When Did the Campaign for the Conquest of Kazan Khanate Begin?
The article is devoted to the Moscow-Kazan relations of 1545-1552. The author reveals some features of the evolution of annalistic representation that allows us to refine the military-political strategy of the Kazan Khanate elimination. The author concluded that the original chronicle note for 1553 underwent editorial revision to present the eastern policy of Moscow in a more favorable light. Chronicle editors attempted to show that even in 1552 residents of Kazan could avoid the military collision and preserve the autonomy of their khanate, if they obeyed Ivan IV. Following this version, some researchers believed that Moscow decided to conquer the khanate only by spring 1552 when Kazan rejected the peaceful solution of the problem. However, proceeding from the general analysis of sources, other historians considered that the decision of final conquest of Kazan khanate was made much earlier. At the same time, the idea of the need to capture Kazan appeared in Russian society even earlier. However, according to chronicles and diplomatic documents, the Moscow government sought to establish unequal relations with Kazan, without declaring intentions to conquer the khanate both at the time of Vasily III and at the beginning of Ivan IV's reign. Thus, the question is open about when the Russian government decided to liquidate the Kazan khanate? Acceptance by Ivan IV of an imperial title, which equalized the status of the Russian governor with the khans of Kazan and Astrakhan, was an important ideological step on the way toward the conquest of Kazan khanate supporting his claims to the eastern lands. Besides, it was precisely in 1547, when Ivan IV began to personally lead campaigns against Kazan. Military expeditions of 1547-1550 were similar in scale to the military campaign of 1552. Therefore, military campaigns of 1547-1552 had the common goal - the conquest of Kazan. Thus, the decision of the conquest of the khanate was made no later than 1547.