The boyar council oversaw the rest of the Russian lands. This new proclamation also started a wave of persecution and against the boyars. Ivan IV executed, exiled, or forcibly removed hundreds of boyars from power, solidifying his legacy as a paranoid and unstable ruler. Ivan IV established a powerful trade agreement with England and even asked for asylum, should he need it in his fights with the boyars, from Elizabeth I. His first conquest was the Kazan Khanate, which had been raiding the northeast region of Russia for decades.
This territory sits in modern-day Tatarstan. A faction of Russian supporters were already rising up in the region but Ivan IV led his army of , to battle in June of The conquest of the entire Kazan Khanate reshaped relations between the nomadic people and the Russian state.
It also created a more diverse population under the fold of the Russian state and the Church. Ivan IV also embarked on the Livonian War, which lasted 24 years. 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.
He succeeded his father as Grand Prince of Moscow after Vasily's death in The Russian countryside was divided politically at the time. Ivan's aim was to reconquer the Ukraine for Russia, expand the Russian territory and establish his independence from the Tatars.
Ivan's wife died in - there was suspicion of poisoning - and left him one son. Ivan extended his reign through a series of campaigns. He temporarily neutralized the Golden Horde during - , invaded Novgorod and after a long struggle forced it in to accept his sovereignty.
He confiscated much of the property of its church and annexed its colonies and by had subdued Novgorod completely. Other independent states were effectively annexed by treaty Yaroslavl in , Rostov in By the position of the expanded Muscovite state had strengthened to the point that Ivan stopped paying tribute to the Khan of the Golden Horde and established own embassies in Europe's capitals.
While his initial efforts were successful, Ivan the Terrible's methods disrupted the economy and culture. He seized private lands and redistributed them among his supported, and created a police force dressed all in black, astride black horses, that existed more to crush dissent than to keep the peace. Thusly, Ivan was not a popular leader, and his unpopularity would continue to grow over the next several years.
Upon the death of his first wife in , Ivan IV went into a deep depression and his behavior became more erratic. His suspicion that she had been murdered by the boyars only deepened his paranoia. He left Moscow suddenly and threatened to abdicate the throne.
Leaderless, the Muscovites pleaded for his return. He agreed, but on the condition that he be granted absolute power of the region surrounding Moscow, known as the oprichnina. He also demanded the authority to punish traitors and law breakers with execution and confiscation of property. Over the next 24 years, Ivan IV conducted a reign of terror, displacing and destroying the major boyar families in the region, and earning the moniker by which he's now best known.
He's also known by the nickname "Grozny," which roughly translates as "formidable or sparking terror or fear. Basil's Cathedral. It was also during this time that he created the Oprichniki, the first official secret Russian police force.
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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