Sovereign of all Russia Ivan 3: biography, years of government

The Emperor of all Russia, Ivan 3 was born in an era full of dramatic events associated with the incessant raids of the Tatars and with the fierce struggle of the specific princes, full of treachery and betrayal. In the history of Russia he entered as the Collector of the Russian Land. This fully expresses its role in the formation of the state, which later occupied the sixth part of the world.

A dimwitted childhood

On a frosty winter day, January 22, 1440, a bell rang over Moscow - the wife of Grand Duke Vasily II Maria Yaroslavna was safely removed from the burden. The Lord sent the ruler an heir son, named in honor of St. John Chrysostom, whose memory was to be celebrated in the coming days.

The joy of the happy and carefree childhood of the young prince came to an end when in 1445 under Suzdal his father's squad was completely defeated by the Tartar hordes, and the prince himself was taken prisoner by the Khan of Ulu-Muhammad. Residents of Moscow and her temporary ruler Dmitry Shemyaka were in anticipation of an imminent invasion of their city, which inevitably gave rise to panic and a sense of desperation.

The perfidy of the enemies of the prince

However, this time the Lord took the trouble, and after a while Prince Vasili returned, but for this Muscovites were forced to send a ransom to the Horde, which amounted to an unbearable sum. The discontent of the inhabitants of the city was taken advantage of by the supporters of Dmitri Shemyaka, who had become a taste for power, and plotted against his lawful master.

The Novgorod chronicle tells how on the way to the pilgrimage to the Trinity-Sergius Lavra Vasily III was treacherously captured and, by order of Shemiaki, blinded. This was the reason for the nickname "Dark", which he took root, with which he is known to the present day. To justify their actions, the conspirators let out a rumor that Basil deliberately brought the Tatars to Russia and gave them to the towns and volosts under his control.

Union with the Tver prince

The future Grand Duke Ivan III Vasilievich, along with his younger brothers and boyars, who remained faithful to his father, escaped from the usurper in Murom, but soon managed to lure the young prince to Moscow, and then sent to Uglich, where his father was imprisoned. It is difficult to establish the cause of his further actions - whether he feared the Lord's wrath or, more likely, had his own benefits, but only after a few months Shemyak released the blinded prisoner and even granted him a specific possession of Vologda.

The calculation that the blindness and months spent behind the bars, broke the prisoner, was for Shemyaka fatal mistake, which cost him later life. After being released, Basil and his son went to Prince Boris of Tver and, having concluded an alliance with him, soon appeared in Moscow at the head of a large squad. The power of the usurper fell, and he fled to Uglich. For greater security, the engagement of the six-year-old prince Ivan with the daughter of Boris Princess Mary was performed, which by that time was only four years old.

The first military campaign

In those old times, children grew up early, and it is not surprising that already at the age of nine the heir begins to be called the Grand Duke, and in 1452 the future sovereign of all Russia, Ivan 3, is led by an army directed by his father to capture the Ustiug fortress of Koksheng, where he shows himself as a well-established voivode.

After capturing the citadel and plundering the city, Ivan returns to Moscow. Here, in the presence of the higher clergy and at the confluence of a large crowd, he, a twelve-year-old groom, was married to his ten-year-old bride. At the same time, the loyal people of the prince poisoned Shemyak, who was hiding there in Uglich, than put an end to his claims to power and stopped a bloody feud.

On the eve of independent government

In subsequent years, Ivan III Vasilevich becomes co-regent of his father Basil II and, like him, is called Grand Duke. Until now, coins of that era with the inscription "defy all Russia" have been preserved. During this period, his reign is a chain of unceasing military campaigns, in which, guided by an experienced voivode Fyodor Basenkom, he comprehend the commander's art, skills in which will be so necessary to him later.

In 1460, Basil the Dark One dies, having made a will before his death, according to which the reign of Ivan Vasilyevich III extended to most of the cities of the country. He did not forget the rest of his sons, giving each a specific fiefdom. After his death, Ivan exactly fulfilled his father's will, giving each of the brothers the lands due to him, and became the new sole ruler of the Moscow principality.

First independent steps

Early in being caught up in internal strife and external strife, twenty-three-year-old Ivan III Vasilievich, having received full power after the death of his father, was a well-established ruler. Having inherited from the Basil II a huge, but administratively poorly organized principality, he from the first days of the government led a tough line for its strengthening and expansion.

Assuming the fullness of power, Ivan first of all took care of strengthening the common positions of the state. To this end, he confirmed the previously concluded treaties with the Tver and Belozersky principalities, and also strengthened his influence in Ryazan, putting his man to reign and giving his own sister for it.

Expansion of state borders

In the early seventies, Ivan III began the main business of his life - the annexation to Moscow of the remaining Russian principalities, the first of which became the possession of Yaroslavl prince Alexander Fedorovich, who died in 1471. His heir considered it good, having received a boyar rank, to become a faithful servant of the Moscow ruler.

The Yaroslavl princedom was followed by the Dmitrovsky princedom, also passed under the jurisdiction of the Grand Duke of Moscow. Soon Rostov lands joined him, the princes of which preferred to join the powerful nobility of their powerful neighbor.

