Siege of Pskov (1581)

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Siege of Pskov
Part of: Livonian War
"The Siege of Pskov", picture by Boris Tschorikow (1836)
"The Siege of Pskov", picture by Boris Tschorikow (1836)
date August 24, 1581 to February 4, 1582
place Pskov , northwestern Russia
output Siege failed
consequences End of the Livonian War
Peace treaty Jam Zapolski contract
Parties to the conflict

Poland-Lithuania

Tsarist Russia

Commander

King Stephan Báthory
Jan Zamoyski

Vasily Skopin-Shuisky
Ivan Shuisky

Troop strength
31,000 16,000

The siege of Pskov lasted from August 1581 to February 1582, when the army of the Polish King Stephan Báthory tried unsuccessfully to conquer the Russian city of Pskov at the end of the Livonian War .

The first units of the Polish-Lithuanian army, which two years earlier had occupied Polotsk and Velikije Luki , appeared on August 18, 1581 in front of the walls of Pskov. The main forces of the conquerors, numbering 31,000 men, began the siege of the city on August 24th. The Russian prince Vasily Skopin-Shuisky nominally headed the defense of the city, but the actual authority lay with his relative Ivan Shuisky . The Russian garrison consisted of 4,000 nobles, strelizi and Cossacks, as well as 12,000 armed citizens of Pskov and its surroundings.

After a two-day bombardment of Pskov, the Polish army attacked on September 8th. The Russians fended off the attack, which ended with heavy losses for the Poles. Polish attempts to undermine and blow up the fortifications were unsuccessful, as was another large-scale attack on November 2nd. A little later the Poles tried to conquer the Pskowo-Pechorsky monastery in today's Pechory, 50 kilometers away , but this also failed.

Stephan Báthory then ordered a passive siege and the battle turned into a blockade. But the residents of Pskov held out during the severe winter. By contrast, a mutiny broke out in the Polish camp and could only be suppressed by the tough crackdown on Chancellor Jan Zamoyski . The Russian partisans were active in the Pskov area and constantly attacked enemy food stores and supply lines. The besieged Pskov made 46 sorties, the Poles attacked 31 times during the five-month siege. The siege dragged on and neither side was able to end it. Finally, diplomatic negotiations with the participation of the Vatican , which sent legate Antonio Possevino , brought the fighting to an end.

Stephan Báthory and Ivan IV signed the Treaty of Jam Zapolski on January 15, 1582 . Russia withdrew its claims on Livonia and Polotsk, and in return Poland-Lithuania returned the previously conquered Russian territories. On February 4, 1582, the last units of the Polish-Lithuanian army left the Pskov area.

literature

  • Manfred Hellmann (ed.): Handbook of the history of Russia . tape 1 : Until 1613: from the formation of the Kiev Empire to the Moscow Zartum , half-volume 2. Hiersemann, Stuttgart 1989, ISBN 3-7772-8908-6 , p. 913 .
  • Nikolaj Karamzin : Istorija Gosudarstva Rossijskogo . tape IX , 1818, chap. V ( History of the Russian State ; Russian).
  • Alois Woldan: The Siege of the City of Pskov in Russian and Polish Historiographical Literature . In: Wiener Slavistisches Jahrbuch . tape 43 , 1997, pp. 259-272 .

swell

  • Solikowski, Jan Dymitr : Joannis Demetrii Sulikovii Archiepiscopi Leopoliensis Commentarius Brevis Rerum Polonicarum: A morte Sigismundi Augusti Poloniae Regis, Anno MDLXXII Mense Iulio Knisini mortui. Danzig 1647. pp. 135f.

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