Ivan The Terrible Research Paper

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Ivan the “Not So” Terrible Ivan IV, know as Ivan the Terrible, is most known for his brutal ruling and centralizing Russia. He was born in Moscow on August 25, 1530, the oldest son of Vasilij III. Ivan’s father, Vasilij Glinsky, died when he was only three and his mother took the throne. His mother, Yelena Glinskaya was leading the territory that noble family owned, but it soon capsized into intrigue, and violence as rival nobles fought over who would rule Glinsky Family. Yelena died in 1538 and misrule continued. Ivan had a bad health, he was ignored by the many different rulers and his education was neglected. Ivan the Terrible assumed the throne in 1547 at the age of seventeen and immediately proclaimed himself Tsar, instead of Grand Duke. The same year Ivan married Anastasia Romanov. When Anastasia died in 1560, he remarried and had several wives. His reign had many battles with foreign invaders. Kazan was finally wrestled from the grasp of the Tartars in 1552 and St. Basil's Cathedral was built on Red Square to celebrate the occasion. He took Astrakhan on…show more content…
Although Ivan calmed down in 1564 in protest, he was urged back to power and began a rule of terror never before seen in Russian history. He divided the country into two clean-cut spheres, the oprichnina was encompassing his personal domain, and the other ,the zemshchina, representing the rest. Ivan broke the power of the Muscovite boyars, exiling thousands of them to Siberia, and created a new militia. These hand-picked oprichniki, as he named them, were devoted to his orders and were encouraged to rape, loot, burn, kill and torture in the Tsar's name. They spread terror throughout Russia, culminating in the atrocious massacre of Novgorod in 1569, when as many as 60,000 citizens were tortured to death for supposedly plotting to side with
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