Conquering Novgorod and the birth of a new title

A special place among the "gathering of the Russian land," as this process began to be called later, is occupied by Moscow, the independent Novgorod until then, which, unlike numerous principalities, was a free trade and aristocratic state. The seizure of Novgorod extended for a fairly long period, from 1471 to 1477, and included two military campaigns, the first of which culminated in the payment of considerable indemnity by the Novgorodians, and the second led to the complete loss of independence by this ancient city.

It was the end of the Novgorod campaigns that became a landmark in the history, when Ivan 3 became the Sovereign of all Russia. It happened in part by accident. Two Novgorodians, who arrived on business in Moscow, making a petition in the name of the Grand Duke, in spite of the conversion "lord", accepted until that time, used the word "sovereign". Was this an accidental mistake or a deliberate flattery, but only to everyone, and especially to the prince himself, such an expression of loyalty to the feelings was to his liking. By this time, it is customary to refer Ivan's acceptance of the title of Sovereign of All Russia.

Invasion of the Tatar Khan Akhmat

For the period when the head of the Moscow princedom was the sovereign of all Russia, Ivan 3, falls out the most important event in history that put an end to the power of the Horde. It is known as standing on the Ugra. It was preceded by a series of internal conflicts within the Tatar state itself, which resulted in its disintegration and considerable weakening. Taking advantage of this, Ivan 3, the first sovereign of all Russia, refused to pay the established tribute and even ordered the execution of ambassadors sent to him.

Such unprecedented audacity gave rise to the Tatar khan Akhmat, having previously agreed with the Lithuanian ruler Kazimir, to begin a campaign against Russia. In the summer of 1480 he crossed the Oka with a large army and pitched on the bank of the Ugra river. A Russian army hurried to meet him, which was headed personally by Ivan 3, Sovereign of All Russia. Briefly describing the subsequent events, it should be noted that they did not develop into large-scale military operations, but were reduced only to a number of attacks by the enemy, repulsed by the Russians.

Completion of the Tatar-Mongol yoke and the weakening of Lithuania

Having stood on the Ugra before the winter, not waiting for the help promised by Kazimierz and fearing the prince's squads waiting for them on the opposite shore, the Tatars were forced to retreat. Persecuted by the Russians, they went deep into the Lithuanian lands, which ruthlessly plundered in retaliation for violating their prince's obligations.

This was not only the last major invasion of steppe nomads to Russia, which ended the period of the Tatar-Mongol yoke, but also a significant weakening of the Lithuanian principality, which constantly threatened the western borders of the state. From this period, the conflict with him becomes particularly acute, since the annexation of significant territories by Ivan III to the Moscow principality was in conflict with the plans of the Lithuanian rulers.

Politics concerning the Crimean and Kazan khanates

Clever and far-sighted politician Ivan III Vasilievich, whose years of government became a period of unceasing struggle for the independence of the Russian state, in order to suppress the aggression of the Lithuanians, entered into an alliance with the Crimean Khanate, which separated from the internecine struggle from the once powerful Golden Horde. According to the agreements concluded with Moscow, its rulers have repeatedly ravaged their raids hostile to the Russians territory, thereby weakening their potential opponents.

The relations of the Sovereign of All Russia with the Kazan Khanate were much worse . Frequent raids by the Tatars forced the Russians to take a series of retaliatory actions that ended in failure. This problem remained unsolvable until the end of the reign of Ivan III and inherited his successor.

Construction of Ivangorod

Joining Moscow Principality of Novgorod gave birth to a new problem: Livonia became the north-western neighbor of Russians. The history of relations with this state knew different stages, among which relatively peace periods were replaced by armed conflicts. Among the measures taken by the Tsar of All Russia Ivan 3 for the security of the borders, the most important place is occupied by the erection in 1492 of the fortress of Ivangorod on the Narva River.

Further expansion of the Moscow Principality

After the conquest of Novgorod, when Ivan 3 became known as the Sovereign of all Russia, the annexation of new lands became much more active. Since 1481, the Moscow principality was expanded due to the inclusion of territories formerly owned by the Vologda ruler Andrei Menshom, and then to Vereysky prince Mikhail Andreevich.

Part of the complexity was the subordination of Tver principality to Moscow, which ultimately resulted in an armed conflict that ended in the victory of Ivan. The Ryazan and Pskov lands, which after a long but unsuccessful struggle became the ruler of Moscow Prince Ivan III Vasilievich, also failed to preserve their independence.

The biography of this outstanding ruler of the Russian land is inextricably linked with the transformation of a relatively small specific principality inherited from him into a powerful state. It was this state that became the basis of all future Russia, in the annals of which he entered as Ivan the Great. On the scale of the transformations he made, this ruler ranks among the most deserved figures in Russian history.

He completed his life journey on October 27, 1505, having only survived his wife Sophia Palaeologus for a short time. Apprehension of a speedy death, Ivan the Great retired. The last months he devoted to visiting holy places. The ashes of the "collector of the Russian land" have already been buried in the Arkhangelsk Cathedral for four centuries, located on the territory of the Moscow Kremlin, whose walls were erected during his reign and for centuries remained a monument to the era, the creator of which was Ivan 3. The title of the sovereign of all Russia after him entered a permanent And belonged to everyone who happened to ascend to the Russian throne.