By: Sneha Sagi
Objective: Analyze the rule of Ivan IV “The Terrible”.
IVAN IV
Who?
What Happened?
- Tsar Ivan IV is known as Ivan the Terrible.
- Reigned during 1533-1584
- He began to rule officially at the age of sixteen even though his father died when he was only three years old. At the age of sixteen he also got married to Anastasia Romanov who came from a powerful and ambitious boyar clan.
What Happened?
- He tried to follow in the footsteps of Ivan III. He embarked on a series of reforms to help improve the administration and to also root out the causes for corruption in both the Russian government and the Russian Orthodox church.
- He distanced himself from boyar clan rivalries and fights. Instead he ruled with the help of the Chosen Council, an inner circle of advisors who were picked based on their talents not the family they came from. He also set up the practice of calling "assemblies of the land." These were meetings of representatives who informed him of local situations in the Russian Empire. These were the two main methods he used to create an administration that functioned independently.
- Ivan's personality and mood swings caused him to be overwhelmed by his desire to build a more effective government.
- He believed that boyars were slowing and stopping his efforts at reshaping the Russian government and empire. He even was suspicious that the boyars killed him own wife in 1560. For these reasons in 1564 he abdicated the throne in a big and bold way, saying the boyars prevented him from ruling and governing efficiently.
- The subjects began to panic and soon a large delegation of subjects appealed and begged for him to come back. He agreed to come back on the condition that he gets the power to deal with treacherous boyars. He would also get complete control over a vast part of the Muscovite territory that he called oprichnina. It means the "land apart."
- This new power allowed Ivan IV to confiscate land and large estates and redistribute them among his supporters, he redistributed his land to people who were loyal to him.This helped him further create a new aristocracy. They were called the oprichniki.
- The oprichniki dressed in black and wore a insignia displaying a dig's head and a broom, this was symbolic. It was meant to show their determination to "hunt" down treason and "sweep" it out of Russia. Under Ivan IV guidance they were very cruel. Observers wrote of giant frying pans set up in the center of Moscow, to cook and burn suspected traitors. They would skin people alive and would tell them that the innocent would grow new skins.
- Many of his policies reflected the fact that he had many dangerous enemies. The creation of the oprichniki had weakened Russia. This made the empire vulnerable to attacks from Poland in the West and the Mongols in the Southeast.
- He also turned on the oprichniki, giving them cruel punishments, punishments he would give to his enemies. It is possible that medical problems can explain Ivan IV's crazy behavior. The tsar suffered from a spinal disorder and he used to take drugs and alcohol to ease the pain.
- Ivan's reign ended and any boyar opposition to the Russian autocracy.
^The Oprichniki
The Results of his Death
- Ivan IV died in 1584, after 51 years on the throne.
- He left no heir. (He killed his oldest son himself)
- Russia soon fell into a civil war. The helped bring a devastating famine. The neighboring Poland and Sweden empires took advantage of the chaos and anarchy and started to invade Russian territories. This time of troubles lasted 15 years from 1598-1613.
- Wanting a legitimate head for the the state there was two brief reigns. These two leaders both claimed to be Dmitrii, a deceased son of Ivan IV who was restored to life by a miracle. A uprising by a former slave shoed that there were many deep social problems in the plagued Russia.
- In 1610, when Polish and Swedish armies were close to taking over and threatened the integrity of the Muscovy, volunteer armies rallied to help expel these foreign invaders. They soon came together to elect a new tsar.
- Representatives from around the country selected a boyar named Mikhail Romanov. He was a young relative of Ivan the Terrible's first wife Anastasia. The new Romanov dynasty lasted until 1917. It barely ever faced any challenges to its legitimacy despite the wide variety of tsars and tsaries who sat on the throne.
Ivan's Reign of Terror
For more information
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wHtTgEilIEM