HISTORICAL DICTIONARY A–Z - Russia: A Reference Guide from the Renaissance to the Present - page 221

position in the world of Russian theater, staging
various important productions, including one of
Boris PASTERNAK 's Doctor Zhivago.

tories occupied by its armies. One year later, Rus-
sia came to terms with Sweden and agreed to
give up its claims to Estonia and surrender Rus-
sian towns in the Gulf of Finland. As a result of
the Livonian War, Russia lost what little access it
had to the Baltic Sea, which it would recover
only in the early 18th century after the Great
Northern War.

Livonian War (1558-1583)
A long, protracted, and ultimately unsuccessful
war that resulted from IVAN IV 's attempt to gain
access to the major seaports along the eastern
Baltic Sea, the Livonian War brought Russia into
conflict with Poland, Lithuania, and Sweden. The
war began in 1558 with the Russian invasion of
Livonia, a Baltic territory then ruled by the Livo-
nian Order of the Teutonic Knights. Livonia itself
was part of a greater Livonian territory that also
included Estonia, Courland, and the island of
Oesel. The Muscovite armies won several victo-
ries in the first years of the war, seizing more
than 20 Livonian towns and fortresses, including
Dorpat (Iuriev). In response, the Livonian Order
dissolved itself in 1561 and transferred the
greater Livonian territories of Estonia to Sweden,
Courland to Poland, and Oesel to Denmark,
while Livonia itself came under the protection of
Lithuania. The order's decision had the effect of
expanding the number of Russia's opponents to
include Poland, Lithuania, and Sweden. Never-
theless, the first phase of the war ended with the
Russian capture of Polotsk from Lithuania in
1563 as well as in seizure of large stretches of
Lithuanian territory. Emboldened by its victories,
Russia rejected a Lithuanian peace proposal in
1566. During the late 1560s, however, as Ivan's
attention shifted to domestic problems, most
notably the campaign of terror conducted by the
oprichnina as well as trouble along the southern
frontier with the Crimean Tatars and their
Ottoman allies, Russia's position deteriorated. In
1569 Lithuania and Poland became one state as a
result of the Union of Lublin. In 1576 they
named Stefan Báthory, a veteran Transylvanian
commander, as their monarch, and three years
later Báthory's troops recaptured Polotsk. With
PSKOV under siege, in 1582 Ivan agreed to a peace
treaty, by which Russia renounced all its claims
to Livonia and returned all the Lithuanian terri-

Lomonosov, Mikhail Vasilievich
(1711-1765)
scholar
Russia's leading intellectual of the 18th century,
Lomonosov was in the words of the poet Alek-
sandr PUSHKIN a “one-man university.” Known in
his lifetime for his literary and philological contri-
butions, in posterity he has been justly recognized
as a scientific pioneer in fields like electricity, heat
and energy conservation, metallurgy, astronomy,
and even early work in atomic theory. The son of
a fisherman and trader, Lomonosov was born in
the ARCHANGEL region near the White Sea. A pre-
cocious learner, he enrolled in the SLAVIC - GREEK -
LATIN Academy in Moscow in 1731. After five
years of studies in extreme poverty, his ability
was recognized and he traveled to St. Petersburg
for further study. Almost immediately he was
chosen to pursue advanced studies in chemistry,
metallurgy, and mathematics at the Universities
of Marburg and Friedburg in Germany. Lomono-
sov's early work in revising the rules of Russian
grammar and literature established him as the
founder of modern Russian literature. He was an
important pioneer of Russian historical studies,
although they lack the scholarly rigor that came
with 19th-century works. Nevertheless, his cri-
tique of the Norman theory of Russia's origins
remains an important contribution to the subject.
Lomonosov's stellar scientific career, beginning
with his return from Europe in 1741, coincides
with the reign of Empress ELIZABETH I . He was
appointed adjunct professor of physics in 1742
and full professor of chemistry in 1745 by the
Russian ACADEMY OF SCIENCES , becoming the first
Russian to gain equal status with the foreign