Ivan Chetvyorty Vasilyevich or Ivan the Terrible, was born on August 25, 1530, in the Grand Duchy of Muscovy, Russia. He became the first tsar of all Russia and he was said to be sensitive and intelligent, but Ivan agreeably had a complex personality. After being completely orphaned at age 8 Ivan’s personality became hateful and erratic. He was neglected by the people that watched over him, ensuing his parent’s death. In adulthood, he earned the nickname “Grozny,” which means “formidable or sparking terror.” Over the years of Ivan’s regime, he seized private lands and directed a reign of terror. However, his efforts disturbed the economy and culture. Subsequently after Ivan the Terrible’s death, his country was left in anarchy. Ivan the …show more content…
Ivan returned stating that he be granted absolute power of the region surrounding Moscow. He also stipulated the authority to punish traitors and law breakers with execution and confiscation of property. In order to get their country in line, Muscovites concurred and Ivan was granted these rights.
Furthermore, the infamous Reign of Terror occurred over the next 24 years. The Russian armies destroyed all major boyar families. It was at this time when Ivan acquired his moniker. Also during this period, Ivan beat his pregnant daughter-in-law, which resulted in a miscarriage. Accordingly, he killed his son in a fit of rage and blinded the architect of St. Basil’s Cathedral. All throughout this time, Ivan was said to be mentally ill. These spouts of rage proved that point even more.
Ivan was married eight times during his 37 year period as Tsar. His spell of bad luck materialized most in his relations with woman. Moreover, two of his wives cheated on him and were executed. Vasilisa Melentyeva, one of the pairs who committed adultery, was forced by Ivan to watch her secret lover be executed by impalement. The other wife that was executed by Ivan for deception, was Maria Polgorvkaya, she was sentenced to drowning as Ivan’s
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Regrettably, one was infertile but was allowed to live a long life. Finally, his last wife was imprisoned and murdered for unknown reasons after Ivan’s death. As a result of all these wives, Ivan was the father to 8 children. Of these children, most of them died in infancy. Ironically, Ivan murdered his oldest son in acrimony.
On the lighter side, Ivan was a believer in God, he donated to monasteries and churches, even though priests were killed on his orders. He was well educated and established the first printing house in Russia. Ivan required the clergy a movement to happen for schools to teach children how to read and write. There were times where Ivan was very devout. He would throw himself before the icons, banging his head against the floor. It resulted in a callosity at his forehead. He did have eminently cordial qualities, but they were overcome with rage and greed.
In 1584, Ivan the Terrible’s health began to fail. He soon became obsessed with death, calling upon witches and clairvoyants to bolster him. Ivan’s life came to an end on March 18, 1584, due to a stroke. The kingdom that he attained was willed to his son, Feodor. He was soon ridiculed unfit as a leader and Russia spiraled into a disastrous Time of Troubles. Ivan died, leaving his country in shambles. Political and social scars affected the establishment, making it very hard for a positive outcome to
Nicholas II ruled Russia from 1894-1917 and was to be its final tsar. He ascended the throne under the impression that he would rule his whole life as it's undisputed leader. Accompanied by his wife, Alexandra, they lived a comfortable life of luxury while the country suffered around them. Nicholas was determined to rule as harshly as his father; however, he was a very weak and incompetent character who did not posses the qualities capable of guiding Russia through its time of turmoil.
Both monarchs had a royal background and were put in power with high expectations to continue the stability that the country possessed. Citizens aspire for all government officials to keep the peoples best interest in mind. But sadly, due to Ivan’s brutal childhood, he grew up observing and learning from the mannerisms of the corrupt elite. Ivan predominately gained power through fear and with this tactic was the first to exercise a despotism in Russia. One example of this is the story of the peasants who disturbed Ivan during one of his retreats. They came to him to complain of their governor who they believed was unjust but Ivan was so upset that they had troubled him with such a petty matter that he punished them. The men had their hands tied behind their backs, boiling hot alcohol poured on their heads and then their beards lit on fire with a candle. Apprehension and terror were Ivan’s main tools for keeping his people under control. Despite his totalitarian state of mind, Ivan believed that his decisions were still best for the country and the only way to keep it safe was by leaving it in constant fear. Although not always the most rational, the czar still made the suitable choices to keep the kingdom together. Similar to Ivan, Charles was not always under the influence of his mental disability. During his 42
One of the things that affected Ivan’s death was the feeling of lioness because none of his family members cared about him. He became hopeless and stopped fighting the illness he had. Why and how he died isn’t clearly given in the story, but from one’s assumption, he might have had cancer.
