Ivan the Terrible's 1558 invasion of Livonia plunged the eastern Baltic into military crisis. The ensuing conflict has most often been examined in terms of competition between the burgeoning powers that, by 1561, had occupied and partitioned the territories of the Livonian Confederation. The present study instead explores the fiscal and military responses of the Livonians themselves. An institutional approach to the dissolution of Old Livonia is eschewed in favor of one that foregrounds shifting networks of regional power holders endeavoring to defend their interests against a messy backdrop of mercenary warfare, military enterprise, factional rivalry, personal ambition, ad hoc negotiation, and desperate expediency. The Livonian experience reveals much about the struggles of small European polities and regional elites faced with the escalating financial demands of warfare in an age of emerging states.

伊凡雷帝 1558 年入侵利沃尼亚使波罗的海东部陷入军事危机。随后的冲突最常被考察为新兴势力之间的竞争，这些势力到 1561 年已经占领并瓜分了利沃尼亚联邦的领土。相反，本研究探讨了利沃尼亚人自己的财政和军事反应。避免旧利沃尼亚解体的制度性方法，转而支持在雇佣军战争、军事企业、派系竞争、个人野心、临时谈判和临时谈判的混乱背景下努力捍卫自己利益的地区权力持有者网络的转变。绝望的权宜之计。