Battle of Vedrosha

Battle of Vedrosha was one of the greatest battles in the medieval history of Russia. It was fought on July 14, 1500, some 50 km to the west of Kaluga, between joint forces of the Grand Duchy of Lithuania and Kingdom of Poland under command of Prince Konstantin Ostrozhsky and the Muscovite army under Prince Daniil Shchenya.

The outstanding Russian commander employed basically the same tactics as proved successful for the Russian army in the Battle of Kulikovo. Vedrosha was a crushing victory for the Russians. Some 5.000 Lithuanians were killed, and many more were taken prisoner, including Prince Ostrozhsky, the first ever Grand Hetman of Lithuania, himself.

The battle led to the peace treaty of 1503, which saw huge territories (about one third of the Grand Duchy) incorporated into the nascent Russian state. Upon his release, Prince Ostrozhsky made several attempts to retaliate, but his brilliant victory at Orsha (1514) didn't entail any political consequences.

References

• The battle was described by Sigismund von Herberstein in his Rerum Moscoviticarum Commentarii (1549). Herberstein acidly commented that "in one battle and in one year the Grand Duke of Muscovy achieved what Grand Duke Vytautas had spent all his life in achieving".