Ivan IV left behind a compelling and contradictory legacy. His often reckless foreign policies, such as the drawn out Livonian War, left the economy unstable and fertile lands a wreck. Legend also suggests he murdered his son Ivan Ivanovich, whom he had groomed for the throne, in , leaving the throne to his childless son Feodor Ivanovich.
However, his dedication to culture and innovation reshaped Russia and solidified its place in the East. Privacy Policy. Skip to main content. Search for:. Terms oprichnina A state policy enacted by Ivan IV that made him absolute monarch of much of the north and hailed in an era of boyar persecution. Moscow Print Yard The first publishing house in Russia, which was opened in Licenses and Attributions.
Russia was composed of various aristocratic ruling factions at the time, all vying for power when the infant King was crowned. Orphaned, Ivan became the centre of a reanimated and bloody power struggle. From onwards, until he could assume control, the cast of noble clans abused, mistreated and took advantage of Ivan. Often hidden for his protection, his childhood was lonely and challenging; it was a suffering the child would never forget. In , at sixteen, Ivan was crowned Tsar; the first Tsar.
The early years of his rule were relatively peaceful as he consolidated his position through administrative and bureaucratic reform. Prosperity, however, would not last long.
Once secure at home, Ivan sought to expand his territories; he waged a series of unsuccessful wars against the Duchy of Lithuania and the Kingdoms of Poland and Sweden. However, it is quite obvious that the crown is of Asian origin. Ivan dreamed of unlimited power. In he was crowned Tsar or Czar of Russia. He was the first ruler of that title.
Czar was translated into foreign languages as king or emperor that made Ivan equal to the most european rulers. Ivan IV started as a reformer who modernized and centralized the country.
During the first period of his government he:. The building is shaped as a flame of a bonfire rising into the sky. There are no analogues among Russian churches. It says that Ivan the Terrible had put eyes of the architects of St. However that was not enough for Ivan the Terrible. He dreamed of being an absolute monarch and reforms implemented by him before could not ensure the autocracy in Russia.
His background always reminded him of the power of the nobles who used to stage coups. So, what exactly made Ivan so terrible? The seeds of the dreadful human being Ivan would become were sewn in his miserable childhood. His father, Vasili the Grand Prince of Moscow, died when Ivan was just three years old and his mother passed away when he was eight.
The young prince then became the object of power struggles between various members of the nobility, in particular, the powerful Shuisky and Belesky families.
While the royal court descended into a dangerous chaos of murder and intrigue, Ivan and his deaf-mute brother Iurii were treated no better than a couple of street urchins. Ivan the Terrible. There were times when Ivan and his sibling were left clothed in rags and on the verge of starvation.
However, that was all in the future. Unable to take his frustrations out on his tormentors, Ivan took his anger and resentment out on animals instead, pulling the feathers out of live birds and throwing dogs and cats out of windows. At the age of thirteen, Ivan finally bared his teeth. The powerful Shuisky family were by this time the de facto rulers of Russia having emerged victorious from their power struggle with the Belskeys to have control over the prince.
However, they had not reckoned on the boy they had ignored and abused for so many years. At a feast held in , Ivan accused the most powerful of the Shuiskys, Prince Andrei, of mismanaging the country and had him arrested and put to death. Full power was transferred to Ivan on his sixteenth birthday. Two weeks later, he married his first wife, Anastasia. Indeed, it was a time of relative peace and progress.
He introduced reforms that included an update of the penal code introduced by his grandfather, the establishment of a standing army and the introduction of regional self-governance. Ivan also introduced the first printing presses into Russia and ordered the construction of the magnificent St.
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