The Evolution of the State Organization for the Protection of the Southern Borders of the Moscow Kingdom in the 16th–17th Centuries: from Passive Defense to Active Off ensive

The article examines the policy of the Moscow state to strengthen the protection of its southern borders from the raids of the Crimean Tatars and Nogais in the late Middle Ages. In the early stages of building up the country's defense capability, the state focused on organizing effective defense, which consisted in building security lines, organizing a field guard service and establishing a logistics system. As the Russian Kingdom strengthens, it gradually moves to an active off ensive into the depths of the steppe. As a result, in the second half of the XVII century. The borders of the Moscow state have moved almost close to the Crimea, and now Russia has become the main danger for Bakhchisarai. For greater clarity, a comparison is made with the model of organizing the defense of the southern borders from the same Crimeans and Nogais, which has developed in the Polish-Lithuanian state. Unlike in Russia, where protection was carried out on a state basis, the Polish-Lithuanian rulers placed all its burden on the shoulders of local magnates and border guards.
As a result, it is concluded that the model created in the Moscow state will be more eff ective than the model built in the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth.