Polotsk war. Essays on the history of the Russian confrontation of the times of Ivan the Terrible. 1562-1570

In the history of the Russian -Polish -Kolitovsk confrontation, which lasted two hundred years, from 1486 to 1686, war 1562–1570. It occupies the most important place. During this conflict, which can rightfully be called the War of Polotsk, it was Polotsk that became the main goal of Ivan the Terrible, and the main events unfolded around him. During this conflict, two political systems were kept by the exam, Russia of Moscow and Rus of Lithuania. And if Moscow Russia passed this difficult test, then Lithuanian Russia could not stand the audit and, according to the results of the war, ceased to exist as a political entity, defactive by Poland as a result of the Lublin Union of 1569. The course of the Polotsk war, which, despite the fact that the Lithuanian ones was unsuccessful for the Vilno Union of 1569 The troops repeatedly prevailed over the Russian regiments, nevertheless, “points” was won by Moscow, predetermined the end of the history of the Grand Duchy of Lithuania and changed the history of Eastern Europe for several centuries in advance.
Of all the components of the history of the Polotsk war, it is its military history in the domestic and even more foreign historiography that was clearly studied in a clearly and accompanied by a train of old myths and errors. This is largely due to the fact that the attention of researchers, as a rule, attracted the violent events of Russian political history of the 60s. XVI century. In the best situation was only the main event of the war - the siege and capture of Polotsk by the Russian troops, but this significant event is by no means exhausted. To correct this injustice at least partially and this study is called upon. Without claiming the absolute completeness and completeness of the description of the conflict, the author believes that this work will be interesting to teachers, students and everyone who is interested in the military history of Russia of the 16th century, the history of Russian military affairs and Russian society of that era