Martin Antonenko
A Fixture
- Joined
- Jul 11, 2008
- Messages
- 8,994
Victorious Russia!
In the spring of 1570 the Tatars of the Crimean Khanate fell under their prince Dewlet I. Giray ...
... into the neighboring Russian area near the city of Ryazan.
It is the 44th such attack in the past 70 years!
But this time the Crimean ruler has - in his opinion - good reason:
He wants to win back the khanates of Kazan and Astrakhan for his empire, which the Russian tsar Ivan IV ("the terrible", excerpt from the painting by Ilya Repin) ...
... conquered in 1552 and 1558 respectively.
The tsar refuses, of course!
Then Dewlet Giraj and his army attack Moscow directly, take the city and let many of its inhabitants jump over the edge and burn the wooden city down almost completely (May 24-26, 1571) ...
Only he cannot conquer the stone Kremlin Castle - and it also withstands all attempts to set it on fire ...:
After that, the Khan, who believes he is victorious, again demands the surrender of Kazan and Astrakhan in return for a peace agreement.
Ivan IV, who still has no intention of giving in, delays the negotiations and finally breaks them off altogether in the spring of 1572, after he had used the previous months to strengthen the Russian armed forces.
Dewlet Giray had gone back to Ryazan during the - unilateral - negotiations as a sign of his "good will" - and now orders his commander Diwej Mirsa ...
... in the summer of 1572 to advance again against Moscow.
On July 26th, 1572 the Tatar army meets the Russian positions - wooden entrenchments - on the river Oka, east of Moscow ...:
The Russians, this time not from the tsar himself but from Prince Mikhail Iwanowitsch Worotynskij ...
... fight off any attempt by the Tatars to cross the river within the next 24 hours.
But the brave resistance ultimately does not help - because the Crimean Tatars find a ford near the town of Kashira - and cross the river unnoticed in the aftermath of July 28th ...:
But then the Tatar commander Diwej Mirsa makes a mistake!
Instead of attacking the Russian troops in the rear and grinding them to dust with his superior force (especially cavalry), he leaves Prince Worotynskij completely unmolested and continues his march on Moscow - leaving an undefeated Russian army behind him ...
When the Russians notice what is going on, they immediately follow the heels of the Tatar army ...:
Diwej Mirsa sets a very leisurely pace because he is carrying heavy siege guns - and so the Russians are fetching from the small village of Molodi (60 kilometers east of Moscow) ...
... the Tatar rearguard.
On the news of the first skirmishes ...
... the Tatar commander recognizes the mistake he made on the Oka and decides to correct it here and now!
He turns around with his entire army and faces the battle, about the outcome of which, given the numbers, he has not the slightest doubt.
But instead of leaving his siege artillery standing guarded on the spot (it is of no use to him in a field battle, since beds first have to be built for the guns), he takes them with him again - and approaches the Russians only very slowly .
**continued next post**
In the spring of 1570 the Tatars of the Crimean Khanate fell under their prince Dewlet I. Giray ...
... into the neighboring Russian area near the city of Ryazan.
It is the 44th such attack in the past 70 years!
But this time the Crimean ruler has - in his opinion - good reason:
He wants to win back the khanates of Kazan and Astrakhan for his empire, which the Russian tsar Ivan IV ("the terrible", excerpt from the painting by Ilya Repin) ...
... conquered in 1552 and 1558 respectively.
The tsar refuses, of course!
Then Dewlet Giraj and his army attack Moscow directly, take the city and let many of its inhabitants jump over the edge and burn the wooden city down almost completely (May 24-26, 1571) ...
Only he cannot conquer the stone Kremlin Castle - and it also withstands all attempts to set it on fire ...:
After that, the Khan, who believes he is victorious, again demands the surrender of Kazan and Astrakhan in return for a peace agreement.
Ivan IV, who still has no intention of giving in, delays the negotiations and finally breaks them off altogether in the spring of 1572, after he had used the previous months to strengthen the Russian armed forces.
Dewlet Giray had gone back to Ryazan during the - unilateral - negotiations as a sign of his "good will" - and now orders his commander Diwej Mirsa ...
... in the summer of 1572 to advance again against Moscow.
On July 26th, 1572 the Tatar army meets the Russian positions - wooden entrenchments - on the river Oka, east of Moscow ...:
The Russians, this time not from the tsar himself but from Prince Mikhail Iwanowitsch Worotynskij ...
... fight off any attempt by the Tatars to cross the river within the next 24 hours.
But the brave resistance ultimately does not help - because the Crimean Tatars find a ford near the town of Kashira - and cross the river unnoticed in the aftermath of July 28th ...:
But then the Tatar commander Diwej Mirsa makes a mistake!
Instead of attacking the Russian troops in the rear and grinding them to dust with his superior force (especially cavalry), he leaves Prince Worotynskij completely unmolested and continues his march on Moscow - leaving an undefeated Russian army behind him ...
When the Russians notice what is going on, they immediately follow the heels of the Tatar army ...:
Diwej Mirsa sets a very leisurely pace because he is carrying heavy siege guns - and so the Russians are fetching from the small village of Molodi (60 kilometers east of Moscow) ...
... the Tatar rearguard.
On the news of the first skirmishes ...
... the Tatar commander recognizes the mistake he made on the Oka and decides to correct it here and now!
He turns around with his entire army and faces the battle, about the outcome of which, given the numbers, he has not the slightest doubt.
But instead of leaving his siege artillery standing guarded on the spot (it is of no use to him in a field battle, since beds first have to be built for the guns), he takes them with him again - and approaches the Russians only very slowly .
**continued next post**
Excellent!
