Russia’s Worst Tsar D
when Ivan the Terrible witnessed his pregnant daughter-in-law wearing clothing he deemed inappropriate he proceeded to live up to his name in an absolutely brutal manner Ivan the Terrible was nothing like his father Grand Prince vasili III who compared to his son was downright tame yet vasil’s Reign wasn’t without Scandal especially when it came to producing an air after two decades of childless marriage he and his first wife turned to desperate and dubious measures but in the end she remained Barren under pressure from the boars vasil cast her aside and married the much younger Elena glenia an unpopular choice that would have lasting consequences even then years passed without a child until
finally in 1530 vasil salvation arrived in the form of a son he named the boy Ivan it was only after that boy grew into a man that he earned the rest of his name Ivan IV was just 3 years old when his father suddenly succumbed to a fatal infection not exactly Grand Prince material so while he grew up his mother Elena effectively became the ruler of Russia the boars likely assumed assed that with the princess on the throne they would be free to run a mock and do as they wished but if they didn’t know what kind of woman Elena glinsk was yet they were about to learn the hard way as soon as her husband was in the ground princess Elena said about strengthening her hold on Russia until her son came of age though she did everything in her
power to ensure that her son Ivan could take Russia’s Throne princess Elena never never lived to see it she died suddenly in 1538 at just 28 years old Ivan was still technically ruler of Russia but at just 8 years old he wasn’t all that terrible yet after Elena’s death all of the most prominent boar families began vying for control of the country in all of their backstabbing and infighting young Ivan was left by the wayside he would later write that he and his younger brother were treated little better than peasants they often went hungry and had to wear old shabby clothing his childhood mistreatment gave Ivan a lifelong hatred of the boars and when he came of age they would come to regret ever Crossing him finally when he was 16 years old Ivan dawned monx cap and took his place as the rightful ruler
of Russia from the very beginning Ivan was determined to put more of a stamp on Russia than his father had while vasili was merely the grand Prince of Moscow Ivan had himself crowned as Zar of all the russas his Reign would see the zom come to completely dominate Russian Affairs and the nation would tremble from the consequences Ivan was now Zar but he needed a zaritza he sent out invitations to prominent noble families all across Russia send your eligible daughters to Moscow and if you’re really lucky the Zar might just select her to be his wife allegedly up to, 1500 girls showed up at the Zar doorstep but out of all of them he chose just one 2 weeks after his coronation Ivan married Anastasia romanovna the first Zara by all accounts Ivan chose his wife well
though he was a volatile personality from the beginning Anastasia seemed to have a calming effect on him one wrer even implied that the intelligent and driven zaritza was the real power Before the Throne but while Ivan and Anastasia seemed to genuinely care for one another their marital bliss was quickly Shattered by tragedy Anastasia gave birth to two daughters in the early years of their marriage but both of their young girls died in infancy the couple was devastated but they kept at it and and soon Anastasia bought Ivan a healthy son zarovich Ivan Ivanovich I can only imagine the young parents were absolutely obsessed with the boy’s safety because this time young Ivan managed to grow into a daring intelligent young man he accompanied his
father to war and once he even saved daar’s life but one way or another the new zarovich was his father’s son and being Ivan the Terrible’s kid was hazardous to your health it would come much much later Ivan Ivanovich met the most brutal end of all but that story comes later Ivan suddenly grew extremely sick early in his rign his condition quickly deteriorated and it looked like another succession crisis was on the horizon however to everyone’s shock Ivan suddenly got better but when the boars greeted the recovered Zar they found a whole new man in front of them a man who was much more Disturbed than he had once been the new and not so improved Ivan was even more Brash and impulsive than he hadd been before and this very quickly brought him to war desperate to
gain access to the Baltic Sea and the important trade routes that come along with it Ivan embarked on the leonian war against Sweden and Lithuania and Poland and the tonic Knights this war would last for decades and nearly bankrupt Russia but Ivan was just getting started the leonian war was going badly droughts had led to widespread famine across the country and Ivan still hadn’t managed to get access to the Baltic Sea it seemed like absolutely nothing was going his way but just when it seemed like things couldn’t get any worse Ivan was hit with the most heartbreaking loss yet Ivan’s beloved wife Anastasia had been in poor health for years but in 1560 she fell ill for the last time she passed away that summer to put it
