Saturday, April 13, 2013

Caly dzien

w pizamie + nieposcielone lozko + duzo lektury i snu. Tez uporzadkowalem poczte imelkowa. Przepraszam za pozne odpisy na imelki.

Poland-Lithuania had a new king, one who would prove to be a much formidable adversary then any Ivan had faced thus far.
Following a period of confusion, the newly united nation settled on Transylvanian prince Stefan Bathory as its monarch. Bathory, whose martial experience was already extensive, was no friend of Muscovy. He refused to even consider Ivan a real czar, referring to him only as a grand prince. He intended to forcefully contest Muscovy's hold of Livonia. Well supplied with finances and an army of Germans, Hungarians, Cossacks, Tatars, Livonians, Poles, and Lithuanians, Bathory demanded all of Muscovite-controlled Livonia as the price for peace. Naturally, Ivan refused, laying massive terms of his own, including possession of the important city of Kiev.
Before Bathory's new army even took the offensive, the ride was turning in his favor. A Polish force recaptured Wenden in early 1578. Ivan called for reinforcements in the late summer and placed Wenden under siege. Both Poles and Swedes were present, and for the first and only time in the war the two unofficial allies fought side by side. In September, they struck back against Ivan's 18,000 besiegers, driving the Muscovite cavalry from field and leaving the infantry helplessly exposed in their trenches. The resulting massacre was tremendous. A third of the Muscovites perished. Artillerymen blew themselves up with their own cannons to escape capture and torture. Soon, Bathory was entertaining fantasies of conquering Muscovy itself.
Bathory formally declared war on June 26, 1579, adding a personal challenge for Ivan to face him in mortal combat. The czar declined, deciding to meet his adversary under less romantic circumstances on the battlefield. His army of 40,000 men was significantly smaller than Bathory's 60,000-man force, but fortified positions within ravaged Livonia held some advantages. The Polish king devised a strategy to avoid further deprivation in Livonia by driving north to cut off the Muscovites. The threat to his homeland would force Ivan to withdraw and subsequently allow the Poles to liberate Livonia with minimal resistance.
The Muscovites were completely unprepared. Reflecting Ivan's assessment that Bathory's troops were nothing more than "a small army of volunteers," his forces were spread out all over Livonia. When the Polish campaign commenced in July, the czar, confused and indecisive, chose to divide his forces to cover Polotsk, Nevel, and Smolensk rather than await events with one strong army. As it turned out, one of his guesses was correct. Although the Poles were indeed marching on Polotsk, the Muscovite detachment was inadequate to stop them. The enemy simply pushed it aside, approached the walls of Polotsk, and commenced its bombardment on August 11. Three weeks later, the city capitulated. A Polish officer said later that he had "never seen so many corpses together."
The relentless Polish advance rapidly erased more than 20 years of Muscovite rule. The Poles forced the surrender of fortresses throughout Livonia while raiding deep inside Muscovy itself. Ivan became so desperate for a truce that he requested papal mediation, but the pope's intercession was not enough to bring Bathory to the negotiating table. In the summer of 1581, the king crossed the Muscovite border. His sights were set on Pskov, a city of 20,000 surrounded by thick walls and moats and guarded by a 16,000-man garrison.
While separate detachments raided Starodub, Tver, and Novgorod, which burned its own suburbs to deprive the enemy of them, Bathory's main army advanced on the primary objective. The siege that was to climax the entire Livonian War began on August 25. Once again, Ivan could do little bat await events. The entire population of Pskov mobilized in the defense of their city. The garrison's commander, Ivan Shuisky, swore to defend it to the death. The atmosphere was thick with religious fervor. It was even purported that the cannons had been placed through the intercession of the Virgin Mary. If Bathory wanted Pskov, he would have to pay dearly for it.
The Poles commenced their bombardment on September 7. "Sire, we shall dine with you tonight in Pskov!" one officer boasted. But the Muscovites were too determined to collapse so easily. They drove back the first Polish assault, which only managed to capture two bastions, and subsequent attacks against the walls met with even less success. The Muscovites gave as good as they got, cunningly destroying every sapping tunnel and raining down return fire on the attackers' heads. As September turned into October, Bathory grew nervous. His ammunition was running law - some of it was destroyed in an accidental fire - and an early winter threatened to make remaining in the field intolerable.
Ivan too was feeling an increased sense of urgency. News from the north was grim. The Swedes, now led by the French mercenary Pontus de la Gardie, were running rampant through Ingria and Karelia; the entire Gulf of Finland was in their hands. At the height of the bloodletting at Pskov, word filtered in that Narva had fallen. Nothing could have been more disastrous. With the Swedes unchallenged and threatening Novgorod, the Poles had to be stopped at all cost.
On October 28, Bathory launched an all-out assault on Pskov. A detachment of soldiers advancing in the old Roman tortoise formation crept forward in the direction of one of the corner towers to dig a ditch and undermine its foundation. The down's defenders poured down boiling tar on the attackers, who broke and fled in utter agony. Bathory ordered a second attack, but it too met with disastrous results. A few days later, on November 2, he tried one final time. When this too failed, he sent word to the Muscovites that he was willing to negotiate.
The two sides met to discuss terms with the papal mediators at Yam Zapolsky. Even after their failure to take Pskov, the Poles unmistakably maintained the upper hand. Bathory, not convinced the war was over, returned to Poland to beg the Diet form more funds, leaving behind a subordinate to conduct negotiations and contend with an army that was nearing mutiny.
For his part, Ivan was desperate for peace. After decades of war and domestic upheaval, Ivan's kingdom risked total collapse if it did not find some relief. The terms for such relief were harsh.
In exchange for a 10-year truce, Poland demanded Muscovite recognition of Polish suzerainty over central and southern Livonia. On January 15, 1582, Ivan caved in to all the Polish demands. Bathory, who could hardly turn down such an advantageous peace, abandoned his efforts to continue the war (Louis Ciotola, "When Ivan became Terrible", MILITARY HERITAGE, January 2013).

02:48 Hrs. Budzi mnie siusiu + syrena karetki za oknem.

06:02 Hrs. Budzi mnie siusiu.

18:07 Hrs. "Zyje w kraju, w ktorym wszyscy chca mnie zrobic w chuja. Za moja kase" - unosi sie z mojej poczty imelkowej. W pelni zgadzam sie z solista + z tym, ktory przyslal me ten link.

22:25 Hrs. Jem 2 owoce awokado, pokropione octem jablkowym + pije szklanke wody.

23:24 Hrs. Biore kapsulke glogu HAWTHORNE EXTRACT.

23:31 Hrs. Biore 1 lyzeczke cynamonu w proszku + pije kubek zielonej herbaty + kapsulka jagody brazylijskiej Acai.

No comments: