Ivan IV the Terrible (1530-1584), from H.F. Helmolt, History of the World (1901).
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History of Moscow
The first reference to Moscow dates from 1147 when it was an obscure town in a small province, with a mostly Finno-Ugric population, the Merya. In 1156, Prince Yury Dolgoruky built a wooden wall and a moat around the city. The defenses were hardly successful, as in 1177 the city was burned to the ground and its population was killed. After the sacking of 1237-1238, when the Mongols burned the city to the ground and killed its inhabitants, Moscow recovered and became the capital of an independent principality.
In 1300 Moscow was ruled by Daniil Aleksandrovich, the son of Alexander Nevsky and a member of the Rurik Dynasty. Its favorable position on the headwaters of the Volga river contributed to steady expansion. Moscow was also stable and prosperous for many years and attracted a large numbers of refugees from across Russia. By 1304 Yury of Moscow contested with Mikhail of Tver for the throne of the principality of Vladimir. Ivan I eventually defeated Tver to become the capitol of Vladimir, and the sole collector of taxes for the Mongol rulers. By paying high tribute, Ivan won an important concession from the Khan. Unlike other principalities, Moscow was not divided among his sons, but was passed intact to his eldest.
While Khan of the Golden Horde initially attempted to limit Moscow's influence, when the growth of the Grand Duchy of Lithuania began to threaten all of Russia, the Khan strengthened Moscow to counterbalance Lithuania, allowing it to become one of the most powerful cities in Russia. In 1480, Ivan III is said to have finally broken the Russians free from Tatar control (see Great standing on the Ugra river) and Moscow became the capital of an empire which would eventually encompass all of Russia and Siberia, and parts of many other lands.
The tyranny of later Czars, such as Ivan the Terrible, led to a decay of the state, even as the empire was expanding. In 1571 the Tatars from the Crimean Khanate seized and burned Moscow. From 1610 through 1612 troops of the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth occupied Moscow, as its ruler Sigismund III got involved first in an attempt of the Russian gentry to establish a usurper on the throne, then later to form a personal union between the two biggest Slavic states.
However, the effort of the Polish-Lithuanian army had only half-hearted support at home, and the intervention was strongly criticized in the Commonwealth Sejm. Thus, in 1612, the people of Moscow staged another uprising that this time was directed against the Polish-Lithuanian forces and succeeded in recapturing the Kremlin from them. In 1613, an assembly of the Empire elected Michael Romanov tsar, establishing the Romanov dynasty.
Moscow ceased to be Russia's capital when in 1703 Peter the Great constructed St. Petersburg on the Baltic coast. When Napoleon invaded in 1812, the Moscovites evacuated and burned the city on September 14, as Napoleon's forces were approaching. Napoleon's army, plagued by hunger, cold, and poor supply lines, retreated.
In January of 1905, the institution of the City Governor, or Mayor, was officially introduced in Moscow, and Aleksandr Adrianov became Moscow's first official mayor (current mayor is Yuri Luzhkov). Following the success of the Russian revolution in 1917, Lenin, fearing possible foreign invasion, moved capital from St. Petersburg back to Moscow on March 5, 1918.
As a vital junction of USSR railroads and supply lines, Moscow, along with Leningrad and Kiev, was designated one of the three strategic targets of German offensive in 1941. In November 1941, German Army Group Centre was stopped at the outskirts of the city and then driven off in the course of Battle of Moscow.
- Moscow: History – Lonely Planet World Guide
- Moscow: Overview – Fodor's Online Travel Guide
