Ivan Vasilyevich, also known as Ivan the Terrible, was the first Tsar of Russia. During his reign on the Russian throne he conquered many lands such as Khanate of Kazan, Khanate of Astrakhan and Khanate of Sibir. He transformed his land of Russia into one of the biggest countries in the world; it was expanding during his reign across approximately 4,050,000 km2.
Background
Ivan was born to the Grand Prince of Moscow Vasili III and to Vasili's second wife, Elena Glinskaya on August 25, 1530. His mother was half of Russian and half of Serbian descent. During his young age, Ivan's father was very sick and eventually, he died from leg inflammation and abscess when the child was only three years old. After his death, Ivan was proclaimed the new Grand Prince of Moscow. His father especially requested that his son Ivan ascends to the throne as Grand Prince of Moscow. Despite this, Ivan was not acting as a regent, because he was still a child and didn't know a thing about how to rule the country. Instead of him, this work belonged to his mother. She died when Ivan was eight years old. Some historians believe that Ivan the Terrible's mother could be a victim of assassination by poisoning.
Ivan had a brother Yuri. He often sent letters to his brother about how he feels neglected and offended by the boyars of the Shuisky family and Belsky family. Those boyar families were disputing the legitimacy of Elena Glinskaya's reign.
Education
Ivan the Terrible didn't receive any formal education at the royal court, because it was not a tradition at Russian royal court. Despite that, he was literate and knew to read.
Career
Ivan the Terrible was first crowned with the Monomakh's Cap at the Cathedral of Dormition. He was crowned with the Monomakh's Cap on January 16, 1547. The same year, he was the first Russian ruler to be proclaimed as the "Tsar of all Russians" at the Uspensky Cathedral of Kremlin. He proclaimed Moscow as the capital of the Holy Russian Empire. At the beginning of his reign career, Ivan the Terrible had three councelors - Alexej Adasjev, Silvester, a priest, and the church Metropolitan Macarius.
First, Ivan made reformations of the Russian governmental system by reducing corruption and the influence of boyar families who had destroyed his childhood. Then he reformed the Russian Orthodox Church and the Russian army. He added a new division for the Russian army - an elite military force entitled as the Streltsi, with the help of which conquered many cities and territories such as the Khanates of Kazan and Astrakhan. After conquerieng the Khanates, Ivan also conquered the cities on the Baltic Sea such as Narva and Polotsk, which enabled Russian Empire to start trading with England. In the Spring of 1533, Ivan the Terrible became very ill. Because he feared death from illness, he demanded an oath of allegiance sworn by his councelors and boyars that his son Dmitri ascends the throne if he dies. He recovered from his illness though, despite all of his councelors and boyars thinking he was going to die. After his recovery, Ivan never forgave his councelors for not swearing on oath of allegiance.
He then, cured of his illness, decided to make Russia a strong centralized country in order to destroy all of the enemies of the Russian people within the country. When his first wife died of illness in 1560, Ivan's personality was once again broken down, and his psychosis from the childhood resurfaced again. He suspected that his councelors poisoned his wife, and he threw them all to the dungeon to starve to death.
During Ivan's reign, Russia became the number one military force in the world. The Tatar Army was repeatedly destroying Russian cities and villages in the northeast. Ivan sent his army division the Strelsi on the Tatars army. In 1552, the Streltsi conquered Tatar strongholds of Kazan and Astrakhan. Later, the conquering of Kazan and Astrakhan influenced Russian expansion into Siberia. In order to celebrate Russian expansion, Ivan the Terrible gave orders to architects Postnik and Barma to build St. Basil's Cathedral on Moscow's Red Square.
Ivan the Terrible established the Zemsky Sobor, which was the first Russian parliament. He also established the Russian first council of noblemen. He changed Russian law code, introducing the Sudebnik of 1550 to the Russian law system.
