The Battle of Nevel was fought during the Livonian War between the Kingdom of Poland and the Tsardom of Russia on August 19, 1562.
After Russian forces took Nevel, Polish forces undertook a pillaging raid into the new Russian-held territory. A bigger Russian detachment led by Andrey Kurbsky could not defeat the retreating Polish detachment under the command of Stanisław Leśniowolski.
Modern Polish researches estimating the number of Russians as 25,000.Marek Plewczyński, Wojny i wojskowość polska w XVI wieku Tom II. Lata 1548-1575, Zabrze-Tarnowskie Góry 2012, Infort Editions, p 159, According to the Russian military historian Alexander Filyushkin, this is practically a half of the overall Russian military forces of Ivan the Terrible.Филюшкин А. И. Андрей Курбский. — M.: Молодая гвардия, 2010 He also considers that the battle was massively exaggerated for political reasons in the Polish-Lithuanian chronicles.Филюшкин А.И. Мифология и реалии битвы под Невелем 1562г. // Studia Slavica et Balcanica Petropolitana/ Петербургские славянские и балканские исследования. 2012. № 1. С. 197-202 The Russian losses caused by a 1,500 men strong Lithuanian force grew to over 8,000Kronika polska, Tom 2, Marcin Bielski while the overall strength of the Russian army was described as 40,000 people.
Result In modern historiography, the assessment of events is interpreted in different ways, for example, Alexander Filyushkin (2012) and (2018) believe that the battle ended in a draw. Another opinion is expressed by Polish sources, who assess the battle as a defensive polish victory.Roczniki humanistyczne Tom 14, Towarzystwo Naukowe Katolickiego Uniwersytetu Lubelskiego Wydział Historyczno-Filologiczny. p. 131
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