Siege of Kazan (1552)

Siege of Kazan
Part of Russo-Kazan Wars
Illustration in chronicle
Date September 2, 1552 – October 13, 1552 Location Kazan, Khanate of Kazan, now Russia Result Decisive Russian victory, end of Khanate of Kazan’s power
Belligerents
Tsardom of Russia Qasim Khanate Taw yağı 1	Khanate of Kazan Cheremis and Ar warriors Nogay cavalry
Commanders and leaders
Ivan IV "the Terrible" Alexander Gorbatyi-Shuisky Andrey Kurbsky Shahghali	Yadegar Moxammat (POW) Yapancha bak † Zaynash morza (POW) Qolsharif †
Strength
150,000 men, 150 cannons unknown battleship some siege towers	33,000 men2- 50,000, including civilians3 unknown cannons
Casualties and losses
15,3553-? unknown wounded	Around 65000 dead or missing (including civilians)3 more than 190,000 captured 3 many thousands displaced
1Involvement disputed 2Tatar Encyclopaedia 3Kazan Chronicle; it is likely that this source underestimates Russian and overstates Tatar casualties

The Siege of Kazan in 1552 was the final battle of the Russo-Kazan Wars and led to the fall of the Khanate of Kazan. Conflict continued after the fall of Kazan, however, as rebel governments formed in Çalım and Mişätamaq, and a new khan was invited from the Nogais. This guerrilla war lingered until 1556.

The Russian forces included streltsy as well as Moscow and Qasim irregular feudal cavalry, but the Muscovite artillery and sappers, both Russian and foreigners, played a vital role. At first they faced the Tatar garrison of Kazan, 10,000 Nogay horsemen led by the khan of Kazan, Yadegar Mokhammad, who originated from the Nogai Horde. Cheremiss units and Kazan irregular feudal cavalry had bases in forests north and east of Kazan respectively, with the stronghold of Archa as their base. Before the battle Russians had a fortress on the Volga, Ivangorod, later known as Sviyazhsk, some miles above Kazan. The Russian military engineer Ivan Vyrodkov had built this wooden fortress in 1551, when after the conclusion of peace, the right bank of the Khanate (Taw yağı) had passed to Russia. It would serve as a strong point for the capture of Kazan by the Muscovite army.

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