bluntly her death left Ivan broken his mental health had already been frayed from his own Illness but at least he had Anastasia around to keep him in check with her gone he had a complete emotional breakdown without his beloved wife to keep him contained Ivan truly descended into tyranny he forced the boar to Grant him absolute power he demanded that he be granted the ability to imprison Traders execute them and take all of their possessions for himself and who decided who was traitor well Ivan of course Ivan the Terrible now had more power than any Russian Monarch had had possessed before but he was just getting started one of his first decrees after returning was the creation of the oper Nina soon nearly every soul in Russia would learn to fear
that name the oper Nina was a territory in Russia where Ivan had absolute control over every facet of life but that wasn’t nearly the worst part of the decree to maintain order in this new world Ivan created the o Niki Ivan pulled men from every corner of Russian society and gave them everything they ever wanted money power you name it this made the Opera Niki intensely devoted to the Zar it also ensured they didn’t bat an eye when he began ordering them to commit some of the worst atrocities in Russian history Ivan was still reeling from the death of his wife and now he had a pack of rabbit dogs to do his bidding for him under Ivan’s Iron Fist Russia was becoming a frightening place but his Madness didn’t stop there in
Ivan’s time Moscow was the most important city in Russia but Novgorod was a close second the city was still managing to prosper under Ivan’s tyranny and it became a favored Haven of his critics as you can imagine Ivan wasn’t too happy about that the Zar was becoming increasingly paranoid and started seeing conspiracies everywhere eventually his Focus landed on Novgorod and what followed was by far the darkest Saga of his rule first Ivan had thousands of people exiled from the city of Novgorod in the hopes that it might help quell any potential Rebellion when his paranoia didn’t subsist he started executing anyone from the city who he deemed to be a threat hundreds of boyards met their
fate around this time nobody was safe from Ivan the Terrible Ivan’s next ACT was something completely unprecedented and absolutely insane the Zar of Russia launched a military attack on one of his own cities and this wasn’t just any ordinary Army he sent the oprish Niki to teach novarad a lesson one historian described what happened next as the most repulsive episode in the brutal history of the oper Nina the cruel senseless Slaughter of innocent people made oish Nina synonymous with lawlessness and excess to defend his horrific actions Ivan claimed that Novgorod planed to defect from Russia and join nearby Poland Lithuania of course there’s absolutely no concrete evidence to back
up his claim but that wasn’t about to stop him in the summer of 1569 Ivan pointed the oper Niki towards Novgorod they left a path of destruction in their wake terrorizing every village they came across in each of the villages that Ivan’s Army passed through he had all the prominent merchants and officials rounded up seeking proof that novarad was planning to defect he had these men put to the question and his methods were horrifying prisoners were subjugated to a horrific fir making device known only as a grill Ivan didn’t find the proof he wanted but he’d come too far to let that stop him finally they made it to the city and that’s when the true nightmare began the the different classes of Novgorod all met different Fates in the massacre but all
of them were equally horrible members of the church were rounded up subjected to horrific interrogation methods and either thrown in prison or executed outright the Nobles who were left saw the brunt of Ivan’s wrath their homes were burned their possessions were taken and they were executed on mass Ivan’s main beef was with the church and the nobility so so for the most part his men didn’t attack the city’s working classes outright but in a way they met the darkest fate of all when they tired of killing the oper Niki started letting the brutal Russian winter do their Dirty Work men women and children were all indiscriminately tied up and thrown into the vov river Ivan took out his rage on novarad for five horrific weeks thousands lay Dead when he finally left and the city would feel
the effects of the massacre for Generations Not only was the population decimated but Ivan also laid waste to the Farmland surrounding the city the region was already suffering from a famine but this ensured that the populace wouldn’t recover for Years yet the ramifications of the attack went even deeper than that the remaining citizens had to Grapple with the psychological Trauma from the fact that they were attacked by their own ruler it was a blow from which the city never truly recovered and Novgorod never again rivaled Moscow in influence the massacre of Novgorod was the darkest moment in the history of the operis Nina but it also marked the beginning of its end first the atrocity was a stain on Ivan’s reputation also when Ivan heav sent his Opera Niki into battle against the
