Diplomacy and trade '' by
Alexander Litovchenko (1875) In 1547, Ivan IV sent his agent Hans Schlitte to Germany to recruit skilled craftsmen and specialists for service in Russia. However, the recruits were arrested in
Lübeck at the request of
Poland and
Livonia, preventing their arrival. Despite Ivan’s efforts to open direct access to Western trade, his newly established
Ivangorod port on the
Narva River in 1550 was largely ignored by German merchant companies, which continued to route commerce through
Livonian-controlled Baltic ports. As a result, Russia remained effectively isolated from maritime trade with Western Europe. 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. Elizabeth agreed on the condition that he provide for himself during his potential stay. 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 the 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. 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.
Conquest of Kazan and Astrakhan '', a
Russian icon from , an allegory of the conquest of Kazan While Ivan was a child, armies of the
Kazan Khanate repeatedly raided northeastern Russia. In the 1530s, the
Crimean Khan formed an offensive alliance with his relative Safa Giray, the Khan of Kazan, in an effort to counter the growing power of
Muscovy. Both khanates, successor states of the
Golden Horde, sought to reassert influence over the Volga and Oka river regions, where Moscow had steadily expanded its control. In December 1540, Safa Giray launched an invasion of Muscovite territory, advancing toward
Murom. His campaign was checked by forces that included
Qasim Tatars, Muslim allies of the Grand Duchy of Moscow. After his advance was halted near Murom, Safa Giray was forced to withdraw to Kazan.
Russo-Turkish War In 1568, Grand Vizier
Sokollu Mehmed Pasha, who was the real power in the administration of the
Ottoman Empire under
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
Sipahis, and a few thousand
Azaps and
Akıncıs were sent to lay siege to Astrakhan and to begin the canal works while an Ottoman fleet besieged
Azov. In early 1570, Ivan's ambassadors concluded a treaty at Constantinople that restored friendly relations between the sultan and the tsar. The envoys were directed to tell 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.”
Livonian War (1574) In 1558,
Ivan IV launched the
Livonian War in an effort to secure access to the Baltic Sea and its lucrative trade routes. The conflict, which ultimately proved unsuccessful, lasted for 24 years and drew in multiple regional powers, including the
Kingdom of Sweden, the
Grand Duchy of Lithuania, the
Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth, and the
Teutonic Knights of Livonia. The prolonged war devastated the Russian economy and, together with the internal turmoil caused by the
oprichnina, severely disrupted governance and social stability. During the later stages of the conflict, the
Union of Lublin (1569) united Lithuania and Poland into the
Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth, which soon gained a vigorous new monarch,
Stephen Báthory, a skilled military commander supported by Russia’s southern rival, the
Ottoman Empire. By the 1570s, Ivan’s realm found itself strategically encircled, pressured by two of the era’s dominant powers to the west and south. Báthory then launched a series of major offensives against Muscovy between 1579 and 1581, aiming to sever the
Kingdom of Livonia from Russian control. In his first campaign of 1579, Báthory captured
Polotsk with an army of approximately 22,000 men. During his second offensive in 1580, he seized
Velikiye Luki with a force estimated at 29,000 troops. The following year, in 1581, he initiated the
Siege of Pskov with an army reportedly numbering around 100,000 men, marking the largest engagement of the war. Meanwhile, in the north,
Narva—in present-day
Estonia—was recaptured by Sweden in the same year, further eroding Muscovy’s positions along the Baltic frontier. Unlike
Sweden and the
Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth,
Frederick II of Denmark struggled to sustain Denmark’s involvement in the
Livonian War. In 1580, he reached an agreement with
John III of Sweden, transferring Denmark’s titular claims to Livonia to the Swedish crown. Muscovy formally recognised Polish–Lithuanian control of Livonia only in 1582, following the
Truce of Yam-Zapolsky. After the death of
Magnus of Livonia, Frederick’s brother and a former ally of
Ivan IV, in 1583, Polish forces occupied Magnus’s holdings in the
Duchy of Courland. Facing limited influence in the region, Frederick II sold his hereditary claims. By 1585, Denmark had effectively withdrawn from Livonia, retaining only the island of
Saaremaa in the Baltic Sea. The
Livonian War concluded in 1583 with the
Truce of Plussa between
Muscovy and
Sweden, following the earlier
Truce of Yam-Zapolsky (1582) with the
Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth. The twin agreements effectively ended Muscovy’s presence in Livonia and deprived it of direct access to the
Baltic Sea. The war established Sweden and Poland–Lithuania as the dominant powers in the eastern Baltic region, while Muscovy’s defeat marked the end of Ivan IV’s expansionist ambitions in the northwest. The economic exhaustion and social disruption that followed contributed to the political instability of the late 16th century, laying part of the groundwork for the
Time of Troubles that engulfed Russia in the early 17th century. (See also
Slavery in the Ottoman Empire.)
Devlet I Giray, Khan of the Crimean Khanate, conducted several raids into Muscovite territory during the late 16th century. In 1571, a Crimean–Ottoman army of about 40,000 men launched a large-scale invasion of the
Moscow region. Because most Russian forces were engaged in the ongoing
Livonian War, the capital was defended by a garrison of only around 6,000 troops, insufficient to resist the Tatar advance. The Crimean force entered Moscow virtually unopposed, burning much of the city and its surrounding settlements in what became known as the
Fire of Moscow (1571). Contemporary and modern estimates of the number of people killed in the fire vary widely, ranging from 10,000 to 80,000. 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-gorods. In addition, it was no longer divided into two parts (the and ), unlike during the 1571 defeat. 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 km from Moscow and brought down his entire army back on the Russians, who managed to take up defense near the
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. Khvorostinin made a
sortie from the fortifications. The Tatars were completely defeated and fled. The next year, Ivan, who had sat out in distant Novgorod during the battle, killed Mikhail Vorotynsky.
Conquest of Siberia 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 the reign of
Ivan IV, Russia began its large-scale expansion and colonization of
Siberia, laying the foundations for future eastward conquest. In 1555, shortly after the
Conquest of Kazan, the Siberian khan Yadegar and
Khan Ismail of the
Nogai Horde pledged their allegiance to Ivan in hopes of gaining his support against rival steppe powers. However, Yadegar failed to deliver the full tribute he had promised to Moscow, and Ivan took no action to assist his struggling vassal. In 1563, Yadegar was overthrown and killed by
Khan Kuchum, who consolidated power in the
Khanate of Sibir and refused to acknowledge Moscow’s authority or pay tribute. In 1558,
Ivan IV granted the
Stroganov family, a prominent merchant dynasty, a charter to colonize the rich lands along the
Kama River. In 1574, their holdings were expanded to include territories beyond the
Ural Mountains, along the
Tura and
Tobol. The Stroganovs were also authorized to construct fortified settlements along the
Ob and
Irtysh, facilitating trade and defense in the region. By around 1577, facing frequent raids from the forces of the
Siberian Khan Kuchum, the Stroganovs enlisted the Cossack leader
Yermak Timofeyevich to defend their frontier lands. This alliance would soon evolve into the first Russian-led expedition into Siberia, marking the beginning of the region’s gradual conquest and incorporation into the Russian state. 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. == Personal life ==