Battle of the Sheloni River. The Battle of Shelon of 1471

For some reason, it is considered that relations between the rulers of Rus differed in mutual respect and warmth. But this statement is refuted by cruel historical realities: internecine wars were quite common, and the aspiration of some princes to independence was only conducive to this. An excellent confirmation is the battle on the Sheloni River.

Brief information

The battle took place in 1471, on July 14. As is clear from the title, the battle took place on the banks of the Shelon River (about 30 km to the west of Lake Ilmen). The opposing parties were the Moscow Principality and the Novgorod Republic.

The event in question refers to the time of the campaigns of Ivan III, who decided once and for all to put an end to the independence of Novgorod. However, the main reason was not even that. The fact is that the Novgorodians at that time recognized the vassal dependence on the Lithuanian principality, led a constant hostile policy towards other Russian principalities. But the history of the Moscow principality is such that this version also raises doubts. Most likely, Ivan III still wanted to get rid of an excessively independent unit.

Basic information

In the summer of 1471, an army of about 10,000 warriors marched into the campaign. Prince D.D. Kholmsky, whom Ivan blessed for "pacification" of Novgorod. The policy of the latter did not appeal to even independent Pskovians, who also sent troops to help Moscow volunteers. However, for their ardent desire to help Ivan could well be influenced by the recent Moscow embassy, which asked to fight "for the great insult of the prince." If Pskov refused, he would immediately be among the worst enemies of the Moscow sovereign personally, with all the ensuing consequences ...

According to the chroniclers, Novgorod's army was four times larger than the regular Moscow army, but most of it consisted of untrained posad militia. Headed by D. Boretsky. The Novgorodians were forced to hurry with the recruitment of troops, as they had to quickly intercept the Pskovs in the hope of destroying the enemy and secure their rear.

The first collision

And then, on the morning of July 14, this team of "solyanka" Novgorodians unexpectedly met with a small (not more than five thousand) detachment of Pskov, going to join with the bulk of the troops. Despite the eightfold (!) Superiority of the enemy, Kholmsky boldly attacked him. However, he was not a madman: a selective princely army of perfectly trained and armed combatants literally scattered the militia of Novgorod, most of whom did not know how to fight at all. So (in short) the battle took place on the Sheloni River.

It is assumed that the losses of the affected were no less than 12 thousand people, another two thousand surrendered. Others in a terrible panic fled into the woods. This defeat predetermined the end of Novgorod's independence and its flirting with the Lithuanians.

The political situation of that time

However, in the 15th century Novgorod itself experienced far from the best times. Knowing oppressed the lower and even middle strata of the population, why internal riots became commonplace. The top could not cope with them on their own, and therefore concluded a treacherous treaty with the Polish-Lithuanian king, who sent troops and his governor to Novgorod. They became Prince Mikhail Olelkovich, appointed by Kazimier IV. This Moscow Principality in the 15th century could not forgive.

The last straw was that even the appointment of the Metropolitan of Novgorod was not claimed in Kiev. At the same time, they openly began negotiations with Lithuanians and Poles, seeking allied obligations in case of war with Ivan III. Even among the Novgorodians themselves, such open betrayal caused a storm of indignation. Unfortunately, there was no unity among the opponents of the "central line". The city is mired in internal strife, the Novgorod militia was very weak and heterogeneous.

Ivan the Third in the role of peacemaker

One should not consider Ivan a bloodthirsty tyrant. He repeatedly tried to reason with Novgorod, using the influence of the church for this. Metropolitan with all his might tried to warn the rebellious city against doing business with the "Latins," but he had no success. Not surprisingly, the other principalities appreciated Novgorod's actions as treason to the country and faith.

In March 1471, Mikhail Olelkovich left Novgorod and traveled to Kiev for talks. But Ivan III was sick of the treachery of the Novgorodians, and therefore he decides to convoke a crusade against the traitors. In principle, everyone understood the political underpinnings of the coming war, but it was the religious color that was to become the core that held the resolve of all the princes.

From the spring preparations began for the campaign. It was planned to attract Vyatches, Ustyuzhans, Pskovians, as well as the people of Novgorod's heights and suburbs, loyal to Moscow, to their side. First they decided to surround the city, to cut it off from all the trade routes linking the traitors to Lithuania. In principle, the Moscow-Novgorod wars were not news (we talked about constant civil strife), but this time the prince was serious.

Trip plan

From the west and east two powerful detachments were to approach, and already from the south it was planned to inflict a strong blow by the army, headed by Ivan III himself. In Ustyug (May, 1471), the embassy was sent, the main purpose of which was to attract Ustyuzhans and Vyatches to their side. Ivan intended to use their combined army for distracting blows, which would weaken the main forces of Novgorod. The plan worked out brilliantly. The battle on the Sheloni River was won.

Main events

The trip itself was not accidentally planned for summer time: in the spring and autumn the swamps around Novgorod became impassable for a large army, and in the winter it was too expensive to fight. The weather was favorable to the full: there was a terrible heat, most of the marshes dried up, and the Shelon River itself became shallow.

Commanded by the detachment princes Kholmskaya and Fedor Davydovich Pestry-Starodubsky. The troops spoke at the very beginning of June. The brothers of Ivan III, princes Yuri and Boris, joined the rati a little later. The detachment of Kholmsky quickly repulsed and completely burned Staraya Russa. Then he came to the river Shelon, and on its shores began to await the approaching main parts of the army. As the chroniclers of that time say, the soldiers mercilessly killed and plundered the inhabitants of the rebellious side that betrayed Moscow.

