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Our Ancestors Defeated Moscow Near Vorsha 505 Years Ago

Our Ancestors Defeated Moscow Near Vorsha 505 Years Ago

Today is the Day of Belarusian Military Glory.

500 years ago, on September 8, 1514, the army of the Grand Duchy of Lithuania defeated the army of the Grand Principality of Moscow, which exceeded it almost three times.

The battle became a turning point during another war with the Grand Principality of Moscow, when its troops tried to seize the territory of modern Belarus. One of the main heroes of the Battle of Vorsha was Hetman Konstantin Ostrozhsky. He headed the 30 thousandth Lithuanian army, which defeated the 80 thousandth Moscow army completely. The Prince, the mayor of Bracław and Vinnytsia, the voivode of Trakai, had fought more than fifty successful battles against the Crimean Tatars by that time.

The main part of the cavalry was commanded by Yuri Radziwill "Hercules", while some detachments were commanded by the Slutsk Prince Yuri Olelkovich and Ivan Sapega.

Victory in the Battle of Vorsha foiled plans for the first geopolitical division of Eastern Europe, which were developped by the Moscow king and Holy Roman Emperor. According to them, the Grand Duchy of Lithuania was to cease to exist as an independent state, and its land should have gone to Moscow.

In the Battle of Vorsha, our country defended its independence. The aggression of the Moscow Principality was stopped for several decades. The battle broke the great alliance of the Holy Roman Empire, the Teutonic Order, the Crimean Tatars and the Principality of Moscow. After it the German emperor refused to alliance with Moscow, and entered into an alliance with the Grand Duke of Lithuania and the Polish king.

September 8 was marked as the Day of Belarusian Military Glory only in the late 80's. And in 1992, on the anniversary of the Great Battle, Belarusian officers took an oath of allegiance to their native country and people on Independence Square in Minsk. On September 8, 1992, 12 officers and 3000 soldiers of the reserve pronounced their oath of allegiance in Minsk. Then the participants of this oath were subjected to pressure from the authorities, but after a very short time all the army units took the oath of allegiance to Belarus.

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