Siege of Reval (1577)

The Siege of Reval (1577) was a failed siege conducted by Tsar Ivan IV against the Swedish city of Reval during the Livonian War. Despite being able to occupy eastern Livonia, the Russian campaign eventually ended in failure due to the Russians failing to capture Reval.

Background
In early January of 1577, two men snuck away from Reval and secretly told the Russians about the terrible conditions in the city, they told the Russians that the people in Reval were very concerned that Sweden was going to emerge victorious in the ongoing war, after which the Russians decide to attack the city.

Siege
On 23 January, a Russian army numbering around 50,000 came up to Reval. It was led by the Tsar, Ivan IV, Fjodor Mustislavski, Ivan Kolzoff, and Ivan Men’shoi Sheremetev. Four days later, the Russian bombardment of the city walls begin, however, the city's defenses had been well prepared for this, and the commanders, Henrik Klasson Horn along with his son had done their best to make the defenses as effective as possible. A man by the name of Ivo Skenkenberg was given command of a force of Estonian peasants

The Swedish commanders managed to effectively lead the defense, with soldiers, burghers, and peasants inside the city being determined to defend it from the Russians. Initially for the defenders, the incendiary shells fired from the Russian positions pose the greatest danger to them, but this is effectively fixed by storing away any particularly flammable material, and introducing a reward for every "fireball" handed over to the commander. The Swedes also carried out many successful sorties against the besiegers, like one killing Ivan Kolzoff. Another one of the sorties was so successful that the leader, Ivo Skenkenberg, received the nickname "Reval's Hannibal"

The artillery inside the fortress also inflicts heavy casualties on the Russians, with Ivan Men'shoi Sheremetev being killed by a cannonball from the fortress. On March 13, Ivan gives up and lifts the siege, with the Russians burning their camp and retreating the same day, with the Russians having suffered around 3,000 casualties.

Aftermath
After the Russians withdrew from Reval, the Swedes went on a counteroffensive, recapturing several smaller strongholds around Reval.