Approaches to Novgorod

In mid-June, Prince Obolensky Striga and Danyar, the Tatar prince, left Moscow and moved to Vyshny Volochek, heading down the Meta River, seeking to get to Novgorod from the east. The main forces moved out of Moscow only at the end of June, walking on foot through Tver and Torzhok, where the host of the local princes joined them.

Novgorod at this time also actively preparing for battle. All the battle-worthy townspeople local nobility forcibly sent to the militia. Despite the large number of troops recruited, its members were at war with Moscow and other Russian cities. The fighting capacity and general mood were very low, since the Grand Duchy of Moscow was very strong, and no one was sure of the allied help from the Poles and Lithuanians.

Plans of Novgorodians

The only chance for the Novgorodians would be constant attacks on the army of Ivan in order to gradually cope with the main forces in parts. His cavalry Novgorod sent to the Pskov direction. As already mentioned above, this army was supposed to prevent the union of the Pskovites with the main forces. The infantry was sent to the Sheloni River in order to discover and disperse the detachment of Prince Kholmsky.

Vasily Shuisky commanded the third detachment, which, acting irrespective of the main forces, was supposed to "chase everyones". However, the entire plan from the very beginning fell through, since the Novgorodians acted extremely uncoordinated. The Muscovites were not much better - they were slow and too fragmented. Because of all this, the only reliable detachment in those parts was the army of Prince Kholmsky. The outcome of this whole strange war was decided where the Shelon River flowed.

The beginning of hostilities

Near the village of Korostyn, the Novgorodians decided to use the isolated position of Kholmsky and break it. The army was divided into two detachments: the cavalry had to strike from the right flank, and the infantry had the task of attacking the rear of Muscovites. They were again led by a general disorganization. The militia acted sluggishly, hesitantly, so that the battle on the Sheloni River was lost by them long before its actual beginning.

While the Novgorodians were understanding what and how to do, Kholmogorsky suddenly appeared near the village, attacking the infantry of the enemy. The forces of Novgorod were smashed completely. Then the prince went to Staraya Russa, where he again began to expect the approach of the main forces. And again he met with the Novgorodians, the next army of which rose upstream of the river Poli. The active prince again attacked and again won. Surprisingly, the elite cavalry of the Novgorodians during the two battles completely froze.

So it was predetermined the annexation of Novgorod to the Moscow principality.

Behavior of Ivan III

Kholmogorsky understood that such amateur performance, even if successful, might not be to the liking of an authoritarian autocrat. Chroniclers report that he sent messengers to the tsar with reports of victories, and asked for advice on further actions. Ivan did not become angry (unsurprisingly), but ordered the prince to unite his army with the Pskov.

However, the prince himself understood that further independent actions could already cost them too much: the Novgorodians, brave for all their dubious political preferences, fought bravely. The detachment of Kholmsky by that time had already lost more than four thousand warriors.

The main battle, description

After the infantry was defeated, the cavalry of the Republic nevertheless deigned to appear on the banks of the river. They went to meet the same Kholmsky, moving up the Sheloni. And only the current of the river divides the opponents. The Novgorodians, including the color of their boyars, began to spend the night. The next day the Battle of Shelons began.

From early morning, both troops began to throw arrows and bullets across the river. Again, Kholmsky decided on a sudden maneuver. Quickly crossing the river, his small, but very angry and friendly squad attacked the Novgorodians, who, from such a pressure, quickly lost all their fighting fervor. At this time, the rest of the troops slowly and without loss crossed the river and entered the battle.

Despite the initial shock, the Novgorodians began to struggle desperately, because they had nothing to lose. A detachment of Tatar horsemen attacked their flank, after which many warriors fled. Here is what is surprising: despite the battle, the Novgorodians, according to the memoirs of contemporaries, "like a chain broke." They began to intensively settle scores with each other, as a result of which almost half the boyars were killed by blows in the back.

results

Victory was brought not only by military valor, but also by surprise. Still, the Novgorodians were much more, even despite their disunity. The victory was of strategic importance: the Novgorod Council suddenly manifested consciousness and decided to ask for mercy from Ivan III, to which the Grand Duchy of Moscow responded with consent.

Muscovites' forces went further along Sheloni, where on June 27 they were to meet with the embassy headed by Metropolitan Theophanes. Strangely enough, but the terms of the armistice were quite soft: first, Novgorod swore allegiance to the tsar. Secondly, he paid an indemnity amounting to 16,000 Novgorod rubles. We can say that the incident was only an indicative flogging, showing the arrogant boyars the power of all of Russia.

And at this time ...

The third detachment of Novgorod, led by Shuisky, went to Ustyug. They did not know anything about the outcome of the main battle. Boyars from Moscow, having gathered a fist from Ustyug and Vyatichi, came forward to meet. The troops met on the Dvina River. The assembled detachment of Muscovites led by Vasilii Obraztsa smashed Shuisky's army tightly. And again, the Novgorodians were not helped by their triple numerical superiority, since the overall combat capability was extremely low.

Of course, the accession of Novgorod to the Moscow principality did not happen immediately. This happened only after seven years, but that victory radically shook the power of that part of the Novgorod nobility, who did not regret submitting to Ivan III. Kholmogorsky, who did the demonstration spanking, clearly demonstrated that it is extremely dangerous to quarrel with the state. Thus, the battle on the Sheloni River in 1471 set a fatty point in the history of independent Novgorod.