Ivan the Terrible left Moscow on December 3, 1564. He secretly packed all of his royal belongings and royal treasures and went to a place called Aleksandrova Sloboda. From there, he has sent two letters in which he announced that he would abdicate from the Russian throne. He decided to do it because he was devastated by treason of Russian aristocracy and Russian clergy. Ivan's boyar court feared to rule in his absence and they were also afraid of the revenge of the Muscovite citizenship. A group of boyars later went to Aleksandrova Sloboda in order to beg Ivan the Terrible to come back to the Russian throne. He negotiated with the boyars and decided he would return to the Russian throne under one and only condition: he wanted to have absolute power as a ruler in Russia so he could execute and slain any traitor on the way and take all of their possessions, without clergy and boyars preventing him from doing so. His goals of executing all the traitors of the Russian state led to the creation of oprichnina.
The oprichnina was located in the Russian north, in the territory of the former Novgorod Republic. Ivan the Terrible had absolute power over it. His Council of Boyars were only ruling zemschina aspect of oprichnina territory. He also made a new division of Russian Army in oprichnina, called the Oprichniki with the commander - Malyuta Skuratov. These personal guards of oprichnina had many privileges, both social and economical, under the oprichnina. They first persecuted the princely Russian clans such as the noble families of Suzdal'. Ivan ordered the Oprichnikis to execute, exile and tonsure members of the boyar clans that were accused of conspiracy. Among executed people from the boyar clans were the Metropolitan Phillip and the warrior Alexander Gorbaty-Shuisky. Ivan dismissed the Oprichnina and the Oprichniks in 1572 because they failed to prove themselves as prominent warriors in the 1571-1572 Russo-Crimean war.
Ivan died from a stroke while playing chess with Bogdan Belsky on 28 March 1584. Upon Ivan's death, the Russian throne was left to his unfit middle son Feodor. Feodor died childless in 1598, ushering in the Time of Troubles.
The major achievements of Ivan the Terrible include conquering the Khanate of Kazan, Khanate of Sibir and finally, the Khanate of Astrakhan. With these conquerings, he made Russia a multi-ethnic state and country that expanded on several continents. Russia was the biggest state during his reign. He was also the founder of first Russian publishing house - the Moscow Print Yard. Although he was a cruel ruler, he made many reforms in the Russian government.
Religion
Ivan was Russian Orthodox Christian. He went to the church every day and prayed. He also had many religious books and texts which he read with pleasure, when he was not in the state of madness.
Politics
When Ivan the Terrible was crowned as Tsar, he sent a clear message to the rest of the world - he will be the one and only Russian emperor. He wanted an absolute power in Russia, which he gained 1565, and became Russian absolute monarch.
Personality
Ivan had many traumas from his early childhood and became a very cruel person. He didn't trust people, and looked at the world as a place full of traitors and liars and because of that he executed many people. He was a psychopath and didn't have any remorse for all the executions and slains he ordered. From his early childhood, Ivan showed the signs of being a psychopath - he used to kill animals with his bare hands, take their eyes out. He had a very complex character, and everyone was afraid of him, it is no wonder how he got his nickname the Terrible.
Physical Characteristics:
He was very short and had brown eyes. It was said that in his eyes everyone could see his madness and anger.
Connections
Ivan the Terrible was married seven times. His first marriage was with Anastasia Romanovna. Together, they had six children, but only two survived to adulthood. His second marriage was with Maria Temryukowna, with whom he had one child, who lived for only three months. His third marriage was with Marfa Sobakina, with whom he had no children. Ivan's fourth marriage was with Anna Koltovskaya and his marriage with her was the last marriage that was authorized by the Russian Orthodox Church. He had no children with her. His fifth marriage was with Anna Vasilchikova. They didn't have any children. And his final, third marriage, was with Maria Nagaya.
In the year of 1581, Ivan the Terrible beat to death his pregnat daughter-in-law Yelena Sheremeteva. The reason for it was that he accused her of wearing revealing and provoking clothes. His son, after hearing what his father did to his wife, engaged in a fight with Ivan that resulted Ivan the Terrible kicking his son in the head and almost killing him.
Father:
Vasili III of Russia
He was the Grand Prince of Moscow from 1505 to 1533.
Ivan the Terrible, Troyat, Henri
The author of the best-selling Tolstoy, winner of France's prestigious Prix Goncourt, member of the Académie Française, and renowned expert on Russia paints yet another indelible portrait of one of Russia's imposing historical figures.
