How is ivan the terrible

Following the first loss in the war with Lithuania and economic downfall of the country, Ivan began blaming the misfortunes on his government. He would execute anyone who disagreed with him. He was further devastated by the death of his wife, Anastasia Romanova. He suspected that she was poisoned by his own ministers. Soon he sent a letter of abdication to his ministers, citing treason on behalf of the nobility and the clergy.

He now had the right to deal with traitors as he saw fit. To that end, Ivan established a personal guard called the Oprichniki. The Oprichniks took an oath to do everything in their power to protect the tsar. They were handpicked from different groups of society, but most came from the aristocracy. They received complete autonomy in their actions and were allowed to raid and punish anyone suspected of treason.

They were beyond the law and obeyed only the tsar. During an invasion in Russia, the oprichniki refused to fight for the tsar, showing their worthlessness. Eventually, Ivan realised the failure of the Oprichniki system and put a halt to the group. In , with his health failing, Ivan the Terrible became obsessed with death, calling upon witches and soothsayers to sustain him, but to no avail. The end came on March 18, , when Ivan died of an apparent stroke. He had willed the kingdom to his unfit son, Feodor, whose rule spiraled Russia into the catastrophic Time of Troubles, leading to the establishment of the Romanov Dynasty.

When Ivan the Terrible died, he left the country in disarrary, with deep political and social scars. Russia would not merge from the chaos until the reign of Peter the Great more than a century later. Russian filmmaker Sergei Eisenstein's two-part epic about the infamous leader, Ivan Groznyi , , is considered one of the finest films of the Soviet era.

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Anastasia was the daughter of the last Russian tsar, Nicholas II. Personally and professionally betrayed, Ivan descended into paranoia. This manifested itself violently through the development of the Oprichnina; a state policy aimed at disenfranchising the aristocracy, involving the systematic execution of nobility, and the mass confiscation of their lands. It served to purge his court of traitors, and to avenge his childhood suffering at their hands. Trusting no-one, wounded and betrayed, Ivan began to live up to his nickname and ruled from then on with an iron fist.

His later years were characterised by this famous brutality. There were more wars with Poland and Sweden and conquests in Kazan, Turkey, Livonia, Crimea and Siberia, all incurring an enormous cost to human life. He became increasingly prone to episodic outbreaks of mental instability, and in one fit of rage, he murdered his oldest son over a domestic dispute. So, in death, Ivan leaves a mixed legacy. The Polish leader, Stefan Batory, was an ally of the Ottoman Empire in the south, which was also in a tug-of-war with Russia over territory.

These two powerful entities on each edge of Russian lands, and the prolonged wars, left the economy in Moscow strained and Russian resources scarce in the s. Ivan IV also oversaw two decisive territorial victories during his reign.

The first was the defeat of the Crimean horde, which meant the southern lands were once again under Russian leadership. The second expansion of Russian territory was headed by Cossack leader Yermak Timofeyevich. He led expeditions into Siberian territories that had never been under Russian rule. 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.