Crimean Army not long after they were utterly humiliated it turns out fighting real soldiers is different than attacking helpless citizens just 3 years after the massacre Ivan ended the oper Nina and disbanded the oper Niki Ivan the Terrible did a lot of horrible things but the death of his son Ivan was the darkest moment of them all it all began when the devoted son started to admit that his father wasn’t exactly doing a great job the leonian war was still going on at this point and it was going no better than it had for the last 20 years the zarovich decided to take matters into his own hands and demanded Ivan give him troops so that he could Liberate the besieged city of scav for his part Ivan couldn’t care less about
Scar and he began to resent his son’s rebelliousness things were tense already but then in one chilling Outburst Ivan the Terrible finally went too [Music] far on November 15th 1581 Ivan the Terrible was in a particular violent mood when he saw his pregnant daughter-in-law walking around in clothing that he didn’t approve of for whatever reason he absolutely snapped he viciously attacked her and her screams brought the zarovich running to see what was happening the son managed to pull the father off his wife but the violence was just getting started tragically after Ivan attacked his daughter-in-law she suffered a miscarriage in the struggle the younger Ivan screamed at his father you sent my
first wife to a Convent for no reason you did the same with the second and now you strike the third causing the death of the son she holds in her womb the relationship between Father and Son had finally been irreparably damaged but either way it wouldn’t last much longer as the younger Ivan screamed at his father the Elder Ivan changed the subject to his son’s recent insubordination related to The Siege of scav the Zar accused his son of rebellion and treason it was completely ludicrous as per usual but this time the younger Ivan stood up to his father he denied the accusations but stood firm that the people of scav deserved to be liberated he had a point but Ivan the Terrible was Beyond Reason by now mad with rage Ivan finally snapped he
grabbed his Royal scepter and and smashed it into his son’s temple one of his advisers who was witnessing the fight ran to stop him but Ivan struck him as well the zarovich fell to the ground blood pouring from his head the sight of his own son and air lying bleeding on the ground finally snapped Ivan back to reality he threw himself on top of his boy sobbing kissing his face and crying I’ve killed my son I’ve killed my son allegedly Ivan Ivanovic regained Consciousness just long enough to look up at his father and say I die as a devoted son and most humble servant he quickly fell back into a coma where he stayed for the next several days distraught the Zar desperately prayed for a miracle but nothing was coming after 4 days Ivan Ivanovic died Ivan the
Terrible’s Legacy is Absolut absolutely horrific but killing his own son is the darkest stain of [Music] all after his horrific Reign one would think that Ivan the Terrible would have been assassinated or perhaps killed in some misguided military Venture but no Ivan the Terrible died of a stroke while playing a game of chess such a simple way for such a monstrous man to die Soviet scientists excavated Ivan the Terrible’s grave in 1963 his bones painted a grim picture of his final days at the time of his death the Zar suffered from several debilitating bone diseases that would have left him in constant pain and barely able to move they also found high levels of mercury in his blood likely from ointments he would have taken to
try and ease his agonizing joints I in the Terri was the definition of a tyrant he helped create the idea that the Zar was an absolute power accountable to no one but God someone who could essentially do whatever he wanted with zero repercussions it was this attitude that eventually made the Russian people so fed up that the Soviets were able to topple the monarchy and take control how ironic then that the Communist Regime then spun Ivan’s Legacy to make him a symbol of nationalist Pride specifically Joseph Stalin identified himself with Ivan in hindsight that actually makes a lot of sense Ivan the Terrible is actually an indirect translation of his Russian subre Ivan gry at the time gry would have meant something closer to
powerful or formidable a man to be feared and respected but not a man who’s considered evil or monstrous in fact one historian claims that the name gry would have meant magnificent or courageous but whether or not they meant it that way now that we can look back upon Ivan’s Reign I think terrible was the perfect word thanks for watching history expose if you love uncovering the best stories in history hit like And subscribe to keep exploring with us don’t forget to visit our main page facton 8 for more incredible fact about everything
