novgorod-Seversky were annexed. Thanks to politics and conquests, Russia gained the right to make its own decisions. A command and local control system appeared. In domestic policy, a course was taken to centralize the country. During the reign of Ivan Vasilyevich, culture reached an unprecedented rise: the Assumption Cathedral was erected, the chronicle developed rapidly.
The reign of Ivan 3 was successful and the tsar himself was called "Great".