Who was Ivan the Terrible?

Ivan IV Vasilyevich (3 September [O.S. 25 August] 1530 – 28 March [O.S. 18 March] 1584), commonly known as Ivan the Terrible or Ivan the Fearsome, was the Grand Prince of Moscow from 1533 to 1547 and 'Tsar of All the Russias' from 1547 until his death in 1584.

His long reign saw the conquest of the Khanate of Kazan, Khanate of Astrakhan and Khanate of Sibir, transforming Russia into a multiethnic and multicontinental state spanning almost one billion acres, approximately 4,050,000 km2 (1,560,000 sq mi). Ivan managed countless changes in the progression from a medieval state to an empire and emerging regional power, and became the first ruler to be crowned as Tsar of All the Russias.

Historic sources present disparate accounts of Ivan's complex personality: he was described as intelligent and devout, yet given to rages and prone to episodic outbreaks of mental instability.

More Info: en.wikipedia.org

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33 Comments

klmilles

He was a man of his time, and quite the tyrant. He became paranoid following the suspected poisoning death of his first wife (who died like his mother had when he was 8 years old) and this worsened his treatment of everyone around him. He beat his daughter-in-law, due to her reportedly wearing immodest clothing, causing a miscarriage. When his son, namesake Ivan, confronted his father about the beating of his wife and destruction of his child, the Tsar beat his son, killing him and effectively ending his family's reign. There is a brilliant, moving painting of this event by Ilya Repin (1885) at the Tretyakov Gallery in Moscow. Ivan appears horrified by his own actions.

Connie Arnold

One of best films ever made (though odd) is Sergei Eisenstein’s 2 part biography of Ivan the Terrible. Stalin commissioned it after Germans invaded USSR (breaking the Nazi-Soviet Pact). In Part 1, Ivan’s rise to power was definitely scary, with the ‘boyars’ (Russian aristocracy) trying to foil (if not kill) him at every turn. Then in Part 2, Ivan definitely became one scary dude, as he continued to vanquish his enemies. Stalin had looked at the film project as glorifying Russia’s history (and Ivan pushed back against various western invaders who were ethnically German) and of course, also glorifying Stalin by implication. Ivan’s reign was supposed to be filmed as a trilogy, but Part 3 was scrapped. Stalin saw WAY too many parallels in Ivan’s cruelty and paranoia. But see the film if you can find it. It’s quite odd in many ways. Eisenstein had been working on Wagnerian opera when Stalin suddenly wanted the film on Ivan, and the film has a weirdly operatic quality, with long slow motion scenes and very striking scenes in which each frame is a perfect photograph. And the film starts in b/w and then bursts into colour.

Donna Smith

Got the correct answer....He WAS A VERY EVIL PERSON

Don Racette

Helen Hearn I did TERRIBLE and did not get the correct answer.

littledick

Connie Arnold, Sounds like Stalin identified with the bloke!

David Anderson

And I thought it was the Kamirov's brat if a boy living down the road 😉

earlepg

Happy to have not known him first hand.

Diane Lynn Kinsman

Ivan easy to remember, terrible

stellaclaude

A lot of poison and daggers in those days. Anyone with power had to watch his / her back. Such barbaric times!

Cherie Hunt

The Russian spy in Rocky and Bullwinkle was Boris Badinov.

jack patti go

Ivan, the terrible

Suzanne Beer

Yes got it

Corey Taylor

Ivan's best legacy is his construction of St. Basil's Cathedral, arguably the most recognizable landmark in Moscow, if not all of Russia. There are eight separate churches inside, each one capped by an onion dome. Although during the Cold War it was constantly mislabeled as the Kremlin.