Crisis of the late 16th century in Russia

Russia suffered from an economic and social crisis in the second half of the 16th century which led to famines, depopulation and the abandonment of agricultural lands.

The taxes had risen significantly in the previous decades as the state waged expensive wars against the Tatars in the east and against Poland and Sweden in the west.

[citation needed] The famine ensued with the grain prices increasing 8-10 times and remaining high after another poor harvest next year.

As part of his attack Ivan burned the fields, laying waste roughly 90 percent of the arable land surrounding Novgorod.

Coupled with the crop failures of the years before, this would create a massive food shortage (and cause supply problems for Russia in the Livonian war).

The Crimean Tatars attacked Russia in 1571 burning down Moscow, devastating large areas of the country and carrying 100,000 prisoners into slavery.

[2] The peasants of the Joseph-Volokolamsk Monastery explained the drop in land under cultivation by a combination of the pestilence, Tatar raids, bad harvests and heavy taxation.

The population of the Novgorod region fell by more than 80%, with the records of Derevskaya district showing that one third of cultivated land was deserted due to mortality.