During the Revolution of 1905, he ordered the mass execution of over 100 and arrested several more rebels. Also, he focused on an agricultural reform in order to address the famine and ineffective use of agricultural land by canceling redemption payments and establishing land banks; creating a positive impact and increased the agricultural production. Moreover, the creation of the Duma can actually be credited to Nicholas II. Additionally, the Czar did not trusted the Duma for their ‘unrealistic’ and hostile demands, their bias towards the aristocracy, the freedom of political debate the Duma and the fact that they were allowed to pass
The lower class workers suffered the most and were almost constantly at the end of their rope. Harsh working conditions coupled with forced reformations, no matter how beneficial, and heavy taxation resulted in quite a few revolts which were always brutally and mercilessly crushed. Many people disliked Peter’s reforms and his son, Alexei was one of them. Described as lazy and stupid, Alexei suffered domestic abuse from his father for his stupidity. He surely grew to despise his father and his extensive reforms. He was never one for politics or military strategy but when his father heard a rumor of an attempted coup d’etat and assassination, Alexei fled Russia. He was later captured and brought back to Russia in 1718 where a suspicious Peter personally interrogated and tortured his own son before charging him for high treason and sentencing him to death. Peter was nothing if not an ambitious hard working man and kept improving Russia as much as he could even when he got sick a while after saving a few of his soldiers from drowning in 1724. He worked hard until his death a year later on February 8th, 1725 in St. Petersburg. Peter severed as a very effective ruler, full of energy and ambition. Standing at 6’8”, Peter the Great was a force to be reckoned with. Handsome and zealous, Peter also had a prominent anger that was spurred on by, at times, heavy drinking.and could be cruel and tyrannical, executing anyone who dared stand in the way of his dreams. He was a deft shipbuilder as well as an experienced and talented army and naval officer, leaving a legacy that stretched from the Baltic Sea to the Caspian Sea to the Pacific ocean without declaring an heir to inherit all that he had accomplished. He was buried at the Cathedral of Saints Peter and Paul and there a many monuments to and of Peter that make sure he will never be
Ivan grew up living in poverty and he saw many things including murders, beatings, and verbal and physical abuse regularly. He was also neglected, beaten, and molested by the boyars often, leaving him and his brother with almost nothing. However, Ivan could not take out his terrible frustrations on his tormentors, so instead he would take them out on defenseless animals. For example, when he got angry he tore off the feathers on birds, pierced their eyes, and slit open their bodies. Ivan waited many years until he was crowned the first tsar of Russia on January 16, 1547 at age 16. During the beginning of his reign, he gave some powers of the government to his two uncles, however they misused this power and Ivan took it way....
Alexander II was the Tsar Liberator who, despite unflattering characterization by his contemporaries, undertook one of the biggest reforms in Russian history: the liberation of the serfs. Yet despite such a necessary and seemingly humanitarian reform, his life was abruptly finished by a successful terrorist attack following no fewer than ten unsuccessful ones.
as a father who had the right to rule them. Nicholas II ruled a police state, called the Okhrana, which responded. brutally to anyone who dared question his authority. He had absolute power. The power of the.
Ivan treated his wife indifferently. Even though he had married her, he did not love her. Their marriage was blissful until she got pregnant wife their first child. His wife became moody and demanding. When Ivan saw the change in his wife, he distanced himself from her. With all the tension that is in his home, he distanced himself from it. As he put his focus on work, he became distanced to his family. When Ivan got hurt, she did not care about him. When Ivan went into depression, she seem unbothered. She became angry at Ivan because depressed she did not care. Also, since Ivan is starting arguing with her, she felt bad for herself. Realizing that Ivan had changed she starts to hate him and want him to die.
the damage that the Tsar had done to the country. This was a huge task
In 1547, Ivan IV was made Grand Prince of Moscow. From 1547 to 1584 Ivan conducted numerous attacks on foreign nations. He created a private court. This court ended up backfiring Ivan and caused immense trouble for Russia and the economy. Ivan IV did more harm to Russia than good because he initiated wars that hurt Russia, not helped it.
The “Damnation takes my soul entirely! I shall go and hang myself on the first aspen tree!” (307). The cause of the late revelation was no one but Ivan himself, he self-sabotages himself to a certain point where he becomes the reason for the problem created.
This point of the story is indirectly brought out in the very beginning when Ivan's colleagues, and supposedly his friends, learn of his death. The narrator states in paragraph 5:
Russia had been defeated in all except the war with Turkey and its government and economy had the scars to prove it. A severe lack of food and poor living conditions amongst the peasant population led firstly to strikes and quickly escalated to violent riots. Tsar Nicholas II ruled Russia with an iron hand while much of Europe was moving away from the monarchical system of rule. All lands were owned by the Tsar’s family and Nobel land lords, while the factories and industrial complexes were owned by the capitalists’. There were no unions or labour laws and the justice system had made almost all other laws in favour of the ruling elite.
Dark, mysterious, evil, holy. These are all words that can be used to describe Grigory Rasputin. Some know him as a healer, others as a freak of nature or an animalistic drunk, still others simply know him as the “lover of the Russian Queen” (“Ra Ra Rasputin”). Everybody has heard of him, yet nobody knows who Grigory Rasputin truly was. Most people, however, would agree Rasputin was not a good man.