In development of the Third Rome ideas, the Grand Duke Ivan IV (the "Terrible")[48] was officially crowned the first Tsar ("Caesar") of Russia in 1547. The Tsar promulgated a new code of laws (Sudebnik of 1550), established the first Russian feudal representative body (Zemsky Sobor) and introduced local self-management into the rural regions.[49][50] During his long reign, Ivan the Terrible nearly doubled the already large Russian territory by annexing the three Tatar khanates (parts of disintegrated Golden Horde): Kazan and Astrakhan along the Volga River, and Sibirean Khanate in Southwestern Siberia. http://www.wolny.org.pl Thus by the end of the 16th century Russia was transformed into a multiethnic, multidenominational and transcontinental state. However, the Tsardom was weakened by the long and unsuccessful Livonian War against the coalition of Poland, http://www.wolny.org.pl/Rolety-lodz/Rolety-zewnetrzne.html Lithuania, and Sweden for access to the Baltic coast and sea trade.[51] At the same time the Tatars of the Crimean Khanate, the only remaining successor to the Golden Horde, continued to raid Southern Russia.[52] In an effort to restore the Volga khanates, http://www.wolny.org.pl/Rolety-lodz/Rolety-zewnetrzne-natynkowe.html Crimeans and their Ottoman allies invaded central Russia and were even able to burn down parts of Moscow in 1571.[53] But next year the large invading army was thoroughly defeated by Russians in the Battle of Molodi, forever eliminating the threat of the Ottoman-Crimean expansion into Russia. The slave raids of Crimeans, however, didn't cease until the late 17th century, http://www.wolny.org.pl/Rolety-lodz/Rolety-zewnetrzne-podtynkowe.html though the construction of new fortification lines across Southern Russia, such as the Great Abatis Line, constantly narrowed the area accessible to incursions.[54] Monument to Minin and Pozharsky in Moscow The death of Ivan's sons marked the end of the ancient Rurik Dynasty in 1598, and in combination with the famine of 1601--03[55] led to the civil war, the rule of pretenders and foreign intervention during the Time of Troubles in the early 17th century.[56] Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth http://www.wolny.org.pl/Rolety-lodz/Rolety-zewnetrzne-naokienne.html occupied parts of Russia, including Moscow. In 1612, the Poles were forced to retreat by the Russian volunteer corps, led by two national heroes, merchant Kuzma Minin and Prince Dmitry Pozharsky. The Romanov Dynasty acceded the throne in 1613 by the decision of Zemsky Sobor, and the country started its gradual recovery from the crisis.

• published: 26 Feb 2014
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