Russian Crimea Raid

1571

Crimean Tatars under Devlet Giray raided deep into Muscovy and reached Moscow, setting the wooden suburbs alight. Tens of thousands of inhabitants died in the fire and smoke. Ivan the Terrible was humiliated and began reinforcing the southern steppe frontier in earnest. The devastation, killing tens of thousands and carrying off captives for Crimean slave markets, was one of Russia's worst military disasters.